New Wine for New Wineskins August 2019
Beware of Scammers
Colossians 2: 6 – 15
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [in it] with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you [plunder you or take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily [in bodily form]; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power [rule and authority].
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [certificate of debt with its] handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
In the DST (Donnie Stewart Translation) verse 8 reads, “Beware of scammers.”
To scam someone is defined as: to swindle, cheat, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-cross, rip off, con, bamboozle, put one over on, pull a fast one on.
The devil is a scammer. Jesus said that the thief only ever comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
Right at the beginning in the garden the devil didn’t show up and introduce himself as the adversary, the thief, the enemy of their souls, the deceiver. He came in the serpent, pretending to be a serpent, which was just another animal in the created order over which man had been given dominion. Please note that he came in the familiar. However, the key to recognising that something wasn’t quite right was that he was offering something that could only come in a way that was contrary to what God had said.
The truth is that he was actually offering them something that they already had because they were already as like God as they ever needed to be – created in his image and likeness. When we understand that we already have everything that we will ever need then we are not going to be tempted by the offer of something that promises to add to the everything we already have.
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding [in it] with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you [plunder you or take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily [in bodily form]; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power [rule and authority].
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [certificate of debt with its] handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
In the DST (Donnie Stewart Translation) verse 8 reads, “Beware of scammers.”
To scam someone is defined as: to swindle, cheat, deceive, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-cross, rip off, con, bamboozle, put one over on, pull a fast one on.
The devil is a scammer. Jesus said that the thief only ever comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
Right at the beginning in the garden the devil didn’t show up and introduce himself as the adversary, the thief, the enemy of their souls, the deceiver. He came in the serpent, pretending to be a serpent, which was just another animal in the created order over which man had been given dominion. Please note that he came in the familiar. However, the key to recognising that something wasn’t quite right was that he was offering something that could only come in a way that was contrary to what God had said.
The truth is that he was actually offering them something that they already had because they were already as like God as they ever needed to be – created in his image and likeness. When we understand that we already have everything that we will ever need then we are not going to be tempted by the offer of something that promises to add to the everything we already have.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat (scam) you [plunder you or take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.
Anyone. That can be anyone – even those with whom we are most familiar. If anyone offers us something that promises to add to the everything that we already have in a way that is contrary to what God has said then it is always going to end in us losing something of the everything that is already ours.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat (scam) you [plunder you or take you captive] through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily [in bodily form]; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power [rule and authority].
complete – play-ro’-o – to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full; to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally; to render full, i.e. to complete; to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be lacking; fill to full measure, fill to the brim; to make complete in every particular, to render perfect, to finish, to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some
undertaking), to finish.
That sounds to me like we are being informed that in Christ we already have everything we will ever need. A scammer offers you something more when in reality you are always going to end up with less. The devil, otherwise known as the thief, our adversary, the enemy of our soul, the deceiver, the seducer, and the father of lies, tries to scam us – to steal from us – by offering us something that doesn’t exist. He offers us something more than what we already have, which is impossible because we already have everything in Christ.
Everything we will ever need has been provided in abundance. Let me say it again, we already have everything. We have everything. The devil has nothing.
Listen to how Jesus puts it.
John 14: 30
29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Jesus could make that statement with confidence because he knew that he already had everything that the devil could try and offer him. And the good news is that as he is, so are we in this world. Because Jesus has everything and the devil has nothing in him we have everything and the devil has nothing in us.
We need to encourage ourselves with this truth, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
Matthew 6: 7 – 8, 31 – 33
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Because our Father already knows what we need he has already made provision for every need. We just need to believe that. Remember you can say, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
1 Peter 5: 8 – 9
8 Be sober [self-controlled], be vigilant [watchful]; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith.
Faith believes that our Father in heaven has provided everything. And faith speaks, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
Ephesians 6: 10 – 19
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles [schemings, strategies] of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
wrestle – pale – wrestling (a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck).
withstand – anthistemi – vigorously opposing, bravely resisting, standing face-to-face against an adversary, standing your ground.
Faith speaks, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
According to Ephesians 6 we are fully armoured. We are righteous. We have a message that is all good news. We have an impenetrable force-field of faith all around us. We are saved spirit, soul and body. We are healed, delivered, and prospered and we think God’s thoughts. We have an offensive weapon that is more powerful than any weapon that is formed against us. We have a prayer language the enemy can’t understand that empowers us for victory in every battle and reaches out to pray for others.
We have everything. The devil has nothing.
Maybe you are wondering why Jesus spoke about “how much more”. That is because in the kingdom of heaven there is always more of everything. You start with everything, and then there is always more of the everything that you already have. Never think that you are starting out with nothing or from a place of insufficiency.
I have heard people say things like, “You come into this world with nothing and you will leave with nothing.”
Well, that isn’t exactly true. You actually came into whatever your parents / guardians had, and so for some that was a lot and for some that was very little.
But when we are born again into the family of God we are born into everything our heavenly Father has, which is an abundance of everything. And so, we should encourage ourselves, “I have an abundance of everything, and there is always more of everything.”
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) an emphasis is often placed by preachers on how offensive it was for the younger son to ask for his portion of the inheritance while his father was still alive. Apparently in that culture what the boy did would have been considered highly disrespectful.
However, the parables that Jesus told were revealing how things work in the kingdom and nowhere in that account does Jesus ever mention that what the younger son did was a problem. So where did that understanding come from? Have we been scammed? It is like we have been issued with a warning that we better not ask for any of our inheritance now because we might offend our heavenly Father.
Has a spirit of lack been stealing the revelation of abundance? Has a mindset of insufficiency been stealing the revelation of more than enough?
The boy’s offence was not in what he asked for, but that he wasted what he had asked for.
As I meditated on this over the years I began to see that the real problem was that neither son had a revelation of the everything that was already theirs, and so the younger boy felt he needed to ask for what was in fact already his. Jesus is quite clear that the father responded by dividing his livelihood between the two sons.
Jesus goes on to say that a short time later the younger son gathered everything together and traveled to a far country, where he wasted his possessions with prodigal [wasteful, reckless] living. He took the everything that he had and he apparently blew it.
When he reaches the end of himself he begins to think about how the servants live back home in his father’s house, and so he formulates a plan and a prayer. He figures that if he can just get home then maybe his father will forgive him sufficiently to give him a place as a servant where at least he will get by and survive. There appears to be no expectation that there was anything left for him as a son but he seems that he was looking (at best) at spending the rest of his life as a servant in his father’s house.
How many of God’s children have been scammed into thinking the best they can hope for is the status of a servant with little or no authority, and no access to the inheritance of a son? If you and I don’t have the revelation that there is always more of the everything we start out with then we will believe and be limited by a lie that relegates us to living like servants instead of sons.
There are many of God’s precious children who are currently missing the revelation that the younger son got when, even before he had completed his journey home with his well-formulated prayer, his father saw him coming in the distance and ran to meet him – reaching down to him and kissing him as he reclothes the young man in the best of all that represents and reveals his status as a son, and as he orders a party with the finest fare that he possesses so that they can properly celebrate his son’s homecoming.
And then there is the older brother.
Luke 15: 25 – 32
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his
father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all [everything] that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
When we talk excitedly about the everything that we already have and we get excited and celebrate with music and dancing you will find sometimes that the “older brother” who already has everything that we have and has the same access to the more of everything that is superabundantly available has apparently been scammed out of the fullness of his inheritance and relegated himself to servant status, and so they get angry with us and refuse to join us in our celebration.
But according to Jesus it is always right to celebrate with music and dancing, and to celebrate our restoration as sons in our Father’s house with unlimited access to everything that is included in our inheritance with the knowledge that there is always more of everything yet to be experienced – more and greater manifestations of the glory that is already here.
We are not servants waiting for leftovers. We are not supposed to live our lives wishing that one day our Father might notice how hard we are serving him and how hard we are working at trying to keep all of his rules so that maybe, just maybe, he might bless us with a young goat so that we and our friends can have a wee barbecue. Without the full revelation of what it means to be a son there is no expectation for the fatted calf which represents the very best that the Father has just waiting to be enjoyed with no conditions because it is already ours to enjoy – because we already have everything and there is always more of the everything we already have.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you [plunder you or take you captive]….scam you….through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily [in bodily form]; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power [rule and authority].
Beware of scammers who want to take from the everything you already have by offering you something more that you supposedly have to do something to earn.
We already have everything and there is nothing left for us to do, there are no conditions left for us to meet because Jesus already did it all and already met every condition.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [certificate of debt with its] handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
There is only one question to be answered. How much more of everything do you want? The more you’ve got the more you have to give away – the more you will overflow and the bigger the party will be.
Encourage yourself, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
It’s time to spread the good news. It’s party time!
Listen to how Jesus puts it.
John 14: 30
29 “And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.
Jesus could make that statement with confidence because he knew that he already had everything that the devil could try and offer him. And the good news is that as he is, so are we in this world. Because Jesus has everything and the devil has nothing in him we have everything and the devil has nothing in us.
We need to encourage ourselves with this truth, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
Matthew 6: 7 – 8, 31 – 33
7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Because our Father already knows what we need he has already made provision for every need. We just need to believe that. Remember you can say, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
1 Peter 5: 8 – 9
8 Be sober [self-controlled], be vigilant [watchful]; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith.
Faith believes that our Father in heaven has provided everything. And faith speaks, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
Ephesians 6: 10 – 19
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles [schemings, strategies] of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
wrestle – pale – wrestling (a contest between two in which each endeavours to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck).
withstand – anthistemi – vigorously opposing, bravely resisting, standing face-to-face against an adversary, standing your ground.
Faith speaks, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
According to Ephesians 6 we are fully armoured. We are righteous. We have a message that is all good news. We have an impenetrable force-field of faith all around us. We are saved spirit, soul and body. We are healed, delivered, and prospered and we think God’s thoughts. We have an offensive weapon that is more powerful than any weapon that is formed against us. We have a prayer language the enemy can’t understand that empowers us for victory in every battle and reaches out to pray for others.
We have everything. The devil has nothing.
Maybe you are wondering why Jesus spoke about “how much more”. That is because in the kingdom of heaven there is always more of everything. You start with everything, and then there is always more of the everything that you already have. Never think that you are starting out with nothing or from a place of insufficiency.
I have heard people say things like, “You come into this world with nothing and you will leave with nothing.”
Well, that isn’t exactly true. You actually came into whatever your parents / guardians had, and so for some that was a lot and for some that was very little.
But when we are born again into the family of God we are born into everything our heavenly Father has, which is an abundance of everything. And so, we should encourage ourselves, “I have an abundance of everything, and there is always more of everything.”
In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) an emphasis is often placed by preachers on how offensive it was for the younger son to ask for his portion of the inheritance while his father was still alive. Apparently in that culture what the boy did would have been considered highly disrespectful.
However, the parables that Jesus told were revealing how things work in the kingdom and nowhere in that account does Jesus ever mention that what the younger son did was a problem. So where did that understanding come from? Have we been scammed? It is like we have been issued with a warning that we better not ask for any of our inheritance now because we might offend our heavenly Father.
Has a spirit of lack been stealing the revelation of abundance? Has a mindset of insufficiency been stealing the revelation of more than enough?
The boy’s offence was not in what he asked for, but that he wasted what he had asked for.
As I meditated on this over the years I began to see that the real problem was that neither son had a revelation of the everything that was already theirs, and so the younger boy felt he needed to ask for what was in fact already his. Jesus is quite clear that the father responded by dividing his livelihood between the two sons.
Jesus goes on to say that a short time later the younger son gathered everything together and traveled to a far country, where he wasted his possessions with prodigal [wasteful, reckless] living. He took the everything that he had and he apparently blew it.
When he reaches the end of himself he begins to think about how the servants live back home in his father’s house, and so he formulates a plan and a prayer. He figures that if he can just get home then maybe his father will forgive him sufficiently to give him a place as a servant where at least he will get by and survive. There appears to be no expectation that there was anything left for him as a son but he seems that he was looking (at best) at spending the rest of his life as a servant in his father’s house.
How many of God’s children have been scammed into thinking the best they can hope for is the status of a servant with little or no authority, and no access to the inheritance of a son? If you and I don’t have the revelation that there is always more of the everything we start out with then we will believe and be limited by a lie that relegates us to living like servants instead of sons.
There are many of God’s precious children who are currently missing the revelation that the younger son got when, even before he had completed his journey home with his well-formulated prayer, his father saw him coming in the distance and ran to meet him – reaching down to him and kissing him as he reclothes the young man in the best of all that represents and reveals his status as a son, and as he orders a party with the finest fare that he possesses so that they can properly celebrate his son’s homecoming.
And then there is the older brother.
Luke 15: 25 – 32
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his
father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all [everything] that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
When we talk excitedly about the everything that we already have and we get excited and celebrate with music and dancing you will find sometimes that the “older brother” who already has everything that we have and has the same access to the more of everything that is superabundantly available has apparently been scammed out of the fullness of his inheritance and relegated himself to servant status, and so they get angry with us and refuse to join us in our celebration.
But according to Jesus it is always right to celebrate with music and dancing, and to celebrate our restoration as sons in our Father’s house with unlimited access to everything that is included in our inheritance with the knowledge that there is always more of everything yet to be experienced – more and greater manifestations of the glory that is already here.
We are not servants waiting for leftovers. We are not supposed to live our lives wishing that one day our Father might notice how hard we are serving him and how hard we are working at trying to keep all of his rules so that maybe, just maybe, he might bless us with a young goat so that we and our friends can have a wee barbecue. Without the full revelation of what it means to be a son there is no expectation for the fatted calf which represents the very best that the Father has just waiting to be enjoyed with no conditions because it is already ours to enjoy – because we already have everything and there is always more of the everything we already have.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you [plunder you or take you captive]….scam you….through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily [in bodily form]; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power [rule and authority].
Beware of scammers who want to take from the everything you already have by offering you something more that you supposedly have to do something to earn.
We already have everything and there is nothing left for us to do, there are no conditions left for us to meet because Jesus already did it all and already met every condition.
11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the [certificate of debt with its] handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
There is only one question to be answered. How much more of everything do you want? The more you’ve got the more you have to give away – the more you will overflow and the bigger the party will be.
Encourage yourself, “I have everything. The devil has nothing.”
It’s time to spread the good news. It’s party time!
Themocracy