Dear One,

The Lord bless you!

God’s greatest gift to any man, outside of eternal life, is a great wife. I can tend to be squishy at times, but my wife is resolute. She’s uncompromising about right and wrong. When people ask dumb questions like, “why do bad things happen to good people?” she will declare the underlying spiritual principles involved. Right and wrong. Paul did the same thing in 1 Corinthians 11, which I was reading for my morning devotional this morning.

Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of (the sin of not discerning) the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 1 Cor 11:27-32 NKJV

Do you love judgment? Is judgment a good thing? Isaiah says, when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness (Isa 26:9 NKJV). In judgment, lessons are being learned, some serious lessons…indeed! I realized that verse 27 was an example of the figure ellipse – an implied explanation or clarification by way of addition to the text – which I added in parenthetically. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. To lay the guilt of the death of the Lord on the poor Corinthians was a bit much! But with the ellipse it makes sense. Then I saw how Paul points out that sin – which is wrong – produces consequences. Righteousness produces fruit. We can be culturally squishy because we don’t want to rock the boat, but truth is truth, right is right and wrong is wrong, and we eat the fruit of our deliberate choices, including the ones we avoid making. RM says, AMEN!

Love you! KRP

THE LOVE OF PENTECOST

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles…

Ephesians is the apex of revelation to the Church, and Ephesians is Pentecost. Ephesians reveals the believer at the throne of God, seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. There is no greater place to go, no greater revelation to receive, no vision greater than the throne of God. At the Cross we received the victory over sin, the world and death; at the throne we are seated in authority, power and blessing in Christ for all eternity. This is the reality of Pentecost and the birth of the Church.

…because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. 46 For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Acts 10:45-46 NKJV

I’ve had the privilege over the years of leading thousands into the baptism of the Holy Spirit. One time I was at my friend Paul’s church in Kigali where I lead over two thousand into the baptism at a Sunday service. On a plane flight later that day, the Lord spoke and told me that He loved me. Tears began to roll down my cheeks and the stewardess walked by giving me a concerned look, but was wise enough not to say anything…

The third chapter of Ephesians is unrivalled in excellence, glory and blessing. Let’s take a few minutes to walk through its wonderful revelation and appreciate all that ABBA has done for us!

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Cor 2:7-8 NKJV

The chapter opens with the revelation of the great mystery. The reason you may have never heard of it is because nobody preaches on it. There is almost a perception in modern Christianity that Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection were a foregone conclusion in prophecy. But the reality is far different – this section will emphasize this truth – and it brings to light the extreme spiritual and physical warfare of the OT and the drama of redemption. The truth is…the enemy almost stopped the coming of the Messiah on dozens of occasions right up through his birth and then sought to kill Him repeatedly before His death on the Cross. Finally, the enemy never would have crucified Jesus if he had known the great mystery, which is revealed here in chapter three. Are you interested? Let’s go…

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles —  2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 

Have you ever wondered why the revelation of the mystery and indeed the great abundance of the NT Covenant was given to Paul, and not say, Peter or one of the original twelve? Paul was a persecutor of Christians, an enemy of the early Church. I believe the answer also ties into why certain believers are more successful sense knowledge wise than other wonderful, faithful believers. Jesus talked about different capacities when He talked about thirty, sixty and hundredfold fruit (Mt13:23). Some believers have greater capacities in certain areas than others. Being trained at the feet of Gamaliel, then going off into the desert after his conversion, presumably to study the OT regarding Yeshua as the Messiah, and praying in tongues much, Paul had the background, training and capacity intellectually and spiritually to receive the revelation. Does this mean he was a more wonderful believer than others? No, not at least in regard to his standing in Christ. But his passion, curiosity, humility and perseverance allowed him to receive the genius anointing of the NT Covenant revelation. What the Lord did for Paul, He can do for you too…

6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, 26 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 27 To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Col 1:24-27 NKJV

The OT is full of promises that the Gentiles would be blessed under Messiahs reign, but there is no inkling of an idea that Jews and Gentiles would become fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers fully in the promise of Messiah – think eternal life, sonship, covenant relationship and access to the Holy of holies and the throne of God. Nowhere is there an indication that Jews and Gentiles would have Christ IN them! The mystery has been revealed, and the devil has worked overtime through religious spirits to suppress the truth of it again. The Church would be a very different community if the mystery was believed and taught!

These words are so sweet, so beautiful that we should just read them slowly aloud and let the depth, beauty and purposes of God wash over us as we read…note the humility and love of the apostle for his readers. He ends with a statement every servant of God, and even every parent, understands, ‘my tribulations are for you, for your glory!’

8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;  10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,  11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Eph 3:1-13 NKJV

Finally we enter into the second great prayer in Ephesians. Ephesians was written by Paul but authored by the Holy Spirit so in effect this is God’s ‘prayer’ for all His sons and daughters.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —  19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph 3:14-19 NKJV

That’s my prayer for you dear one, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God! This is why I love Pentecost, and why I love Ephesians, because I see all the potential, all the glory, all the beauty that we can walk in in love and service to our ABBA and to all our brothers and sisters. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our ABBA’s business…