“We preach Christ crucified…” 1 Cor 1:23 NIV

The cross is renowned as a symbol of Christianity, but in the day Jesus was crucified the cross was a place of great shame. We wear crosses around our necks, hang them on our walls and use them in our liturgical ceremonies, but do we remember the pain and the shame that Christ endured on this cross? Have we considered that scripture tells us He was marred beyond recognition?

I believe Christians who face life threatening persecution identify with this crucified Christ. They understand the reality of suffering for what they believe. The cross is an ever present image for them as they recognize what it means to lay down your life for what you believe. The early Christians considered it a privilege to suffer for their faith. The image and stories of this wonderful person Jesus Christ who did no wrong, being beaten and crucified for them, burned as an emblem of their faith. It was a motivation so deep that to consider one’s life more precious than one’s faith would almost seem preposterous.

As I read the reports from the young evangelists from Eurasia, I am stirred to remember the price the young people are paying to carry the Gospel to places such as Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and the remote villages of Eurasia. I remember one young group of missionary evangelists being chased out of town by the village leaders who were hurling threats and rocks at their backs. To those leaders’ surprise, however, the evangelists returned the next day. The village leaders were shocked! How could they do this? What would motivate them to come back even after being threatened with death?

These same leaders came to their knees to hear the wonderful message of Christ because of the boldness of these faithful witnesses!

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” 1 Peter 4:12-14 NIV.

“Beloved, now are we the sons (and daughters) of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

There is no ‘if” in this verse. It doesn’t say we qualify if we are good enough, if we pray enough or if we give enough. He has qualified us by His sacrifice, His blood, and His victory over Satan.

When do we become more like Him? The key is to see Him and practice His presence. As we see Him here in this life, we are changed into His likeness in word and deed!

How many have had a moment of inspiration for an invention that would bless the world, but talked themselves out of it because of age, education, or fear and never took the step to make it a reality? How many saw an illness ravage a loved one, friend, or even themselves but resigned themselves to the limits of medicine and lived with their pain? How many have wanted to study abroad and envisioned a life of service to another culture but allowed the ceiling of financial shortage to kill that vision?

The potential of a new Creation in Christ is as far superior to human potential as human potential is superior to animal potential. Jesus said “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).  He is saying that following His success will make you someone that others want to follow. Men will be caught by your posture, words, peace, and authority in the midst of challenges. That is true leadership!

We want His type of success and level of success. We want a success that goes beyond a dollar amount into a human value amount. It needs to go beyond a benefit to one generation to an eternal benefit. That is the lifestyle and leadership only He can offer.

Nothing is impossible to the new creation!

“Early in the morning will I seek thee…” (Psalm 63:1).

This familiar line is an encouragement as we embark on a new year. As you begin this year remember the awesome things that God has done for you. For each one of us who are born again we have ‘super’ living in our natural!

The supernatural is Christ indwelling our natural flesh. The greatest miracle of all is the miracle of salvation! What is this? The reality that we may call on Jesus and He will forgive our sin, wash away those things which have bound us and fill us with His new life. This NEW LIFE is available to each one of us!

What do we say to these things? “YES LORD! This year I receive your NEW LIFE!”

Freedom is never a reality until it is tested.  In the Constitutions of most countries you will see flowery words of individual rights and freedoms but they mean nothing until they are attempted by individuals in that society.  Freedom of speech, freedom to travel, and freedom to work are assumed rights, but they are often challenged by controlling people.

At the turn of the century America’s freedom of religion was tested by a foreigner named Alexander Dowie.  He came from Australia with a healing message for this country which prides itself in its freedoms, and he was arrested over 100 times for all sorts of reasons, like practicing medicine without a license or disturbing the peace.  All those arrests were illegal, but someone had to pay the price to test the system to see if the freedom written in the books was in reality a freedom you could experience.

Egypt kept Israel in bondage for 400 years.  It was long enough to make them forget how a free person thinks.  When they had an opportunity to be free men they wanted to return to the security of the chains in Egypt.

If a Christian is in bondage it is not because the devil is so strong, but rather their will to walk free is too weak.  They will need to continually hear that Jesus has set them free and that they can stand in that freedom, until it gets down in their spirit and reprograms their thinking.

After the Emancipation Proclamation first ordered the freedom of over 3 million slaves, they were given the opportunity to become legally free if they escaped the control of their slave masters.  However, many died on those same farms under the whip of the owners because they were afraid to risk failure as free people.  Remember, who the Son sets free is free indeed!

Religion teaches people to stop thinking for themselves.

One thing people do not want to do is THINK.  They will do almost anything to avoid the trouble of thinking.  Indoctrination is when someone starts to do the thinking for you, and that’s why so many churches that were once alive are now dead.  The leader taught them doctrine rather than how to think.

Indoctrination is the process of being copied in the image of humankind rather than in the image of God.  Your goal is subtly changed from following Christ to following Christ’s church.

Satan has reserved this last trip for the most sincere of Christians.  If he could not get you to live in sin and promote the flesh life, then he takes your zeal for God and turns it into a weapon of religion to enforce a religious bondage on the people rather than a fleshly vice. Those most hungry to please God are the ones who fall for this trick.

I remember a dream God gave me back in 1984 when I was wearing a long black robe and trying to run with my pastor, but I kept falling over my robe.  I woke up and God spoke to me and said I was getting religious.  I thank God for the warning, and you should be warned as well!

One of the great truths of our era that has caused an explosion of growth in literature and given understanding to the spiritual workings of the word of God, is the revelation of seeds.

The power in life is found in the seeds of life, in every aspect of our natural life.  A farmer doesn’t need great faith to see a crop or harvest, he just needs enough good sense to plant seeds.  He doesn’t need any power or anointing to farm, all he needs is to put the seed in the ground. A farmer doesn’t check the soil to see if the soil is doing its job, he just plants the seeds.

It would be strange indeed to applaud the farmer for all his creativity in a crop, and marvel at his ability to produce. He would humbly say, I just put the seed in the ground.

Every seed in the earth will grow. God’s Word is a spiritual seed full of potential, and when put in the ground of man’s spirit, it will always grow!  This truth has revolutionized the church.  A preacher who belittles the power of words is like a surgeon who belittles what knife he uses.  Would you agree to be operated on if your surgeon was happy to use a kitchen knife?

When you have an encounter with Jesus Christ and surrender your life to receive Him as your Savior and Lord, it is not just an emotional experience. It is not just a rational, intelligent moment of decision. It is not just a cleansing of your past and passport to your future.

The seed of God has been planted in you in the same miraculous way that the seed of God was planted in Mary to produce the Lord Jesus!

You had to say yes to His will the same way Mary did. She did not understand but said, “Be it done unto me according to your will.”

Peter describes this phenomenon by declaring:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.  1 Peter 1:23

You have a miracle in you! All the potential of Jesus as a Son of God was placed in seed form in you as a child of God, except for the redemptive nature of Jesus. All His purpose and power is now able to grow and develop in you. This gives special meaning when we celebrate His birth at Christmas!

There is a debate as to whether Jesus always knew who He was. Some think that Jesus was all knowing in the flesh, but think for a moment.  He was born a baby and had all the limitations of a baby.  For 30 years you only hear of Him once and that was in the synagogue talking about scripture.

Jesus was born a man and had to grow in wisdom like any person.  Did God have to give the revelation to Jesus, or did He already know it?  Scripture says, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which GOD GAVE UNTO HIM, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Revelation 1:1 author’s emphasis).

I believe that God had to give the revelation to Jesus of who He was, just like He has to give it to us.  He had to discover it in scripture, and He challenged the religious people to search the scriptures for they speak of Him.

Jesus found Himself in the Word, and you can find yourself in the Word.  Accept the letters to the church as personal letters to you.  Examine the lifestyle of Jesus in the Gospels as an example of your own lifestyle.  Read the commission to Jesus as God’s commission to you, because the world is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed.

Jesus came to reveal not only Who God is, but who we are! Here are a few revelations that the Scriptures give us about Who Jesus is and how much we—all of us—are like Him:

[Now] He [Christ] is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation” (Col. 1:15 Amplified).

Jesus began a new species of god-men. He is the first-born so we are born of His family and likeness in the image of His Father who is now our Father.

“For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:5). And when did our resurrection occur? The moment we were born again from death to life!

“…Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Cor. 3:18 The Message).

We go from faith to faith, from love to love, from adventure to adventure!