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Here’s a favorite question of some preachers: “Are you a lukewarm believer?” You’d better have a good answer because if you’re not sure – “Am I lukewarm?” – Jesus may spew you out of his mouth. What does that mean? He’ll reject you, you apathetic Christian! You may think you’re saved, but if you’re not on fire for God, you’ll end up in the fire!

What diabolical nonsense.

First, you are a part of Christ’s body and Jesus doesn’t spew out body parts. Ever vomited up a kidney? A toe? It’s a ridiculous notion, yet this is exactly what the fearmongers say will happen!

Second, being lukewarm has nothing to do with how enthusiastic you are. When I was a young man, free from the responsibilities of fathering or paying the bills, I thought I was on fire for God. That basically meant I went to a lot of meetings and volunteered for a lot of activities. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re deluding yourself if you think busyness impresses the Lord.

Defining lukewarmness in terms of zeal is fraught with problems. What is hot to you is lukewarm to someone else. (You haven’t led as many people to Jesus as Billy Graham? Get out of my sight you lukewarm loser!) Zeal can be a mask for works-righteousness. (As if that impresses the Lord!) And while most would say it’s better to be a little bit on fire for God – “Hey, at least I’m trying” – Jesus would prefer you were stone cold:

I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! (Rev 3:15, GNB)

What does it mean to be lukewarm?

Lukewarm is what you get when you mix hot and cold. To be lukewarm is to mix that which shouldn’t be mixed. For instance, mix the white-hot love of God with the stone-cold demands of the law and you’ll fall from grace (see Galatians). Mix up your husbands by running back to the law and you’re cheating on Jesus (see Roman 7).
Ironically, the mixture of unmixable things is a leading cause of complacency in the church. If Christians are lukewarm in the modern sense, it’s because they are lukewarm in the Biblical sense. They’ve been paralyzed and neutered by the irreconcilable demands of crippling mixture. The disease of lukewarmness results from the following unhealthy activities:

Mixing the new covenant of grace with the old covenant of works

Mixing the new law written on our hearts with the old law written on tablets

Mixing the rest of the new with the ceaseless demands of the old

Mixing the unbreakable promises of God with the brittle promises of man

Mixing the bondage of Sinai with the liberty of Zion (Gal 4:31)

Mixing the ministry that condemns (2 Cor 3:9) with the ministry of no condemnation (Rom 8:1)

In the pursuit of balance, mixed-up preachers give mixed-up messages that lead to mixed-up believers. It’s like getting poison from the doctor.

Why does Jesus prefer us cold to lukewarm?
……

Live with a mixture of the old and new and you’ll reap the benefits of neither. You won’t enjoy the grace that God has provided, nor will you heed the law that points to Jesus.
The number one cause of lukewarmness is cheap law, namely the delusion that God accepts anything less than perfection. Cheap law may be packaged as the pursuit of holiness or spiritual disciplines. It could be an emphasis on the sacrifices you bring or the promises you make, but its fruit always has the nauseating stench of self-righteousness. “Look what I’m doing for you Lord!”
The remedy for lukewarmness is the sort of stone-cold assessment that Jesus gives to the Laodiceans:

You make me want to vomit. You brag, “I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,” oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. (Rev 3:16-17, MSG)

Why does Jesus say it’s better to be cold than lukewarm? Because the law that Jesus preached silences proud mouths revealing our need for grace.

How do I become hot?

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful unclothedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (Rev 3:18)

Thank God for grace! Because of grace you get to swap your filthy self-righteous rags for the clean robes of Christ’s righteousness. You get to trade your hay, wood, and stubble for the golden treasure that is Jesus himself. With his salve on your eyes you will see that his sacrifice is a perfectly perfect work that cannot be improved upon.

Want to be hot? Then stop mixing grace with law. Stop living in the netherworld between two covenants. Stop running back to your old husband Mr. Law. Stop doubting the promises of God. Stop sleeping with the maid of self-effort. Stop striving for balance. Stop trying to replicate what Christ has done.

In short, repent and believe the good news that Jesus Christ has done it all!

https://escapetoreality.org/2015/07/24/are-you-lukewarm/

morning....

jiggaz:
morning

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Have you ever seen those Magic Eye 3D pictures that look random at first glance but then reveal a hidden picture? Maybe there’s a group of you looking and someone says, “Wow – look at that! It’s a ship!” Then another person sees it and now they’re both describing the picture to you. But try as you might you just can’t see it. They try to encourage you. “Look – it’s right there. It’s huge!” But still you can’t see it. You’re starting to think there’s no picture at all and they’re all deluded when suddenly, revelation comes and a ship appears! If you’re like me and you’re usually the last person to see these things, you’ll no doubt embarrass yourself at this point by shouting, “I see it!”

That’s how it was for me with grace.

I knew people who looked into the Bible and saw radical grace but I didn’t. Sure, there were pockets of grace but there was a whole lot of other stuff as well. Then one day, revelation came and I saw Grace! He’s right there on every page and in every book! How can you miss Him? He’s huge! I now find myself reading old scriptures with new eyes and saying, “Look! This is speaking of Jesus! This is all about Him – I never saw this before.” Now that I’ve seen Him once I see Him everywhere. I was saved decades ago and I have always loved God with my whole heart. But when I got this revelation of His amazing grace, it was like being born again,
again .

A friend recently asked me, “How well did you understand grace before you understood grace ?” Here’s my answer: I thought I understood grace perfectly well. For as long as I can remember I’ve considered myself a testimony of His grace. But when Grace Himself came into focus, I was floored. I realized that I had barely understood grace at all. Looking back I can identify nine signs that showed I did not fully grasp the grace of God.

1. I understood that I was saved by grace but not that I was kept by grace

I had received Christ by faith and without doing a thing, but I was not continuing in Him by that same faith (Col 2:6). Although I would never have said it, I had taken out a little works insurance. Faith is a positive response to what God has done, but I liked to initiate things. And so my walk became “do, do, do,” rather than it’s “done, done, done.” There was no rest, only performance anxiety. There was always another meeting to lead, another plank of truth to teach, another stray sheep to gather. I thought this was normal. I could get excited about the idea of being saved and saving others, but I was not drawing from the wells of salvation with joy (Is 12:3). I was constantly stressed and I treated grace as grease for my engine.

2. I felt obliged to serve

Jesus had done everything for me, what would I do for Him? Of course I didn’t use the word “indebted” – that would’ve alerted me to the poverty of my theology – but much of what I did was motivated by a sense of obligation. I thus cheapened the exceeding riches of His grace (Eph 1:7) by trying to pay Him back for His priceless gift. Inevitably this shifted my focus from Him and His work to me and mine. Instead of being impressed by what He had done, I was trying to impress Him with what I was doing.

3. I motivated others using carrots and sticks

Because my own motives were screwed up it was inevitable that I would preach rewards and punishments to others. Do good, get good; do bad, get bad. At the same time as I was preaching against legalism I was putting people under law! My gospel was like an ash-tray – full of “buts”! God loves you but… Jesus died for you but… God’s gifts always came with a price to pay. But grace is free – you either receive it or reject it but the moment you start charging for it, you’ve missed it. There’s only one motive in the kingdom and that is love. The Son of Man didn’t come to threaten us, judge us, or scare us, but to demonstrate love (Rm 5:. I no longer believe that evangelism means scaring the hell out of people. The good news that the world needs to hear is that God is good and He loves us. The new covenant of grace is the formal expression of His unfailing love for us (Is 54:10).

4. I saw myself as a servant rather than a son

My identity was in the things I did rather than in my Father. I saw myself as working for God (a noble cause!) rather than doing the works of God . I would not have said I was justified by what I did for I knew that grace and works don’t mix (Rms 11:6). Yet I was mixing grace with works like there was no tomorrow! But here’s the strange thing. Even though I preached servanthood more than sonship, whenever there was a crisis I was quick to relate to Him as Papa. It was only when I was strong and healthy that I was seduced by the religious need to do something for God. Happily, there were many crises!

5. I kept asking God to provide things that He’s already provided

I knew enough about grace to approach Him boldly in my hour of need, but I didn’t know that He has already given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). If someone was sick I would ask for healing when I should’ve just healed them (Mt 10:. I would ask for more faith instead of living by the faith of the Son of God (Ga 2:20). Like the prodigal’s older brother I felt that God would bless me as I did my part. I didn’t realize that I was already blessed, deeply loved, and highly favored. In my ignorance I wasted a whole lot of time doing a whole lot of nothing. I thought I was being active and fruitful but in reality I was passive and faithless. God had already come but there I was face down asking Him to come again.

6. I was more sin-conscious than Christ-conscious

Like many Christians I was afraid of sin (keep it out of the camp!) and I was not known as a friend of sinners. I defined sin as bad works only and I taught that the solution to sin was repentance. I had read that the grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12), but I wasn’t quite sure how that worked. So when preaching against sin I used inferior incentives like fear and punishment that led, at best, to temporary, will-powered changes in behavior. I emphasized what people must do (repent!) more that what God has already done (forgiven us!). I kept the focus on us when it should’ve been on Him and my preaching was powerless as a result. If anyone failed to experience victory over sin, I just figured they were unacquainted with God’s transforming grace – even though I had given them none.

7. I always tried to do the right thing

Someone under grace says, “I trust Him from start to finish. He will lead me in the right path” (Ps 23:3). But in subtle ways I preferred rules to relationship. What I craved were clear Biblical guidelines for living. I thought I was choosing good, but then so did Adam. We both had an independent spirit that led us to eat from the wrong tree. I felt particularly good when people came to me for guidance. I thought I was giving them wisdom when really I should just have got out of the way and taught them to lean on Jesus (Jn 10:27).

8. I had a stronger relationship with the written word than with the Living Word

I did not read the scriptures to find Jesus (Lk 24:27) but to learn, what should I do? I read indiscriminately and was often
confused by scriptures that seemed to contradict each other . My solution was to go for balance: A little of this, a little of that, for all scripture is profitable. But by failing to filter what I read through the finished work of the cross, I unwittingly poisoned myself. I was mixing the death-dealing words of the law with the life-giving words of grace. Although I was zealous for the Lord, in truth I was lukewarm. I was neither under the stone-cold reality of the law nor walking in the red-hot heat of His unconditional love and grace.

9. I knew I was righteous, but I didn’t feel righteous

When I stumbled I would more readily confess my sins to God than allow the Holy Spirit to remind me of the gift of His righteousness to me (Jn 16:10). I knew I was a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), but in many ways I acted and spoke as if I was merely an improved creation. I thought honesty about my struggles was the key to getting more grace. But I probably would not have struggled so much in the first place if I had just learned to see myself as God sees me – redeemed, righteous, and holy.

I am convinced that grace comes by revelation. If you don’t yet see it this post may sound like the ramblings of a man who is unbalanced. (Thank God I am! I’m done with balance!) If you do see Grace, then right now you will be resonating like a tuning fork. So let me finish with a few words for those of you in the first group. Please be patient with those of us who are leaping for joy. Don’t walk away from the Magic Eye picture scowling, “I can’t see it, there’s nothing there.” Just keep looking! Grace really is standing right there in front of you. And He’s huge!

https://escapetoreality.org/2011/05/27/did-i-understand-grace-before/

morning

Nawa oo what is Comedian Koffi ranting about? I always see Kiss Daniel as a humble guy oo. .... Does Koffi have beef with him?
Anyways, Kiss Daniel is a very talented guy and i love his songs...... Fame is not easy though, please Koffi should take it easy with the boy. Besides he's still very young.

Popular comedian Koffi who is usually quiet and away from controversy has stated that as a matter of fact, the reason Kiss Daniel doesn’t headline shows or perform at major events is because he is arrogant.
Indeed Kiss Daniel has released arguably the best album by a Nigerian this year but shows and endorsement aren’t trailing him unlike his colleagues. While the likes of Ycee will be performing at the MAMA, it appears Kiss Daniel will only be watching them instead.
Koffi has said arrogance is the reason why this is the case.

Read What he wrote on his page earlier….
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First artiste to ever have a number 1 and number 2 video on the MTV Base countdown for weeks. First new artiste to ever drop an album without any major industry collabo. First artiste to blow up within a short period of time yet like Burna Boy hardly headlines any major shows, why? Let it be known that Mr ‘Jombo’ truly did not come into the music scene to ‘woju’, he proved his mettle ‘Laye’, and has been having a ‘Good time’ with his ‘Mama’ from ‘Sin City’. This express ride might be short lived however if our favourite fine boy does not cut the double face act.

The fans see a sweet young man on the tube but behind the works the G worldwide king’s manager is killing the brand. A facade of humility is sold to the public, but the arrogance beneath is as hot as magma flowing from an expired volcano. Hot but soon becomes ash or turns solid stones that go nowhere when it cools off. I don’t know how these Actistes suddenly get the airs of “I too mush” and throw caution to the winds. They surround themselves with sycophants. Milking maids in the name of managers. How can a young man see such breakthrough in life and gradually poke posterity in the eye.

Laying bad tracks along your career path that you won’t be able to thread upon on your way back. Right now we all know that like Mr M chairman I, King Tuface (2Baba) is barely churning out any hit songs but humbility has got them going even if their concert wowo small. Here you are an advanced ‘Photocopy’ version of 9ice and you ain’t picking points from what happened to your original progenitor despite his huge success(only Naija nigga to play at Mandela’s birthday).

Album is a few weeks away and the management of an artiste turns down major interviews, over bills clients for gigs and would rather arrogantly stay home on each of those days and loose mileage, connect and some rabar. Go and ask D’banj if he would dare make such a mistake again in his life.

This write up is not to attack the Lion but to let the people around him know that if care is not taken a wounded dog like Chuddy K, W4, Ice Prince, Ikechukwu, D’Prince (who is no longer here) will be better than a dead Durella.

Wake up my dear dream interpreter let God not judge you wrong. Shaddout to humblesmith too for not coming anything close to his name whilst a veteran like Ras kimono is turning up at every show killing it and staying on fleek. Oritsefemi be careful, it was not a publicity stunt, you and Danku got whipped due to his dumb managerial ability, retrace your steps before the ‘Mercies of the Lord’ abandon you finally. I don talk my own but as usual my mouth dey smell, make I run go back studio go tidy up recording on my#CollaboraShunz album, all of una dey craze with the yeye social media frenzy wey dey make una loose common sense.

Wait till African china koboko flog you na dat time your eye go clear maybe you sef go become video director like Banky or just dey nowhere like J.Martins wey Alhaji Tekno dey use hin style dey humbly take collect mula. 1! #IDGAF @koffithaguru aka Casper aka Beast is Nigeria’s most versatile comedian, actor, singer, producer, orator, righter!

http://www..ng/2016/09/17/kiss-daniel-arrogant-artiste-music-industry-popular-comedian-koffi-speaks/

Scripture exhorts us to “find out what pleases the Lord” (Eph 5:10). Do you know what pleases the Lord? You do! You are his dearly-loved child and your heavenly Father is thrilled to bits with you.

You need to know this otherwise you will spend your life trying to earn what you already have. You’ll fall prey to those who say, “You need to improve yourself to please the Lord.” Or “You need to clean yourself up before God will be pleased with you.” Such messages will distract you from God’s grace. They will draw your attention to your sin instead of his Son. They will cause you to fall from grace into dead works.

This is no small issue. The following extract, which comes from pages 82-84 of The Hyper-Grace Gospel, reveals a huge division in the church as to what pleases the Lord . While some, like me, preach unconditional love and say things like “It’s impossible for you to disappoint God ,” others, like Dr. Michael Brown, worry that we can displease the Lord and become unpleasing to him.

When God looks at you, does He love what He sees?

Is God always pleased when He looks at us? Is He ever disappointed with us? These are the sorts of questions that divide those who preach radical grace from those who oppose it.

Hyper-grace preacher: “We are totally pleasing in our Father’s sight.”

Dr. Brown: “It is absolutely false to claim that when God looks at us, He always ‘loves what He sees.’” (page 112)
The difference is the hyper-grace preacher is talking about
you, while Dr. Brown is talking about the things that you do .
“Paul, isn’t this just splitting hairs?” No. It’s the difference between life and death! It’s the reason why so many believers are messed up, worn out, and confused.

The issue here is identity. The relevant question is, Who am I? Your answer to this question will shape your life. For instance, if you define yourself by what you do, then your identity will only be as secure as your behavior. You’ll think, “If I do good, God will smile at me, but if I don’t, He won’t.”

This is an inferior way to live. You are not what you do and your value to God is not defined by your productivity or performance. You may be a pastor or a professor or a prostitute or a pill-popping prodigal but that is not who you really are. You are much more than that. You are a beloved child of the Most High God. This is the stunning revelation of the gospel.

And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, NKJV)

Before Jesus had done a blessed thing—before He had preached the gospel or healed the sick or raised the dead—He received the loving affirmation and pleasure of His Father. How God relates to Jesus is how He relates to you. He loves you without any regard for your behavior. Your good deeds don’t make Him love you more, and your bad deeds don’t make Him love you less.

Identity vs behavior

This issue of identity is so important, that I wrote a whole book about it. I wrote The Gospel in Ten Words so that you might know that your Father loves you 100 percent and is thoroughly pleased with you. He never changes His mind. Just as your behavior does not alter the sunlight falling on the earth, your behavior cannot alter the white-hot love of your Father for you. This is the gospel that Jesus preached:
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (John 15:9)

The danger is not that God will change His unchangeable mind and start hating you. The danger is that you won’t remain in His love . If you’re constantly hearing that God’s approval of you goes up and down like the stock market you may begin to doubt His goodness. You may think, “I did good today, He loves me,” or “I did bad today, He loves me not.” You’ll become an insecure and unstable believer.

It is critically important that you draw a big fat line between
who you are (your Father’s dearly loved child) and what you do . Dr. Brown appears not to make this distinction for he says “our heavenly Father … does not always take enormous pleasure in us” (page 120). This is not true. He may not take enormous pleasure in your choices, but you He loves.

You only need to look at your own children to know this is true. I look at my kids with 100 percent, undiluted pleasure. My kids are the greatest kids on earth. I almost feel embarrassed that God gave me such great kids because the rest of you are missing out. Does this mean I am 100 percent happy with the choices my children make? Not at all. Was I pleased yesterday when my young son disobeyed his mother’s command and ran onto the road? No, I was very displeased with his behavior . But with him I am and always will be well-pleased.

How is this not obvious to every father?
As much as we love and appreciate our own kids, God loves us even more—much, much more. He’s not coming second in any Father of the Year competition.

https://escapetoreality.org/2014/10/22/what-pleases-the-lord/

afternoon

evening..

morning

jiggaz:
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jiggaz:
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