RECENT SERMON POSTINGS: Formatted with Art and Prayer

Post Easter, April 22, 2025

LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

(Matthew 28)

Sprawling refugee camps,

Devastated, war-torn cities,

Incessant bombing of innocent souls,

Corruption in the halls of power,

Suffering and pain everywhere you look!

So who’s in charge of this mess?

“Nobody,” replies the scientist, who trusts only data he can measure.

“If there is a God, he’s blown it, for sure,” says the skeptic.

“Artificial Intelligence can’t even sort it out” admits the techie.

The atheist gazes at the heavens and declares, “It’s all random!”

And yet, there is a mysterious order amid the chaos.

While the universe keeps expanding, history on this tiny planet is moving toward its Climax. Knowing that its time is short, Evil, in desperation, grows more blatant.

But who is in charge?

Those early followers of Jesus fanned out over the Roman Empire with a simple message:

“Jesus is Lord.”

Lord of Heaven and Earth

What did they mean?

The man who stepped out of his tomb in the early dawn of the first day of the week, was very different from the man they nailed to the cross on the eve of the previous Sabbath. This man is no longer confined to the world of time and space. He sits down to a meal with his disciples, and Eternity fills the room. They blink their eyes, and he’s gone.

To this day, when we hear the sound of his voice, wind from the world beyond sweeps over our souls.

But who is he?

Everybody knows his name, yet few know who he is.

Up to the moment he died on the cross, Jesus was a man of flesh and blood. Truly human. He had to eat and sleep and look after his bodily needs like the rest of us. He experienced fatigue. He felt the sting of rejection and hatred.

But when he emerged from the tomb, Jesus was no longer bound by human limitations.

This Resurrected One is Lord of heaven and earth.

He makes no effort to convince the skeptics, the agnostics, or the gurus of the East, that he is Lord. They will all find out in due time.

Nor does the Lord waste time correcting “Christians” who regard him as their personal genie.

He leaves the arrogant ones to their delusions and continues to move with grace among those who tremble before the HOLY.

Because he is Lord of Heaven and Earth, the day will come when Jesus will sit in judgment over all nations, over every living soul.

Even now, as Lord, Jesus allows evil to go only so far, before the fire falls.

He is the one who sees to it that the lost and forgotten ones are finally lifted up and showered with grace that more than compensates for their earthly misery.

Because he is Lord of Time, Jesus is never in a hurry. He vindicates his own at the right moment. He brings down the mighty from their seats with frightening swiftness, when the time is right.

The day is approaching when every soul who ever lived, every demon who ever defied him, will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth.

And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2)

When we pray in Jesus’ Name, when we commune with him in the bread and wine, we need to remember who he is.

Not who he was, but who he is at this moment and forever.

Each time we partake in the mysterious meal of communion, joining ourselves to his dying flesh and blood, the Lord brings us afresh into his new Body. He joins our frail bodies to his Resurrected Body. He fits us, as living stones, into the new Temple which will never be destroyed.

When we approach heaven in his Name, as Lord of heaven and earth, he gives us access.

When we speak words of hope to the forgotten ones, our words are confirmed by his lordly authority.

When we defy the movers and shakers of this world with simple truth, that truth is confirmed by the power of heaven.

We are the salt of the earth… so long as we are crucified and risen with the Lord of heaven and earth.

We are the light of the world …so long as the Light in us….is his light.

He is Lord of this universe and worlds beyond—past, present, and forever.

He is Lord of this earth, the One to whom every knee will soon bow in awe.

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Revelation 19

Submission to the Father

When he stepped into the dawn light as the Firstborn of the New Creation, the Son of God assumed the divine prerogatives which he had relinquished when he entered the human realm. As risen Lord, he is King in the Eternal Realm.

And yet, being the Son, he remains in joyful submission to the Father, who is above all. He is Lord of heaven and earth because the Father has imparted his authority to the Son. Jesus was not exaggerating when he said, “The Father is greater than I.” Consider this profound conversation between the Risen Lord and Mary Magdalene.

Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-bo’ni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” (John 20)

Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, because the Father has made him so.

His unity with the Father never changes.

His submission to the Father never wavers.

We can know him, and walk with him, when we behold him, not only as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world….

…. but also as Lord of heaven and earth.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28)

Prayer: Lord, help us to know you as Lord of Heaven and Lord of earth. Help us to know you as Lord of this earth even as evil is ramping up and we feel powerless in the midst of growing wickedness and cruelty. No matter how dark and God forsaken this world looks to us, may we continue to move in your authority… knowing that you are real, knowing that you are not bound by anything, knowing you have defeated evil, knowing that we are yours, and knowing that you will never leave us. Help us to believe in, to bow and tremble before your holiness, so we may live and move in your heavenly power, so we may continue to shine with your light, so we may reach, guide, teach, and baptize the lost…drawing them into your redeeming arms so they may live in your earthly and heavenly power as well. Amen.

Message: Richard E. Bieber Easter 2017 0r 2018 Sharable/Printable Copy

Featured Artists: Courtesy and kindness of Daniel Bonnell Website: Bonnellart.com

#Lord_of_Heaven_and_Earth #Remember_Who_He_Is #Jesus_is_in_charge #Daniel_Bonnell_Art

Posted Easter, 2025

AWAKE O’ SLEEPER, ARISE FROM THE DEAD

“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Ephesians 5:14

During the three and a half years or so that preceded our Lord’s death and resurrection Jesus kept using an expression which his disciples found baffling and sometimes found downright offensive. He would refer to people who were very healthy and very active, and often very prosperous…. as dead.

“I’ll follow you Lord” said the man whom Jesus had called to discipleship, “But first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus answers “leave the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

In his parable of the Prodigal Son, when the prodigal finally comes to his senses and returns the father has a wonderful feast for him. And of course, the older brother of the prodigal is jealous and angry. The father explains this feast to his other son, the older brother by saying “It’s only right for us to have this feast. Your brother was dead but is now alive”. Or when Jesus says “the hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear shall live”.

He’s talking about dead people who look very much alive.

They buy cars, they go to ball games, they even go to church.

It was really not until after the resurrection that the disciples began to catch on to what Jesus was talking about.

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you.” The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.” (Matthew 28)

What happened to these women in this first meeting with Jesus alive from the dead can be described in no other way but as a resurrection for them.

This encounter with Jesus actually raised them from the dead.

It filled them with the life that was in him. The same thing happened to the disciples when they saw him alive from the dead. And then their eyes were opened and they could begin to understand what Jesus meant, and they could now see that this world is full of walking dead. And what it really means to be alive

In the Apostolic Church, this distinction between the living and the dead among the apparent living was very, very clear. Ephesians 5:14 was even used as part of a hymn in the early apostolic church. It was their Sunday hymn. Resurrection focused.

Awake O sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ shall give you life.

And the sleeper who needs to arise from the dead is the person walking around in a body of flesh and blood.

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience. We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2)

You’re dead, when you’re alienated from the life of God,

Cut off from the spring that you were made to drink from,

Cut off from this breath you were made to breathe.

And when that’s the case, when you’re cut off from that life, you may be getting all the gusto that this world can offer, you may be loaded with money, you may be brilliant, successful, and highly thought of….

…. but you are dead.

And when the moment comes for you to leave this realm of flesh and blood, all the things you love, and all the things you would cling to will be left behind….because they all belong to the realm of death.

You are alive when you are moving in the will of God.

You are alive when you are no longer whimpering through this life muttering, “What’s in it for me”? “Are my needs being met”? That’s okay for a baby at its mother’s breast to say. But there comes a time when we need to grow up and we have to feed ourselves.

You are alive when you are now moving with the Lord, the King and saying with him “Thy will oh God, not my will, Thy will be done”.

“I come to do Thy will.” “This day I give it to you”. “I give to you my body, my mind, everything, take it, break it, use it anyway you want….so that the poor can hear the good news, and the captives can be set free, and the blind can have their sight, and the oppressed may be delivered. Use me, Lord God”.

You are alive when the Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead…. quickens you in the same way….

….and makes your daily life a burning bush in the wilderness of this world….

….Then you’re alive!

And when the moment comes for you to leave this realm of flesh and blood, you will take your treasure with you…. because your treasure is the Lord. And nothing can separate you from him or from his love.

The power that brings us from death to life is the voice of the Lamb who was slain and who rose again.

The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear (who respond) shall live.

When he speaks his living word, that word has the power to raise us out of our death up into the life of God and hold us there.

His word is able to raise us out of whatever death we still may be lingering in.

And that power is with you today.

When we read the Book of Acts we marvel at the sudden and radical changes in lifestyle that happened to the early followers. They thought nothing of making quick changes, throwing away their money, or leaving where they were, or changing their jobs. All kinds of radical changes took place in their lives and we marvel at this.

But there’s no mystery to this, because when you are raised from the dead it’s easy to leave the trappings of death that cluttered your life before. For instance, if I’m a millionaire, but I’m dead in my millions then Jesus raises me from the dead by his living word, and I see God, and I see the Kingdom, and I hear the call, and I now know the purpose of my life, and I commit myself to that, it’s easy for me to shake off and leave this old life that held me before. It’s easy to leave all those things that held me down and bound me like a tomb. And I can say what Zaccheus said, “I’ll sell half my goods and give them to the poor, if I cheated anybody I’ll give it back four-fold, for I was dead and now I’m alive. Salvation has come to my house.”

Or if I’m a church executive, the church administrator in the headquarters on Madison Ave in New York, right next to the advertising firm and I’m dead in my flush position.

Or if I’m a politician with good connections to Washington DC, but I’m dead in my political power and now Jesus raises me from the dead by his living word, and I see God, and I see the Kingdom, and I hear the call, and I commit myself to that…. it’s easy for me to say “get lost” to the things that kept me blind and deaf and asleep and dull of heart before and to follow Jesus into a simple life.

Or if I’m the biggest crook in my region. If I’m a dealer, or a gang member, or a permanent fixture in the local bar and now Jesus raises me from the dead by his living word, and I see the Kingdom, and I see God, and I hear the call, and I commit myself to it…. It’s easy for me to leave all that. All that was nothing but a grave. And now, I commit myself to being an apostle of God for the rest of my life, to the inner city, to Gaza, to Mexico, wherever he wants to send me.

Or if I’m a respectable member of a church and I’ve lived a decent life, and I’m raising a decent family, but I’m dead in my decency. And Jesus by the power of his living word raises me from the dead and I see the Kingdom, and I see God, I hear the call, and I know the purpose of my life and I commit myself to it….it’s easy for me to pull off all this respectability like so much filthy rags and concentrate on following Jesus and manifest his Kingdom to the world.

But many times people who rise from the dead and have found their sins washed in the blood of the Lamb, and have had their lives quickened by the Spirit that raised him from the dead, nevertheless begin to slip back into death. The possibility is there for all of us to begin to sink back into death.

So we need to be awakened, we need to be stirred.

Now that happened to a whole congregation of believers in the city of Sardis when the apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos. And John got a message for that church which we find recorded in Revelation Chapter 3, and it goes like this.

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

We hear that message in Revelation 3 and often think It’s so hard, but it’s not hard.

It’s a resurrection message.

It’s a Kingdom message.

It’s a message that raises us to life.

And it’s a message of the Spirit of God to the Body of Christ on Earth at this hour.

Awake Oh, Sleeper. Arise from the dead. And Christ will give you life.

Easter is celebrated all over the earth, while millions are going through the motions of celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, this Jesus who’s on our lips and in our hymns, is addressing us here and now, calling us to wake up and come up out of our tombs and live…. and let him give us life.

The message of the Spirit of the Lord Body Christ on Earth today is threefold.

Wake up O sleeper.
Arise from the dead.
And Christ Shall Give You Life

Wake Up O Sleeper

Wake up Oh sleeper… which simply means take stock of your situation. Have a look at what’s really going on in your life.

The prodigal woke up when he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, “what am I doing here? I’m feeding the pigs and they’re getting enough to eat and I’m not, while back home in my father’s house where the hired servants have bread enough to spare and here I perish with hunger.” So he wakes up and decides he’s going home. “I’ll arise and go to my father. I’ll be a hired servant for the rest of my life, but I don’t want to starve to death like I’m doing here.”

And so, the Spirit is saying to the Body of Christ, to the individuals, and to congregations, “Look at your situation. Be honest about where you are right now. Are you moving in my will? Is your life conformed to my purpose? How does your life as you’re living it now compare with the way you were living it when you first became a believer? Do you still have your first love? Are you still walking by your first faith? Be honest.”

Arise From the Dead

He says to all of us, without exception, “arise from the dead”. In other words, “come up out of these things that bind you down, take that step, make that move, perform that act of repentance, whatever it is.”

I know your works, you have the name of being alive and you are dead awake and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death for I have not found your work perfect in the side of my God.

This is a message of love addressed to us, imploring us to come up out of our Babylonian traps and make that one move, that one step, that one decision that he’s putting his finger on in each of our lives today.

It may be, for instance, that he’s calling some of us to break with a habit that’s been draining all of the life out of us. It may be a habit of thought, perhaps it’s a habit of speech, a way of always coming back with an answer that is not really helpful, or positive, or encouraging. It could be a habit of our eyes or our imagination. He’s saying that thing, that habit that you’re engaging in and adopted as part of your life must change.

“Rise up out of it now. Oh, arise from the dead.

Don’t be in there anymore. Come forth, I’ll help you”.

Or it may be an attitude, an attitude you have toward a neighbor, or your mother-in-law, or toward your husband, or your wife, or your mother, or your father, or a sibling, or a person you work with, even a former friend, somebody….an attitude that colors all other relationships. And it’s an attitude that has a taste of bitterness.

Or it may be an attachment, better known as idolatry. It may be a fantasy, an ambition, a thing that we particularly love. It could be a person, a political figure or movement. Maybe you’re in love with your car. It’s something that we’re attached to and we don’t realize how attached we are. Maybe we watch too much TV. Maybe we are obsessed with the news. Maybe we spend too much time on our devices. Maybe we check our bank account or our investments every two days to make sure they haven’t gone down too far, or they’ve come up a little farther, or whatever happens to be with us. He says “arise from the dead, get out of that thing today. I’ll help you, but take that step, get out of that thing.”

It may be a fear that’s been hanging over you like a cloud for the last fifteen years. And he says “today’s the day to come up out of that fear”. That thing is dead.

Rise up out of whatever it is that holds your heart.

And Christ Will Give You Life

Once you take that step, rise from the dead, make that move…. you will begin to see miracles in your life, not like on Christian TV or Hallmark movies, but you will experience miracles in your actual daily living. You will see them.

Because the minute you take that step, Christ will help you, Christ will give you life! If you take that step that you need to, away from that specific thing that is holding you, you will see God at work.

“Take that step, I’ll help you.”

Make that move. Perform that act of repentance, whatever it is.

And immediately you will find that you have more than you lost.

You will have light.

And that light will open your eyes.

It will transform your mind.

It will guide your steps.

It will empower you to walk in new ways that you could not walk in before.

And it will fill you with joy.

And so this Easter, this feast of the resurrection, the best way we can prove to that world out there that Jesus is alive from the dead …..is to rise from the dead ourselves.

Others will see God’s glory.

Others will feel his power.

Others will tremble with awe….

…. when they see us living daily lives distinct and apart from the way of the walking dead.

When they see us living, truly living as sons and daughters of the resurrection ….day in and day out.

They will see the power of God moving in us.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.

The message of the Spirit to us today and the church all over the earth is

Awake, Oh, Sleeper, arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.

Prayer: Lord, we admit to you that we have been sleeping. We’ve become deaf to the sound of your voice. We’ve cut ourselves off from the source of life, from you the beautiful spring, from the very breath you have for us. We’ve allowed ourselves to slip away into the trivialities of our lives…. Clinging to the realm of death: our things, our habits, our attitudes, our desires, our idols, our obsessions, and even our fears. Help us to rise up out of these. Help us to take the first steps, to make the moves that awaken from our sleep. And yes, open our eyes, transform our minds, guide us, empower us to rise up from our sleep and to be so filled with joy that others will see your glory, feel your power, and yes tremble in awe when they see you moving in us, when they see we are alive and not dead, when our lives actually are burning bushes in this wilderness again. Amen.

Message: Richard E. Bieber Easter 1986 Sharable/Printable Copy

Featured Artists: Courtesy and kindness of Michael Cook Website:Hallowedartco.uk

#Easter #Awake_O_Sleeper #Arise #MichaelCookArt

Posted April 11, 2025

THE VISION AND THE VALLEY

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” (II Kings 2:9-10)

“If you see me as I am being taken from you, you will get a double share of my spirit. If you don’t see me, you won’t.”

“If you see me.”

What does that mean? It means that nothing happens until our eyes are opened, until we receive vision.

Until God opens our eyes and gives us a vision of what his Kingdom is all about, we remain blind to the things of God. We can sit in church and listen to sermons for 100 years and still not have a clue—

—until we are given vision.

Are you saying that some people are lucky, and some aren’t … that if God gives you vision, great; if not, too bad for you?

No, God is not stingy with his gift of vision.

He sent his Son to open our blind eyes.

Anyone who draws near is soon given what Elisha was given, what Peter, James and John were given up there on the mountain of transfiguration.

Everyone who asks receives.

He who seeks finds.

You may not see what Elisha saw.

You may not see what Peter, James and John saw on the mountain.

But if you want God to make himself known to you in a personal way, it will happen.

Your eyes will open. You will see.

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. (II Cor. 4:6)

The God who said, “Let there be light”, at the dawn of creation turns on the light in your heart, and now you begin to see Jesus, to know him in a new way. When this happens, you’re up on the mountain with Elisha, with the disciples, with a great multitude which no one can number, of every nation, tribe and tongue.

No doubt most people reading these words have already had a taste of this at some point in their lives. For those who feel this hasn’t happened yet, it will.

If you are seeking, you will find.

God will give you vision.

But here’s the problem: we tend to confuse vision with reality.

The vision is not reality. It’s only a vision…

… until we do something with it.

In fact, if we don’t act on the vision, it will fade and leave us in deeper darkness than we were in before.

To help us turn the vision into reality, God takes us down into a valley, where we learn to act on the light of our vision. We come down from the mountain into a valley of struggle where we begin to turn the vision into reality.

And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. (II Kings 2:11-14)

Spiritually Elisha was up on the mountain. Elisha could have said, “Hey! This is great! I’ve just seen glory. I think I’ll build a shrine here with a plaque: “This is where Elijah went up to heaven.” And I’m going to stay right here, because this is what I’ve been looking for all my life!”

But that’s not what Elisha did. He left the spiritual mountain and went down into the valley where he turned his vision into something real. He took Elijah’s mantle – his authority from God, went back into the world, and started serving God’s people in Elijah’s place.

Now notice what Peter wants to do hundreds of years later, when he’s up on that mountain of vision. Peter wants to stick around and build a religious shrine.

“Master, it is well that we are here; let us make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were exceedingly afraid. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only. (Mark 9: 5b-8)

No shrines, Peter. You’re not going to make an institution out of this vision. You’ve seen my Son as he really is, so listen to him! Obey him!”

And where does Jesus take these men? down into the demon-possessed valley – into the real world, where Peter, James and John will begin to turn the vision into reality; as they learn from the Master how to lay down their lives for the Kingdom of God.

Whatever vision of God we receive is a gift.

If we allow him, God will cause our lives to be transformed by that vision.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. (II Corinthians 3:18)

The heavenly Father has already arranged a valley for each of us to walk through. In that valley, as we bring the light of God into the darkness of this world, we translate our vision into reality.

Just as Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah, struck the Jordan with it, and walked through the parted waters, we receive the Spirit of Jesus, and touch people’s lives with his redemptive power.

Many professing believers have an emaciated idea of church:

What’s church? You go into the building, sit in a pew, sing some hymns, listen to a preacher, drop some money on a plate, and you go to lunch. You’ve done your duty, you’ve been to church. But once you start getting the vision, that version of “church” isn’t enough.

God’s church, the Body of Christ, is much, much more.

It’s a double doorway.

The Vision Door and the Valley Door

One door opens to the glory of God, where our vision is renewed each time we gather. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

The other door opens into the valley, where people – people we know – are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord Jesus says to each of us “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” “My Spirit is your ‘Elijah’s mantle.’”

So go out there and feed those sheep, heal them, give them hope, harvest them for the kingdom.

Don’t just go through the vision door and forget the valley door.

The vision on the mountaintop is useless unless we follow Jesus down into the valley and connect with human lives in his name.

So how do we enter the valley as disciples of the Lord, when we walk out that door of our church or meeting hall?

We do exactly what Elisha did. Just as Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle and continued his prophetic ministry with double power, so we go out into that troubled world as men and women who have been anointed and sent by the living God.

Elisha didn’t pussyfoot with that mantle! He didn’t tiptoe down to the Jordan and say to himself “I wonder if this will work,” and timidly dip the thing into the water. No, he took that mantle and whacked the water with all his strength! “Where is the God of Elijah!,” and the water gave way to the redemptive power of God.

Pick up the mantle that falls to you every time you gather with other believers, and go out there and do something with it!

Don’t tiptoe!

Don’t pussyfoot!

Be bold, especially in your prayers to God.

Come boldly to the throne of Grace.

You’ve seen the Lord, so come to the Father in his name and boldly ask blessings for that person you’re pleading for.

“Where is the God of Elijah?”

Whack the water with the mantle!

God won’t be upset. He’ll be delighted that you’re starting to show a little faith!

Pray, and know that you’re being heard.

Pray, and know that the Spirit – Elijah’s mantle – is helping you.

As you move out among people, be there as someone who’s seen the light from God! Turn the vision into reality as you touch people with the life of God as you witness to the grace of the Lord Jesus.

If we gather in our fellowships week after week to have our vision renewed and then go out and never turn the vision into reality, how long can we expect to keep receiving vision from God?

Take the vision into the valley.

Pick up the mantle and serve!

The Spirit will go out there with you and show you exactly where and when and how.

You’ll be amazed at the things that will happen that never happened through you before. Expect that some time during the days which follow your reading of these words someone will come stumbling across your path with a need.

Maybe they’re lonely.

Maybe they’re sick.

Maybe they’re short of funds.

Maybe they’re angry with God.

Now they’ve stumbled into your space. What are you going to do?

You can pretend that you have nothing to offer and walk on, or, you can pick up Elijah’s mantle and act as God leads.

All you have to do is make a start.

Open your mouth, and the Spirit will give you words.

Reach out with a helping hand and the Spirit will empower you.

You will be amazed at what Elijah’s mantle will accomplish through you, out there in that valley of despair!

Now the mountain vision is becoming real in your life. Expect this to happen.

Trust God to open your eyes – He will.

And look forward to what he can accomplish through you.

Prayer: Lord, thank you, thank you for filling us with your Spirit, for lighting our hearts with vision, for giving our eyes the ability to see your glory, your beauty, your truth. Help us to keep our eyes on you, truly seeing you… so that we can receive a double portion of your Spirit and pick up your mantle. And may we take this mantle and enthusiastically, confidentially, and boldly whack the ground with it… taking this precious gift into the dark valleys of this world so that we can accomplish what you have for us to do. Amen.

Message: Richard E. Bieber 1997 Sharable/Printable Copy

Featured Artists: Courtesy and kindness of Matt Philleo Website: Mattphilleo.com

#Elisha #Pick_up_the_Mantle #Pray_Boldly #The_Valley #The_Vision #Matt_Philleo_Art

Posted February 22, 2025

IT IS GOD WHO JUSTIFIES

There was once a man who considered it his vocation in life to stand up on top of a hill, dressed in a clean white suit, with a shiny stainless steel shovel tossing muddy slime on the people who walked down below. One day an old lady cried out, “Why are you doing this?” as she wiped the mud out of her eyes and shook it off her tattered dress. The man above said, “It’s my duty to show you hypocrites how filthy you are.”

One day when our hero came home, dressed in his white suit, from an especially strenuous day of shoveling mud on the people down below, he had a strange surprise. Barely had he turned the key in the lock of his door when it burst open and out rushed a veritable mountain of muddy slime which quickly engulfed him up to the neck. Through the open door he could see into his house and discovered that every stick of furniture was covered with slime. Slime was running down the stairs and oozing underneath the windows.

Just then he spotted a man who was dressed not in a clean white garment but in burning light and whose face shone like the sun and he demanded “Where did this slime come from?” and the answer was, “From you. Every drop of slime in this house came from your shovel. It took a while but it found its way home.”

Some of us have had quite a bit to say about the danger of cheap grace. The danger of giving people the idea that if they come to church, sing a few hymns, sit through a sermon once a week they are okay with God. The danger of giving the impression that as long as you believe, it doesn’t matter how you live. Baptism without repentance, communion without commitment as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said. The emphasis that, while the door of the kingdom of God is open, it is also narrow and that in order to pass through the door you have to leave your own life behind. We stress that God does not play games and that whoever puts his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God.

But, creeping up on us, we have another danger.

The danger that we begin to make ourselves the judges of other people’s commitment.

We draw our line down through the church to decide who are the true disciples, and who are not; who are the sheep and who are the goats; who are the wheat and who are the tares.

Before we know it, our minds are engulfed in a huge mountain of condemnation.

The minute I take the step of measuring other people’s lives, judging them, condemning them in my heart things which my Lord expressly calls me not to do, that minute….

…. I lose all sense of what God has done for me.

I can no longer see the meaning of the blood of Jesus, and how desperately I need it for cleansing.

I am no longer standing on the ground that I am justified before God… by His shear mercy.

By making myself judge over other people, I immediately forfeit my own justification before God.

I lose God’s peace and I can no longer include myself in the scriptural promise …”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,”

… Because I have moved out of Jesus, out of His mercy, out of his love…

…and put myself on the treadmill of trying to justify myself in comparison with other people’s lives.

Of course I feel uneasy. And I try to make myself feel better by telling myself that I am at least sincere.

I am not like those slobs over there, I’m committed.

I’m not undisciplined like those chain smokers, I’m disciplined.

I’m not like those spiritual morons over there, I know my scripture.

I sacrifice, I am a true disciple.

But even that doesn’t quite do it for me. So I go looking for friends who will make me think that these things I’m thinking about myself are true. They will assure me and of course in exchange, I assure them that they also are true disciples. And yet, in my heart for all the wonderful things I tell myself, and all the wonderful assurances and smiles that come from these select friends, in my heart I am condemned.

All the condemnation that I have been shoveling so freely on these hypocrites, these publicans and sinners, and all those half-baked saints around me, just slid right down and collected in my heart.

And now that sludge with me begins to exude an odor that announces my coming afar off.

When you justify yourself, you always end up condemning others.

On the other hand when you are justified by God alone, you condemn no one.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus….

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.

Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Romans 8:1, 31-34

What a relief to come back to that mercy without which not one of us could stand before God!

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

Psalm 130:3-4

What claim do you have on God right now?

When you stand before God do you expect him to answer your prayer because you’ve been disciplined? You’ve been getting into the word, and you’ve been loving and you’ve been diligent and you’ve been faithful?

The only claim you have on God right now is his mercy, nothing else.

His son shed his blood, went up on that cross and died as if he were dying only for your sin, and rose only for your justification as if you were the only one who needed to be justified.

He now intercedes for you by name.

He prays for you by name before the Father’s throne.

And He loves everyone who has ever been born just like that.

It doesn’t matter if you have been following the Lord for 50 years, and it doesn’t matter if you know your New Testament by heart in the Greek….

You need God’s mercy today.

And without that mercy you are lost.

You can’t justify yourself.

It is God who justifies.

And how does he do it?

He does it by forgiving. He sends his son to you with the scars of the nails still in His hands. And then Jesus says to you “Take heart my child, your sins are forgiven.”

You don’t just need to hear that on the day that you are reborn, you need to hear it now.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. ‘Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, (not anything in me), and grace will bring me home”.

Of course….

I have to be obedient

I have to be disciplined.

I have to love my neighbor.

I have to get into the Word.

I have to go out and follow in the footsteps of my Lord.

But I will never do any of those things from my heart, apart from the working of God’s grace within me.

And by the power of His grace….I walk in the footsteps of my Lord, day by day.

What can I say, but, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”? “We are unprofitable servants and we have only done our duty.”

God help us!

Then God pours out his spirit afresh, and lifts us up, and strengthens our wobbly legs, and says “Come my child to a fresh start. I’ll take care of it, let’s go.”

And as long as we are walking in God’s mercy with all our hearts…. who can condemn us?

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

If God didn’t even spare His own son, but offered Him up for us all, will He not give us all things?

Moreover when I walk in God’s mercy…. I begin to view the people around me…. with eyes of mercy. Knowing what the Lord has done for me…. I know he can do the same for them.

I don’t judge them.

When I see brothers and sisters floundering and in confusion, I don’t judge them.

And before I go rushing in there with my heavy advice, I need to be sure that I have God’s permission. Because it is before their own master they stand or fall…. and they will be upheld, for he is able to make them stand. So I’m not forever putting these people, these floundering, struggling souls on the defensive with my superior spiritual knowledge or confusing them with my condescending self righteous advice.

Rather, I get down where I belong and join them in crying out for God’s mercy, and hanging on to God’s promises, for I know that He is able to correct the erring, lift up the fallen, strengthen the weak, and save the lost.

He is able.

God help us to admit that all too much of the time we have not been living in that mercy. Nor have we been pouring out our lives in joy, and praise, and thanksgiving to the Lord who justified us.

God help us to admit that much of the time our eyes are off of the Lamb who justifies us with his blood, and instead on all those struggling sinners all around us, who aren’t making the grade, who we’ve been shoveling mud on.

God help us to admit that in our own hearts we have been busy justifying ourselves and not letting God justify us. “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are.”

And this is why we have so little peace.

And this is why people run away as we approach….

….because instead of the sweet aroma of the Christ, they can smell from far off the stench of that mountain of condemnation that we’ve been throwing all around on these other people and has been slipping right back down into our own hearts.

And this is why we haven’t been able to come down from the temple justified. We have made it impossible for God to justify us because we have been too busy justifying ourselves….trusting in ourselves, trusting in our righteousness and despising others.

But with a simple turning of the heart, this can all change.

All we have to do is stop measuring how short our brothers and sisters have been falling. And confess before God the sin which is in our own hearts. “Lord, I don’t come here to justify myself in your sight today. I come for help, I come to be forgiven. God be merciful to me, a sinner! Lord, save me from my sin! God help me!”

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Prayer: Lord forgive us for our mudslinging. it’s made us filthy and unloving. It’s made us ungrateful for all you’ve done for us. It’s made us stink. Forgive us for our self righteous sanctimony and condescending attitudes. Rescue us from our delusions of spiritual superiority. Take the stench of our condemnation away from us. Help us to see those we so easily want to judge in the light of our own sins. Help us to see that you intercede for all of us, that your mercy rescues all of us, and yes, that you are able, that you and only you can justify us. Help us to rejoice together… that before you there is no condemnation for any of us. Amen.

Message: Richard E. Bieber 1975 Sharable/Printable Copy

Featured Artists: Courtesy and kindness of Jane Spencer Website: The Secret Place on Facebook

#Don’tJudge #ItIsGodWhoJustifies #Mudslinging #OurOnlyClaimIsHisMercy #JaneSpencerArt

Posted January 31, 2025

THE “CHRISTIAN AGENDA” OR THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

Here’s the choice we face, as believers in North America:

Am I pursuing the Christian Agenda?

Or am I pursuing the Kingdom of God?

Why a choice? you say. Is not the Christian Agenda the same as the Kingdom of God? Are not the leaders of our Biblical Christian faith making clear the demands of God’s Kingdom in this pagan world? After all, the Christian Agenda makes a lot of sense.

Are we not to hold life sacred?

Are we not to guard the sanctity of marriage?

Isn’t it important to make sure that Christian values are written into the laws of the land?

And if it becomes necessary to compromise with the dark powers to achieve these goals, surely God understands. God is blessing our efforts abundantly these days. Christian values are on the rise in Washington and across the continent. True, there is a resurgence of “faith” in many places. Huge assemblies of believers are popping up in cities from coast to coast. Christian TV and radio and publishing are thriving. The Christian Agenda is having an impact.

But does the Christian Agenda manifest the Kingdom of God?

Does it truly reflect the gospel of Jesus?

Is it producing men and women who are crucified with Christ, dead to themselves and alive to the Father’s will?

WHERE THE CHRISTIAN AGENDA AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD PART WAYS

1. Power

It all comes down to power. What kind of power drives us? What kind of power do we rely on as we make our way through this troubled world?

There are only two kinds of power, as far as the Kingdom of God is concerned:

The power of this world, and the power of the cross.

According to scripture, the power of this world—money, the sword, political influence, etc. — is spiritually tainted, because it thrives on deceit.

And we know where deceit comes from.

The power of the cross, by contrast, never deceives, is always true.

The power of the cross pierces the darkness of this world with Light.

Jesus kept his distance from the powers of this world, as he spread the gospel of the Kingdom. Again, and again Jesus ignored this world’s movers and shakers.

When they tried to get Jesus to flee from Herod’s sword, he defied the threat and called Herod a fox.

When they sought to trap Jesus into a conflict with Caesar, he replied, “Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s.”

Yet, wrapped in apparent weakness, Jesus exercised unspeakable power.

The Spirit of God moved through his hands to heal the sick, open blind eyes, set captive minds free from demonic oppression.

By this power Jesus forgave sinners and raised the dead.

And this power, the power of the cross, flowing through the Holy Spirit, was the only gift Jesus passed on to his followers, as he returned to the Father.

But here’s a truth that professing Christians have overlooked down through the centuries:

The power of the cross never allies itself with the power of this world.

The power of the cross spurns political influence, rejects those short-cuts to success which Satan relentlessly offers us. Jesus never turns to Caesar or Herod or Wall Street to help his cause. He solved that issue in his wilderness temptation once-and-for-all.

You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.

2. Money

“You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

Can you picture Jesus standing before those multitudes appealing for funds?

Do we ever hear him promising prosperity to those who give him their “seed money”?

Did he ever send his disciple out to “raise support for the work”?

Jesus and the disciples had to buy food, pay for lodging, give financial help to the needy along the way. But we never hear him asking for money. Jesus practiced what he preached.

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.”

Jesus did not ignore money. In fact, Jesus insists that we are to be faithful to God in the way we use money.

“If you have not been found faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?”

Money was Jesus’ servant; never his master. Nor was money ever the source of a moment’s anxiety.

By comparison, the Christian Agenda is all too often advanced and sustained by money. Money becomes the Master, while we pay lip service to God.

“If we had more money, we could do more good.” Hence the constant fund-raising, making money the engine that keeps the work going. So how does all this square with the Master’s warning?

“You cannot serve God and Mammon.”

3. Celebrity Leadership

Does our Christian Agenda come from Jesus? Or has this agenda been created by the celebrity leadership of the Christian world in North America?

A handful of high-profile leaders in the Christian world wield overwhelming influence over the minds of millions of believers. We listen and conform because these leaders are, after all, highly respected. Why shouldn’t we listen and conform?

But our Lord counsels us to beware— and think!

He holds us accountable when we allow our faith to be molded by Christian leaders with an agenda—an agenda which clearly deviates from our Lord’s gospel of the Kingdom.

“You shall know them by their fruits.”

4. Hierarchy

The Lord Jesus commands us to avoid hierarchies and titles.

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brethren. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called masters, for you have one master, the Christ. He who is greatest among you shall be your servant; whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Never mind the fact that for centuries and centuries our churches have been controlled by hierarchies. Even churches which claim to be free of clergy have often slipped into some form of top-down control.

But the Kingdom of God can only function with power from heaven when the “CEO and board of directors” mentality gives way to a lowly servant-leadership.

Our Lord repeated this truth again and again, yet it has been largely ignored.

5. The Kingdom

“The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe the good news!”

From the day Jesus stepped out of the wilderness and spoke those words, he never deviated from his one focus: The Kingdom of God.

All his parables, all his teachings were one relentless call to leave this world and its ways behind, and enter God’s Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom, God’s World….

Where God’s will is done as it is done in heaven.

Where Truth conquers lies.

Where Resurrection Life conquers death.

Where the Lamb’s blood conquers sin.

The Kingdom is not a set of doctrines we subscribe to.

The Kingdom is not a tightly controlled organization with headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.

The Kingdom is a life we live under the power of the cross.

And this life is made clear, and made possible by only one person: our Lord Jesus. The Kingdom belongs to God alone.

The Kingdom which Jesus opens to us as we soak up the New Testament gospels, is far simpler and cleaner than our “Christian Values” and “Christian Agendas” and “Christian Programs.”

If we take the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5, 6, and 7) or the Kingdom Parables (Matthew 13) or Jesus’ Upper Room Discourse, (John 13-17), we cannot miss the difference in tone and spirit from the “Christian Agenda” presently advanced by today’s evangelical leadership.

Our Lord warns us: we’re not all going to make it into the Kingdom.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he/she who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

So where is my heart?

If my heart is in the Kingdom of God,

I am an alien and an exile in this world.

I am in this world, but no longer of this world.

Just as surely as I cannot serve God and Mammon at the same time, I cannot belong to God’s Kingdom and this world at the same time.

We thank God for teachers and servant leaders who strive to help us walk the walk of discipleship.

But our Lord Jesus makes clear that each of us is responsible to weigh what’s being taught against his simple call to follow him all the way.

All the way to a cross. His cross, and ours.

The Narrow Door, which leads to life in God’s Kingdom

Prayer: Merciful Lord, bring us back to your Kingdom. Forgive us for our agendas, vendettas, and attitudes which lead us away from your Kingdom. Open our eyes and hearts when we veer from following you, when we forget what you teach us, when we forget the lives you call us to. Open our ears and minds to recognize lies and deception, especially when it comes from Christian leaders. Help us to stop grasping for power and change through worldly leaders and laws. And yes, help us to reject and spurn these shortcuts continuously offered by Satan. Instead, may we grasp the power available to us if we would but embrace it, the power of your cross. A power that brings the change we desire in supernatural, holy ways. A power that brings healing, life, redemption, and freedom from darkness and pain. A power that brings your Spirit, your presence to the lost. Help us to keep our faith in you, to trust you…instead of celebrity, money, and hierarchy. Help us to think, to see, and to discern when these are leading us away from your gospel. Instead, may we follow you, follow you all the way…allowing nothing to deviate us from pursuing you, from pursuing your Kingdom and finding that narrow door that leads to heavenly life for us and for those whom we touch. Amen.

Message: Richard E. Bieber 2018 Sharable/Printable Copy

Featured Artists: Courtesy and kindness of Melani Pyke Website: melpyke.com

#ChristianAgenda #KingdomOfGod #Expect #WaitingForSomeoneToAsk # #MelaniPykeArt