Here’s a little clarification of the focus of our teaching, our passion for the purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.
The Gospel is simple. People try to make it complicated. If they can master a complicated gospel then they feel justified in enjoying the benefits. So they love rules and requirements. Rules have their place and are necessary in society. But we are saved simply by faith that Jesus mastered the complicated system for us and became our substitute; paying for our failure to get it right. By His blood He presents us to God the Father, holy and acceptable. Unfortunately, most of us have become so brain washed with religious rules and legal requirements we can’t rest in the finished work of Christ. We reject the simple Gospel looking for another gospel which makes more sense to our legalistic minds. We end up in an endless search for rest, going from one system of rules to another. If we could just believe in the One the Father sent to fully satisfy all the law and come to rest in Him, we could stop the endless search. The law only condemns, because no one can live up to it, except Jesus. Jesus releases us from the endless burden into His perfect rest (Matthew 11:28-30).
Our desire is to direct your focus to one truth, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The problem, is that people hang onto the law to feel justified instead resting in the righteousness of Christ. So, as teachers, we have to deal with all the distortions of truth; directing people back to Jesus, the only way to the Father. Paul was constantly challenging the false gospels that added one element of the law or another. If it was not circumcision, it was feast days and Sabbaths. Feast days are not bad. The law is itself good. But when they are added as requirements to the Gospel, they put us back into the bondage of hopeless condemnation.
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
In Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing.
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
No need to look any further. When you find Jesus, you find it all.
Because this is so, dead works can come to an end and we can whistle while we work. And then we can sleep soundly, dreaming heavenly realities that become our earthly experience. Sounds like a fairy tale. The Seven Dwarves of the Snow White tale inspired the thought, as they enjoyed their work they whistled on their way. So the teaching this month, only two pages long, is called “Whistle While You Work.” Find it on the Home page or under the Teachings button.
Stand fast in the liberty Christ paid so dearly to give you,
Kevin & Debby Martin