The Gospel According to Jesus

The Gospel According to Jesus

The Message of Jesus’ Love

The Message of the Kingdom of God

The Message of the Church and Body of Jesus Christ

The Message of the Ages and the Revelation of Father

The Message of Holy Spirit through the Word and the Believer!

The supreme wonder of the gospel is its present realization of life - life of such unfathomable and enduring quality that it cannot fade for all eternity. World religions may claim to have the answers to the present misery of the individual, but what does it profit a man to achieve harmony with nature yet lose his soul? Jesus offers eternal life now. He said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (John 11:25, 26). God bless you. REINHARD BONNKE

The Gospel imparts a hope that is beyond sin, judgment and fear of exposure or death! You will never exhaust the vast ocean of God's love. You will be forever discovering greater lengths, widths, depths, and heights of His love.

Very important verse (so often translated and understood wrong!) 2 Cor 10:4 and 5 Paul says in the Greek, that we arrest every thought at spear point.

This is important to notice, it is the power in the sharpness of the spear that arrests the thought. In the previous verse Paul says, "We have weapons that demolish strongholds!"

A stronghold is typically a mindset, a thought pattern; now if a single thought can activate and engage a complete thought pattern, (almost like opening a complete document on your computer with a single click!) then if that thought can be arrested, the thought pattern is de-activated!
Here is the good news: Paul did not say like most translations do, "we must make thoughts obedient to Christ!”
The Greek says we arrest every thought at spear point by the obedience OF Christ!!!! Our own obedience couldn’t save us under Moses neither can it save us under Christ.
It’s the revelation of the obedience of Christ that gives authority to the weapon that we employ to put every thought contrary to us, under arrest!
(Rom 5:19, The Mirror) The disobedience of the one man exhibits humanity as sinners; the obedience of another man (Jesus) exhibits humanity as righteous. The presence of the law made no difference, instead it merely highlighted the offence; but where sin increased, grace superseded it.

I am hyper-grace and you might as well throw in hyper-love for good measure! And it is not a theological position; it is a lifestyle of Grace through faith in every moment and every experience of my life! "His power (great grace) is made evident in my weakness!" Hyper grace, huh?

From Dictionary.com
hyper: word-forming element meaning "over, above, beyond, exceedingly, to excess," from Greek hyper (prep. and adv.) "over, beyond, overmuch, above measure," from PIE super- "over" (see super-). From the Bible -

If we can invent technology that can be an effective anti-virus shield to work even while we sleep, then let’s not underestimate the powerful and effective weapon God has given us in our ability to understand the full implication and benefit we have in the obedience of Christ!!!

2 Corinthians 10:3 The fact that we are living in a physical world in human bodies of flesh does not mean that we engage ourselves in a combat dictated to by the typical “tit-for-tat” strategies of the politics of the day.

10:4 the dynamic of our strategy is revealed in God’s ability to disengage mindsets and perceptions that have held people captive in pseudo fortresses for centuries!

10:5 every lofty idea and argument positioned against the knowledge of God is cast down and exposed to be a mere invention of our own imagination. We arrest every thought that could possibly trigger an opposing threat to our redeemed identity and innocence at spear point! The caliber of our weapon is empowered by the revelation of the global consequence of the obedience of Christ.

10:6 our ears are fine tuned to echo the voice of likeness that resonates within us. We are acquainted with the articulate detail of the authentic voice of our origin.

Love brought me back from the future to live as Jesus, fully human and fully divine by embracing all that today can be in Him!
He has brought me back from the past, trading the shame and failures to live today in the fullness of Mercy and Grace!
He has brought me to another today to live with hope while embracing a love that liberates me to be extra-ordinarily ordinary!
I will enjoy the peace to be at peace with His great love and divine design! I will enjoy Him in me and I in Him each moment of potential called now!

Ron Ross

http://youtu.be/aCGJUcor30M  “Chasing You” Jenn Johnson, from ‘Tides’

Bridges of Grace

Is your life a bridge of Grace to the world you encounter each day? The same grace that is saving, growing and changing you is also intended to draw those around you to Jesus. How so? His awesome grace works from the inside out in our lives; changing us from glory to glory and wooing all whose lives we touch. Here are some of the incredible ways that his grace works in and through our lives.

The Bible portrays God’s Grace as the Manifold Grace of God. That simply means His Grace has many facets. It’s like looking at a fine diamond with many sides or facets. As such, grace has innumerable expressions to and through those who have placed their faith in Christ. Another way of understanding this great Grace is seeing it as a bridge that God builds toward and out from those who believe the Gospel of Grace.

Each facet of His Grace expressed in our lives is another plank of that bridge. He builds this bridge of Grace to ensure that we successfully walk out the Christian journey. As we walk in Grace others are drawn to that very same Grace. What a wonderful and gracious God! Let’s examine some of the planks on this Bridge of Grace. First, consider with me some of what the Grace of God means in our lives.

Defining the Grace of God

We all know how impossible it would be to define the unfathomable facets of God’s Grace. Defining the true breadth, length, depth, width, height and power of Grace is beyond human description. Following is a simple glimpse. Grace is God’s Riches at Christ’s expense (G.R.A.C.E.). It is God’s unlimited power toward those who place their faith in Christ. Given to the believer as a gift, Grace enables us to be what we could not possibly be, and to do what we could not possibly do in our own strength and by our own best efforts.

The Difference between the Grace and Mercy of God

Let me humbly illustrate as I heard it put by another. Consider a Bank clerk who is a thief and robs his own employer’s bank. Mercy forgives his crime and frees him from the debt-but leaves him with the identity of a pardoned criminal. For sure, this is a wonderful gesture.

With God’s Grace-the guilty Bank clerk is not only forgiven, but is then installed as the joint owner-sharing in all the present and future profits. The moment God’s Grace is applied, he goes from being a guilty-pardoned criminal to sharing equally in all that his master is and has! His identity is completely changed, his future is forever altered and secured and his previous reality is totally forgiven and forgotten. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Grace is getting what we do not deserve. “Of His fullness have we all received, and Grace upon Grace.” John 1:6

The Mercy and Grace of God always work hand in hand. The Cross of Christ secures and applies the Mercy of forgiveness and innocence restored. The Grace of Christ empowers a new and living way, the walk of Christ in and through us! Neither will ever be frustrated or diminished by our shortcomings or performance. They have their sole origin in and through Christ!

“The time of the restoration of all things (which is now) is characterized by a mighty outpouring of God’s Grace by the Holy Spirit. The forceful removal of all the mountains that stand in the way (both personally and corporately) is being accompanied by an unusual flowing out of the abundance of the Grace of God. And the capstone of that completed work of restoration will be to the shouts of Grace, Grace unto it.” See Zechariah 4:6-7.

According to the Book of Acts (4:33), the power of the early church was that “great Grace was upon them all”. It must also be said of the end time church that great grace is upon us. The fullness of His Grace is potentially available to each one of us. However, we have to learn how to progressively access it and enter in to it more fully. How do we do this?

We Enter Through Faith

The key to enter God’s treasure store of Grace is through faith. In this journey, we must be constantly moving from “faith to faith” (Romans 1:16) and “grace to grace” (John 1:16). When we are, we also move from “glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Faith is always the key that opens wider the door to God’s abundance of Grace. Even the key of faith is a gift of God’s great Grace! A measure of faith is given to every believer and it is always more than enough.

The glory of the Lord Jesus was that He alone was full of Grace and Truth. The glory that John beheld was not the full heavenly glory of Christ’s Divine Majesty-that would be more than any man could stand. John beheld the bearable but wonderful glory of His grace. The glory of grace that we progressively bear in our lives is ‘to the glory of His grace’ (see Ephesians 1:6-8). “Of His fullness have we all received and grace upon grace” (John 1:16).

We are now called to shine forth the glory of the New Covenant of Grace. It is a more glorious glory than the fading glory that shone from Moses’ face as he came down from his Mt. Sinai encounter with the presence of God. Why is it more glorious? Because the covenant of grace that Jesus mediated on Calvary is greater than the covenant of law that Moses received on Mt Sinai. Christ’s New Covenant enables us to walk a new and living way of grace through faith.

Grace is the treasure we find within, and Glory is the ever-increasing consequence of a grace filled life. There are multitudes of ways that God’s Grace shows up in our lives to enable/empower us to live out our high calling in Christ. The following are a few that make up the planks in the Bridge of Grace that God builds in and through the lives of all of His children.

Are you walking out your Christian journey on this Grace Bridge? It is the only means of crossing over the gaps between what has been to what can be-our potential in Him and His future glory! “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

1.      His prevenient grace ‘You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (see Romans 5) Consider all the many ways through which God drew and loved you to Him.

2.      His saving grace We are not just a forgiven sinner-that is mercy. We are sons and daughters of God-a co-heir with Christ of all the Father has and is. Through grace we enjoy the same relationship that the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) have enjoyed for all eternity. Mercy frees us from the debt and penalty of sin-but grace takes us much further. It delivers us from the power of sin and ends all claims of sin and the devil upon our lives. ‘He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.’ (Hebrews 7:25)

3.      His supernatural life by grace It cuts us off from our past heredity and reveals Jesus as our new heredity line. Grace also releases supernatural power to live a supernatural life as more than conquerors, manifesting the very fragrance of Christ in our lives. Living so intimate with Him that we even emit His awesome fragrance to all around us. (see Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 2:14, Romans 8:30-37 and Romans 5:17)

4.      His growing grace A friend of mine put it this way. Grace keeps us moving forward to maturity in Christ. The Grace of God unfolds before us, preparing the way of growth and the Grace of God folds up behind us, keeping us from going back to our life before Him. Frank Peretti put it this way in one of his books… (Insert your towns’ name) was a town looking forward to the past. Do the old things again, just do them harder? Back your way out of any slump. Don’t go forward, you’ve never been there. Replay the memory, it’s always better. That old-time religion was good enough for our fathers and mothers and it’s good enough for us. That is not the grace that grows us to new and exciting places in God. Peretti exposes that most of us are comfortable with not growing through grace. Most of Paul’s letters exhort us to grow forward in the Grace of God.

Much more could be said of His grieving, healing, sustaining, ministry, gifting and forgiving grace. And those are just a few of His truly amazing manifold Grace. As we continue to walk across the bridge of God’s Grace, we prove in our lives that His Grace is sufficient and that His power is made evident in our weakness. We must become Grace dependent people, together showing forth the power of a Grace-filled Church!

In the grip of His Amazing Grace! Ron Ross

Warning: the following will mess you up. Allow Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all the truth concerning ‘repentance’. This is a critical piece of The Message we believe-the Gospel of Grace!

"The guilt and shame that is always associated with repentance causes this great gift to be, almost universally, thought of in a negative light and resisted rather than embraced as it should be and will be when seen correctly. " (Clark Whitten) Pure Grace - page 98).

“Repentance is the most mis-translated word in the New Testament" (Broudus). It means to change one's mind in light of new truthful information. This is the process by which believers have our minds transformed. When the truth of the finished work of Christ challenges religious mindsets, repentance allows one to embrace the new and discard the old.

By this process we grow up into the fullness of Christ. The mixture gospel taught by the vast majority of evangelicals reduces the glorious gift of repentance to a tool of behavior modification. Truth embraced will always produce freedom and correct Jesus-like thinking!  The truth is--Believers are the righteousness of God (In Christ) or we are not righteous at all. Jesus' work was finished completely or not finished at all!” (Whitten)

This word has been translated regularly as “repentance,” which is an old English word borrowed from the Latin, which means penance. Then they added the “re” to get even more mileage out of sin consciousness. Re-penance. This gross deception led to the perverted doctrines of indulgences, where naïve people were led to believe that they needed to purchase favor from an angry god. Most cathedrals as well as many ministries were funded with this guilt money.

English translations do little to help us understand what ‘true’ repentance is. Until Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation, the word metanoia was commonly used.  For instance, Tertullian wrote in 198 A.D., “In Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind.” The word ‘metanoia’, consisting of two components, Meta, together with, and nous, mind, clearly suggests a radical mind shift, not confession.

But despite this the Latin fathers begin to translate the word as “do penance” following the Roman Catholic teaching on doing penance in order to win (or curry) God’s favor. In 1430, Lorenzo Valla, a Catholic theologian, began a critical study of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate and Valla pointed out many mistakes that Jerome had made.  

Sadly, the “Vulgate-Only” crowd of Valla’s day forced him to renounce many of the changes that he noted needed changing in the Vulgate including the poor translation of metanoia. The business of religion desperately needs paying and returning customers. Jesus was crucified for this reason; the entire system of keeping people dependent on their hierarchy was challenged and condemned by him.

Isaiah 55:8-11 sheds more light on metanoia: “your thoughts were distanced from God’s thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth, but just like the rain and the snow would cancel that distance and saturate the soil to awaken its seed, so shall my word be that proceeds from my mouth.” In Christ the distance between us and His Father is erased and the soil of our heart is saturated with non-shaming forgiveness and un-conditional love.

The Greek preposition ‘Meta’, (meaning) ‘together with’, implies another influence. This is where the gospel becomes so powerful since it appeals to our conscience to reason together with our original design ... the authentic thought; the mind of God is realized again. The distance caused by Adam’s fall, compared to the distance between heaven and earth, is cancelled in the Incarnation of Jesus.”

Following is the bottom Line of what is so incredible about authentic and pure change of mind and life direction (What we have been duped by religion to mistakenly refer to as “repentance” or “do penance”). 

Metanoia suggests a co-knowing with God! It is an intertwining of thought; and it is to agree with God about me. Your belief in God does not define him; his faith in what he knows to be true about you defines you. In Mark 11:22, Jesus says, “Have the faith of God.” Unfortunately, most translations say, “Have faith in God.” That is a difference. God’s belief in you gives substance to your faith. Jesus is what God believes about you.

When we put our trust into and agree with what God believes about us, our hearts naturally, supernaturally give us impetus to turn from sin. “I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. 2 When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good - not only ours, but the whole worlds.” (1 John 2:1-2, Msg) Do you see any shame here?

Toit, Francois Du (2012-07-02). Mirror Bible (Kindle Locations 362-368). Mirror Word Publishing, Kindle Edition.

Enjoy agreeing with what God thinks and declares about you! Ron Ross

Grace to Endure

Endurance: Staying the course when problems look or feel overwhelming or the journey seems too long…

Even though we have the power of the Resurrected Christ, His Holy Spirit within us, always available to us---What motivates us to keep going when we feel like Jesus is a million miles away? What puts energy into our spirits when we seem to run out of answers and resources?

Where does our power to live, serve and to keep giving come from in the dry times? All of us run out of motivation from time to time, no matter how much we may have previously experienced. What is it that fuels us into effortless service out of the quagmires of life?

It seems that every day we are learning  that what used to motivate us is no longer enough. We must go further and higher, pressing on to what lies ahead. We must step into the unfolding grace that is always available and abundant in the next moment. In that grace we keep learning what Jesus is interested in, so we can lose interest in what we are used to pursuing. And we learn that unless Jesus is interested in what we are pursuing, the going will get tougher than we can bear.

Let’s consider how Paul approached this very real issue of endurance!

7 … what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phi. 3: 10-14, NKJV)

We can’t think in terms of learning keys or secrets, but of continuing in the simplest truths of the gospel. We learn (sometimes daily) by experience that there is no way forward when pressed to our extremities but to sacrifice ourselves at every turn for His sake, knowing nothing but Jesus and Him crucified. We must die to live. It is better to give than to receive, and better to love than to be loved. We cannot lose, because we have a perfect Savior who is able to finish what He began in us, if we do not give up and throw away our faith.

8 I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. 10 And he did deliver us from mortal danger. And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us. (2 Cor. 1:8-10 Msg)

Why? Because we are only jars of clay, very fragile and finite, capable of only giving out so much, and with very limited understanding and strength. We find ourselves daily embracing the Gospel of Grace and then we come to be encouraged by our human limitations. How can we be encouraged-because God’s power and glory will become obvious in our weakness?

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:7–10).

Enduring by Grace, Ron Ross

Loving Intentionally

Intentional Loving

An indecisive faith and a wavering hope immobilize us on our journey to fullness of life and our daily walk in the Spirit of Jesus. If we could only believe Jesus was telling the truth then this world in which we live would be an exciting place! It’s a place of romance and adventure, a place of promise and a place of possibilities, a place of confidence and joyous expectation! But more than that, our world is a place of love. A place where we can live and love intentionally!

The Gospel of Jesus opens up the endless possibilities of love. There must be love and we must run the risk of being loved. The life Jesus lived before us always brings us to the place of God’s unending love. Jesus didn’t say maybe God is love ----or that it would be nice if God were love. Jesus said: God is love---period. But there is more to the message of Jesus. He insisted that His Father is crazy with love, that God is a kooky God who can scarcely bear to be without us. He crowns us with kindness and compassion.”

Lord, I want to sing,

I want to dance, I want to celebrate!

I want to send up a sky full of red balloons,

Scatter the roads with smiling daisies:

Crash the cymbals,

 Beat the drums,

Jungle tambourines,

Clang the bells,

I want to shake the trees

And splash the fountains, kiss the roses,

Bug the world

Lord!

Your love is like new wine.

I feel drunk with it!

Psalm 103 is a wonderful prayer; leading us to a faith-filled experience of the Father’s loving-kindness.’ Gentle waves of peace wash over us. The words “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; which come into focus here like no other place? He pardons all of our iniquities, He heals all our ills. He redeems our lives from destruction! He crowns all of us with kindness and compassion” causing a deep sense of gratitude for the many times He has rescued us. Later the words “Not according to our sins does He deal with us, nor does He requires of us according to our crimes.” He puts us in touch with His presence and we begin to Praise Him for His greatness and goodness, His unbearable forgiveness, His boundless patience, and His tender love, put us in touch with His presence.

“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is His Kindness toward those who fear Him…As a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear (respect) Him.”

Lord it’s almost too good to be true.

But you are the truth and you said it, so I know it is real.

Today I asked you to speak to my heart, a word I could hear and understand.

And you said, very clearly, “I want you to be with me where I am.”

Lord, even the people who love me most need a vacation from me now and then.

But you don’t want one! You want me with you where you are forever.

“Love without any agenda…take tender care of one another with fondness and affection; esteems one another’s unique value.” (Romans 12: 9 and 10) “We are the product of God’s love…wear love like a uniform; this is what completes the picture of our oneness.” (Colossians 3)

I think that the scriptures are explicit as to our mutual journey into the depths of Father’s love. And the Cross forever displays the enormity of God’s great love. “In Christ, God opened a new and exciting way for us to encounter him without hesitation or restrictor…Love kindles faith and faith opens the horizon to explore love’s mystery.” (Hebrews)

Not only is God’s love real, it is the crowning truth of our search for purpose! To be loved and to learn how to love back may be the biggest and best challenge of our union with Jesus!

Intentionally learning to love! Ron Ross

Small Potatoes

"Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us." (2 Cor. 4: 16b-17, Msg)
Are you gripped today by the small potatoes of seeming hard times? Remember, it just 'looks' like stuff is falling apart. The small stuff lasts only for a fleeting moment. How about focusing instead on the truer, bigger picture? And when compared to His ever-present unfolding grace, coming good times and lavish eternal celebration they are really; 'well', small potatoes!
Walk today in the newness of life and unfolding grace of Christ in you, the hope of Glory! Ron

Simply and Honestly Being

Matthew 6:6
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
Have you stopped long enough lately to realize how 'task' orientated you truly are? It's not that our tasks aren't important. It's that they are meant for something far greater-prayer! Tasks and simple, honest being are best enjoyed prayerfully and prophetically together. 
Harmonious, synchronized "being" encompasses all we "do" and "are" all the time. And it is a secret to life praying-seeing and hearing Him. Jesus said he only did what he saw and heard his Papa doing. Have you just existed long enough? Are you ready for life in the flow with Jesus and our Daddy?
Compartmentalized living (dividing life into segments-tasks, eating, working, quiet time, etc) is 'existence'-life just happening below our capacity in Christ. The point in everything is to "focus" on who is in us. If we make our task "synergy with Jesus" then the 'doing' will be so much fuller and richer! I am slowly learning to un-task myself and simply, honestly live from the inside-out. Here we tap into the abundant joy and Grace life of Jesus in me and me in Jesus!

Learning to flow as I go! Ron Ross