"Accepted in the beloved"

Christ seated on the throne in Heaven

Paul's epistle to the Ephesians begins with a lengthy compound-complex sentence spanning from verse 3 through verse 12. In that lengthy sentence Paul packs a theological wallop, introducing for us our marvelous inheritance in Christ. One phrase stands out for me found in verse 6 which states, (Ephesians 1:6)

⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Any of us who know the Bible can remember who "the beloved" one is. We recall the very words of God the father himself saying, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased."
(Matt. 3:17, 17:5). The Father's "beloved" is our Savior and Lord, and we have been accepted by God because we are in Christ and He is in us. So why would that be so important to us?

It matters because it reveals where God has placed us as a result of our connection to Christ. Ephesians 2 lets us know that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6). This means that where Christ is, we are also. He is seated beside the Father in the heavenly realms, and we are seated beside him in the heavenly realms. This settles an important issue for us concerning whether or not we will go to heaven when we die. The truth is that our spirits are already seated beside our Savior in the heavenly realms. A part of us is in heaven already. The rest of us (our souls and resurrection bodies) will get there when we leave our earthly tents behind.

Let that sink in! We are not just heaven bound; we are heaven found! Eternal life has already begun for us because we are accepted in the beloved. God already sees us the same way he sees his own beloved son. Why? Because we are in Him and He is in us. Let us rejoice in our rich inheritance because of our position in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Livin' in Tents: poem

A tent which blew over in a storm.

Visiting with my friend John Domingo at the hospital the other day I mentioned that we live in Tents which are temporary (2 Cor. 5:1-5). Our conversation inspired me to write this poem:

Livin' in Tents

By Ed Skidmore (2 Cor. 5:1-5)

We’re livin’ in tents.
Tent’s gonna’ tear,
An’ it’s hardly fair to be living in there,
When a tent starts to wear.

We’re livin’ in tents.
Tent tends to leak,
An’ ya just wanna’ freak when it rains,
An’ you’re wet for a week.

Oh, we’re livin’ in tents.
Sometimes it’ll fold,
When the wind starts to blow and get cold,
It’ll fall, so I’m told.

Well, we’re livin’ in tents.
Tent’s gonna’ fray,
When it does, well, it just seems time
Ta’ throw it away.

We may be livin’ in tents,
But some day we’ll see,
A heavenly city,
Built just for you and me.

And in that city,
Built four-square,
A permanent mansion is waiting,
For us to get there.

No more livin’ in tents.
We “groan” for that day,
Till it comes, we wait patiently,
An’ walk in “the Way”.

We’re livin’ in tents.
But not for long …….

We have the mind of Christ:

Devotion for Men’s Breakfast: Dec. 5^th , 2009

Some of you may be aware that I have just succumbed to a sickness shared by several of you here today. I just purchased my first Apple I-phone. I supposedly did it for the purpose of gaining internet access, texting, and e-mails … along with using it as an actual phone. But if the truth were known, it was so I could download all those marvelous “apps”. With the applications I’ve added to my phone I now have the whole world at my fingertips. Along with the apps that came bundled with the phone, like messages, calendar, photos, camera, Youtube videos, stock reports, maps, weather, voice memos, notes, clock, calculator, e-mail, I-pod, Safari, internet access, I-tunes, and the App store.

Just think of all the possibilities that have opened up to me! I can waste time in any of a dozen ways now. And at the staff meetings at church, I too can have my head down and my nose in the calendar app … as I text entries into my phone with my thumbs … and look like I’m not paying attention to what’s going on in the meeting. Oh, how productive I’ll be able to be now, yes sir!

But I said all that about phone apps to get you to thinking with me about our topic today. One of the apps I downloaded is my wife’s Google Calendar. When I’m making an appointment, I can look at my wife’s Google Calendar and see if we have anything else scheduled on that day or not. In a way, it’s like having the mind of my wife right there with me …

Think with me for a moment … what it would be like if my I-phone had an app. called “The mind of Christ” If I could just punch a button and instantly, on the screen would appear instant wisdom from the Master himself. If I had an app that would allow me to ask questions of Jesus and then get his instantaneous answer, perhaps as a text message or an e-mail, or even… dare I suggest it… a voice mail?! Wouldn't that be something else? To have the mind of Christ just the touch of a finger away! Could that be possible?

Well, yes, actually it could --- but not from your I-phone apps.

This amazing feature of our connection with Christ came bundled with our salvation. It is part of what God did when He planted within you the Holy Spirit (“Christ in you, the hope of glory”). Along with his presence came something amazing all for your benefit, and closer than an app on a phone. This feature of your relationship with Christ is safely tucked inside your head. You, friends, have within yourselves, “the mind of Christ.” Just so you’ll not think I dreamed this up, the scripture text which attests to this is found in 1 Corinthians 2:16 (NIV) "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

If you take a look at the whole second chapter of First Corinthians, Paul is doing a compare and contrast between the wisdom of the world and spiritual wisdom from God. He talks about the kind of wisdom that God imparts through the Holy Spirit to our spirits. This is a kind of wisdom that doesn’t make sense to people who don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside them. In fact, they think it is all foolishness to them. But the wisdom God imparts only makes sense to Holy Spirit indwelt people. Now guys, wouldn’t that include us? We have access to a wisdom that is superior to an I-phone app. And just as instantly available. It is better, because God has already approved of anything coming from the mind of Christ. And we have that mind within us.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that everything we think in our brains comes from the mind of Christ. In fact, much of what originates in our minds is quite different than what might proceed from the mind of Christ. Still, the mind of Christ is available if we choose to access it. And how would we do that? I believe it is a matter of focus. If we focus on ourselves, our own resources, our own talents, our own knowledge, our own will, our overactive egos, our interests and hobbies, our commitments, our accomplishments, our schedules --- in short, if we have a “self-centric focus” then nothing from the mind of Christ will come through. The mind of Christ only comes through when we get our minds away from self (flesh)let our spirits connect with the Holy Spirit who resides inside us. A “Christ-centric focus” will allow the mind of Christ to come forth. Romans 8 gives us a clue as to how this all works:

Romans 8:5-11 (NIV)
⁵ Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷ the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. ⁹ You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

I used to look at that passage and see it as something to attempt to attain by self effort. I thought I had to rev up all my will power and somehow MAKE this happen by my efforts. What I didn’t realize is that God is talking about a different emphasis than I had in mind. Now I see that God is talking about the natural process of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. There’s a world of difference between what kind of life we can live without Christ and what kind of life we can have with Christ. If we don’t have the Spirit within us, we can only focus on the sinful desires of the flesh. That is our only option --- and it is an option that offers only one outcome: death. But when we have the Spirit within us, we have an entirely new option available within us. When God saves us, he “downloads” an entirely NEW and amazing “app” that we never had before. Of course, we can choose to IGNORE the mind of Christ within us. But the new “app” is right there.

So, for a Christian, it doesn’t take some Herculean effort to focus on the Spirit. Having the mind of Christ is part of our NEW nature. Focusing on Him comes naturally.Now, this doesn’t imply instant maturity on our parts. It is still our little pea brains inside our heads. And we can certainly focus those brains on things besides Christ. Jesus is not going to FORCE us to connect with His supernatural understanding and wisdom.

In Philippians 2:5-11 Paul urges us to “have the mind in you that was in Christ Jesus” and then he goes on to describe the mind of Christ in detail. Indeed, there is a sense in which we are to develop the mind of Christ. That is part of our Christian process of maturing. But in another equally real sense, we already have all of Christ there is to have right there living inside us. We don’t have to “make ourselves” into something we AREN’T. We need to let Christ “shape us” into something we already ARE.

Let us consider what a treasure God has given us! We have within us the mind of Christ in all its fullness. The question is --- Will we learn how to connect with this new,completely free … God-given “app?” ,,,

"Good" flesh?

Luke 18:11 "The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself..."

Speaking with a fellow minister recently I heard him use the term "good flesh" when talking about how Christians will often do seemingly good things which many will commend, but which originate in the flesh and are done for the purpose of self commendation. I remember from my readings in various books by Watchman Nee, the principle of the soul (mind, will, and emotions) being either a conduit for the flesh or a conduit for the spirit.
Because we are Spirit begotten, our spirits have been enlivened and connected to the Holy Spirit by God. Therefore, our souls are now capable of interacting in submission to our Spirit directed spirits. They can also continue as conduits of the flesh if that is how we choose to behave, but we no longer need to function that way if we will only allow our spirit to dominate rather than the flesh.
Looking at Romans 8:5-6 which says, "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." (KJV uses the actual phrase "mind on the flesh") When I saw that text I would often see it as a goal to achieve, but now I see it more as the condition of the person who has learned to "abide in Christ" daily, and who now has a spirit that has taken control of what used to be controlled by the flesh. Now the flesh is in submission to the soul rather than in control of it, and the spirit, led by the Holy Spirit, is in the driver's seat. Therefore, "the mind on the Spirit, is life and peace."
Most of us are well aware of the sins committed by our fleshly desires if our flesh dominates our souls, but we may not be so aware of another problem we face from fleshly activity. The flesh is also able to do religious things, and even seemingly commendable things. The flesh is capable of praying, fasting, and giving alms. This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 7 which is part of the Sermon on the Mount. The religious leaders of Jesus' day were fond of doing their religious duties out in public to be seen by the crowds. They would ring a bell or blow a trumpet to announce their alms giving as they gave alms in public. They would walk, or rather, stagger in the markets on market day to show off their rigorous fasting behaviors so that others could admire them for their dedication. They would pray in public so that others could see them doing it and be impressed by them. In all three of these actions Jesus advised secrecy so that God could reward them openly. The point is that what they did was done for self aggrandizement and was motivated by the flesh.
What we already know about "bad flesh" needs to be joined by what the Bible obviously also teaches about "good flesh". Either way flesh is flesh. And all flesh amounts to nothing. In John 6:63 Jesus said to the crowds during his "bread of life" sermon, "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life..." Perhaps we can learn to feast on what the Spirit provides through our spirit and to assign the flesh where it belongs, to the place of submission. You see, the flesh, whether good or bad, accounts for nothing.

AMAC is the alternative to AARP

AMAC attends a rally opposed to Government Run Health Care

I've been looking for something in the "not AARP" category to get involved with that could represent me as a "seasoned citizen" and also represent me as a Christian and a political conservative. I have found that organization. It is called the Association of Mature American Citizens. Their web site is at this location: http://www.amac.us/ Or their address is 5 Orville Drive, Suite 400, Bohimia, NY, 11716. Phone number there is 1-888-262-2006, and their e-mail is info@amac.us
Membership for both husband and wife is only $12.50 per year, and it includes a magazine and various discounts on insurance etc. just like AARP. This organization has tens of thousands in it at this point while AARP has 26 million less the 60,000 who just got out when they found out AARP supports the Obama health plan. If you are interested in a more conservative, pro life, pro family, group to join this is it. I joined, and you can too. Ed

Look who's guarding us now!

A fox leaping to capture its prey

I received an e-mail today with a chilling announcement about Janet Napolitano's appointment of two "devout" (this was their wording, not mine) Muslims to the Department of Homeland Security. The two appointees are: Arif Alikhan as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development, and Kareem Shora as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC). The words "devout Muslim" certainly fit both of these guys as they are both members of pro Muslim, anti Israeli groups. Alikhan is affiliated with MPAC, the "Muslim Public Affairs Council". Kareem Shora is a national executive director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. I won't mention what these two groups have been up to, because I don't want this article to get too wordy, but you can look them up for yourself on the web and see if you think these guys have earned the good housekeeping seal of your approval. I just want to ask what the leaders of our nation have been smoking lately to appoint these two "devout Muslims" to our homeland security department. If this were the Second World War it would be like appointing two high ranking Nazi Generals to our own Joint Chief's of staff. Have our nation's leaders really become so utterly stupid? I might understand these appointments if these two men were "ex-devout" Muslims, but noooo! They are actively practicing Muslims who wouldn't surprise me one bit if they started shouting "Allah-u akbar!" and began shooting up whoever was around them. I am appalled, but not all that surprised. After all, what happened at Fort Hood last week reveals how brain damaged our security forces already are. Am I the only one who sees the fact that we were spared this kind of thing after 9/11 during the Bush years because he understood we were at war with Radical Islam in a way that Clinton didn't. It appears that Obama is no less clueless than Clinton was. Though I hate to say it, I believe it will be easy to predict that there will be more of what happened at Ft. Hood to follow in the weeks to come, and we can lay it at the feet of the kinds of fools who would appoint radical Muslims to guard our homeland. Oh, we're in for a great next three years with them in the Department of Homeland Security! Guard your chickens, the foxes have arrived!

I have posted a new video on Youtube of the grandkids playing in the leaves in Lincoln, Illinois this fall. The link is as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6zSvXvQLVA

I also posted 3 videos on Susan's Facebook page.