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Category Archives: Power of God

Why We Ignore the Cross

17 Sep

cross 2In my last post I talked about the mystery of the power of the cross. It’s something that God expects His church to understand. It’s been revealed to us in His Word.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24

This is a problem we face even in our society today. There’s a pressure on the church to cater our message to those we’re trying to win. Religious people want to hear one thing, while the educational community wants to hear something else. Many times we fall into the trap of trying to please our listeners with the message we think they want to hear.

Paul strips away all of these elements by boiling the message down to its vital component. He preaches the same essential message to all who will listen. That message is the Word of the cross – Christ crucified.

The reason is clear. There’s a supernatural call in that Word. It contains the power of God to draw men and women to the place of repentance.

We need to see this. When we water down or ignore the Word of the cross, we lose the bulk of the power needed to win the lost. Beyond that, those who do come to the Lord with little knowledge of the cross, have no desire to become radical disciples of Christ.

This is what the world desperately needs to see in the church. It’s also what the church needs in order to be transformed into the victorious kingdom that was set forth by Christ. We must hunger and thirst for the Word of the cross.

We’ve tried a whole host of other strategies only to be met with little or no results. Isn’t it time to proclaim Christ the way they did it when the world was “turned upside-down” by the Gospel? We need to renew our knowledge of what happened in and through the cross of Christ. This is a message that the Lord can’t wait to reveal to us if we’ll just stop and listen.

This is one of the things that we’re missing in our churches these days. In my last post I quoted I Corinthians 2:7. In it, Paul explained that this message was destined for our glory. That’s why it’s such a mystery. From the outside, the cross looks like a place of pain, suffering, and weakness. But in reality, it will bring glory to all who live by it.

It was the same for Christ. The demonic kingdom had no idea what would be unleashed on the cross. When the “Lord of Glory” was crucified, there was an explosion of power that rocked the universe. It’s clear that Satan would never have allowed this to happen if he had known what the results would be.

It’s time for God’s people to once again unleash this power in the world. We need to walk in the power of the cross. The message of the cross is vital for our last-days testimony.

Question: What would change if we incorporated the teaching of the cross in our message?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on September 17, 2014 in Power of God, Revival, The Church

 

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The Mystery of the Cross

15 Sep

Question MarkDo I want to be a disciple – a student – of Christ? Do I want to learn the path of life from His example? If not, then the cross is a word I push off to the corners of my Christian walk.

How do you turn all this around and get the victory? The Word of the cross is what makes the difference. There’s just one problem with this kind of thinking. We don’t like the cross. It makes us nervous. It sounds too much like sacrifice.

This isn’t the first time the church has had to deal with this issue. Paul wrote about it 2000 years ago.

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Corinthians 2:1-2

This is a totally different approach to ministry than what we see today. Paul said that he didn’t arrive on the scene with great, persuasive words of wisdom. Instead, he preached a simple message – Christ crucified.

That was it. Not the risen Lord, not the King of Heaven, not Christ the Healer, or seated at the right hand of the Father. Only the crucified Savior, which he calls the testimony about God.

The Greek word for testimony in this verse literally means mystery. Scripturally, a mystery is something that wasn’t understood until God actually accomplished it.

That’s what Christ did on the cross. The Old Testament saints had no concept of how God would use the cross to provide our salvation.

No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1 Corinthians 2:7-8

It was a secret that God kept hidden away from before our age began. Even Satan, as intelligent as he is, couldn’t conceive of how God would save us. If he even had a hint of the power of the cross, Satan would never have crucified the Lord. The working of the cross was the greatest mystery of all time.

But wait! Does this mean that it’s a mystery to us? Of course not.

However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10

This is a mystery that God wants to reveal to us. If we can grasp what happened on the cross, then it will have the power to totally transform our lives. This is the message for those who want to participate with the work of God’s ongoing salvation in their lives. It’s for those who desire to be disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

This is how we’ve gotten so far astray in this nation. We spend most of our time seeking God for things. We follow Him for healings, joy, and prosperity. Yet, we don’t realize that all of these things are available in the person of the crucified Savior. We need to seek a relationship with the One who has the power to completely save us from the effects of sin.

Question: Why does this generation seem to avoid teaching about Christ crucified?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on September 15, 2014 in Power of God, The Church

 

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The Cross and Discipleship

12 Sep

ClassIn my last post I started talking about our view of the cross. Paul said that we need to preach the Good News without emptying the cross of its power. Jesus gave some pretty clear instructions to His disciples about it.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20

The key assignment was to preach and make disciples. Disciples are those who have chosen to participate with God’s ongoing work of salvation in their lives. Then, they are to baptize those who believe this message.

The baptism is secondary to preaching and making disciples. What are we to preach? The Word of the cross. That’s what makes disciples.

And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:27

It’s clear that discipleship and the cross go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. Unfortunately, we have a lack of disciples these days. Maybe it’s because we don’t preach the cross as we should.

I Corinthians 1:18 says that the Word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing – literally, those who are being destroyed. There are many believers who are being destroyed because of our de-emphasis of the cross.

They are downtrodden, overcome by the world, and bound up by all kinds of sin and addictions. Our lives, homes, and marriages seem to have the same sicknesses as the world without Christ. The world no longer looks to the church for answers, because we don’t look much different than they do.

We wonder why we can’t get the victory. These verses make it obvious that without the life changing power of the cross, we’re fighting a losing battle. It’s time to turn this around and bring the victory in this area. We need to get back to the Biblical foundation for our lives.

We need to restore the Word of the cross. But, for some reason, we resist this work. We seem to have come to the conclusion that the cross is only for the unsaved. Why does Paul tell us that it’s foolishness to those who are being destroyed? Because the cross is for those who want to move on to maturity.

Literally, this verse tells us that the word of the cross is a manifestation of God’s power in His people. But it’s not for all. It’s the power of God to those of us who are continuing in the ongoing work of salvation in our lives. This is why we shrink from it. We don’t like the sound of the cross. When we think of the cross we think of humility, weakness and pain. Could this really be the road to power?

Jesus’ command to carry the cross is not a call for unbelievers to come to Him. It’s a radical command to follow Christ by giving up all other desires. To pick up the cross means to lay everything else down. To follow Christ means to ignore all other paths. This is a message that gets lost in our generation’s search to experience the best that the world has to offer.

I’m not talking about whether you’re saved or not. You can be saved and on your way to Heaven, yet ignore the call to the cross. It all comes down to discipleship.

Question: How do you define being a disciple of Christ?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on September 12, 2014 in Power of God, Revival, The Church

 

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The Word of the Cross

10 Sep

Cross SunsetAs believers, most of us know that the goal is to walk in maturity. What I’ve found is that in order to understand the road to maturity, we must first understand the significance of the cross.

Usually when we think about Christ, and all that He accomplished for us, we mention the cross but immediately focus on the resurrection. Don’t get me wrong, the resurrection of Christ was the most important event in all of history. It sealed our redemption. Without the risen Lord, we would still be dead in our sins.

Our problem is that we usually don’t give the cross a second glance. We sometimes downplay the cross. We’ve become too familiar with it. We see crosses everywhere. It has become the most recognized symbol of Christianity.

But do we really understand its significance in our growth process? I want to take a few posts to show you some things that seem to have gotten lost along the way.

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel — not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:17-18

When I meditate upon what Paul is saying in this passage, it causes me to take a step back. Paul said that Christ did not make me an apostle to baptize. This statement should capture our attention.

The apostle was not sent out to make converts. That wasn’t his goal and it shouldn’t be ours. In some circles this needs to be emphasized.

We’re not in the Kingdom of God to “get people saved.” We’re simply here to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ. How people respond to the message is up to them. The only thing I’ll be judged on is how accurately I gave that message, not on how many believed it. I think this distinction is lost on many believers.

However, there is a deeper truth here than just to preach the Gospel. We must preach this Good News without emptying the cross of its power. By expressing the Gospel through my human wisdom and reasoning, I lose the power that is resident in the cross. That’s why I need to hear a Word from God, and preach that Word.

The Word of the cross has the power to save. But it’s how we understand this statement that makes all the difference. Remember, being saved is not a one-time thing. It’s an on-going process. That’s why the Word of the cross is for those who are being saved.

I need the saving power of God on a daily basis. This is the power that saves me from my sinful actions, sickness, poverty, depression, and a whole host of other issues I have to deal with in my old nature. The message of the cross speaks to all of these and brings victory. It’s because we have watered down the message of the cross, that we have such battered down church in our generation.

When we give the Word of the cross a back seat, we miss out on the victory that God has made available to us. That’s why I feel it necessary to write about the cross of Christ for a little while. My hope is that it will help us in becoming more like the Lord.

Question: What do you see as significant about the cross?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2014 in Power of God, The Church, Word of God

 

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The End-Time Birth Pangs

25 Aug

Lightning 3I’m continuing a series of posts about what Christ taught concerning the Last Days. Specifically, I’m dealing with His teachings in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13. I believe that we are close to His return.

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
Matthew 24:6-7a

The Lord warns us that peace will not occur in this age. Wars and rumors of wars will be going on around the world. In Luke 21:9, He is recorded as adding revolutions, or literally unrest to the list.

As Christians, we are not to be alarmed. That word alarmed in the above verse means to cry out in fright. We should not be afraid or surprised at these events.

The Lord doesn’t give us the illusion of a world getting better and better. Instead, He shows us the reality of what living on this earth will be like.

“There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pangs.”
Matthew 24:7b-8

“There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.”
Luke 21:11

The Lord goes on to list more signs that He calls birth pangs. He mentions famines. This is a lack of food usually caused by greed. In many places around the world, people starve while ships full of food are docked in the harbor and cannot be unloaded because the repressive government won’t allow it.

The number of earthquakes has been rising steadily over the last hundred years. Luke adds his testimony that Jesus also spoke of a rise in pestilences. New and deadlier diseases are found almost weekly.

From those diseases that are sexually transmitted to the Ebola virus to those created for chemical and biological warfare, there are now many diseases that were unheard of a hundred years ago.

The Lord also mentions fearful events – literally things that cause terror – and great signs from heaven. The word heaven in this verse means in the sky or in space. Whether it’s the fear of collision with an asteroid, a nuclear missile platform, or ultraviolet radiation, at this point in history people are more worried about the sky than ever before.

Jesus calls all these things the beginnings of birth pangs. I believe that Jesus is referring to the time at the end of this age where He will begin to make a distinction between the church and the world.

The Lord doesn’t warn us of these events so that we’ll fear the future. As we see these things happening, our faith in the Lord and in His Word should grow. It should give us a greater urgency for winning souls into His kingdom. We must let this knowledge transform us into the end-time church Christ will be looking for when He returns.

Question: How should believers keep from fearing the future?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on August 25, 2014 in Power of God, Return of Christ

 

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Worship – The Prelude to Victory

15 Aug

TrophyThis will be my last post in the series on true worship. I’ve been looking at the worship around the throne in Heaven recorded in the book of Revelation.

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
Revelation 4:2

Probably the most important aspect is knowing the object of our worship. Worship is always directed toward Christ. It’s all about the person on the throne. It has nothing to do with us.

Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Hebrews 3:1

This is where we lose our grasp of the spiritual on many occasions. We see all the stuff that’s happening around us. We start to concentrate on the circumstances and not the answer to that need.

I need to focus my mind on Christ. I need to make Him my obsession. That’s the beginning of worship; when I let everything else go and zero in on the Holy Spirit calling me into His presence.

In the first post of this series I talked about this heavenly calling – our upward calling in Christ. How can we ever hope to fulfill it apart from worship?

The book of Hebrews talks a lot about this call.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
Hebrews 12:25

We are being called upward to the secluded place of worship. Don’t refuse like the Israelites of Moses’ day did in the wilderness. There were bad consequences. As a result, they were overcome by their enemies.

In Ephesians we’re told about being seated in heavenly places in Christ. Later Paul writes…

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12

We have the advantage of the high ground. We can look down upon the enemy’s position from our seat in heavenly realms. They are the powers of this dark world. They’re stuck on the earth. Even the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms aren’t higher than our place in Christ.

Don’t fight them on their level. Let worship raise you up to the victory Christ bought for you. Respond to God’s upward call to worship.

Question: How do you incorporate the call to worship into your everyday life?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on August 15, 2014 in Power of God, Worship

 

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How Careful is your Faith?

04 Aug

DiamondI’ve been posting about the faith of Noah as recorded in Hebrews, chapter 11. In my last entry I talked about the fear of the Lord. I said that it didn’t mean to be afraid of God.

The Greek word in that verse actually comes from a compound word that means to take care. We must be careful how we live out our faith.

It’s a lot like a diamond cutter working on a costly gem. They will sometimes study a diamond for months before they ever make the first cut. It’s not that he’s afraid to cut the diamond. It’s because the stone is so valuable, he wants to make sure that he makes it the best possible shape.

The diamond cutter will “take care” how he cuts. Because done correctly, the stone could be worth tens of millions of dollars. Done incorrectly, he could reduce the value to 100 times less.

Our spiritual life is like the diamond cutting process. Done carefully – in the fear of the Lord – our walk with God is glorious. Done incorrectly and we may lose out on much of what the Lord has planned for us.

During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
Hebrews 5:7

The words reverent submission in this verse are the same words taking care that we’ve been talking about. Jesus took care in His walk with God. That’s why He was able to fulfill the destiny to which He was called.

This should be the mark of faith in our lives. If we truly believe what God says, we’ll take care.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Hebrews 12:28-29

Reverence and awe is all about taking care. Why? Because God is a consuming fire. What does that mean? If I take a step out of line, then He’ll consume me in judgment?

Absolutely not! What it does mean is that everything that’s not of Him in my life is destined to perish. If I build my life on chasing after the things of the world, then I will eventually find myself with nothing to show for all my efforts.

If, on the other hand, I take God’s Word to heart and build carefully on those principles, then I’ll see God’s hand at work in my life. I’ll see those things come to pass that the Lord has promised me.

Even after my time on earth is finished, I’ll have an everlasting reward in the Kingdom of God. This is how we need to look at life. It’s not about what will make me happy right now in this moment. The question is what will be important to me one million years from today?

Question: What is an area of your Christian walk that you need to take care in?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on August 4, 2014 in Faith, Power of God, Word of God

 

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How to Enter the Place of Blessing

14 Jul

MountainI’ve been posting about how we struggle against God’s will sometimes. Surrendering to the Lord is really the only option. That’s the place of blessing.

So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.
Genesis 32:30-31

Peniel – it’s a place of blessing, yet a place of struggling. Peniel means, “face of God.”

We use that term lightly. We say, “I’m going to seek the face of God.” What we mean is that we’re going to pray. It should be obvious by now that the struggle comes not by prayer alone, but when we find ourselves before God’s face.

Suddenly our life comes into sharp contrast with the life of Christ. We see how far we’ve fallen short of God’s standard. We hear the Spirit of God calling us to change. We must count the cost. Is God’s destiny for my life worth the effort it will take to lay hold of it?

No one has yet been disappointed by his or her destiny in God. You won’t be the first. Commit to the change. Set your face to the vision God has given you.

The verse says that after that day, Jacob always walked with a limp. His life had an evidence of the change he underwent. The changes you go through in your walk with Christ should be just as plain.

Sometimes our decision to do God’s will is the greatest struggle of our lives. Usually it’s because of the good things that we have to lay down in order to follow God’s plan. More often than not, we have to overcome ourselves.

The writer of the book of Hebrews puts it this way…

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Hebrews 4:11

In talking about entering God’s rest, he tells us that it will require some effort – a struggle. This is because our flesh fights against entering that place of reliance upon the Holy Spirit. In the natural, we want to take the credit for the blessings we enjoy.

In reality, we must do what it takes to put down the old man, and pick up God’s will and plan for our lives. That’s usually where the biggest struggle comes into play. But if we’ll overcome ourselves, then we find that we’re in the place of rest and blessing in the Holy Spirit.

Really seek God’s face today. Seek His life-changing power. Be prepared to give your all in exchange for His blessing.

Question: What’s your biggest struggle right now?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on July 14, 2014 in Power of God, Prayer

 

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Know When to Give Up

11 Jul

SunriseIn my last post I talked about the times we find ourselves wrestling against God’s plan for us. We’re looking at Jacob as an example of this.

Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
Genesis 32:26

No, God wasn’t getting tired. No, God wasn’t going to turn into a pumpkin when the sun came up. Why then did He impose a time limit? Purely and simply out of His love for Jacob. God knew that having fought all night, Jacob was getting to the end of his strength.

The Bible teaches elsewhere that God will not allow our struggles to go beyond our ability to endure. This is how God worked with Jacob. He made Jacob fight to the end of His strength. Up to this point, Jacob always found the easy way out of his troubles.

The scheme, the bribe, the fixed fight, whatever it took to win without breaking a sweat – that’s who Jacob was. God, however, knew he was better than that. He was created to father a nation. Through this experience God taught Jacob that he was able to overcome by his inner strength and determination alone, without all the scheming.

God wants to do that with us as well. He’ll allow us to get to the end of our strength so that we’ll cry out to Him. Don’t drop out of your fight too quickly. Make the determination to lay hold of the prize God has called you to obtain.

The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
Genesis 32:27-29

You would think that because he wrestled with God, Jacob would get in trouble. Nothing could be further from the truth. God doesn’t care if you struggle with Him as long as you learn the lesson He’s trying to teach you.

Up to this point in his life, Jacob had been trying to buy, fight, and steal his way to the blessing of God. Now he was to learn that the only way to obtain it is by freely receiving it from the Lord’s own hand.

He spent his life fighting God and man. Now God tells him that he has overcome. Overcome what? He has finally overcome himself. He now has the control to take his life and lay it at the feet of the Lord.

How do we know this? God gives him a new name – Israel – that means, “conquered by God.”

Perhaps you’ve been struggling in your walk with the Lord. Maybe there is an area in your life you’ve been refusing to turn over to God.

It’s time for you to give up and receive the blessing God’s been waiting to give you. Today, allow yourself to be overcome by God.

Questions: Are there areas, right now, where you’re struggling against God? What will it take for you to give up?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on July 11, 2014 in Power of God, Prayer

 

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Your Schedule – Who’s Time is it?

18 Jun

Time ChainI’ve been posting about clearing our schedules for a move of God. Did you know that this is how God operates through His people? It’s only when they turn over their time to Him that the Lord will move in a manifestation of His power.

And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Ephesians 1:9-10

We are told in this passage, about the mystery of God’s will. Actually, Paul uses three different words to get this point across. He mentions God’s will, His good pleasure, and His purpose in Christ. These are the things that He wants to accomplish on the earth through His people.

The question is; are we willing to position ourselves to let the Holy Spirit use us in this way? I’ve been saying that this requires our time. There’s no other commodity that will purchase God’s will.

How do I know this? The above passage is very interesting to read in the Greek. It says that this will, good pleasure, and purpose of God is put into effect in the economy of the filling of time.

Economy – that’s a financial term, like when we talk about the economy of the United States. Here we’re talking about the economy of the Kingdom of God. A large part of that economy is time.

In essence this verse tells us that God’s will is accomplished on earth as we deposit time into the bank of Heaven. God doesn’t need our money or our resources. What He really needs in order to do His work is our time.

Actually, who’s time is it? We like to think of it as all belonging to us. With that attitude, we schedule everything we want to do, them place the Lord’s work in any leftover spots.

I know there are things that we need to do. Scripture says that if we don’t work, we don’t eat. The Lord doesn’t want us to neglect our families either. There’s a place for all of these in our schedules.

But are we really operating in the plan of God if there’s no time for the move of His Spirit? In our generation, we’ve learned to add so many good things to our schedules, that we’ve left no room for the best.

I’m truly convinced that if we want to see a move of God in our nation, it’s going to require us to make a sacrifice. Not of money, but of time. Peter puts it this way…

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do…
1 Peter 4:3a

Ours is not the first generation to run into this problem. But it’s something that needs to be straightened out – quickly. Time is short. Now is the time. We are the people God is calling to turn this nation around.

Question: Are you willing to do whatever it takes to bring about a move of God?

© Nick Zaccardi 2014

 
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Posted by on June 18, 2014 in Power of God, Revival, The Church

 

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