“To Him (Christ) be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen”
In this doxology, Peter mentioned Christ’s “dominion.” That word caught my attention, and I want to share with you what I found. “Dominion” translates the Greek word “kratos.” This word means a realm, or the dimension of a person’s rule. But kratos has other meanings that can define the significance of the realm, or rule, of Christ. Kratos can be translated “power.” This certainly defines the dominion of Christ. Jesus rules and reigns in power in His dominion. We underestimate His power in the world. The main aspect of His power that we need to seek is the power of prayer. It is through prayer that we can find out what Jesus’ power can do in our lives. There is power in prayer, because of the power of Christ. Do not underestimate the power of prayer in your life. Kratos can be translated “might.” Christ rules and reigns in His dominion in might. In the prophecy about Jesus in Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is referred to as “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the prince of peace.” When we read the gospel accounts of Christ’s earthly ministry, we often encounter His might. He revealed His might over nature in the stilling of a storm on the Sea of Galilee by just giving a command for it to cease. He revealed His might by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish to feed over five-thousand people. Christ revealed His might in turning water into wine. No one has ever heard of “water wine.” Well, Jesus changed the substance of water into the substance of a grape and made wine. He is “the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.” We can personally experience Christ's might if we will just believe and trust Him to work in our lives. Kratos, as dominion, can be thought of as authority. Jesus rules and reigns in His dominion in power and might. I want to illustrate this authority from Colossians 1:15: “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him.” This is the Christ that we serve. Enjoy being in His dominion.. Bro. Joe
1 Comment
"He will be named Wonderful, counselor, Mighty God...."
"Likewise you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and give grace to the humble. 6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. 7. Casting all your care upon; for He cares for you.” This message that Peter gave to the young men follows with the thinking in Isaiah 9:6. Peter encouraged the recipient among the recipients of his letter to remember that they served under "the mighty hand of God." This is a message that we should all heed. I want us to think about what it means to humble ourselves “under the mighty hand" of our "mighty God.” God’s hand is a hand of power. The power of God is far beyond any earthly power. History has shown that when people think they have great power, it can be taken from them at any time. We have been promised the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live and to witness. It is power that is available to us as believers in Jesus Christ. Imagine yourself being cupped in the “mighty hand of God” when you encounter life’s inevitable troubles. Peter knew of this hand of power when he attempted to walk on the sea to go to Jesus. When he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink, he called out for the Lord to save him and he was grasped in the mighty hand of the Lord and was saved. God’s hand is a hand of purpose. God invites us to take His hand for leadership in our lives. I know that when I have been led by the hand of God, I have seen great things happen that were beyond my imagination. I can also remember not being led by His hand and making “a mess of things.” Peter also discovered this when he confidently boasted that he would protect Jesus from the authorities. As you remember, he caved in and denied even knowing the Lord. When He realized what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly. After that, he humbled himself and took the hand of God and realized God’s great purpose for his life. God has a purpose, or purposes, for your life. Take His hand and let Him lead you. His hand is only a prayer away. I want you to think about what a difference it would make in your life if you reached out to God for His power and for His purpose in your life. When you just simply put your faith in Him, God will provide His power and purpose for your life. His hand is available to you now. Take it! Bro. Joe “But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you….”
Every Christian has been given the power of the Holy Spirit. As in our text, it is the power to witness, but it goes beyond that. It is the power to live victoriously. Several years ago the city of New York spent several days in darkness because of a power outage. If electricity cannot get to homes, there is no power to turn on lights, or anything else. We have a power outage when we fail to depend on the Holy Spirit as we should, because He is the source of our power. When do we have “power outages” in our lives? We have “power outages” when we do not seek God in the plans for our lives. I think that we would call this “prayer power.” We always need to seek God’s wisdom and direction when we want to serve Him. If we don’t seek His wisdom and direction, we might go on our own, and we have no innate power. This is illustrated in the ninth chapter of Joshua. The Gibeonites were afraid of the Israelites and were afraid that they would be overrun by them. They pretended to live far away from the Israelites, though they did not. God told Joshua to take all of the land of the Canaanites, and the Gibeonites lived in Canaan. Why did Joshua and his leaders make that mistake? Verse 9:14 tells us: “And the men took their victuals, and asked not the counsel of the Lord.” They found out later that they were neighbors, but it was too late to do anything about it, because they had “made a league with them.” (Read Joshua 9 if you would like to get the whole picture.) It was a simple matter of seeking the Lord. We have “power outages” when we do not stay close to God. James gives us a promise in James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” When we ignore the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we lose our closeness to God. We need to consciously stay close to the Lord by daily reading of the Bible and by spending time in prayer. One thing is for certain, if you are not close to God at the present moment, it is because you have moved. Jesus promised just before He ascended back to the Father, that He would “be with (us) always.” Jesus has not moved and He will not move. The Holy Spirit also has not moved away from us, we have just ignored His leadership in our lives. When we do this, we pay a price in one way or the other. This is one reason that the Bible tells us that God disciplines those He loves. “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” We have “power outages” when we have human relationship problems. Jesus gave us His love, and He intends for us to share His love with other people. When we allow relationships with fellow Christians to go sour, we cannot serve with the power that we can when we are right with them. But we are not supposed to love just fellow Christians; we are expected to love all people. I know that this is not easy, but if we want to stay clear of “power outages,” we should have good relationships with our fellow human beings. This is difficult in the workplace and it is also difficult in the church. But if we want God’s power in our lives we need to stay right with people. We have “power outages” when we do not forgive other people. There are many Christians who are not serving as powerfully as they should because they have not forgiven someone for some affront. If Jesus could forgive us, we should certainly be able to forgive others. If there is anyone that you have not forgiven, ask God to give you a forgiving heart. This is not an exhaustive list of “power outages” in our lives, but I think they are among the major ones. Bro. Joe “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
“But you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
This was a promise and challenge that Jesus gave His disciples just before He ascended to the Father. It was a promise of power to witness, but it was also a promise for every aspect of Christian living. I want to share with you some areas of our lives that we receive the power of the Spirit. Acts 1:8 promises the power to witness. The first way that we witness is to live the Christian life, and be lights in the darkness. When we speak to someone about Christ, we are promised the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not doing this on our own, and we are to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. He knows those to whom we should witness, and again, we need to follow His leadership. We receive the promise to live the abundant life that Jesus promised in John 10:10: “The thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” The Holy Spirit is present in our lives to enable us to live the Christian life. He gives us the victory over the sins that easily cause us only heartache and loss. I know that I can look back on my life and wish that I had followed the leadership of the Spirit. I have a feeling that I am not alone in this regret. The abundant life is to live for Jesus, serving Him in the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us. I cannot possibly tell you all that the abundant life involves, but I want to share a text with you that will give you a good idea of what the abundant life is like. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) I think that you will agree that these “fruits” or gifts would result in abundant life. We have received the power to overcome. We have received the power to overcome Satan and his many temptations. We have been given the power to overcome sin. Sin destroys our lives and keeps us from really living the abundant life. The Spirit enables us to refuse to be overcome by sin. We have received the power to overcome ourselves. This power is important. Most trouble caused in Christian fellowship in churches by many members have not overcome their own self-importance. Believe me I understand this temptation in my own life. Perhaps you need to understand and see this tendency in your own life. This article falls far short in detailing the importance of Holy Spirit living in our lives. I hope that you read something that will help you to effectively live the Christian life. Bro. Joe “All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. 10. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.”
Don’t misunderstand me: I am not unconcerned about what is going on in our world. I’m as concerned about the moral direction of our country as anyone. I just believe that God is still in control. Do you think that the God who was aware of Cain’s murder of Abel, is not aware of the circumstances of our world? He sees everything that is going on. I am also not saying that I will do nothing to make things better where I can. What I want to deal with in this article is that God is not in trouble because of our world situation. I’m not intimating that God is not troubled by our behavior, but that God is not pushed against a wall because of our behavior. God knows what is going on, and in His infinite sovereignty He is working it out, and it will be the way He wants it. I know that God is not in trouble because eventually, “all nations whom (He) has made shall come and worship before (Him).” Whoa! Don’t accuse me of universalism here, i.e., that all people will be saved. What I mean, and what David means, is that one day everybody who has lived on this earth, and will be living in the world on that day, will realize who and what He is. I have Philippians 2:9-11 to verify what I just wrote: “Wherefore God hath highly exalted (Jesus), and given Him a name that is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” Paul lived in troubled times just as we do. He lived in a pre-Christian age and knew the meaning of real trouble. Paul was concerned about what was going on in his world, but he went forward anyway, trusting in the almighty God whom he knew through his faith in Jesus Christ. Paul was the guy who wrote in Philippians 4:13: “I can do things through Him (Christ) which strengtheneth me.” Paul, like us, could not stop the immoral flow of the world that he lived in, but he did not give up and quit serving God. The world’s problems could not keep Paul from living victioriously because he could “do all things through Christ” who gave Him the strength to do so. This is true of us as well. I know that God is not in trouble because He is Lord of the universe. (David referred to Him as “Lord.”) We do not have to worry that God has given control of His kingdom into the hands of men, or of the devil either. According to The American Century Dictionary” a lord is a master or ruler. A lord has absolute authority. God is Lord and He has not relinquished his authority. If you will closely read history you will see that the world has never been a perfect place, but somehow God’s kingdom has lived through it all and is still flourishing. Because we are misbehaving and some even shaking their fists in the face of God, does not mean that God is dead, nor does it mean that He will do nothing about the world situation. He also doesn’t expect us to give up on the world, but He expects us to keep serving – to keep witnessing. Do not make the mistake that many make when they think God has stopped answering their prayers. We will never live in a perfect world, but we can make it better where we are by the way we live and serve. One thing that keeps me going and not getting discouraged is that “…In all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37) I also believe what Paul wrote in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to God’s purpose." I am not suggesting that you not care anymore, nor am I suggesting that you throw up your hands and quit. I am suggesting that you put your trust in God, and know that things are, and ultimately will, move in His direction. The Bible tells us not to worry but to trust. Do it! Bro. Joe “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
“But the Comforter, Who is the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26) A Christian should never feel alone. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the ages, and He gave us the Holy Spirit to assure us of this. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is the presence of the Holy Spirit. We cannot underplay or underestimate the difference that His presence makes in our lives. It is from the Holy Spirit that we receive the power needed to serve God in a world that does not comprehend Him. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and we should use that power. First, in order to use the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we need to be aware that He wants to use us in Christian service. The Bible speaks of the gifts of ministry that the Holy Spirit has given us. (You can read about these gifts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.) He is not in our lives to just give us “holy thrills.” The problem in the Corinthian church was that they were stressing the more public demonstrations of the Spirit above allowing the Holy Spirit to use them in His service. The Spirit’s presence in our lives is practical, meaning that He wants to lead us into the service for which He has gifted us. I do not mean to downplay the demonstrations of the Spirit’s power, but He more often uses us to quietly use His gifts. Second, just before Jesus ascended to the Father, He told the disciples what He wanted the power of the Holy Spirit to do in their lives. They were empowered to be witnesses for Jesus to the world. Jesus said that this power would be comprehensive. The power of the Holy Spirit would extend far beyond where they were at that time. As the story of Acts goes forward, we see the power of the Spirit at work in the lives of Christians, winning people and growing Christ’s church. The first Christians did not have nearly all of the resources that we have to be witnesses, but they surely did an effective job under the power of the Holy Spirit. (They didn’t even have a New Testament.) We need to use the great resources that have been given us to witness to this world. Third, we need to understand that the power of the Holy Spirit is the power to live for Jesus on a daily basis. It is this power at work in our daily lives that makes us effective witnesses of Jesus. In other words, if we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus we need to “walk the walk,” and not just “talk the talk.” If we are not living the Christian life effectively, our witness will not be as strong. The world is aware of how we live and what we say; therefore, we need to be careful what we do and say. If we pay attention to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He will lead us to live so that our lives will reflect His presence. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” That light is a reflection of the presence of Jesus in our lives through the Holy Spirit. Fourth, in John 14:26, Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives: “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Among a lot of other things, this means that we will not have to depend upon our mental acuity to live and share Jesus with the world. The Holy Spirit will lead us in how to live, what to say to people and how to treat people – for example. If you are a believer, you have the power of the Holy Spirit. Let Him use you in His presence and power. Bro. Joe “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
This text comes at the end of Paul lists of spiritual weapons that God has given us to fight Satan. We can’t fight him alone, but we can fight him. We do not have to be hopelessly ensnared by him as so many are today. Along with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” prayer is our greatest weapon against the devil. When he comes at us with all of his demonic cunning, we need to meet him with the word of God and prayer. The power of prayer is available to every born again believer. I want to show how prayer can be used in our spiritual warfare. The word of God, and prayer are offensive weapons. On the mount of temptation, Jesus met each of Satan’s temptations by quoting scripture to him. When tempted to turn stone into bread, Jesus met Satan with “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We need to have scripture in our hearts and minds in order to use it against Satan. We also need to be prayed up, as Jesus always was. Matthew 4:2 tells us that “when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry…” Fasting and prayer always go together. Jesus spent forty days fasting and praying before meeting Satan and his temptations. If Jesus did that, we need to take heed that we are armed with prayer. (Fasting wouldn’t hurt either.) We can see here how Jesus used the word of God and prayer as an offensive weapon against Satan. We need to know how to wield the “sword of the Spirit,” and bathe that knowledge with prayer. Notice that when Jesus was tempted, He went on offense. He didn’t let Satan take control and neither should we. The word of God and prayer are defensive weapons. At the same time Jesus was on offense, He was defending himself with the same weapons. We need to surround ourselves each day with a hedge of prayer. It is a good idea to start off each day with a systematic reading of scripture and moments spent in prayer to prepare ourselves to meet the day. I know that people’s schedules differ, and that it is not always easy to take that time in the morning, but whatever your schedule, you need to set aside a little time for prayer and Bible study. Make no mistake about it; Satan is aware when we are armed to face him in battle. He also knows when we are unprepared, at which time he will move in for the kill. If our scripture and prayer defenses are not up, he will lead us astray. In the sword fights that I have seen in the movies, it was always as important to be able to rebuff the other person’s thrust as it was to thrust. Surround yourself with the word and prayer. The word of God and prayer are sustaining weapons. Sustain means to have support to help in a time of need. We certainly need the support of God in the many needs that we have in this life. His support is realized through His word and prayer. Sustain also means to be encouraged. We need the encouragement of the word of God and prayer each day. The Lord will lead us to the right passage of scripture when we need it, and that passage will let us know how to pray. I’m not sharing this with you because I read about it, but because I experience it each day. These weapons are available to you also! Use them! Bro. Joe “He erected the pillars at the portico (porch) of the temple. The pillar to the south he names Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.”
The entire Bible is the word of God and I read every word of it every year, but I have to admit that some parts of it are more exciting than others. Take for example the building of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem in 1 Kings. We are told all of the materials that Huram (the builder) used. In fact, we are given a blow-by-blow account of the construction of the temple. But I have discovered that if I don’t read all of it, I will surely miss a treasure that God has for me in the passage. This was true this morning when I read 1 Kings 7:21. This was surely not the first time that I have read this verse, but this morning two words jumped out at me – "Jakin" and "Boaz." Huram built two pillars on the porch of the temple. Pillars are built to hold the structure up. The two pillars were given appropriate names, and were reminders of who the temple belonged to and the purpose of the temple. These two names are what I am calling “Unexpected Treasure.” These treasures were not a surprise to me, but this time I remembered their significance. Let’s start with Jakin. Jakin means “He establishes.” On the front of the temple on the porch, this pillar was a reminder of the God of the temple. The temple was to stand through the years as a reminder to Israel that their nation was established by God. Israel was not chosen and established because of their goodness, but because God in His mighty grace called them out and established them as His people. When the people looked at the temple, they saw “Jakin” and they were reminded that their establishment was God’s work and this temple stood as a reminder of God’s work. We need to remember this in our own lives as well. We no longer have a temple like the temple in Jerusalem. In fact, we are told that, because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are God’s temple. But we need to be reminded of Jakin, because, like Israel, we are not God’s temple, or God’s people, because of our innate goodness, but because of the grace of the Almighty God, who has established us in His Son. As Jakin held up the porch of the temple, so Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, holds our lives up. We are never independent of Him, because He is a vital part of our lives. Let’s just conclude that we have a “Jakin” that holds our lives up, and that is the Holy Spirit, who establishes us in the faith. Ephesians 4:30 reminds us of this: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption." The next word is Boaz. This name means “in Him is strength.” Boaz stood as a reminder to Israel that they were not established because of their own strength, but by the strength of God. All they had to do was to think back over their history, and they would remember that it was God who got them through the Red Sea. It was God who enabled them to stay together through their wilderness wanderings. The Bible reminds us over and over again that we cannot live the Christian life on our own strength. As we face all of the issues of life, we are reminded that we can face them because we have God’s strength to keep us going. When we try to do God’s work, or live our lives on our own strength, we find that we do not have the strength to do it. Boaz stands as a reminder to us of the strength of our Lord, and of our need for His strength every day that we live. There is a neat reminder of our dependence on God’s strength in Nehemiah 8:10: “Then he (Nehemiah) said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye sorry; For the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Rejoice! Claim Jakin and Boaz for your life today, for, in Jesus, you have them. Again I say, "rejoice!" Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|