THE CALL FOR REVOLUTIONARIES

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When the Lord is your Master, the world is your mission and you are a prime target for evil each and every day. Hang on to your relationship with Jesus and those who follow Him and your eyes will be exactly where they need to be in order to fight the fight most effectively!

In order to fight the battle for your soul and for the souls of others you will be required to be serious about your walk with Jesus and with others who are following Jesus. The call to follow Jesus is a call for selflessness. This call has to do first with your heart and then how you care for others. It's really a call for those who are willing to sign up to be revolutionaries.

To be a revolutionary you must learn to love. Based upon God's unconditional love for you, there are two tracks of love that Jesus makes clear are most important. What's interesting to me is that they are foundational to anyone's life and possibly the simplest approach to your life ever. There are three different occasions where Jesus teaches these two love tracks.

FIRST in Matthew 22:38-40 Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment of the Law is. Jesus answers: "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

In this first instance Jesus does not really answer the question. He doesn't give the questioner one commandment, but gives him two-love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind AND love your neighbor as yourself. NOTE what He says about these two love tracks of loving God and loving your neighbor. The entire Law and the Prophets are dependent upon these two.

SECOND in Mark 12:32-34 Jesus is again asked what is the foremost commandment. After answering, the scribe said to Jesus: "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

The scribe was right on! He even added to the two commandments. He said they are much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Note what Jesus said back to the scribe: When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

The THIRD instance is found in Luke 10:26-28-And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."

So, first, the entire Law and the Prophets depend on loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. Then, if you love God and love your neighbor as yourself, you can be assured that you are not far from the Kingdom of God. Finally, Jesus says if you love God and love your neighbor as yourself, then you will live! Note the progression is pretty dynamite!

So, a Jesus revolutionary is one who practices loving God and loving his neighbor. There is one thing that will keep you from committing yourself to being a revolutionary and practicing the two most important revolutionary principles of Jesus. This one thing is an addiction of sorts. It's the problem of sin.

Sin is basically missing the mark-falling short of God's standard. Sin is not living the Kingdom principles; it's not following Jesus. So, instead of being Jesus centered, it's being self-centered.

It's the condition of mankind-the universal dilemma of self-centeredness that has plagued men/women from the beginning. Sin is the 'something broken' that can't be fixed or corrected by all the success, effort, money, sex, power, or ability in the world. This brokenness or separation is experienced as a haunting and fearful sense of being separated and unworthy and expresses itself in feelings of fear, anger, shame, guilt, or pain. We search the world over for someone or something we can control that will take away these painful feelings of inadequacy and we will become strongly attached or even addicted to any person, substance, behavior, or goal that promises to relieve or blot out our pain and sense of alienation.

The only possibility of removing the condition of sin is Jesus. He is the only one who can transform your heart away from your natural self-centeredness and into the two love tracks: love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. The devil and his demons know this, so they are committed to keeping you off-focus and off-message with respect to Jesus. Whatever problems you encounter may not be caused by the devil and his demons, but you can be certain they are there voting against you in your struggle and piling on. This is why it takes a committed revolutionary.

IF JESUS IS GOING TO DO HIS WORK IN YOUR LIFE IN HIS WAY, THEN YOU MUST RESIST THE DEVIL AND STAND AS A REVOLUTIONARY RIGHT ALONGSIDE JESUS.

THE SPIRIT OF ANTI-CHRIST

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There is a lot of talk and teaching about the coming antichrist. In the first of John's letters he says: Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. (I John 2:18-23)

The antichrist is to be the great counterfeit of Jesus the Christ and therefore the archenemy of Jesus. Whoever the antichrist is or when he might show up is not nearly as important to me as is the spirit of antichrist. John speaks of this later in the letter: And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (I John 4:3)

The spirit of antichrist has to do with a mood and attitude that pervades the Jesus movement today. You see, anti can mean "against", but it also has the meaning of "instead of" and therefore is more subtle and dangerous. I am convinced the most effective deception today is not that which is against Jesus, but that which is added on to Jesus in such a way so as to be instead of Jesus. The many "instead of Jesus" add-ons today seem harmless, but displace and replace the name and power of Jesus.

When Jesus warned about the false prophets, He described them as people who did all kinds of things in the name of Jesus yet were not really doing the will of the Father. Jesus said, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'"

Note they called Jesus Lord, spoke in the name of Jesus, cast out demons in the name of Jesus and performed many miracles in Jesus' name. However, they will not enter the Kingdom of heaven, because they somehow did not do the will of the Father. We are given some idea what Jesus meant by doing the will of the Father in the next paragraph. Jesus says: "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell-and great was its fall." (Matthew 7:24-27)

So, these false prophets and teachers weren't careful to follow Jesus and His teachings. Jesus says this is hearing His words and practicing them. I believe these were those who were part of the spirit of antichrist-the "instead of" Christ movement.

Jesus warned His disciples about both the Pharisees and the Herodians: And He was giving orders to them, saying, " Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." (Mark 8:15) Both the Pharisees and the Herodians were caught up in the "instead of" movement-piling up add-ons on top of the truth. The Pharisees were into the add-ons of list after list of laws. The Herodians were a political movement who added on the potential of being powerfully influential, which meant more to them than being truly righteous before God. The leaven of each group amounted to the add-ons.

We have our modern day Pharisees today who worship the Bible and hold people to the exact interpretation they have come up with. Your relationship with Jesus-the living Word of God-becomes secondary to whatever doctrine they might hold sacred. The Herodians are still here as well. They are the people today who believe we must get the entire nation to follow the Christian ways of doing things. Sadly, they believe you can legislate values and morality. For so many years, this movement has enjoyed the power-base to operate, yet the net result in our society is woefully falling short of what God might want. If anything, we are going backwards with respect to changing our culture for the Lord.

The spirit of antichrist is the problem-adding on to Jesus so much that the add-ons become the replacement of Jesus and His preeminence! Some see this spirit of antichrist as an intentionally evil movement. I don't see it this way at all. There are those who are propagating antichrist messages on purpose, but for the most part I believe it is well-intentioned. Jesus keeps slipping between the cracks and in reality, in many religious operations, Jesus has left the building. I don't believe many set out to leave Jesus out of their newsletters or messages, but it's just too easy to allow Jesus to be crowded out.

Paul gives a hint of this disposition of evil men and imposters. He says to Timothy: But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (II Timothy 3:13) NOTE they are deceiving and being deceived themselves! There are so many who just don't get it that Jesus wants and requires simply a relationship with Him. It is Jesus plus nothing-and nothing more. Nothing else matters! In the encounters of Jesus in the Gospels, nothing else mattered. It didn't matter enough to add on anything to the Roman official who had greater faith than had ever been expressed in all of Israel. Jesus didn't add anything on to the woman who was healed of her bleeding problem by just touching His robe. He didn't add on anything to the Syrophoenician woman. It has always been and is now a matter of your relationship with Jesus and that you learn to follow Him. That is enough!

The spirit of antichrist is definitely prevalent in the world today. It's just too easy to either replace Jesus with something good or to add on to Jesus and make Him something He is not. Evil rules when you are distracted or deceived into being dependent upon anything other than Jesus. That's the spirit of antichrist.

THE SPIRIT

TWO EXTREMES IN THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE

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When it comes to understanding the spiritual warfare, there is so much confusion. It's such a "hot" topic, much like prophecy, therefore people spend so much time and energy cussing and discussing it. The excitement of the latest fulfillment of prophecy-the number of the anti-Christ, 666, the latest signs of the 2nd coming of Jesus, the alignment of powers in the end-times-can overrule most discussion topics. But even more stimulating than prophetic events and signs are the breathtaking stories of "demon-possession" and exorcism!

There is nothing more chilling than to hear an eyewitness account of a person who has become demonized. It's spooky, downright bloodcurdling at times. It's like the old E. F. Hutton illustration: "When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen!" When anyone breaks into sharing a demonic story, all other conversation stops. I've seen this numerous times. When I share any of the counseling stories of a demonized person, all attention is focused immediately. Whenever I share one of these stories in a message or lecture, the silence is deafening.

The issue is so forceful that it drives people into extreme positions. As I shared in the first podcast on this particular subject, confusion reigns when it comes to understanding this kind of war. There are usually two extremes in spiritual warfare: (1) Ignore it and it will go away and (2) when in doubt, cast it out. The problem with the first extreme is that the spiritual warfare doesn't depend on whether or not you believe it or know anything about it. There is an enemy of God out there who is also your enemy and he is out to destroy you in whatever ways he can. So, ignoring the reality of the spiritual warfare will prove to be certain destruction for you, even though you choose to be ignorant about it. The second extreme of "when in doubt, cast it out" will most certainly drive you crazy. If you believe everything bad or scary is caused by the devil, you will develop a real good case of paranoia and phobias. The devil doesn't cause everything that is bad or scary in your life. You are perfectly capable of screwing up your life without the devil's assistance.

At the end of the devil's temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Luke records a most interesting insight for us: When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time. What is an "opportune" time? Basically, a more opportune time is when you would least expect it or when you are vulnerable. In the Anonymous community the word is that you are most vulnerable when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired. The acrostic given to help you remember is HALT.

The HALT times in your life are good indicators for the most opportune time for the devil and his demons to attack. Other opportune times might be when you are the weakest, stressed out, or as in the life of David, when you have too much time on your hands. One kind of opportune time that seems a little surprising to most is when you have just experienced a spiritual victory or successful mission or being blessed. This is precisely when the devil and his demons find it most effective to move in to do their destructive work in your life.

Jesus gives us the best perspective on the extremes when dealing with the devil and his demons. In the 9th chapter of Luke's Gospel Jesus sent out His twelve disciples to heal and cast out demons. In the 10th chapter Luke records when Jesus sent out the 70 or 72 disciples. He sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where Jesus was about to go.

Their mission trip was highly successful. Let's listen in to what happened when they returned: The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." They were so excited about their victories over the demonic world. The stories they had to share were absolutely amazing! Their minds were definitely blown and they were filled with enthusiasm!

Jesus' response is interesting. He didn't criticize, but affirmed them: And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you." In other words, Jesus was saying, "You guys did a great job out there! I gave you the power to do your work. In fact, Jesus uses a triple negative to describe what kind of protection He gave them. He said, "I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions-any kind of danger-and over all the power of the enemy and nothing, no way, no how will be able to injure you."

Then, NOTE what Jesus said: "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." Here Jesus brings in the balance. FIRST-Don't get so excited over the demonic stories and activities, where in the name of Jesus you have power over them. That's an extreme and keeps you distracted and off-message. SECOND-BUT be excited about what is most important-that your names are recorded in heaven. Be excited about your supernatural and eternal relationship with the Lord. Get enthused about your personal relationship with Jesus! That's what's important!

Jesus was bringing them back into balance and focusing them away from the possible distraction. He was bringing them back on track. There is no doubt that the devil and his demons are out there and the spiritual warfare is for real, but keep your focus on Jesus, not the devil.

I like to say it in this way: When the Lord is your Master, the world is your mission and you are a prime target for evil each and every day. Hang on to your relationship with Jesus and those who follow Him and your eyes will be exactly where they need to be in order to fight the fight most effectively!

BATTLE FOR THE SOUL-BATTLE FOR THE MIND

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As I have said earlier the spiritual warfare is really a battle for your soul-a battle for your mind. This is why Paul references "taking every thought against the Lord to the captive obedience of Jesus." It's also imaged by the flaming arrows or darts of the evil one that Paul discusses in Ephesians 6. These seem to be that same mind attack against your faith and they can only be defused or deflected by the piece of armor he calls the shield of faith.

John references this same battle for the mind in his smaller letters. In I John 2:14-I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

Here the reason for their strength against the evil one is mentioned. He says they were strong enough to actually overcome the evil one. The secret is that the word of God abides in them. This is an important insight for us today. It's again making sure we are into the genuine message, heart and person of Jesus, so that we are better able to clearly see the counterfeit message of Jesus.

Later in the same letter John says: We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. (I John 5:19-20) What a powerful reference to being in Jesus-in Him who is true-the true God and eternal life!

One of my favorite passages from Paul is found in the twelfth chapter of his letter to the followers of Jesus in Rome. It's here that I see a 6 step approach to living your life in the strength and empowerment of the true message of Jesus.

The first two steps are embedded in the first eleven chapters of Romans. FIRST-Observe what God has done for you. There is only one command in this section. He is diligently outlining what God has done for you. SECOND-Open yourself up to the Spirit of Jesus within. One of the primary themes throughout the Scriptures is for the Creator-God to come down here and dwell or make Himself at home among His people. Be aware of this in your own life.

THIRD-Offer your body to God for His mission (12:1). This is in verse 1: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. On the basis of what God has done for you (the mercies of God), now you are urged to present your body to God as a living sacrifice. He is no longer interested in dead beasts, but live bodies who are separated unto God for His special mission and calling on their lives.

The biggest problem with live bodies is that they are continually getting down from the altar of sacrifice-taking back their lives after offering them to God.

FOURTH-Overhaul your mind (12:2). And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Now he turns the discussion toward the mind. You might make the decision to offer your body to God for His mission and calling on your life, but what is going to allow you and empower you to hang in there and do it is what you do with your mind.

You have a choice. You can either be fit into the mold of the world system-its values and its thinking. That is what he means by "conformed." Or, you can be transformed-totally changed-by the renewing of your mind. He uses the word metamorphosis-a complete change. This kind of spiritual transformation will only come by overhauling your mind with the truth about who God says He is and the truth about who God says you are. And, by overhauling your mind-continually ruminating and meditating on what is true, you can put to the test what the best is for you.

FIFTH-Obtain a servant's heart (12:3). For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Here Paul says it is so important to have a right evaluation of yourself before God and man. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. This kind of thinking naturally moves into the last step given here.

SIXTH-Operate in a small group (12:4-8). For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

You are not to operate alone, but within the support and relationship of others. We are all given different giftedness and strengths to be used to cultivate the oneness of walking together in one body-the body of Jesus. We need one another to function most effectively.

Practice these six steps and you'll be prepared to participate in the battle for your soul. This is how to be proactive. Ignore them and you will still be in the battle for your soul, but you will only be able to be reactionary. You choose! Be victorious or be victimized by the spiritual forces of darkness.