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Tag Archives: body of Christ

Are you Plugged In?

29 Mar

PlugI’ve been posting about the power of God at work in us.  How far are you willing to go to walk in the power of the Spirit?  Experience tells me that we would rather talk a good game and make excuses, than to put forth the effort to see the real thing.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
John 15:7-8

This is the last verse I looked at in my previous post.  It deals specifically with the power available to those who remain in Christ.  It says that they can ask what they wish and it will be done.

Think about the trust God places in that kind of believer.  I personally wouldn’t give that kind of power to most Christians that I know.  It would be dangerous.

The fact is that in this fifteenth chapter of John, the Lord referred to us remaining in Him 8 times in 4 verses.  I think He’s trying to make a point.  It’s required that we remain in Him if we want Him to manifest His power in us.

I asked a question four posts ago – in the first of this series (Power and Authority – The Difference).  I asked which form of power – AC or DC – was better?

You probably answered the question as most people do.  They say that they prefer DC batteries because they can go where they want.  They can take their device with them when they leave the house.  When you have to plug it in the wall, you’re confined to stay at home to use it.

This is the big problem in the body of Christ today.  We want to be able to leave the house.  If your goal is to go in and out of the house, then batteries are better.

If you intend on doing that in the spirit – living for Christ sometimes and living for self at other times, then the power of the law is better than no power at all.  Christians of this generation have a real problem with remaining in the spiritual “house.”

There are two forms of power.  The greater of these requires you to remain in Christ.  Our goal seems to be to live with one foot in the world, and one with Christ.  You can’t do that and use the power of the Spirit to any great extent.

We need to take an honest, hard look at our walk with God to see where we fit into this picture.  We must then be willing to make the changes necessary to remain in Christ.

Question: What will it cost you to remain in Christ?  Are you willing to pay the price?

© Nick Zaccardi 2013

 
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Posted by on March 29, 2013 in Power of God, Revival

 

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Are you Asking the Right Questions?

18 Mar

Question MarkWe live in an age of hero worship.  It seems that people are more inclined to follow those with the most glitz and showmanship.  It has, unfortunately, carried over into the body of Christ.

When it comes to the teachings we accept, how do we decide who to listen to?  We need to be asking the right questions.  This was something that was clearly portrayed in the ministry of Christ.

The following is taken from the Scriptural passage found in the Gospel of Luke 4:16-40.  You will want to read that first to understand what I share in this post.

In that section of Scripture, Jesus preaches at two different synagogues.  One was in His hometown of Nazareth, and the other in Capernaum.  In both cases He preached the same message.  Knowing that it was the Lord, I am assuming that both messages had the same level of anointing.

In spite of these similarities, only one of the towns, Capernaum, received a blessing out of the visit.  It is clear to see from the narrative, that the reason was the questions that they asked themselves as Jesus was ministering.

This is important to us because we are guilty of the same type of attitudes that these people had.  I believe that we have missed out on countless blessings because our attitudes got in the way.  What makes the difference?

Verse 22 shows the question the people of Nazareth were asking.  It demonstrates what they were focusing on.

They spoke well of Him.  They were amazed at the words from His lips.

“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

They were concentrating on who was speaking – was He all that they were expecting?

Capernaum was a different case altogether.  Verse 32 and 36 make it clear that they were amazed at His teaching.  They recognized that His Word had power and authority.  Who He was and what He looked like didn’t figure into their acceptance of the Word.

As a result, revival fell in Capernaum that day.  Demons were cast out and all the sick that lived in that area were healed (Verse 33-40).

We need to learn this lesson.  Sometimes the biggest show has the least anointing.  On the other hand – there are times God wants to perform great miracles through His “unknown servants”.

We need to be asking, “What is the anointing, authority, and power upon this Word.”  How big a following someone has shouldn’t figure into it.  It’s all about the spirit behind the message, not the person God is using.

If we keep this in mind, then we’ll find the blessing of God in some of the most unlikely places.  We will also open ourselves up to the miraculous.

Question:  Have you ever received a blessing from God’s unknown servants?

© Nick Zaccardi 2013

 
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Posted by on March 18, 2013 in Revival, The Church, Word of God

 

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The Last Days – God is Serious About Weeding

16 Jan

LightningI have been posting about the weeding that God will do in His kingdom during the last days.  It’s recorded in Matthew 13:24-41.  You can read my last few posts to see how the Lord will do this weeding.

The two things weeded out will be everything that causes sin and all who do evil.  Along these same lines, Jesus makes a sobering statement in Matthew 18.  I am convinced that most believers are unaware of what He meant when He said it.  It’s usually taken out of context.

“Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin!  Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!  If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away.  It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”
Matthew 18:7-9

Whenever I’ve heard this Scripture preached, the message was always about personal sin.  I’ve heard it taught, “It would be better to cut your hand off, than to continue in sin.”  While sin does have the power to ruin your life, Jesus was speaking of something deeper here.

Notice the context.  He wasn’t talking about physical body parts that cause sin.  The Lord referred to the man through whom they come.

I can see countless examples of when my own hands, feet and eyes have participated in my sin. Yet, I cannot honestly say that the sin was initiated by that part of my body.  Sin has always been conceived and planned out by my own will.  My body had no choice but to follow my decision into sin.

Jesus knows that it’s not the body that initiates the sin.  He’s talking about people who cause sin.  When the Lord uses the term hand, foot, and eye, I’m convinced by the larger context of His teaching that He’s talking about His attitude toward His body – the Church.

Only in the Body of Christ can a member cause the body to sin.  Please be warned.  You may think that your role in the church is as indispensable as a hand or a foot.  But, if you’re offending the body, the Lord has no qualms about losing a member to save the body.

Jesus is very serious about dealing with those who cause offense.  This is one of the things we are going to see being weeded out of the church by God in the last days.  As a matter of fact, I think that we’re already beginning to experience God’s cleansing process.

Make sure that your faith is bringing health to the body of Christ.

Question: What can you do to make the church a better place?

© Nick Zaccardi 1013

 
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Posted by on January 16, 2013 in Power of God, Return of Christ, The Church

 

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The Last Days – Weeding the Kingdom

14 Jan

WeedingI have been posting about Jesus’ parable found in Matthew 13:24-41.  Did you know that very soon a weeding is going to take place in the body of Christ?  Actually, I believe that it may already have begun.

In the parable, Jesus said that there were going to be elements of the enemy’s kingdom mixed in with His sons and daughters.  In the parable the angels inquire, “Sir, didn’t You sow good seed into Your field?  Where did all these evil ones come from?”

Jesus explains that it was the work of the Devil.

The angels then ask Him, “Do you want us to go pull them up?”

“No”, He answers, “because while you’re pulling up the evil ones you may root up, hurt, or destroy My sons and daughters.  Let both groups grow together until the end of the age.  At that time I’ll tell the angels, first collect the sons of the evil one, tie them up and burn them.  Then, gather My people and bring them into My dwelling place.”

Here you can see that Christ is not so much concerned with the weeds that are way out on the fringes.  It’s the weeds that are mixed up with His kingdom that He wants to do something about.  As we approach the end of the age, there’s going to be a time when God starts weeding.

I’ve seen some things happen in my lifetime that were unheard of in the past.  Ministries that we thought were incredible seem to have gotten plucked up because there were some things that were wrong going on below the surface.  God is exposing sin and saying, “I want that out of My kingdom.”

I believe that as we get closer to the end of the age, we’re going to see more and more of God’s weeding going on.  That’s what Jesus wanted to communicate to His disciples.  Don’t expect to have a kingdom that’s perfect right from the start.

Instead, He warned them that on earth there was going to be people with impure motives in His kingdom.  There are going to be people among us that are not really living for Christ.  They may claim to be Christians, but they’re poisonous.  In my last post I talked about the specifics of that poison.

As we approach the end of the age, we’re going to see a new move of the Spirit of God as He weeds His kingdom.  I believe that very soon, a separation is going to take place.  Just as Jesus said, the Son of Man is going to send out His angels to expose, uproot, and remove those things that are not a part of His plan for the church.  We, as believers, must be prepared for this to occur by realizing that the hand of God is in it.

Question: Do you see this weeding process as already starting?

© Nick Zaccardi 2013

 
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Posted by on January 14, 2013 in Return of Christ, The Church

 

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