featuring Kingdom Thoughts Part 2 A Traditional Christmas Sugar Cut-out Cookies Specks and Planks Forgiveness

Transcription

1 Publication of: A New & Living Way, Inc. PO Box 259, Ashley IN or info@newandlivingway.org Volume VII, December featuring Kingdom Thoughts Part 2 A Traditional Christmas Sugar Cut-out Cookies Specks and Planks Forgiveness

2 Kingdom THOUGHTS by Shelly Diehm PART 2 Kingdom Picture a winding road in your mind. Posted along the roadside is a speed limit sign. The sign represents the law. You must stay within the speed limit. Now picture that same road with no sign at all. No boundaries, no speed limit and no way to get in trouble. Why? When there isn t anything to measure wrong doing, then there is no way for you to be punished for wrong doing. Romans 4:15 states, Where there is no law there is no transgression. God took away the sign (law). Where there is no sign (law) there is no transgression (breaking of the law). God has established us under the covenant of grace which replaced the covenant made under the law. It was sealed in the blood of Jesus. What is the big deal about condemnation? This teaching of grace looks like I am given a license to sin! It s dangerous! I could hurt myself, I could hurt others! What is wrong with feeling guilty? Isn t it holy to feel guilty when you have done wrong? No! CONDEMNATION KILLS! It is a deadly thing the devil uses to keep you from receiving your inheritance. Does it mean it is okay to sin? No. Does it mean that sin isn t there? No. Sin IS present because you live in a flesh body and that is what it does. It sins! Your flesh body has a mind and will of its own. The part of you the devil works hard to keep you focused on is your flesh so that he can dominate and be in control. There are many Christians today who have the Spirit of God on the inside of them, but they are dominated and controlled by the devil. 2 How do you get out of that mess? You don t want to be controlled by the devil! You don t want the sin in your flesh reigning and ruling over your kingdom. Did God leave you in a place that you would be controlled by the sin in your flesh? No. What He did do was give you a gift of righteousness which came through salvation. Imagine the buckets (visual aid) When you received Jesus, God placed you in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:21). You were reborn. Now we know according to the Bible, that for something to be born again, it first has to die. The Bible says you died to sin and your life is now hid in Christ. The life that you now live, you live by the faith of the Son of God (Romans 6:11, Colossians 3:3, Galatians 2:20). What died? Your flesh nature. You died to the control of sin over you. Sin didn t die you did. Sin is actually still there YOU died to it. Many For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). people, when they hear this message are relieved because they think that temptation is over. Yet as soon as they get out of Bible study and back home, it doesn t take 5 minutes and they see sin! Then they re disappointed and feel failure. Listen, the

3 death that took place was you dying TO sin. It s you dying to the control of it. How can it control you if you re dead? You now are free to choose life and blessing when before, you had no choice. You were simply controlled by that old nature and the curse. When you died, you were reborn into a new creature. You received a new mind, new body and new fruit. It was a package deal! Before, you had envy and strife now you have love and joy! If I have all these things, where are they? When I look in the mirror, I see the same old junk I was the day before I got saved. My kingdom is just as a mess as it was before. I m no different and the so-called Christians I m around aren t either. They live just like the rest of the world and talk about how much they love God, but yet they really aren t any different. I have about as much power as a microwave that isn t plugged into the wall. According to the Word, if you have accepted Jesus sacrifice on your behalf then you ARE in Christ and born again. YOU have received a new nature, a new mind, and new characteristics called the fruit of the Spirit. That s all nice, but what good is it if it isn t showing up or working? There s a medical name that describes your dual personality right now it s called schizophrenic! You re a freak! One part of you is filled with darkness and sin (Romans 7:17-20), the other part of you is filled with light and righteousness (Spirit man). Now what? Paul asks in Romans 7:24, O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me According to the Word, if you have accepted Jesus sacrifice on your behalf then you ARE in Christ and born again. from this body of death? JESUS! (Romans 7:25a: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ) You see, when you got born again, God through Jesus put you in right standing and fellowship with Himself. A death happened in which you died to sin (Romans 6:6). Then you were reborn to righteousness. If Jesus were here in a way that you were looking at Him in the physical, He would say to you, I want you to reckon yourself dead to sin, but alive in Me. Think from the new mind I gave you and use My will instead of the old one you ve been trained by. Give no place to that old mind and will. It s trouble and will get you into trouble too (Romans 6:8). Start focusing on that you are in right standing with Me. It s My gift to you. Take it by faith. You don t have to do anything to be righteous. I did it for you. Just accept that you ARE RIGHTEOUS in Me. It s free! Why do I need to do this? Because when you focus on that you are righteous and you simply believe it instead of trying to do things to be righteous, the result is practical holiness. It will change you! Right believing produces right living. What you do is not who you are. It s what Jesus DID that makes you who you are. You are righteous through Him, not by what you do. You are righteous by faith and when you accept that, you will come to KNOW God and the power of His resurrection. 3

4 A Traditional Christmas ~ Shelly Diehm Christmas at the Pranger s has always been filled with family tradition. So much so, it has passed down to even another generation. I too, celebrate with the same memories I had as a kid. Dad and Mom had special things they did during the holiday. Each year we would put up a tree. Dad would string the lights and Mom would hand us pretty glass bulbs and homemade decorations to hang, but that wasn t my favorite part. I could hardly wait to finish decorating because I knew what was coming. While we went off to bed, Dad would take a white sheet and spread it in a circle underneath our Christmas tree. On one side, he had the neatest nativity scene, complete with all the characters in the Bible story. In my mind those little people would come alive. When I got the chance and no one was looking, I would pick up baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in that manger and keep Him warm in my hand. On the other side of the sheet, was the most beautiful, magical village I had ever seen. It had little houses with wreaths in the windows, pine trees that sparkled with colored glitter, and an ice covered pond in the center. A train also chugged around our tree shining its headlight and blowing tiny streams of smoke. Early December mornings, I would get out of bed and tiptoe downstairs to plug in the Christmas lights. I would lie beneath our tree and play with the people and animals in the stable that Dad built. Then I would pretend I lived in the village with snow colored roofs. There were two little elves that lived there too. One had a green hat and one had a red hat. Dad and Mom? Did you ever wonder why those little people moved around from time to time? me neither. Today, I have created many of the same memories for my own children. They too, have lain under our own tree and played with baby Jesus. My boys have driven their tractors into the farm village I made with wreaths in the windows, lights on the barn, snow on the roofs and colored glitter in the pine trees. For years, they have heard about the Christmas story and huddled beside me while 4

5 For freedom, Christ has made you free Galatians 5:1 I read Twas the Night Before Christmas, as we dunked our frosted cut-out cookies in milk or hot chocolate. What does all this have to do with being spiritual? Absolutely nothing! Point being? God doesn t mind you having traditions of men. I believe the thing He minds is if traditions of men have and control you. He does not want you under a law of bondage. If doing memorable, family traditions has become a law to you, you are not obligated to those things. In fact, if that s the case, try doing none of those things this year. Consider creating new traditions of your own. We have. My brother, Chris, recently shared this scripture with me. He said, Shel, Galatians 5:1 says, For freedom, Christ has made you free. It s for FREEDOM Jesus has made you free. It s o.k. for you to be free from your traditions if they bring you into bondage in which you are experiencing heaviness and drudgery. I don t decorate under my tree because it s an expected, Pranger Family Tradition, you know. I decorate that way because it s the warmth of a memory in which I find shear delight. I still, at 41 years old, love the tradition that came from my parents and grandparents. I am free as I tiptoe down the stairs, plug in the Christmas lights, and lie on the floor. Colored lights glisten on the pages of my Bible as I read. It is just like old times. Everyone is still in bed sound asleep and once again, here I am wide awake, all grown up with Jesus under the tree. Sugar Cut-outCookies 2 cups flour ½ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. salt 2/3 cup butter or margarine 1 cup sugar 1 egg beaten 2 tbs. milk ½ tsp. vanilla Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt together. Cream butter and sugar, blend in egg, milk and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Chill in refrigerator 2 hours. Roll 1/8 inch thick (or thicker if desired) on floured board. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake on un-greased cookie sheet in moderate oven 350 degrees, minutes. Frost with favorite frosting. (Bakes 5 dozen.) 5

6 s Specksand by Jackie Nitecki One Saturday I was drilling holes in my closet to run wires for my cable box. As I drilled a hole in a shelf above my head the sawdust started to fall down on me. Even though I put on glasses to protect my eyes, a speck of sawdust got in my eye. I flooded my eye with water and eye drops. It didn t help. I tried to turn my eyelid inside out. Some people have that talent; I am not one of those people. The only way I could go without pain was to hold my eyelid away from my eye by pulling on my eyelashes. It was extremely unpleasant and an ineffective method. I sat on the edge of my bed wondering what to do when it occurred to me to cry out to Daddy God, which I did. Within seconds the speck was gone. No pain, no damage. Completely, perfectly effective. As I thanked Him, He asked me about that speck in my eye. I thought, It was just a speck, but felt like a plank. He reminded me of Luke 6:42: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? I laughed and said, It feels like I had both. He said, You did, but no more. If we look at that speck and plank as sin we all had both. Often we look at our brother and point his sin out with great ease. Just as often we look at ourselves and point out our sins. What Father was trying to show me was to stop focusing on my brother s sin, and to stop focusing on my own. He removed all punishment of sin through His marvelous provision in Jesus Christ. Past, present and future sin has been paid for. Big and small. There is no longer imputation of sin for me or my brother in Christ. I am no longer a sinner. I am a new creature in Christ. The old has passed away. It is dead. It was crucified with Christ. Just as He instantly removed the sawdust from my eye with no side effects, He has removed the guilt and condemnation of sin from me. No more a sinner. Now the righteousness of God in Christ. Focus on what is true, noble, right and pure, lovely, admirable (Philippians 4:8). That would be Christ and you are in Him. Know who you are now, In Christ. Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 6

7 Forgiveness ~ Joe and Anne Pranger Forgiveness. Jesus Christ came to earth and lived 33 years. He died, was crucified and buried. On the third day, He arose and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. The Word says He shed His blood for the remission of sins. In plain English, He spilled His blood for our forgiveness. We were let go, scott free! No price to pay it was paid for us. We now have free access to the throne of God through the shed blood of Jesus. We can go boldly to the throne of grace anywhere, anytime. What a magnificent gift! Amazing. We have been totally forgiven for all time and for all deeds, yet we will turn around and hold un-forgiveness in our hearts toward another for wronging us. The Word has something to say about this matter. It is found in Matthew 18:21-35: Peter asked Jesus how many times they had to forgive someone that wronged them. Seven times? Jesus throws a curve at them: No, not seven, but seventy times seven. He then tells them a parable. There was a king that wanted to settle up his accounts. But there was one who owed him a great amount and he could not pay. So the king ordered his whole family sold and all that he had, to pay the debt. The man begged for time to pay and the king had mercy on him and forgave him the whole debt. Then the man who had been forgiven the large debt had someone in his life that owned him a small debt. The Bible says he went to the man and caught him by the throat, demanding he pay him what he owed. The man begged for time to pay the debt, but the man would not give it to him and threw him in prison. His fellow servants saw what he had done and were grieved at his actions because they had just witnessed him being forgiven himself of a much larger debt. So they went and told the matter to the king. The king was angry and delivered this man to the tormentors. Then the Word says that the Heavenly Father will do likewise if we do not forgive our brother. Let s look into this parable a little deeper. God is like that king. He has forgiven us everything all of our junk! All of it! And we turn around and won t forgive our brother who has hurt us. Well, does God really turn us over to the tormentor? Will He really not forgive our sins if we don t forgive others? It would appear so from these verses. Celebrate this special day and season by receiving not only His forgiveness for you, but also for everybody else. But then, we need to look at Ephesians 4:32: And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. How do these two portions of scripture fit together and not contradict one another? We have to remember that in Matthew where Jesus is speaking, the New Covenant had not yet come in effect. Jesus lived His whole life under the law. He taught through parables often saying, The kingdom of heaven is like.. or The kingdom of God is like If you look closely, you will find yourself in some of these parables. You will see that you are the one offended in that parable or in another you 7

8 are the one who does not understand because the devil stole it from you. The whole point being, we were and are incapable of living the Christian life we needed someone else to do it for us. That Someone is Jesus! He lived it for you. He healed you, He prospered you, He delivered you from all curses, He forgave for you. So what about the Father not forgiving us? Jesus was teaching that the law demands justice. If you are going to live under the law (even though Romans 6:6 tells us we were crucified and Romans 6:14 says we are no longer under the law), then you are going to have to live according to the dictates of the law and you must forgive. But often you find that you cannot! So off you go to the tormentor. What are you to do? How are you to get free of this mess? Accept His forgiveness. You don t have to come up with your own forgiveness. Receive His! We know some of you have had some tough stuff, but has the torment made it easier for you? No! It s made many of you sick and miserable. Let it go. Say, I rest (abide) in my position in Christ; I receive and release His forgiveness for the offense. One of the best ways to release forgiveness is to bless that person. When you bless people the offense dies in you. 1 Peter 3:9 says Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing (NIV). When the emotions of un-forgiveness seem to persist in you, open up your mouth and say, I bless that person s name. You will notice that those emotions or symptoms will stop and peace will rule in your heart. You can finally rest from that tormentor that has been wreaking havoc in your life. Let Christ give new meaning to your Christmas this year. Celebrate this special day and season by receiving not only His forgiveness for you, but also for everybody else. We decree the abundant blessings of our Savior overtaking you and that new and exciting things await you in We love and appreciate all of you! I m sitting in Sunday School class listening to my husband teach, thinking about how good the class was when he says, Jesus didn t die on the cross so you wouldn t have to go to hell! My first thought was, What?! Then he goes on to explain. Jesus came so you could have fellowship, unbroken fellowship with your Father. That s it! He went through it all so you could walk in the garden with Him, just like Adam did. Spending eternity in heaven, health, prosperity, having all your needs met, those are just byproducts of that relationship. Matthew 6:33 Says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. Spend some time fellowshipping with your Father today and let Him worry about all your needs, He said He would take care of it. On behalf of all our family, we would like to wish you all a very blessed Christmas season. We pray that you will all know the peace and contentment that we can only find resting in our position IN CHRIST! ~ Beth Days 8