Crucified with Christ

Galatians 3:1 "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your very eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified."

This verse was puzzling me the other day. Will brought it to my mind and said, "I don't think the Galatians were even there! It is a really long journey to Jerusalem." We both laughed but the implied question, "What is Paul talking about?" bothered me. Will was right, by foot Galatia is some, 6,000 miles away from where Jesus was crucified. So what could Paul mean by this? Surely the Galatians were not witnesses of the crucifixion? Or where they...?

Simply put, Paul is talking about the power of the cross in your daily life. The same thing Jesus meant when He said, "Take up your cross daily and follow me." You may not realize that Paul was crucified long before he faced death in Rome. See for yourself just a few verses earlier in Galatians chapter two verse twenty he says, "I have been crucified with Christ," and that is exactly how we make sense of what Paul was referring to in in chapter three.

The New Testament teaches us of the power of the cross in your daily life; that is why I chose to write this note. But, before I unfold this message, first let me ask you a question. Do you believe there is a cross for you to take up today? Is the cross a thing of the past for you? Is it something that Jesus did two thousand years ago that doesn't effect your present life?

It is a popular belief in our day in age that Jesus paid for our sin, and if we accept that we are done with our struggle and sin has no effect on us anymore. The problem with that is it's not true for anyone who has been a Christian for more then an hour. What do we do when sin is crouching at our door? Or rather what do we do when sin appears to be safer then the path of pursuing God? I mean let's face it there are a lot of times when sin just seems like the best option. Here is an example. I live near the railroad. Imagine you are walking down a railroad track that travels as far as you can see, and you have been there so long it has become quite comfortable to you. You hear a train is coming, but you don't see it and are not sure how far away it is. People have told you over and over if you don't get off the tracks, before the train comes, you will die, and you in your heart believe that is true even though you have never actually seen someone get run over by the train, nonetheless it seems terrifyingly logical and quite painful. So you suddenly feel the urge to get off the tracks, and when you look to your left and to your right somehow you have come to the middle of a large lake that has a thin layer of ice over the top. Or at least the ice seems thin enough to you that you wouldn't want to press your luck. Every now and then you step off the track and the ice doesn't shatter but still doesn't seem perfectly safe either, so you jump right back on the train track again. You often see, on your right hand, a minister and a friend standing on the ice saying, "It's OK. Come off the tracks before that train hits you! You have no need to fear death on this side. Come to the right side and make your journey with us. We don't belong on those tracks and we certainly won't be on this ice forever. Come! For Jesus has shown us a path that is narrow, slippery, and hard, but promises us it will lead to Him and He has satisfied our souls desires!" However, no matter what they say you still don't trust that ice, and find yourself in a predicament. It's not that you don't trust Jesus you just don't trust the ice! The train whistle blows and you realize you must make a decision soon. Now, you look to your left and there is a carnival. Many people ice fishing, skating, and dancing around. They are so comfortable for they have become so distracted with their party they forgot about the train and the ice all together. They call to you and say, "Come make your home with us! We can fashion an igloo out of the snow and put a fire in it for warmth. With so many of us here there really is nothing we aren't capable of doing." Your tempted to go, but you realize with so many of them standing there that when the train comes by it will surely break the ice apart with its turbulence causing everyone to fall in and die. You begin to hate walking on the tracks all the more but you at least accept that when you die, and die you will, that you will ultimately find God anyways it's just a matter of time. What do you do? You may fall through on the right, and it would be miserable to walk on down that icy cold path. It has no promise of immediate security. You will be run over by the train if you stay on the tracks. And the train will probably cause ice on both sides to crack and shatter when it comes through anyway. Are you in a no win situation? Sometimes life for a Christian can be like that if you let it. You are struggling on a path of sin that you have been struggling with for quite some time. Maybe for you it's control. Control is the railroad track, and you know Romans eight says, "Sow to the flesh and you will die." But it seems as though if you give God control, and go to the right hand side of the railroad He probably will allow you suffer in this life. He might take your job, a family member, take your house, take your reputation, your money. You know the left side of the track is a dead end, but it promises control contingent upon a thin layer of ice so you would be constantly worrying about the ice breaking anyways... We must trust Jesus' call to the hard and narrow path. Close your eyes and jump! Run as fast and as hard as you can down the path on the right! It will be tricky and you may fall and get hurt, but this is the path that leads to life.

Now, there is more to it then that. Every inkling you have to go back to the tracks must be put to death. Through Christ Jesus we don't have to fear death, and we are no longer slaves to sin. This does not mean that sin doesn't call to us, or allure us with a sweet perfume. You may feel the need to take control again, as a Christian even, and this need for control must be crucified. Don't forget the power of the cross in your daily life! We must embrace, with humility, crucifixion of our flesh, and when we do this we witness the power of God. Paul gives us two great examples of this power that comes through crucifixion. One in First Corinthians, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross be emptied of its power." It appears here that the cross can be emptied of its power, and apparently if Paul preaches in his flesh and leans on his eloquence he will accomplish just that.
He goes on to mention, "For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God." "23 We preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles but to those who believe the power of God and the wisdom of God." He couldn't make it any more clear then he does in chapter two, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." Paul acted and spoke in such a way that he could say, "I purposed to know nothing but the cross." He crucified eloquent words, lofty speech, and wisdom! And by crucifying his flesh he demonstrated the power of God.

Paul in 2 Timothy chapter three seems to hint at a power or a lack thereof because men refuse to crucify the desires of the flesh, "But understand this, that in the last days... people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power."
The "power" being denied here is probably more, but no less, then the power that comes from taking up your cross! There is zero crucifixion happening in their life. They, over and over, give in to the flesh. This lifestyle is selfish. They have emptied the cross of its power in their life because they are lovers of pleasure.

If you find yourself going back to the train tracks, and finding comfort on the path of sin that gives of an illusion of safety, you must crucify it. Someone is probably going to offend you today, your pride may be revealed today, your security might be taken from you tomorrow what will you do? Fight back? Feed your pride? Put your trust in something else? Be a crucified father, crucified mother, brother or sister. Kill your pride! Your wife offends you; lay down your sword. Be something salty for the world to taste when they persecute you and revile you and say all kinds of false things against you for My names sake. Take it to the cross when your best friend lets you down, big time, and say with Paul, "we carry around in our bodies the death of Christ, so the life of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal bodies."

Do you love to pleasure your flesh?
Or do you let the cross crucify the desires of your flesh?

Do you have a form of godliness but deny its power?
Or will you demonstrate the power of God through the humility of being crucified to the world?

I say join Paul and be crucified with Christ, so the life you life in the flesh is in faith in the Son of God who loves you and gave Himself up for you; then you can say to the people who have seen you live your life,

"Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified before your very eyes, because you saw me."

I have much to say about this in weeks to come, but for now let us purpose our hearts to make no provision for the flesh and to be crucified to the world and the world to us. That we, by sharing in His sufferings and becoming like Him in His death, may also then know the power of His resurrection.

Saul at Damascus Part 1

Saul knew
What he had to do
That day he arrived at Damascus
He had letters in hand
That gave the command
To bind anyone he could find
Who dare follow the Way.
And oh how the local Jews craved the day
When Saul would quench their thirst
For stories rehearsed of his endeavor
To dismantle this 'sect' in Jerusalem
One by one

"Looks more like a lions den"
Said Saul as he entered in
A synagog of zealous men
God whispered
"I saved Daniel.. I can do it again"

And a den it was!
Vicarious grins across all the men's faces
Young disciples recall places in their Torah of zealous men like Phineas and his spear
'Could one alike be hear?'

Torpid he stood
For that's all that he could
Do in front of this sea of truculent eyes
It was no surprise the crowed was transfixed
Their bodies were alive but their hearts were dead..
The necks attached to their heads were stiff and stubborn like Cattle determined to battle against everyone who sought to see the Holy man from Galilee.

All hearts fond all spirits pleased
To finally witness the man who seized
The Lords blasphemers.. Those Jesus believers.
They wondered "Could the might and zeal of this Benjamites hand have what it takes to take a stand and right the wrongs done by the one called Son of Man?"

He reached for the scroll took a deep breath and paused...

For a moment he escaped in that breath of Damascinian air
And somehow knew that God was right there
And he prayed that Jesus would come.. would come and tear
The scales off their eyes. For he couldn't bare
To see..
To see.. If they can't see!

'God! you blinded me to set my heart free. And only now do I see how blind I really was!
Show them this is what you did and what you still do..
You came to earth so we could come to you
That is all they need to know
That is all that I will ever preach
To all nations I will go just to show
How far you can reach
Jesus You came for me and were crucified..
I chose to sin You chose to die
But You were raised and glorified
Forever exalted lifted High
Oh that I may know You.. and the power of Your resurrection
Come help me preach and if I die my soul has your protection
I just want you.
I need you.. I'm no savant
Everything in me burns for you to just come..
So come as close as You want.'

-D. Thompson

One of those tip of the iceberg things..
Probably not the most profound thought in the world, but intriguing nonetheless is the word 'is'.'Is' is, or often can be, amazingly weighty for its size!

because it indicates, to me, that the next phrase will be truth.

There IS a lot of not true things being spoken to us. So if you, like me, find yourself hurting and in need of a word of truth from God often.. read the Bible and look for sentences of truth that you can preach to yourself. Observe how these powerful and truthful sentences often contain that two lettered jet pack that you can strap on to every lie you have ever been told..

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Ps. 103:
(were you told that He Is something else? quick to anger? or has limited, irresolute love)

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those with a crushed spirit. Ps 34:18
(did someone tell you that He is far from you and cannot hear you? or comfort you?)

The LORD is near to all who call on Him.. Ps 145:18
Be anxious about nothing for the Lord is near.. Phil. 4
The LORD is my shepherd Ps. 23
the one who was and is and is to come. Rev 1:8
It doesn't say "the one who 'might' be coming" "who possible will come" but "the one who IS to come"
Bank on these sentences. He IS capable of saving you. He IS powerful enough to erase your sin. He IS mighty to protect you. He IS full of compassion as a Father. He IS in love with you. He IS the one who made us perfect.
LORD TELL ME WHAT IS.

In moral relativity IS can be quite the problem.

In dealing with morals no human can ever tell another human what 'is' right or 'is' wrong without being influenced by a higher being. Anyone who has ever tried has failed because they always base what they think should or shouldn't be on a their whim. Whatever a person feels is wrong automatically becomes what IS wrong for that person. So, there is no real substance in our lives, outside of God, to base our truth or our morals on. Totally depraved we need Gods whim. IF there was, a real substance outside from God that we could use as our measuring stick for absolute right and wrong, we could then create a perfect system of living and eventually become sinless & perfect, apart from God. This will never happen. We cannot know what the truth is without God.

We will never find truth without the one who is.. He is truth.. He just is.. Exodus 3:14 literally translated would sound like "I Am the one who is.." Moses tell them 'I AM the one who Is' sent you. Thank you God for putting an ultimate end to our impulsive whims of what is right and wrong.. Thank you for being the only one who is able to say what IS, so when I hear lies about what I am or what is truth you come in and softly speak to me and say

"I have created what is listen to me. I make things what were become things that are no more. I can make all things new."

Is the Bible true?

All to often people get caught up in translation errors.. OR contradictions..And go down the slippery slope of "the Bible cannot be trusted"

well.. rest assured the word 'is' seems like it would be very hard to mess up, so I'll bank on it being correct..

The LORD IS my strength and song..
The LORD IS a worrier the LORD is His name..
The LORD IS a refuge for the oppressed and a stronghold..

Psalm 18:2 The LORD IS my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

-D. Thompson

Consecration

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.


Romans 12:1-3
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world..

Romans 6:11-13
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.


2 Corinthians 5:14
For the love of God constrains us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

I’m trying not to get carried away but believe me the list goes on.. we can form our thought for the moment from these.

Consecration is one of those forgotten doctrines that we desperately need to sink our teeth into again.

I believe the Bible teaches that Christians are to be consecrated.

What does that mean?

Consecration is to set yourself apart entirely for the Lords use.

“Danmike, this ‘set apart’ language sounds an a lot like holiness..”
That is because Holy people have consecrated themselves. Holiness is fruit of being wholly Gods.

Consecration is built on two biblical truths.
1. Constrained by love.. 2 Cor 5:14
2. You are not your own.. 1 Cor 6:19

1. Love for God is the beginning of Consecration.
One that does not love God can set himself apart for God, but the heart by which he does this so called ‘consecration’ would be lead by the flesh and its desires. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8) If your consecration is not based on true love for God [like..weak in the knees, staggering, fully entranced, humbled, in awe, love..] then you are probably more like trying to do God a favor.

The consecrated ones are dedicated HIM.
The consecrated ones are the ones who are bowing low to the ground with hands wide open saying “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee”
The consecrated ones take no provisions for the flesh, and have put away selfish ambition.
The consecrated ones consider their calling to be priests and humbly take up the yoke of a Levite.
The consecrated ones are constrained by love for there Master.

When you have the Love of God motivating you it is fruit from the Spirit that is leading you. Notice how when we read Romans 12 it said that offering up your body as a living sacrifice is your spiritual act of worship. Now wait a minute how can you offer up your body which is physical, and it be worship that is spiritual?

Because if you try to offer up your body (consecration) with fleshly motivation it is not a spiritual act of worship. Physical manifestations of service must come from a spirit of love for God. Thus if your spirit is in LOVE with God, entranced by God, determined toward God then laying down your body is simply working out that which is in you already, and so making a spiritual act.

Because of what Jesus has done we are constrained to Him by love, and that causes us to draw near to Him with open hands that respond to Him with devotion and dedication.

2. You are not your own.
Offering up your body is also an acknowledgment of ownership.
We hang in the balance of, as I said, two truths: 1) In love for God we want to dedicate ourselves to Him and His purposes. 2) We were bought by Christ and we do not own ourselves anymore.

In order for Biblical Consecration we must secondly base it on divine prerogative. This is where 1 Corinthians comes in. They would have understood being bought because in their culture people were more commonly sold. Nonetheless this is still true WE WERE BOUGHT, we are no longer our own, we belong to Jesus, and Jesus demands we glorify God in our bodies. By right we are His.

SO on one hand we love Him and chose to serve Him, and on the other we so we must follow Him. According to the right of redemption we are His, and according to love that comes from redemption we give ourselves to Him… You see how these go hand in hand. We become like a purchased slave who being brought to our Masters house we don’t just serve out of obligation, but rather we bow at our Masters feet and say “I am yours by right for you bought me… but Sir you bought me, an orphan, and an enemy and have redeemed me so I bow and say I love you and will do anything for you.”

This is the basis for Biblical Consecration but is not Consecration.

That is the foundation that we build the consecrated house upon. We are set apart because of our Love for God, and because we were purchased thus making us His by right, by divine prerogative.

Consecration is an action.
In fact I would say it is a continual action.
Consecration is the continual action of the chosen ones of God who separate themselves from the system of the world to be wholly devoted, & entirely available, for service to God.

Give yourself to Him.. Not with any expectation; just simply offer yourself because He deserves you.

I once read that the original meaning of the word “service” is to wait upon. To serve God would mean to wait upon the Lord. I say that because I think one of our biggest misunderstandings in ministry, or kingdom life even, is to consecrate ourselves to do a better job at a preconceived leadership task, and not primarily to wait upon the Lord or to just serve the Lord of Hosts.
Don’t make the mistake of setting yourself apart for preaching or teaching or worship. Set yourself apart for the LORD.
He sets you apart for preaching, teaching, worshiping, but you have the job of continually setting yourself apart for the KING and let Him decide what for.
By doing this our focus shifts from ‘what I can do’ to ‘what God wants done with me.’

So Consecration ought to be our purpose daily. If you constantly consecrate you will become holy, and you will be completely focused and aimed on the one by whom and for whom and through whom all things exist, the one who we will be with forever.

1 Peter 2 say’s “you are a chosen people… a people set apart for His own possession.” I say amen what a privilege, and now exhort all of those ‘chosen’ ones to walk in separation from the world,
so that we may ‘see Him more clearly, love Him more dearly, and follow Him more nearly’

be consecrated,
D. Thompson

'God Spoke' Oh, the weight placed on a single word spoken by Elohim

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days

He has spoken to us by His Son...

Hebrews chapter one verse one.

In her book "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ" Madam Jeanne Guyon taught me how to pray through the Scriptures. This is a discipline I do often. I call it hovering, and it simply based on the fact that God has purpose in every single word of His Word. Do you believe that? If not then try 'Hovering' and ask God to show you the depth of His Words.

There was a time in my life where I didn't really believe in there being much depth to Gods Word.

I was wrong...

I won't expound on that, but do know I have sympathy for you if that is the place you are in.

Nonetheless that is not what I believe now.

I am confident now that Gods thoughts are higher then my thoughts.. A mere thought of Gods. Is higher then my thoughts.. Pause for a moment. Just think about what you are capable of thinking about.. I don't know about you but it's not hard for me to use my imagination (i actually schedule time out of the week for it 'creative thinking' Monday's at lunch you can join me sometime we can sit together and just think.. that would be fun) to create something very very big or you can even just think yourself away.. out of this planet, or you can think yourself into another galaxy, or you can think yourself... anything! And your telling me that Gods thoughts..... are even higher then that. THEN HOW MUCH MORE HIGHER are His thoughts that actually get written down for you to read? Think of how many thoughts it takes you to write something down in.. like a blog for example, I'm sure you didn't just start typing every single word that came to mind. If you can put deep thought into what you write, and if you can pen a letter, pact with meaning, loaded with thought, to someone you love just think.. His thoughts are higher then even those.. So how much more deep is His letter to you? His word will never pass away..

It sure an't a blog..

It's the written Word of the God who's imagination surpasses and encompasses the deepest thought of Freud, Plato, Gandhi..

The written Word of the God who baffles the greatest logician the world has ever known.

The written Word of the God who has not only thought up metaphysics, but He thought up, spoke, and created the mind and body that we are still trying to study and figure...

I believe in the depth of the Word of God, so hover over it, meditate on it, over and over again.

I say this all because we are beginning a meditation on the book of Hebrews tomorrow.

Dive in with me a moment.

As I was hovering over verse one of chapter one (as shown above) and I was deeply moved by two words..(that's typical when you linger or hover of a phrase written by the deepest most loving being..ever). They were:

God spoke

Just let it sink in before I ruin your moment with those two beautiful words...

God spoke.. I NEED THAT. I need that soo much. Maybe you need it to. Do you know it?

God is a speaking God. He is not silent. He is not unattached. He is not preoccupied with something else. God Speaks..

This is only good news IF He speaks good things? If God spoke lies... who cares. I speak lies. satan is the father of lies. God will never lie. He will never tell you a lie, and He has never told you a lie. That is GOOD news. The Almighty God who created everything, who knows everything, who loves me, and will not ever lie to me.. Speaks. That thought rushes into my soul like a river of cool, pure, untampered with, water gushing into the heart of a massive, blazing hot, forest fire. The forest ablaze with lies in my heart that I am alone, I am unwanted and not enough. Lies that allude to my Father being a god who tricks, and deceives me.. NO the God of truth speaks.. And He only speaks truth, and without the truth I am lost in a haze of deliberately hand crafted land mines that will blow me and what I hope is true to pieces!

Yes I need truth.. Yes I need a Father is truth.. And I need a Father who speaks.

Back up a few words and linger of the word 'Many'

Two times in verse one we have the word 'many' this is so significant because it wasn't just once!

Oh how many times we say the phrase "missed my shot" there are so many temporary things in this life that you can "miss out on" OR "you never get a second chance for that" OR "You only get one shot do not miss your chance to blow this opportunity comes once in a lifetime" ;)

This word 'many' is significant because it lets us into a truth about our Speaking Father. He doesn't just say things once and if you miss it once you are full of hopelessness and regret because you 'missed your shot'. He spoke MANY times and in MANY way's.

He is a Father.. Verse two say's "He spoke to us through His Son" there will be many other things learned from these first verses but we will pause for now lastly on this one.

He is a Father.. If He can speak through His Son then that makes Him a Father..

He is a Eternal, All Knowing, Deep, Loving, Thoughtful.. Father who speaks.

Not my Father...? Well this verse is specifically talking about Jesus.

The Firstborn (col. 3)

The only begotten (John 3)

The heir of all things (Heb 1)

The Image of the invisible God (Col 3)

The one who provided purification for our sin (vs 3 we will get to that another time)

Jesus..

And Jesus after His work on the cross was complete, and after He had been resurrected He said to Mary these beautiful words "Go to my brothers and say to them 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father my God and your God"

He is a Father and what a beautiful truth it is to know that He is not just 'A' Father but He is

OUR, Continually, Truth Speaking Father.

Amen

-D. Thompson