Shepherd
Jesus isn't desperately seeking converts to His kingdom. He is leading, as a Shepherd, anyone who wants rebirth to be reborn.
Jesus insists on total heart transformation.
Saved isn't taking on a new name, going to church, saying a prayer...saved is submitting to a new leader.
Contrary to overwhelming opinion, Jesus isn't trying to save your life, or make it better. He is willing to lead you into life for the first time from this present slow death.
This plan to redeem...reconcile...rebirth...do you see these are all "re" words... requires an entire reset of leadership.
This reset begins in the heart and works it's way out, not the other way around. It's not like I can practice some good works...work on my righteousness a little as I get time...and see my heart change. No. I work on my heart changing and the righteousness follows. Righteousness is simply the fruit of being connected to the righteous one. The more I let Him lead me...intentionally...with prayer and fasting...mourning my lack of His leadership... The more He leads me, and the more righteous I become in His eyes.
He demands much more righteousness than I can offer on my own.
It only works as I die to my vision of life, and He begins to lead me...sector by sector...fear by fear...pride by pride.... He wants to completely reformat my definition of success, forgiveness, fidelity, wealth, generosity, beauty...love.
Anyone not fully engaged in this process is unwelcome in heaven...the place people who are fully submitted to this process will live forever.
Matthew 5:17“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
19“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
21“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22“But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
The standards of entering heaven are incredibly high...impossibly high. It would take a miracle for anyone to enter in. That is the point. It's His righteousness we need. He really does all the growing of righteousness. BUT, we have to be willing to repent of our own righteousness...and lack thereof.
Religion wants an external makeover without an internal resurrection.
Resurrection requires death first. There is no resurrection without death, just as there is no salvation without repentance.
Jesus isn't an upgrade to life. He is the only way, truth, and life. Those willing to faithfully see their own imperfections and offer them to Jesus daily...literally witnessing themselves grow in increasing conformity with all Jesus requires... will really enter the kingdom of heaven. No one else will.
Those who mourn their imperfections, fully trusting that the very verbal mourning before God opens the door for Him to redeem those very issues will be perfected... because they wanted to be, they asked and received:
Matthew 5:46“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47“And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
48“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Philippians 3:12 NKJV — Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
1 John 2:5 NKJV — But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
1 John 4:17 NKJV — Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
Religion is external conformity with the hope that someday God will force an internal change that is real throughout. This false idea leads to all kinds of bad decisions. We see anyone else who doesn't conform to our righteousness as enemies of God...missing where we don't conform to real perfection!
Following Jesus is a voluntary internal change of leadership observable in an external change that naturally flows a new life source....a new way of thinking and seeing.
Right now, much of the church is going down a road of externality and fear...justifying any means by the hope of a righteous end. This is how you end up with people I. The church touting very unrighteous people as Gods chosen deliverers!
This is entirely contrary to the kingdom of Jesus. The kingdom of Jesus chooses the means trusting the right ends will grow from the right means.
If I trust in people to bring about an age of righteousness for God I have left Jesus for an antichrist...I really have...but what it really is rooted in is a lack of understanding the kingdom and how it comes from within...not without.
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23“And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them.
24“For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
25“But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27“They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29“but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30“Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.
32“Remember Lot’s wife.
33“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
Jesus insists on total heart transformation.
Saved isn't taking on a new name, going to church, saying a prayer...saved is submitting to a new leader.
Contrary to overwhelming opinion, Jesus isn't trying to save your life, or make it better. He is willing to lead you into life for the first time from this present slow death.
This plan to redeem...reconcile...rebirth...do you see these are all "re" words... requires an entire reset of leadership.
This reset begins in the heart and works it's way out, not the other way around. It's not like I can practice some good works...work on my righteousness a little as I get time...and see my heart change. No. I work on my heart changing and the righteousness follows. Righteousness is simply the fruit of being connected to the righteous one. The more I let Him lead me...intentionally...with prayer and fasting...mourning my lack of His leadership... The more He leads me, and the more righteous I become in His eyes.
He demands much more righteousness than I can offer on my own.
It only works as I die to my vision of life, and He begins to lead me...sector by sector...fear by fear...pride by pride.... He wants to completely reformat my definition of success, forgiveness, fidelity, wealth, generosity, beauty...love.
Anyone not fully engaged in this process is unwelcome in heaven...the place people who are fully submitted to this process will live forever.
Matthew 5:17“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
18“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
19“Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
21“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’
22“But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
The standards of entering heaven are incredibly high...impossibly high. It would take a miracle for anyone to enter in. That is the point. It's His righteousness we need. He really does all the growing of righteousness. BUT, we have to be willing to repent of our own righteousness...and lack thereof.
Religion wants an external makeover without an internal resurrection.
Resurrection requires death first. There is no resurrection without death, just as there is no salvation without repentance.
Jesus isn't an upgrade to life. He is the only way, truth, and life. Those willing to faithfully see their own imperfections and offer them to Jesus daily...literally witnessing themselves grow in increasing conformity with all Jesus requires... will really enter the kingdom of heaven. No one else will.
Those who mourn their imperfections, fully trusting that the very verbal mourning before God opens the door for Him to redeem those very issues will be perfected... because they wanted to be, they asked and received:
Matthew 5:46“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47“And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
48“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Philippians 3:12 NKJV — Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
1 John 2:5 NKJV — But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
1 John 4:17 NKJV — Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
Religion is external conformity with the hope that someday God will force an internal change that is real throughout. This false idea leads to all kinds of bad decisions. We see anyone else who doesn't conform to our righteousness as enemies of God...missing where we don't conform to real perfection!
Following Jesus is a voluntary internal change of leadership observable in an external change that naturally flows a new life source....a new way of thinking and seeing.
Right now, much of the church is going down a road of externality and fear...justifying any means by the hope of a righteous end. This is how you end up with people I. The church touting very unrighteous people as Gods chosen deliverers!
This is entirely contrary to the kingdom of Jesus. The kingdom of Jesus chooses the means trusting the right ends will grow from the right means.
If I trust in people to bring about an age of righteousness for God I have left Jesus for an antichrist...I really have...but what it really is rooted in is a lack of understanding the kingdom and how it comes from within...not without.
Luke 17:20Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
21“nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
22Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
23“And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go after them or follow them.
24“For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
25“But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
26“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27“They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29“but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30“Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
31“In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back.
32“Remember Lot’s wife.
33“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.
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