The New Tolerance

If you are alive, you’ve noticed. But perhaps this article will give language for it.

We live in a day where there is profound intolerance exercised in the name of tolerance. I call it “the new tolerance.”

It goes something like this.

“If you don’t agree with my beliefs and my value system, then you’re intolerant.”

Which being interpreted means: “In the name of tolerance, I’m intolerant of everyone who doesn’t bow to my values and beliefs.”

Or

“I’m intolerant of everyone except those who agree with me, and in the name of tolerance, I will brand them intolerant.”

What is tolerance?

True tolerance doesn’t force people to adopt a belief system, whatever it may be.

True tolerance can “agree to disagree” and go on with one’s life in peace without ever entering into a social media smackdown over politics, ethics, or theology.

True tolerance values all mortals as made in God’s image, and therefore, regards them worthy of love, while at the same time pointing out areas of disagreement and even condemning beliefs and actions that violate God’s will.

Disagreeing with a person’s habits, values, or ideas isn’t the equivalent of hating, fearing, despising, or wishing them ill.

Loving a person doesn’t mean approving their practices or beliefs.

Love and approval aren’t the same thing.

Even God doesn’t always approve those whom He loves.

Jesus, who is the human face of God, said so much:

“He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”

~ Luke 6:35

By contrast, the new tolerance says, “I will tolerate everything except those who disagree with me.”

That, dear friends, is an extremely intolerant tolerance.

Let it not be so among the people of God.

- Frank Viola

Sowing and Reaping

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord. --Hosea 10:12

Coming from a farming community, I have sat on a tractor more than once and thought how nice it would be if we did not have to do that every year. Every farmer knows the truth that he cannot sow once and then keep reaping for the next seventy years. The effects of sowing and reaping last for one season. Therefore, if we were to apply this principle to consequences, we could readily see that they, too, are for a season. Sow to the flesh and reap to the flesh; sow to the spirit and reap to the spirit. Galatians 6:8, “For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.” However, a person cannot sow to the Spirit once and expect to reap the consequences of that act for the rest of his life. The same is true for the flesh. If one sows to the flesh, for that season he will reap flesh. The answer is to start sowing to the Spirit in this season and the next, so in that way each new season will bring something new, beautiful, fresh, and living to reap, rather than by sowing to the flesh and reaping death. 

It makes no sense that a Christian would commit a stupid act of the flesh and God would keep him under bondage, placing him for the rest of his life in a new category entitled “Second-class Believer”!Again, if it were possible to commit one sin that would cause suffering the rest of his life, then it would also be possible to commit one act of righteousness that would carry a person through his whole life. But abiding is for the moment, the season. God is not interested in punishing us for the rest of our lives. Often believers think everything that goes wrong is a consequence of a past mistake, like marrying the “wrong” person, succumbing to temptation and sin, or betraying a loved one. Very likely it is not the past that is causing misery, but today’s walking in the flesh.

OK, how many of us recognized this scenario and quickly admitted a personal experience, or acknowledged someone else’s fling?

Sowing and reaping.  A simple law, correct?  With many optional issues of sowing and many optional issues of reaping, correct?  What is about these familiar words of God that we do not seem to “connect” with?

Each of us has to take Michael’s discipleship to heart, and make some choices about our past, our present, and our future.  Correct sowing on our part yields a spiritual harvest from God.  But we must keep one thing in mind: WE are the ones who do whatever SOWING.  God only enters into the reaping.

- Mike Wells

Ask Of Me

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you will, and it will be given you.
John 15:7

I have always had trouble with this verse. Here
are some comments that I found helpful.

In creation God acts sovereignly and alone. But in the
unfolding of HIs redemptive purposes, He wills it other-
wise. He chooses to unite with Himself human instru-
ments and share with them the excitement of creativity.
The incarnation is part of the working out of this plan.

In sending His Son to become a man, God revealed in
a new way His purpose to limit Himself to working in
and through a relationship with man. The vital, indis-
pensable part of this working relationship is prayer.
God communicated His will to the Son in the intensive
exercise of prayer that occupied so many of our Lord's
nights in desert places.

This brings us to the basic divine principle in prayer--
that God unites His people with Himself in whatever He
wants to do, first leading them to pray and then giving
the thing for which He burdened them to pray.

The same principle is taught by the Lord Jesus in His
Upper Room discourse under the symbolism of the vine
and the branches. Abiding in Him is the condition He
established for our asking and His acting. What had
been set up.  Arthur Matthews

You see, it all comes back to one word, "abiding."
Jesus says, "without Him, we can do nothing." I wonder
if when we are judged at the Judgement Seat of Christ,
it will be for what Jesus has done through us, His power
not ours?

It is always about Him.

The judgement is not for sins because those have been
paid for.

- Victorious Indwelling

THE REALM OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

             There are many strange ideas around about the difference between the terms “Kingdom of God” and “Kingdom of Heaven”.  Carnal-minded men have long tried to make a distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven, as though they were two separate kingdoms.  Our Lord’s instructions upon sending out the twelve were, according to Matthew, “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat. 10:7).  According to Luke, “He sent them forth to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Lk. 9:2).  Certainly Jesus did not preach two conflicting messages at the same time!  Surely He was not announcing two separate and distinct kingdoms and declaring them both to be at hand!  These, and many other passages, show the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are one and the same.  Yet — there is a difference!  For, you see, heaven is a REALM and God is a PERSON.  The Kingdom has its origin in the REALM OF HEAVEN, and in the PERSON OF GOD.  The term “Kingdom of Heaven” denotes from whence (from what place, location, realm or dimension) the Kingdom proceeds, whereas the term “Kingdom of God” reveals from whom (from what person or being) the Kingdom originates.  When we consider these two items, place and person, it immediately follows that as to REALM the Kingdom is out of the heavenlies, but as to PERSON the Kingdom comes from God.  It is called the Kingdom OF God because it is from and by God.  He is the Instigator and Head of the Kingdom.  It is called the Kingdom OF Heaven because it has its inception in heaven — the invisible realm of Spirit.

- Preston Eby

On the Cross ........

"On the Cross Jesus absorbed you into Himself. Colossians 2 says He absorbed the laws and codes that stood opposed to you and He CANCELLED them! He redeemed you and me from the curse of the law so the blessings can come to us freely! Everything about you that could be judged was swallowed up and absorbed into Jesus Christ! Everything you have done past, present and future was totally removed from the memory of God! Jesus who never sinned once was made your sin so that you and I who don't live obediently all the time can be seen as TOTALLY righteous ALL the time in God's eyes!

You died in the body of Jesus! That is what the Bible teaches in Romans 6 and Galatians 2. You were buried with Jesus, united with Him in His resurrection. When He came out the grave so did you. You were co-ascended to the heavenly realms with Jesus and are currently coseated with Jesus in heavenly places! You are not trying to get to heaven - you are in heaven already with Jesus! Romans 5:20 says that where sin increased grace did MUCH MORE abound! What it is saying is that the law of the Old Covenat made people sin more but the grace of the New Covenant empowers us to get strength and mastery over sinning as well!

Romans 6:14 says that sin will not have mastery over you because you are not under law but under grace! When sin increased through the law grace came in abundance to take away the mastery of sin off our lives. When people say that if you take the law off me then nothing is left to restrain me from sinning - people say but if you take the law off me then I can go out and commit adultery! They are giving a revelation of the adultery that is in their hearts. Because the law stirs up sin but grace gives us mastery over sin. Galatians 3:24 says that the law was put in charge to lead the human race to Jesus Christ. The law was to be so severe, perfect, holy, harsh and beyond the standards of man so that we would admit we have absolutely no hope but to depend on Jesus Christ.

The Bible says in Galatians 3 that now we have come to Christ we are no longer prisoners of the law and Romans 7 says we are dead to the law so that we may bear fruit to God. So we must love the law of God for the REASON that God gave the law. If you love the law because you know that the law was meant to lead you to God then you will get closer to God and more humble and more anointed. But if you love the law because you think it makes you more holy and more righteous then you will get further from God and you will get more self-righteous. The law has gone! All I have got is grace and love and mercy and blessing! Not dependant on my performance but on Jesus! What is left?! Permanent joy, happiness, signs and wonders, unity! 100% of your relational problems is based on what I am talking about today. From the Old Covenant to the New God totally changed the way that He relates to you. Under the Old Covenant God only relates to you through the law and never by grace. Under the New Covenant God NEVER relates to you through the law but ONLY through grace!

Hebrews 8:6 says we have a better covenant with better promises and a superior Mediator!

Under the law God demanded of you a perfect righteousness but under grace He provides for you His perfect righteousness." Rob Rufus sermon

"The New Covenant says.......

"The New Covenant says that God accepts you, loves you, favours you, accepts you not because of your performance but because of Jesus obedience and performance on your behalf. That is the New Covenant! Jesus is the superior Mediator! Where the ministry of death and condemnation finishes forever and the ministry of blessing starts forever!

The entire New Covenant can be summed up in this; Jesus is ENOUGH! All Paul's writings to Romans and Galatians can be summed up in this; Jesus plus anything equals NOTHING. Jesus plus nothing equals EVERYTHING!

The church world today is being challenged by the Spirit as to how they will align their relationship to God - a mixture of law and grace which is nothing at all or a pure atmosphere of grace of New Covenant.

I hate sin and I don't encourage sin! I hate it if it come(s) to me! I forgive it in you! As you do to me! I do not encourage sin at all! But the time you are under the most pressure to go back to the law is when you have just done something wrong! You think if I can do enough and pray enough then I may earn my way back to God! You do not earn your way back to God - Jesus already earned your way back to God! You are ALWAYS the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! If you have just sinned don't go into gloom or condemnation then thank the Father that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus and;

My disobedience does not disqualify Christ's obedience on my behalf!" Rob Rufus sermon excerpt from Aligning Our Allegiances For The Anointing To Flow at Full Volume Preached on Sunday 10th June 2007

Do You Love Me?

Breakfast is over and Peter walks with Jesus by the
sea. They talk. You have read the conversation but
probably you have not understood that the word in
Greek for 'love' is not what we translate as love in
English. Here is what Peter heard.

...Oh Simon Peter, son of Jonas, are you Loving
(Agapeo, pure unselfish love) Me greater than
these? He said to Him emphatically Yes, Lord,
You Know that I affectionately love (phileo, bro-
theraly love) You. He said to Him, You must feed
my lambs.

He said to him, again, the second time. Oh Simon
Jonas, are you Loving (agapeo) Me. He said em-
phatically Yes, Oh Lord, You know that I affection-
lately love (phileo) You. He said to him, You must
shepherd My sheep.

He said to him a third time, Oh Simon Peter, do
you affectionately love (phileo) Me? Peter was
made grieved, because He spoke to him a third
time, are you affectionately loving (phileo) Me?
So then he spoke to Him, Oh Lord, you know all
things. You know that I affectionately love (phileo)
You. Jesus said, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17
From the Greek translation, The Pure Word.

Only God can love with pure unselfish love.
The pain in Peter for his denial of his Lord was
great and when Jesus asked Him to go for a walk
with Him, his heart sank--at least most of us are in
fear after such failure. Peter was totally incapable
of using the agape word in response to Jesus' ques-
tion. It is interesting to me that Jesus came down to
Peter's level in the third question. Denial is such a
terrible thing, but Agape Love Itself, covers and
blots out that which we cannot move. Peter was
given the opportunity to affirm his love for Jesus
three times which matched the three times that he
denied his Lord.

You, are loved with pure, unselfish love
just as Peter was. It is only His agape Love within
that is able to love, agapeo, others unselfishly.