New Wine for New Wineskins July 2017


Categories :

iBelieveLogoSilver01iBelieve (Part 5)

John 3: 16

6 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.

The Message

16 This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

Only believe.

Listen to this account of what happened just after Jesus supernaturally fed over five thousand people from a little boy’s packed lunch.

John 6: 23 – 29

23 Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25 They found him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. 27 But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.” 28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” 29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

Who you believe and what you believe about who you believe will determine how you live. Remember the practical atheist? He’s the guy who claims to believe in God but then lives like he doesn’t exist.

It’s not just about acknowledging that a man called Jesus lived two thousand years ago and said some cool things and did some cool stuff. It’s believing that God loved the world so much that God the Son stripped himself of all his heavenly glory and was born into this world in human flesh.  It’s believing that he wasn’t born in a palace to be an earthly king but that he was born in a stable to become a servant. It’s believing that he lived a sinless life, and that he fulfilled a supernatural ministry of approximately three and a half years where he preached and taught the message of the kingdom of heaven and demonstrated the miracles of the kingdom with healing, deliverance, raising the dead and other supernatural and miraculous signs and wonders. It’s believing that he died a sacrificial death on our behalf as he took our place and the punishment that we deserved so that our sins could be forgiven, and so that we could be declared righteous and everything that separated us from a holy God could be taken out of the way and we could be reconciled with this holy God as our heavenly Father.

Only believe.

It’s believing that he not only died in our place but that he rose again victorious over sin, over death, over the grave, and that he dealt sin and satan a fatal blow as he crushed the serpent’s head.

Only believe.

It’s believing that he ascended to the Father’s right hand in heaven where he has been given a name above every other name, and where he lives forever as our Great High Priest to intercede for us, to pray that our faith will not fail, to pray for us as the author and the finisher and our champion who perfects and completes our faith.

Only believe.

It’s believing that we died with him, that we were buried with him, and that we were raised with him to live a brand new life in a brand new way by faith, by believing in him.

Only believe.

It’s believing that he has called us to be his disciples and to be a continuation of his life, an amplification of his message, and an extension of his works, to be his Body under his Headship.

Only believe.

It’s believing that God the Holy Spirit has now come to empower and enable us to be witnesses to him, not to do witnessing for him.

Only believe.

It’s believing that he has given us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy so that nothing can by any means harm or hurt us, the authority to say STOP to sin and to sickness and oppression and to every manifestation of the curse.

Only believe.

I have mentioned previously about pressing on into maturity and putting down our toy box and picking up our tool box. Last time the emphasis was on not singing one song and living another, not singing I surrender all and living like we were only surrendering some.

Remember how Paul explained this new life.

Galatians 2: 20

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Surrendering to Jesus is abandoning ourselves completely to him and entrusting our freedom completely to him.

Only believe.

Jesus showed us what that means and how to live it out. Jesus had perfect confidence in his Father’s ability.

John 5: 15 – 30

15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

Jesus was the word in the flesh. He was the walking, talking, living demonstration of the word of God.

Jesus said that he as the Son of Man was Lord of the Sabbath, he said that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for for the Sabbath. God rested on the seventh day because his good and perfect work was finished. Does God have foreknowledge? Did God not know that man was going to mess up and get broken?

Sin broke the good and perfect and so it is always right to repair what has been broken and there is no better day to repair it than on your day off. It is always right to do the works of God on the Sabbath – the works of mercy, the works of faith, the works that please God and are not just concerned with pursuing our own pleasure, the works that repair and restore what has been broken.

Isaiah 58: 12 – 14

12 Those from among you shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. 13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honourable, and shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, 14 Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honour and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jesus said:

Luke 13: 16

“This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”

Luke 14: 5

“Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?”

What day do you normally set aside to repair the things in your house that are broken or needing attention?  Is it not on your day off? Some folks have forgotten that the Christian Sabbath, the first day of the week in honour of the day Jesus rose victorious from death, is a day for us to be strengthened and encouraged and equipped and repaired and restored and replenished in readiness for what awaits us as we go back into a week of fresh opportunities to advance the kingdom and freely give from what we have freely received.

Only believe.

Hebrews 10: 19 – 25

19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Only believe.

I am continually amazed at how many of the followers of Jesus, God’s own children, are neglecting the opportunities to meet together, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Do you not think that there is maybe a prophetic warning here in this Scripture that there will be an increased tendency to neglect our meeting together in the days approaching the return of Jesus?

Only believe.

Back to John 5.

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him.

Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

Jesus was a worshipper, and he came to seek and to save all of the lost worshippers. The Father is seeking worshippers because worshippers experience his good, acceptable, and perfect will.

Worship = I will the Father’s will.

The worshipper prays, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven….”

Every negative and destructive thing that has ever happened and ever will happen in this world is a result of not praying that prayer of alignment with the Father’s good, acceptable and perfect will.

Lucifer, the light-bearer, who was the worship leader of heaven’s angelic host, became filled with pride and began to say, “I will my will”.  Aleister Crowley, Britain’s most notorious satanist, said that the definition of satanism is simply stated as, “Do what thou wilt”. In other words, “I will my will”.

John 14: 9 – 11

9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Everything Jesus said and did, he said and did as a man under the authority of his Father in heaven, as a man fully submitted to and aligned with his Father’s perfect will. The centurion who got that revelation was commended by Jesus as one who had great faith, great understanding of the principle of only believing that was beyond anything he had witnessed in any of the old covenant people of God he had encountered.

Jesus said that we would do the same and greater works than he did because he was going to the Father. That statement can place a lot of pressure on us to perform if we don’t properly understand how it works. That is why he calls disciples, learners, to come and learn from him the unforced rhythms of grace.

Jesus had complete confidence in his Father’s ability to do what he said he would do. We are invited to simply have the same confidence in our Lord Jesus Christ and his ability to do what he has said he will do.

Only believe.

He said that because all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth we can go and make disciples, and that as we go preaching the message of the kingdom we can expect him to be working with us and doing the miracles of the kingdom including healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, and casting out demons.

Only believe.

We believe in a Person who we invite to live his life and manifest his kingdom, power, and glory through us. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Remember Peter and John’s encounter with the lame man at the temple gate.  Basically, Peter told the man that the bad news was that they didn’t have any cash to put in his tin.  But the good news was that they had a kingdom message for him that the Lord Jesus Christ would be happy to confirm with a kingdom miracle.  And so Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

The works we do, we do as men and women under authority, just like Jesus. Jesus was under his Father’s authority and we are under Jesus’ authority. We are looking away from all other distractions and looking to Jesus, our champion who completes and perfects our faith.

Only believe.

Jesus said,  “These signs will follow those who believe. In my name, under my authority, they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover”.

Only believe.

Philippians 2: 3 – 11

3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Only believe that you have authority because you are under authority.

Mark 16: 19 – 20

19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.

Only believe.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *