kissing Jesus while betraying him
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Refusing Persecution

If we refuse to be manipulated, abused, persecuted and taken advantage of..

Because we can see it coming, and are skilled at exposing and avoiding and escaping all the schemes of evil men.

Being able to see the schemes does not necessarily mean we have Gods permission or power to avoid or escape them.

“And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.””
‭‭Mark‬ ‭8:32-33‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Peter knew there was an evil scheme awaiting Jesus, and was trying to help Jesus to avoid it. Jesus responded to him “get behind me Satan”. It was God’s plan for Jesus to walk into a trap of suffering and death. Peter assumed, because it seemed terrible and evil, that must be it was not a thing God wanted

If we are constantly activists against evil schemes, some of which succeed (temporarily). Then we may, at times, find ourselves refusing to follow Jesus Christ. We may even find ourselves fighting and undermining what Jesus is doing in the earth. We may get swept up in a battle he simply is not fighting. Using our limited ability to see the big picture and logic we may find ourselves taking a side that seems good but is not necessarily his side.

He may intentionally lead us into trouble, he just may have that for us for a time. That may be in our cup to bear. And if He is our Lord that should be ok with us.

Following his path for us just might result in humiliation, injustice, and peril. If he wants us to take all that, it’s our job to not whine and to accept it. Like a good soldier, and like a loyal bond-slave.

So don’t spend your days as an activist an antagonist of Satan and his helpers. Instead spend your days as an obsessed activist of Jesus Christ and come what may, take it all as his will for you.

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Gospel Deficiency

Whenever something is off, or it produces bad fruit, be it chronic illness in our bodies or mind. Or the results in gardening or farming it is necessary to look for the root cause if we really want to resolve it.

Mineral Deficiencies

In gardening often the root cause in bad fruit is at a deeper more fundamental level. Often it is a mineral deficiency in something critical for life function.

An example in human health, chronic headaches are not solved with aspirin, that is just an expensive masking of a symptom. Headaches can result from high blood pressure which may result from a number of things such as low blood sodium. Anxiety can be the bad fruit of a magnesium deficiency.

Warning Signals

Symptoms are warning signals of a fundamental problem or deficiency. Poor soil results in unhealthy plants which results in no or lousy fruit.

Applied to Christianity

Also, the root cause in church fruit problems, ALL OF THEM is the gospel preached and accepted by its members. Shallowness, over-emphasis on certain doctrines. Self-centeredness, coldness to certain people types, is a sign of a deeper problem.

Either false gospel (like toxins) or incomplete (like deficiencies) gospels being preached and accepted. Or sometimes it is even a complete abandonment of the original gospel (see what happened in the book of Galatians).

The foundation for the life of all Christianity is the gospel of the kingdom preached by John the Baptist and then Jesus and then his disciples. And I’m afraid to say it’s almost unheard of in modern Christianity.

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The Fruit of Your Gospel

Teachings and sermons about producing Christian fruit have been overdone and even used for abuse. As I here write about fruit I’m not describing any particular group or behavior.

This post is about the preaching of different gospels. Gospels produce converts and ultimately churches. I’ve observed different gospels producing different types of converts and churches and ministries. The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ also produces a fruit that God describes as good and which Jesus gave us a standard to measure against.

The gospel of the kingdom does not produce churches where evangelistic sermons by one or two are the only and supreme focus for every meeting. And where everyone else are expected to sit and observe for a lifetime.

Where meetings are filled with believers who barely know one another… if at all, and stare at the back of one another’s head.

It does not see lifetime friends disappear, cut off fellowship, for petty reasons, without so much as a goodbye. Like church is some sort of impersonal business relationship

It does not produce sermon series…. endless ….sermon…. series.

It produces family, it produces face to face sharing of Jesus Christ back and forth shared life in even the shyest and poorest of people. People without skill and without ambition for other things.

It produces a people completely outside a satan controlled world. Who challenge the world together and with effective force, who together get into trouble with that world. It does not produce a people who fit right into it and who ignore reality.

It produces a people united by only the person of Jesus himself and that is all they need, not money. They do not have a common adoration for a certain pastor or priest or line of theology

The gospel of the kingdom, after a time of discipleship, produces bodies of believers obsessed with Jesus Christ who understand their together-calling. Who all speak and share equally, extrovert and introvert, who share their material wealth one with another. It produces love, deep genuine Jesus love,

It grows organically without strategy and without marketing, people just are drawn, sometimes a few people other times MANY people, it’s money flows to one another to produce equality with all, it’s members are led by the spirit and are not ashamed to speak and so sermons often are not necessary at all. It is not controllable or visible to human governments. It actually gets attacked by governments.

The fruit of the gospel of the kingdom looks like a gorgeous counterpart to Jesus Christ in the earth.

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