March 25, 2024

Walking As He Walked: 7 Practical Things The Spirit Leads Us To Do In Following Christ

I believe Jesus, now what?

We walk as He walked¹.

Jesus’ goal is my goal²:

the glory of God,

to make Him known -the beginning and end of everything good.

When we present ourselves and allow Him, God achieves this through His Holy Spirit in us³ by leading us to

go⁴,

proclaim the good news⁵, declaring forgiveness of sins, peace with God and freedom from oppression,

seek and restore⁶, issue the call, speaking with His voice and the heart of the Good Shepherd, going to the ends of the world, losing not one soul⁷,

make God real⁸ through His love,

destroy the works of the devil⁹ —tearing down the lies that block His love

that people may know and believe the love of the Father¹⁰,

share in that love¹¹, enjoying the eternal life He gives abundantly —loving God and others as we are so greatly loved,

and be One¹²,

to the ultimate end of glory —weight; weight that draws everything into His redemptive orbit¹³,

these things He did for our glory,

because our glory is His,

achieving ever increasing glory to God¹⁴ —the beginning and end of everything good¹⁵.

References:
¹ 1 John 2:6
² John 20:21, 2 Timothy 1:8-9
³ John 16:13, Philippians 2:13, Romans 12:1
⁴ Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 10:7, John 6:38, Matthew 28:18-20
⁵ Luke 2:14, Luke 4:18, Ephesians 1:7
⁶ Luke 19:10, Matthew 9:13, Psalm 42:7, John 10:27
⁷ John 10:11, Matthew 18:11-12, John 6:39
⁸ John 14:9, John 1:14
⁹ 1 John 3:8, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
¹⁰ John 3:16, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:16
¹¹ 1 John 4:11, 1 John 3:14, John 10:10, John 17:3, John 17:26
¹² John 17:23, Ephesians 4:3-6
¹³ John 12:28, John 12:32, Colossians 1:19-20
¹⁴ Matthew 5:16, Romans 8:18-21, 2 Corinthians 4:15
¹⁵ James 1:17, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Revelation 21:3-7, Revelation 21:23, Revelation 22:5, Isaiah 11:1-9

March 21, 2024

The Pain That Made Jesus Cry

Jesus

Being falsely arrested¹:

Nothing.

Being mocked and beaten by men in the temple²:

Nothing.

Being brutally scourged by Pilate³:

Nothing.

Being mocked and beaten again by Roman soldiers who pressed a crown of thorns into the flesh of His brow⁴:

Nothing.

Being forced to drag the beam of His cross, weighing upwards of 175 lbs (79kg), for more than 650 yards (600m)⁵:

Nothing.

Being nailed to a cross⁶:

Nothing.

Isaiah spoke rightly of Him in Isaiah 53:7 that “He was as a lamb led to the slaughter,” “He was oppressed and He was afflicted yet He opened not His mouth”.

But.

When Jesus became sin⁷, resulting in His utter separation from God:

Then, He cried out,

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”⁸

Because absolute separation from God was hell.

Do not let evil men and false prophets deceive you.

HELL IS REAL.

It is utter separation from God.

I can attest to this to some degree, having known life far from God, remembering the deep dredges of emptiness, restlessness and being surrounded by people but utterly alone.

This is what Jesus saved me from.

This is what Jesus suffered to save us from: separation from God.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
— Ephesians 2:13

Now, having experienced eternal life in God, I am whole, full and overflowing. Whenever I feel any distance from Him, it is torment and I die a little.

God is my life, and there is nothing better than being with Him.

Now, all I want is to have Him more, which He gifts **today** through His Holy Spirit and sanctification, thereby increasing my capacity to share love: Him, with my growing family in Jesus Christ.

But one day, my joy will be made full: I shall see God. I shall see for myself and My eyes shall behold, and not another. Oh, how my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:25-27)

I joyously look forward to that day where I will enjoy Him without limitation.

I do not preach to you fear of a hell with demons and horrors.

I preach salvation from a hell of being without God right now and from the prospect of such a horrible state for eternity.

We all currently live in an age of common grace: hope.

Hope that we can know God.

Hope that God provides.

He desires to be with us.
He desires that none should perish.
He is not far from any of us.

So close, yet so far away because without means to connect, God might as well be in a different universe.

But, God has provided the means. He has provided The Way and The Door in Jesus Christ.

Jesus went to great lengths to do His Father’s will: that we may be together with Him.

Hear Him.

Believe Him.

And, be saved from separation from God.

¹ Matthew 26:55
² Matthew 26:67-68
³ John 19:1
⁴ Mark 15:17-20
⁵ John 19:17
⁶ Luke 23:34
⁷ 2 Corinthians 5:21
⁸ Mark 15:34

March 17, 2024

Catfish Christians

Just this week I was told I needed to stop being a coward because the children of God are not wimps.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
— 2 Timothy 1:7

He further admonished that no coward has any place in His kingdom.

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
— Revelation 21:7-8

I was instructed instead to be like the firstborn, Jesus, who was no coward.

“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
— Hebrews 12:2

He then began teaching me how to overcome my fear by being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10).

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
— 1 John 4:18

The point: God does more than comfort and give gifts, He disciplines and corrects His children. Hebrews 12:6 says He **scourges** them. That’s unpleasant. It’s not puppies and rainbows. But, the result is glorious!

“For whom the LORD loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.”
— Hebrews 12:6-9

So then, I don’t want to be with Cultural Christians who are not Christians but reprobates, who comfort and justify themselves in their old, dead and unprofitable ways.

“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”
— Titus 1:16

I want to be with true believers who are being CHANGED, transformed into the image of Christ by the power of the God.

Yes, God loves you as you are.
No, it is no ok to STAY as you are.

Everyone can come to Christ but no one gets to stay the same.

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
— Romans 8:29

I will be satisfied with nothing less than becoming like Jesus which is more than I can do alone but requires the whole body -the church eternal, to fully express His person.

“till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
— Ephesians 4:13

Until we look like Jesus, we should be challenging ourselves and each other every day to press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)

March 14, 2024

The Ministry Of Everything

Every situation and circumstance is an opportunity to glorify God.

We give others and each other a real good look at Him from many countless, varied and obscure angles,

by manifesting His character, demonstrating His life in us through how we, by His grace, handle the many countless, varied and obscure circumstances of our lives.

In doing so, we give a fuller picture of Him.

But not only by how we reflect Him, but perhaps even more importantly, by admitting how, in any given circumstance, we have failed to,

by admitting how we have fallen short of the glory of God, by being honest about the unbridgeable gap by any natural means between where I am and His high calling, thereby declaring His excellence and glory: His goodness, His holiness, His righteousness, His justice, His love,

by confessing our sin so we can be healed and obtain the prize, striving to attain to the supernatural power of His resurrection, dying to sin: this world’s way of operating, and rising to life in Christ: the nature of the Father revealed and given to us through Jesus, the only begotten Son of God.

So, whether in life or death, success or failure, we can show people God, by His power and His faithfulness in which He works all things together for good.

Every circumstance and situation; good times, bad, plenty, lack, health, sickness, hardship, prosperity are all opportunities to manifest and glorify God, and to be co-laborers with Christ in the wonderful ministry of making God known.

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:1

“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So then death is working in us, but life in you.

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.

For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart.

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:5-18

March 10, 2024

Jesus said that His Father is with Him because HE DOES HIS…

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, March 10, 2024.

Jesus said that His Father is with Him because HE DOES HIS FATHER'S WILL.

“And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”
— John 8:29

God intervenes through the Son because He was ABOUT HIS FATHER'S BUSINESS:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;"
— Luke 4:18

God intervenes and answers prayers that serve His purposes to deliver creation from darkness into His marvelous light. The aim is His glory, which results in good.

God moves for no other reason.

We should remember that in all of our pursuits and prayers.

February 29, 2024

Happy birthday to my father, Rev. Paul Luckett, who, by years, is…

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, February 29, 2024.

Happy birthday to my father, Rev. Paul Luckett, who, by years, is younger than I am since he was born on leap year day. But, considering all that this man does on any given day, he may be younger in spirit too! 😂

I have a relationship of mutual love, admiration and respect with my father. I'm deeply grateful for that.

That I have the privilege to have him as an advisor and to be able to call him anytime for insight, direction or just to talk is a gift I cannot appreciate enough.

Happy birthday, Pop.

I'm so glad you're in my life.

I love you.

February 24, 2024

What’s In Your Hand?

“So the LORD said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A rod.'”
— Exodus 4:2

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.'”
— Exodus 14:15-16

I often lose focus looking at what’s happening around me.

As of late, I’ve felt inadequate, out of place and unwelcomed.

The Holy Spirit has given me these questions to recalibrate:

What’s in my hand? (What do I have that I can use?)

And, how can I use it to glorify God? (Exodus 4:2, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17)

To benefit the Body? (Romans 12:5-6, Ephesians 4:11-13, Galatians 6:10)

Or, to reconcile creation? (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

These questions in this order help me to re-center my focus and to get back to being what God created me to be:

Fruitful.

Before the problem existed, God provided everything I would need to move forward…

to His victory.

“as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue”,
— 2 Peter 1:3

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”
— 2 Corinthians 2:14-15

February 18, 2024

Throat Punched: A Reality Check

I recently got hit with something so hard that it made me question the nature of reality itself.

It caused me to question everything I believed was real, including God.

I cannot test spiritual things the same way I test physical things (scientifically) because I cannot control (harness, measure, manipulate, evoke, etc.) spiritual things in any way. (I find the true state of reality to be that I am not in control but am subject to powers that are.)

I can only observe where the spiritual current takes us.

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:13

In the same way, my computer code cannot control (harness, measure, manipulate, evoke, etc.) anything I do not give it the ability and parameters for. The only way my code would know anything about my world is what I tell it or to the extent of the ability I give it to interact with my world.

The only way I know of spiritual things is what the Creator tells me.

“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
— Deuteronomy 29:29

God has revealed that we were abiding in death and that He sent Jesus to save us,

“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.”
— John 5:24

I claim that Jesus saved me out of the disastrous spiritual current that leads to death and put me on the path that leads to life.

How can I know that’s real? How can I test that?

I can observe where the spiritual current takes me.

Jesus claims to heal as an aspect of this salvation and The Way that leads to Life.

So, for me healing is one of many tests.

Have I been healed? Am I being healed? Or, am I just coping? Are my beliefs merely a coping mechanism?

A key distinction between managing symptoms and true healing is the restoral or establishment of healthy function. Has the ability that existed or would have existed prior to the disease or injury been restored?

I can say unequivocally: yes. I have been healed.

In the past, I had been mortally wounded spiritually, emotionally, psychologically to the extent there was real physiological damage.

My injury rendered me unable to relate to people, especially certain people, in a healthy way that led to our collective growth and improvement.

I was closed up and cut off, with severely diminished capacity to enjoy Life, as a result of the pain and, at times, a conscious decision in an attempt to protect myself.

But, since,

“God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:6

now, I am wide open.

I do not have the resentment and bitterness that was keeping me secluded, that was killing me and that was keeping me from enjoying Life.

Do I still struggle?

No doubt.

But, the operation is complete.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:17

Notwithstanding, I’m in therapy to lift the dead layers of flesh, to work out the stiffness and atrophy sin causes, and to get full range of motion (sanctification).

This is where I observe the spiritual current of living water in Jesus Christ takes me: I have inextinguishable (eternal) Life that I didn’t have before that allows me to relate to others in a healthier way.

I may struggle with therapy —the sanctification process, but my healing is real.

“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
— 1 John 5:13

February 13, 2024

Avoid Stuff

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
—Hebrews 11:16

Every experienced traveler knows the key is to pack as lightly as possible.

It’s best to restrict yourself to the absolute essentials.

Every item beyond what is necessary is a burden. It makes travel that much more difficult.

And the further you have to go, the harder it makes it.

“But he who endures to the end will be saved.”
—Matthew 10:22

Every thing I acquire beyond what I need becomes a burden.

At the very least it becomes something I keep up with mentally: “Where is… ?”, “I thought I had…”

That sounds trivial but, at scale, with a house full of such things, it becomes a preoccupation: stuff to store, keep up with and protect.

And, you’ve never seen anyone travel with a house on their back.

“For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
—Luke 18:25

Stuff is a burden that keeps us stuck.

“But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
—Matthew 19:22

And many of us are enslaved to jobs just to keep stuff as it’s keeping us in the same place, all while being told that “success” is acquiring more stuff that really just results in us being more stuck.

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
—1 Timothy 6:10

So, I’m seeking to lay aside this weight and I’m praying, asking God for wisdom, “How should I approach material goods? How can I avoid the peril you warn against in Mark 4:19?”

“and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
—Mark 4:19

What I have so far is to regard everything I have as belonging to Christ and thinking how I can use it for His profit.

“Sell what you have and give to the poor; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
—Luke 12:33-34

And, to approach any consideration of a new possession with the thought,

“Does Jesus need another…?”,

“Is this useful to Jesus?”,

“Does it help me be more useful to Jesus?”

“Is this something Jesus has given me to enjoy that I can enjoy without attachment?”

Because God does give us things to enjoy,

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”
—1 Timothy 6:17

But everything we think is good does not necessarily come from God.

Satan gives gifts too.

The key distinction is everything God gives results in us being closer to Him with greater knowledge of Him. Everything else is stuff that seduces us and lures our heart away from God.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
—1 John 2:15

In short: avoid stuff.

It slows me down and keeps me from the true riches.(Luke 16:11)

February 11, 2024

52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #6 – A Mentor’s Model

“Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.”
—Hebrews 13:7

In Week 6 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness I give thanks to God for a mentor’s model.

A few days ago we had tacos and pound cake. It was the favorite foods of Josh Liddell, the son of Pearson and Pepper Liddell who they lost tragically.

It’s a sort of communion shared among people from all over the world in loving memory of him.

I remember at his funeral, during the family’s procession, my mentor Pearson Liddell, thrust his hands toward heaven and with a shout that was as much a heart-wrenching grief-stricken cry, yelled, “Hallelujah! I praise Your name Lord!”

That broke something in me.

It broke, if just for a moment, my preoccupation with this world that is passing away and shifted it toward what is and will be forever: eternal life through Christ with God and each other.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”
—John 17:20-21

It shifted my focus to such powerful Life that it subdues even death, reducing it to “just sleeping” so that when we die, we await our rising with all those who have fallen asleep to a New Day that never ends where we’ll never be afraid again.

“These things He said, and after that He said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.'”
—John 11:11

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.”
—1 Thessalonians 4:13

But, eternal life, as my mentor demonstrated, is not just something we look forward to for later. It’s something we have right now.

“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”
—1 John 5:12-13

Christ gives us inextinguishable Life now.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'”
—John 11:25-26

This Life could not be suppressed or snuffed out even by the unbelievable pressure of an ocean of grief. In the midst of all they were going through, eternal life erupted and burst through to praise.

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed– always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
—2 Corinthians 4:8-10

My mentors showed me what this means.

They made eternal Life real to me.

I’m grateful.

#52WoG