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Separate from the World

20 Jul

In my last couple of posts, I’ve been talking about not being too attached to the world system or people in the world.  We should have a very different mindset.  Paul continues this thought.

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?  For we are the temple of the living God.  As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
2 Corinthians 6:16

First, the apostle asks another question.  He literally asks, how can the temple of God and a temple of idols share the same opinion?

That’s a good question.  In our society, it’s sometimes difficult to see a difference between the opinions of the church and the world.  How we approach life should be based on the Word of God.

He makes it clear that we’re the temple of the living God.  The world, on the other hand, is full of idols.  The world chases after things that only give temporary fulfillment.  They can’t give us the answers to what our souls long for.

We are a people that the God of the universe lives in and walks among.  Yet, in many cases, we don’t live in that knowledge.  We are God’s people.  That makes us very different than the world around us.

Paul then makes reference to some Old Testament Scriptures.

“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.  Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
2 Corinthians 6:17-18

I know there are a lot of people who use these verses to abuse other believers.  What Paul is saying is that there should be a clear separation between the church and the world.

However, what most Christians don’t realize is that in quoting the Old Testament, Paul sometimes changes the wording a little in order to bring it into a New Testament setting.  That’s the case when he says to touch no unclean thing.

This is a quote from Isaiah 52:11.  Isaiah uses a word that means, don’t come into contact with something unclean.  Paul quotes it by saying, don’t attach yourself to anything that has not been cleansed.

Then Paul adds something that Isaiah doesn’t say.  If we’ll only attach ourselves to those that are clean, God will receive us into His favor.

The second quote was a promise made to King David (2 Samuel 7:14).  The difference is that now there will be both sons and daughters of God.

The reason for these verses was not to pummel you with guilt.  Paul is using positive examples to motivate us to stay separate from the world system.  If we do, then we’ll live under the blessing of God.

Question: How should this separation between the church and the world be lived out?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2020 in Relationships, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

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Unequal Yoking

17 Jul

In my last post, we started looking at the issue of unequal yoking.  The Apostle Paul warned us against marriages or business partnerships between a Christian and a non-Christian.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?  What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:14-15

The reason is based upon the five words he uses to describe this relationship.  In my last post, I looked at what yoked means.  Today, I’ll deal with the others.

In common.  This is a word that means a sharer or participant.  It means that you both share something.

In this situation, if one participant is being disciplined by God or attacked by the enemy, they both share the results.  I don’t want someone else’s problems to dictate what happens to me.

Fellowship.  This is the Greek word, koinoonía.  It speaks of the fellowship we share as believers.

In Christ, we’re better together than separately.  That’s because of the Holy Spirit living in us.  Without the Spirit of God working in your partner, there can be no true fellowship.

Harmony.  This is a word that’s normally translated as agreement.  It comes from a Greek word that means to sound together.

This is an important difference between believers and the world.  A Christian’s speaking should be based in his faith.  When an unbeliever speaks, it’s usually based on fear, greed, desire, or any of a number of other things.

How we talk creates the environment around us.  Unequal yoking causes a very stress filled atmosphere.

I experienced this firsthand.  For a while, I worked for a startup company whose president was a believer.  Unfortunately, the vice-president was actually anti-Christian.  After a year or two, the tension became unbearable and I had to resign.

In common.  Even though this phrase is used twice, they’re actually two different words in the Greek.  This one means a share or a portion.

There are things I’m expecting and believing to receive from the Lord.  An unbeliever is not in a position to receive some of these things.

Those in the world believe that they have to work for everything they get.  They feel that everything they have is a result of their efforts.  Believers, on the other hand, give glory to God for all good things.  These are two very different mindsets.

As I said when I began this subject in my last post, we have to be very careful in our choices of who we attach ourselves to.  We might just be bringing ourselves unneeded baggage and hurt without even realizing it.

Guard your heart against this problem.

Question: How do you guard your relationships?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 17, 2020 in Faith, Fellowship, Spiritual Walk

 

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Gaurding Your Heart

15 Jul

As we continue through Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, we see that he has been very transparent about himself and his ministry.  His desire is that those he’s writing to feel the same affection towards him.

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.  We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us.  As a fair exchange — I speak as to my children — open wide your hearts also.
2 Corinthians 6:11-13

He’s telling them this because it’s very important to guard our hearts.  We have to be asking; who do we open our hearts to?  Sometimes we set ourselves up for problems and setbacks in this area.

Look at how Paul warns the church.

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers.  For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?  Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?  What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
2 Corinthians 6:14-15

Most of the teaching that I hear about this passage has to do with marriage.  They teach that a Christian should never marry a non-Christian.

While I believe that this is true.  There’s more to it than just the marriage issue.  It refers to any contractual partnership arrangement.  We have to be careful with how closely we attach ourselves to the world system.

Of course, we can have non-Christian friends.  How else will they see the Gospel message lived out?  That’s not a problem.

To understand this we need to look at the words Paul uses to describe this attachment.

The word, yoked, is a Greek word that actually means yoked differently.  It’s like yoking a bull and a horse together.  No work will get done.  They’re too different.

Also, you can’t yoke two animals together that are facing opposite directions.  I’ve seen the spiritual equivalent of this in a marriage.

There were two Christian individuals.  They were both at about the same level in their Christian walk.  They, unfortunately, didn’t do any pre-marital counseling.

If they had they would have discovered that even though they were at the same spiritual level, she was heading toward Christ while he was heading away from Him.  The marriage ended in divorce.

We have to be careful who we attach ourselves to, either in romantic relationships or business partnerships.  They can either drag us down or lift us up to our full potential.

In my next post, I’ll look at the other words in this passage that Paul uses to describe these relationships.  It’s important that we guard ourselves against this spiritual minefield.

Question: How have you seen this concept of unequal yoking played out?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 15, 2020 in Spiritual Walk

 

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The Hard Truth of Ministry

13 Jul

I’m now getting back to my view of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church.  He’s continuing his description of how he’s affected by the call to minister the Gospel.

…through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6:8-10

This is the side of ministry that not many people want to talk about.  It’s the price that you pay for obeying the call to preach the Good News.  At times it can be tough, but it’s definitely worth it.

The apostle talks about glory and dishonor.  That’s hard to deal with.  Most Christians don’t ever see it.  They sometimes view ministers as some sort of celebrity.

When I’m out in the world, interacting with society, it’s a different story.  When meeting new people, they usually ask what you do for a living.  They have a normal response to a doctor, teacher, or plumber.

When you tell them you’re a pastor or minister you get mixed reactions.  Sometimes they’re positive about it.  There are other times when they react as if I told them I was an illegal arms dealer.

The whole dynamic of the conversation changes.  They begin to apologize if they think they said something inappropriate.  If someone new joins the group, they’re warned, “He’s a pastor.  Watch what you say.”

Paul also understands about good and bad reports.  As a minister, you and your family live under a microscope.  Everyone watches everything you do; expecting you to live perfectly like Jesus did at all times.

Then, when they find out you’re human like everyone else, they write you off as an imposter.  In one sense you need to grow a “thick skin” to people’s attitudes.  While at the same time, you must keep an open heart to love everyone you meet.

That’s all a part of what Jesus talked about with His disciples.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John 10:11

Many people expect a lot from their ministers.  They look for encouragement, hope, healing, and counsel.  What they don’t realize is that ministers need those same things.  Usually, it means that they need to be very proactive or they’ll end up burning out and leaving the ministry.

Please don’t think that I have a bad view of ministering for the Lord.  I wouldn’t choose anything else.  The rewards are overwhelming.

My point is this: never cease praying for your pastors, ministers, and church leaders.  They need encouragement and support just like anyone else.  Seek to bring them joy in the ministry.

Question: What do you see as the rewards and challenges of the ministry?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 13, 2020 in Encouragement, Leadership, Ministry, The Church

 

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Shaken, not Stirred (Repost)

10 Jul

I thought this was good to repost based upon the times we’re living in.

As I was sitting in church a few months back, I received a thought from the Lord. It was a quote from a movie franchise.

Many people are familiar with the secret agent, James Bond. In his movies, he likes his drinks shaken, not stirred. That may be okay for 007, but that’s not what the Lord is looking for in His church. Let me explain.

As I began studying this out in the Scripture, I found that being shaken is not a part of God’s plan for us. As a matter of fact, when God’s people are shaken, it’s a sign that they’re not trusting Him fully. They’re looking for help and security apart from His presence.

In talking about those who reject God, the Psalmist Asaph says…

“They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
Psalm 82:5

If the world is where your hope lies, then you’ll find yourself shaken whenever you hear bad news. Lately, that comes to us pretty often. The world is in chaos right now. No one seems to have the answers.

Contrast that to life in the Kingdom of God.

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

If we’re firmly grounded in Christ, and His Word, then we will not be shaken no matter what happens in society around us. We should, however, be stirred up.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:10-11

When the Lord is present, hearts are stirred. We need the stirring presence of the Holy Spirit to move through the church. That’s when great things begin to happen.

When Israel returned to the Promised Land after their captivity, they were apathetic about the things of God. Then something happened.

So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God…
Haggai 1:14

When the Holy Spirit stirs up His people, the miraculous takes place. We start to see the Kingdom of God built up. We see souls coming into the kingdom. We see people being delivered from the chains of demonic oppression.

We need the stirring power of the Holy Spirit to be released in us. The church needs to be stirred, not shaken. Seek the Lord for His move to take place in us.

Question: How would the church look if we were truly stirred by the Spirit?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 10, 2020 in Encouragement, Faith, Revival, Spiritual Walk

 

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A Warning for Teachers (Repost)

03 Jul

Over the next week or so I’m going to be away, visiting family.  So during that time, I’m reposting one of my more popular series.

Do you see yourself as a teacher in the body of Christ?  Did you know that Scripture has a special warning for teachers?

In this post, my last in the series about the teaching ministry, I have to share a hard message.  I don’t like talking about it, but I feel the Holy Spirit prompting me to write about it.

In the last couple of posts, I talked about teachers being the eyes of the body of Christ.  According to Scripture, they bring light to the path ahead.  With that comes a warning that I already talked about.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
James 3:1

In the church, teaching is not an unimportant thing.  We should not lightly say, “I’m a teacher.”  You’re inviting a stricter judgment.

But is that really the case, or was James trying to intimidate those wanted to teach out of wrong motives?  I believe that Jesus gave the same warning to His disciples.  The problem is that the Lord used an allegory that few believers understand.

In Mark, chapter 9, it all starts when the disciples tell Jesus that they saw someone driving out demons in the Lord’s name.  But, because he wasn’t one of the twelve, they told him to stop.

Jesus told the disciples that they were wrong in telling the man to stop driving out demons.  In His explanation, He said…

“And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.”
Mark 9:42

The phrase, causes…to sin, in this verse, literally means to trip up or entrap.  Sin always means to miss the mark of God’s perfect will.  Telling them something that trips them up in their Christian walk does cause them to sin.

Teaching something that was not directed by the Holy Spirit can trip people up in their walk with God.  This has to be an important part of the teacher’s mindset.  However, the Lord didn’t stop there.

Immediately after this, He says…

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell…
Mark 9:47

First of all, no one’s eyes have ever caused them to sin.  I have definitely used my eyes to sin.  But they weren’t the cause.  I believe that Jesus knows this.

Secondly, according to this verse, only one eye is causing sin.  How could your left eye cause you to sin, and not your right eye?  They both operate together.

I believe that Jesus wasn’t talking about our physical bodies.  He was explaining His attitude toward the members of His spiritual body; the church.

No members, especially teachers, can trip up one another without consequence.  This is why teachers must be especially careful to be led by the Holy Spirit in what they teach.

Question: How seriously should teachers be warned before entering this ministry?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 3, 2020 in Ministry, Spiritual Walk, The Church, Word of God

 

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The Teacher – A Lamp (Repost)

01 Jul

Over the next week or so I’m going to be away, visiting family.  So during that time, I’m reposting one of my more popular series.

For the last couple of posts, I’ve been talking about teachers in the body of Christ.  I showed that true teachers bring light to our Christian walk.  In our generation there’s a lot of teaching from the Bible going forth; but is it directed by the Holy Spirit?

In His ministry, Jesus made some statements that the disciples couldn’t understand.  Many of them pertained to the church.  They would only understand them after the resurrection.

One of them pertained to the body.

“Your eye is the lamp of your body.  When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light.  But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness.”
Luke 11:34

I think you can agree that this is not talking about our internal organs being lit up.  The Lord is dealing with a deeper issue here.

To understand what Jesus is saying, you have to look at the greater context.  He starts this section by talking about the preaching of Jonah.  All of Nineveh repented when they heard his preaching.

The Lord then talks about King Solomon.  The Queen of the South came all the way from Central Africa to hear his wisdom.

Christ was showing the high value that people placed upon hearing a Word from God.  The people who heard Jonah and Solomon didn’t just want to know what the Bible said.  They were looking for something that would change their lives.

Look at the very next thing that Jesus says after explaining about Jonah and Solomon.

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl.  Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”
Luke 11:33

The reason that these two men were called to their roles, was not to simply enjoy their times with the Lord.  They were to use their gifts to bring light to those who needed it.

The people of Nineveh needed to understand repentance so that the judgment of God could be averted.  The Queen of the South needed to understand how to rule her people wisely.  They needed someone to light the path ahead of them.

That’s what Jesus is talking about when He says that the eyes are the lamp of the body.  I believe that He’s talking about the need for Holy Spirit directed teaching in the body of Christ.

We need to come back to this truth in our generation.  I believe that this is one of the things that God is trying to restore in us.

We can see it in the church of today.  There are ministries where the people know their place in Christ and are secure in their walk with God.  There are other parts of God’s kingdom where the believers seem to be doing as they please – simply living for themselves.

We need to be praying for the church.  Pray that God would continue to raise up teachers after His own heart.  We need the body of Christ to be full of light.

Question: Why is human-led teaching so accepted in some areas?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on July 1, 2020 in Anointing, Ministry, The Church, Word of God

 

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Teachers in the Church (Repost)

26 Jun

Over the next week or so I’m going to be away, visiting family.  So during that time, I’m reposting one of my more popular series.

In my last post, I mentioned that my anointing is that of a teacher in the body of Christ.  That got me thinking about our view of teaching in the church of today.  I want to take a couple of posts to talk about this.

I believe that a lot of problems we face are directly tied to what we’re being taught.  But let’s start at the beginning.  We really need to understand the importance of teaching from God’s perspective.

As I’ve stated many times in this blog, the form of the New Testament that we use now is not in the order it was given to the church.  Over the years it’s been arranged by topics rather than the original order.

While that may make it easier to find certain passages, we sometimes miss out on some important warnings.  For instance, James was the first book to be written, but because it’s placed close to the end, it doesn’t get a lot of priority.

However, when it comes to teaching in the church, James should be the first book we think of.  In its pages, we find the first thing the Holy Spirit revealed about teachers in the body of Christ.  What do you think that is?

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
James 3:1

Please pay careful attention to the voice of the Spirit.  The first thing He wants you to know about the ministry of a teacher is…that position comes with a stricter judgment.

That’s because the place of a teacher is much more important than most people realize.  Yet in our present church culture, we’ll let anyone teach.  We need so many for Sunday School, Children’s Church, Teens, and Adult classes.

“Everything you need has already been done.  All you have to do is to study the lesson plan at home, and talk about it in class.”

I’m sorry if I’m stereotyping, but here’s what I observe in our present church ministries.  Most teaching is simply passing on what we’ve read or heard from someone else.  We use books, sermons, online tools, and lessons that give us the messages that we, in turn, pass on to those we’re teaching.

That was actually the state of teaching in Israel when Christ came on the scene.  He had a different method.  The Lord only taught those things that He heard from the Father.  What was the response?

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:28-29

The difference was obvious.  He wasn’t simply parroting what someone else was teaching.  He was bringing them a Word from the Father.

That’s where we need to get to in the church today.  We must raise up teachers who walk in the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In my next post, I’ll continue with this important truth.

Question: How should the warning of James work in the life of modern teachers?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 26, 2020 in Ministry, Spiritual Walk, The Church, Word of God

 

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My Ministry (Repost)

24 Jun

Over the next week or so I’m going to be away, visiting family.  So during that time, I’m reposting one of my more popular series.

Every so often I take a post to talk about my ministry.  There are always new followers of this blog, so I want to let you know exactly who you’re following.  I hope that you’ll continue to stick around after you find out!

The Lord called me to be a pastor back in 1987.  My anointing, however, is that of a teacher.  When the Holy Spirit anoints someone to teach, He works in them to bring out the truths of Scripture; making them plain and understandable to the body of Christ at large.

But the thing you really need to know about me is my passion.  What is it that drives me to serve Christ and His church?

I’m absolutely passionate about seeing the Church of Jesus Christ get into position for the Last Days.  I believe that we’re on the cusp of the final move of God on the earth before the return of Christ.

The church has come a long way since its backslidden state in the Dark Ages.  God continued to move upon His people, restoring things that had been lost.  But as far as we’ve come, there’s still one more thing that God needs to restore in us.

I’ve found that there’s a theme throughout the New Testament that we’ve whitewashed over.  In spite of the fact that this truth saturates the Scripture, we seem to have missed it.

It’s the understanding that God’s people need to be hearing and obeying God’s voice – His Word.  Please understand that I’m not talking about reading the Bible – God’s Holy, Written Word.  I’m talking about hearing from Him directly.

I believe that the first book of the New Testament that was written down was the book of James.  Listen to what he says.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
James 1:22

Notice that he uses the word “listen” and not “read”.  This is the first of many verses that deal with this issue.

I love the Scripture.  I read it, meditate on it, memorize it and confess it.  It’s through the written Word of God that I know how to be saved and how to serve the Lord in a general way.

What it doesn’t tell me is exactly what I’m supposed to do.  Who am I supposed to reach out to?  What am I to say to them and how am I to say it?  Where do I fit into the body of Christ?

All of these questions and more can only be answered by the Holy Spirit, Himself.  Unfortunately, many Christians think that hearing from God is only for a few highly spiritual individuals.

My passion is to educate believers on where God wants to bring them to and how to get there.  Most of what I preach and write about in this blog fulfills a part of this mission.

By the way, I’m currently working on my speaking engagements for the Fall and Winter should churches start public meetings again.  If you think that my ministry is something you want to see in your area, check out my Speaking Page on this website.  It will have all the information you need to contact me.

The return of the Lord is getting close.  We need to be intentional about preparing ourselves for the final harvest.

Question: How prepared are you for the return of Christ?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 24, 2020 in Ministry, Return of Christ, Revival, Word of God

 

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Power and the Spiritual Weapons

22 Jun

We’re continuing our look at the qualities Paul saw as essential to the ministry.

…in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left…
2 Corinthians 6:7

First of all, you have to understand that the punctuation was added by the translators.  They try to make it as readable as possible.  But sometimes we lose a little of what the original is saying.

What Paul literally wrote is, in the power of God through weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left.

That verse tells me a lot.  It means that I can walk in the power of God.  But the only way to access this power is through the spiritual weapons that God has given us.

The Lord wants His people to walk in His power.  He made it clear when He was preparing His disciples for His departure.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

The way we receive this power is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  This is different than when the Holy Spirit fills us when we are saved.

The word, baptism, means immersion in something.  We are filled with the Spirit at salvation.  We are immersed in the Spirit when we receive the baptism.

When I speak about being baptized in the Spirit, I’m talking about praying in tongues – your heavenly language.  I know that this can be very controversial in the body of Christ.  I’ve also experienced the truth of what I’m saying.

Paul understood this intimately.  He had a very rich prayer life in the spirit.  He was writing to let others know the power that was available to them.

The fact is that prayer in the spirit and the spiritual armor are linked throughout the Scripture.  Paul tells us that we receive the armor of God through prayer in the spirit.  For a detailed discussion of this, click here.

God had made available to us everything we need to defeat the enemy.  It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about our own flesh, the world, or the devil’s kingdom.  We’ve been given the tools to overcome in this life.

That’s the essence of true ministry.  To set captives free through the power of God.  We want to see lives changed and transformed into the image of Christ.  That only happens as we spend time praying in the spirit.

I believe that in these last days before the return of Christ, God is calling His church to once again walk in the fullness of this power.  Let’s spend time seeking God through prayer in the spirit.

Question: How often do you pray in the spirit?

© 2020 Nick Zaccardi

 
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Posted by on June 22, 2020 in Ministry, Power of God, Spiritual Walk, Spiritual Warfare

 

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