Dressed for Heaven

Posted on by Terry L Brown

Most businesses and schools have a dress code. Some schools even require students to wear uniforms. Even gangs have a dress code of sorts. So would it surprise you to learn God has a dress code for His children, both on earth and in Heaven? He does and it’s important to know what it is.

Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 22 that emphasizes just how important proper clothing is.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”‘ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:2-14 NASU).

Simply reading this parable from a secular, unbiblical point of view the king appears to be ruthless, uncaring, self-centered, and intolerant of those who did not meet his fashion standards.

He sent his army to destroy those who slighted him and burn their city. That seems a little severe for what may be perceived as vengeance for having one’s feelings hurt. Just as perplexing is the punishment of the man who was improperly clothed. Perhaps it’s understandable for the king to destroy murderers, but to tie a wedding guest up for wearing the wrong clothes and throw him outside in the cold and dark where he may be in mortal danger, unable to defend himself, seems the actions of a madman.

But was the king mad; was he insane? Was the punishment he meted out to the improperly attired guest disproportionate to his “crime”? Yes, and I am going to tell you why.

According to some scholars when a person, such as a king, gave a wedding feast he supplied the necessary robes for the occasion. That would make sense in this story because the guests had been invited at a moment’s notice. It would have been very unlikely they would have had time to go home and dress even if they had the proper clothing. If this is true and the host, the king, did offer these hastily invited guests the proper clothing, the king’s displeasure becomes more understandable, and so does the guest being speechless when confronted by the king. He was without excuse for his unacceptable condition. The king had a right to be angry. He had a right to punish this ungrateful guest.

This guest depended upon the clothes he had on to be acceptable to the king. They may have been very fine clothes, custom tailored for him and worth a great deal of money. But as far as the king was concerned he may as well have been wearing filthy rags, because they weren’t the clothes provided by the king.

So, was Jesus’ point in telling this parable to warn those who have been invited to a wedding feast to make sure they accepted the clothing offered by the host? No. His message was deeper than that. It was a message that began in the Garden of Eden and ends at the Resurrection. Therefore, to more fully understand what Jesus is teaching us in this parable let’s begin at the beginning.

When God created Adam and Eve they were naked, but unashamed. However, after they had disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit they became very much aware of their nakedness. Sin had stripped them of their innocence. Therefore, they felt shame and the need to cover their bodies. So…

“They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7 ESV).

The fig leaves obviously served the purpose of alleviating their shame since the Bible does not mention Adam and Eve trying on other types of “clothing”. We are not told if they were unhappy about the color or shape of their “clothes”. They were probably just grateful they had not chosen poison ivy.

They had successfully overcome their shame by clothing themselves by their own ingenuity and handiwork. This likely caused at least a little bit of pride to swell up within them. They had disobeyed God and were still alive even though God had told them they would die in the day they ate of the forbidden fruit. The only consequence they were immediately aware of for their disobedience to God was an uneasy awareness of their naked bodies. And they quieted that with relative ease.

But a problem with the fig leaves soon became apparent. When God entered the Garden looking for them they discovered fig leaves did not meet His dress code. The Bible tells us that…

“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself’” (Genesis 3:8-11 NASU).

When God confronted Adam and Eve after they had sinned they hid from Him as if they were still naked. But were they naked? No. They were wearing the fig leaves they had made for themselves. So, why would Adam tell God he was naked? Because the fig leaves represent man’s attempt to save himself from the consequences of sin; the fig leaves represent man’s pride. As long as God is distant from him, “fig leaves” – man’s ingenuity, intellect, handiwork, technology, and natural abilities – hide his sinful nature from his follow man and he senses no shame within his conscience. But when God draws near man must hide because his spiritual nakedness is revealed and his shame torments his conscience.

Anytime man attempts to save himself rather than relying on God, pride is the source. But pride is exposed for what it is in the presence of God. Man may wish to justify himself, but outside of God’s provision for his salvation, Christ crucified, no justification is possible.

Adam and Eve became entangled with sin and instead of calling out to God they made matters worse by covering themselves with what their own ingenuity created. They dressed themselves in pride. Their intent was possibly good, but good works created as a consequence of rebellion may make us look good to others, but they leave us naked before God.

The presence of God in the Garden made Adam and Eve conscious of the fact they needed new clothes. Their fig leaves enabled them to be comfortable in each other’s presence, but not in the presence of the King. So, they had a dilemma. They had done the best they could to overcome the consequence of their sin, their shame at being naked, but they had failed which become obvious when God came near in the Garden. All they could do was attempt to hide from God.

Lest we judge Adam and Eve too quickly for acting from pride to save themselves rather than turning to God in humility and seeking forgiveness the Bible reveals man doing the same thing at the end of the age. With the breaking of the 6th Seal in the book of Revelation we are told…

“The kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand’” (Revelation 6:15-17 NASU)?

Indeed, who can stand in the presence of God? Adam and Eve were about to discover the answer to that question.

When God confronted Adam and Eve He passed sentence upon them and all of creation. Adam’s role of provider would now be done with drudgery. Eve’s role as child bearer would be accompanied by intense pain. Physical death was inevitable now that spiritual death had entered creation by their rebellion against God.

All seemed lost with no redemption possible. And from a human point of view redemption was not possible. They had done their best – fig leaves – to save themselves, and failed. They quickly discovered they could not stand in the presence of a holy God.

But God was merciful. Before He sentenced Adam and Eve He cursed the Serpent and while doing so He revealed all was not lost. God was going to provide clothing for Adam and Eve that would allow them to come near enough to Him to worship Him now on earth and promised to provide clothing to them and them children in the future that would allow them to stand in His very presence in Heaven. He was going to see to it that man was given to the opportunity to dress for Heaven.

How do I know that? With the curse God placed upon Man and Creation came the promise of salvation – “clothes” that would allow them to be in God’s presence unashamed. Listen to what God told the Serpent…

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15 ESV).

These words speak of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, triumphing over sin by the shedding of His blood on the cross and His resurrection three days later. This promise revealed that the way to stand in the presence of God was to be accomplished by the shedding of blood, not by man’s pride.

To emphasize this truth about the need for the shedding of blood, the Bible tells us that God (not man!) made garments of skin to cover their nakedness. The fig leaves, man’s pride, were replaced with clothes that required the shedding of blood. But what’s important to notice is that even with these God-provided clothes, Adam and Eve were still banished from the Garden. And the way to the Tree of Life was blocked. The garments of skin did not meet God’s dress code for Heaven, only the dress code for earth. Why? Because the promise of redemption comes through the shedding of the Messiah’s blood not the shedding of an animal’s blood. The writer to the Hebrews tells us:

“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4 NASU).

I believe the garments of skin symbolize the Law. The garments of skin symbolize the sacrificial system God gave to the Israelites that required an animal’s blood to be shed for the forgiveness of their sins until the Messiah would come and shed His blood upon the cross. Israel was to clothe herself with animal blood, so to speak, but this was temporary. Listen to Galatians 3:23-24:

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:23-24 ESV).

The garments of skin, like the Law, were given to point to something greater. The Law was…

“only a shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrew 10:1 NASU).

But man corrupted this God-given covering by trying to make it a permanent solution to sin – something God never intended. The garments of skin became religious pride; they became filthy rags. Though given by God they became tainted and stained with man’s pride. Man now clothed himself, not just with good works, but good works done in the name of God. I saw a bumper sticker once that said: “Jesus Is Coming – Look Busy”. That is a classic example of filthy garments of skin.

Garments of skin were the clothing of choice by the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They wrapped themselves in the Law, smug in their self-righteousness. But Jesus exposed their spiritual nakedness and said to the people:

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20 ESV).

Why? Because their righteousness was on the outside of them. It made them appear righteous to those around them, much like the fig leaves did for Adam and Eve. But just as they could not abide God’s presence because their souls and spirits were still naked, the religious leaders could not abide Jesus’ presence because the temporary clothing God had provided (the Law) had become corrupted and filthy. The garments of skin that were meant to allow man to approach God on earth were never meant to be worn in Heaven. Garments of skin allowed man to have a long distance relationship with God, but as the religious leaders found out an intimate relationship with God required a new type of clothing. They needed to be dressed for Heaven.

But what is this heavenly clothing; what is Heaven’s dress code? It’s not fig leaves – man’s attempt to save himself. And it’s not garments of skin. Their purpose was to allow man to enjoy a long distance relationship with God – man being on earth and God in Heaven.

Jesus once warned His followers that at the end of the age they needed to be properly dressed for Heaven. Listen to His words…

“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed” (Revelation 16:15 ESV)!

What garments? What garments can clothe us that we may not appear naked before the Father? Paul gives us the answer.

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:27 NASU).

It is Christ that replaces the fig leaves; it is Christ that replaces the garments of skin; it is Christ that meets God’s required dress code for Heaven. Christ is the only clothing that allows us to enter into the throne room of God without shame and guilt. Clothed with Christ we can enter the throne room of God with boldness. We no longer need hide when the Father comes near us; we no longer need to rely upon the Law to cover our transgressions and sins. Those who have clothed themselves with Christ are said to have been…

“circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:11-14 NASU).

There’s no room for pride here. We either freely accept Christ as our covering or, like the man at the wedding feast who refused the clothes offered to him, we are expelled from God’s presence.

Therefore, to be dressed for Heaven one must remove the fig leaves or garments of skin and put on Jesus Christ.

That’s why Paul tells us…

“But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts)” (Romans 13:14 AMP).

Only by recognizing that we are sinners without excuse for our sins, speechless as it were (as the man at the wedding feast was speechless before the king), naked before the Lord and ashamed of our spiritual nakedness, will we humble ourselves and except the only clothing that will allow us into Heaven. A humble and contrite heart opens our eyes to see that Jesus is our wedding garment; Jesus is our hope; Jesus is our righteousness; Jesus is our salvation.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we can say with Isaiah:

“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10 ESV).

So, are you dressed for Heaven?

The Pursuit of Happiness

Posted on by Terry L Brown

I read a book recently that said the goal most people have set for themselves and their children is to live the good life. And the good life is defined as a life of happiness. The book goes on to say that a radio talk show host had interviewed hundreds of people over the course of a few years asking the question: “What did your parents want most for you – success, wealth, to be a good person, or happiness?” Eighty-five percent said “happiness.”

Obviously, being happy is a high priority for a majority of people. In fact happiness is so important that our Founding Fathers believed that the pursuit of happiness was a divine right ranked right up there with life and liberty.

Listen to these words from the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

So, how’s your pursuit for happiness going? Have you found happiness? That probably depends on what you think happiness is. The modern definition of happiness is experiencing pleasurable satisfaction, feeling really good, and being stoked inside. However, when the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, about 240 years ago declaring the pursuit of Happiness an unalienable right, happiness referred to virtue and character. That means happiness involved suffering, endurance, and patience because it’s through suffering, endurance, and patience that one becomes a good person and is able to enjoy life.

That might sound contradictory. How can happiness come out of suffering or enduring hardship or being patient?

To answer that question let’s begin with how Jesus told those who desired to follow Him must live.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul’” (Matthew 16:24-26 NASU)?

Jesus Christ, the wisest man who ever lived, has revealed to us that the secret to living life as God created us to live it is by denying self.

But this is the exact opposite of what the world tells us. Books, magazines, TV shows, and movies scream at us that the way to enjoy life and get the most out of it is to do indulge in whatever activities our desires lead us to. If it feels good do it. And it anyone even dares suggest that what you’re doing is wrong just quote Matthew 7:1…

“Do not judge” (Matthew 7:1 NASU).

That will shut most people up because they do not know how to properly response those words. So, if you don’t know anything about the Bible just memorize that verse and go on with your happy life.

But for anyone who has made pleasurable satisfaction or feeling really good – the world’s definition of happiness – his goal in life it soon becomes apparent doing whatever you want to do when you want to do it sooner or later gives birth, not to happiness, but to depression, a loss of purpose in life, and brokenness. Why?

The book of Proverbs in the Bible gives us a hint. In it is a verse that says…

“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied” (Proverbs 27:20 NASU).

Sheol and Abaddon were names for the place of the dead. Sheol was sometimes translated as “grave” or “pit”. It was a place of gloom and darkness and shadows.

The proverb is teaching us that death comes to everyone; no one is exempt and as long as there is life Sheol and Abaddon crave to take that life because it is never satisfied.

And just as Sheol and Abaddon never get full regardless of how many people die, the eye never gets full regardless of how much it sees and the ear never gets full regardless of how much it hears.

What I mean is this: You can look at pornography one day and think you’ll never look at it again because your eye is full – so to speak. But what happens? Your eye seeks it next fix. The appetite of the mind, which the eye feeds, is never satisfied. You can listen to hours of gossip until you’re exhausted and think you will never listen to that again because your ear is full – again, so to speak. But what happens? You find yourself straining to hear the latest dirt someone is saying about others. The appetite of desiring the failure or humiliation of another in an attempt to exalt ourselves is never satisfied.

In 1870 a man named John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil. That company made him a billionaire. Relatively speaking he was wealthier than Bill Gates. Yet, he was driven to make more and more money. In an interview Rockefeller once was asked how many more dollars he needed before he was satisfied. He then answered…

“Just one more dollar”.

But John D. Rockefeller is not unique. Three thousand years before he was born there was a man who was not only as rich as he was, but he had a lot more power. That man was King Solomon, the man who wrote the Proverb we just read.

Materially speaking there was nothing Solomon couldn’t buy. For him money was literally no obstacle. And being a king he had power over the lives of his subjects; nobody told him “no”. He lived in wealth and luxury. If he wanted something he simply got it. But he wasn’t a happy man. We know that because he wrote a book of the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes.

Listen to some of what he says in this book.

“All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:8 ESV).

That sounds a lot like the verse from Proverbs we quoted earlier doesn’t it? But that shouldn’t be surprising. You see King Solomon wrote both Ecclesiastes and most of Proverbs.

Solomon goes on to express his lack of happiness in spite of being unimaginably wealthy and very powerful.

“All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 NASU).

When Solomon said…

“All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure” (Ecclesiastes 2:10 NASU)…

he wasn’t kidding. This man had 700 wives and 300 concubines (legal mistresses). He allowed himself to drown in pleasure, yet he wasn’t happy. If nothing else this reveals that engaging in sex outside of God’s design for marriage – which is between one man and one woman – doesn’t satisfy the longing with our hearts for intimacy. Listen to some more of what Solomon said…

“He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:10 ESV).

“There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them” (Eccl 6:1-2 ESV).

Solomon, the richest man who ever lived, a man who indulged every desire his body or mind craved in his pursuit for happiness didn’t find it. Why? Because he believed owning things and to be free to indulge any desire his body or mind had was the path to happiness. What he discovered was such a life lead to depression and emptiness.

Living for pleasurable satisfaction, living to feel really good, or living to be stoked inside – the world’s definition of happiness – requires us to take our eyes off of others and put them on us and keep them there. But when we do that we become empty, shallow people with dried-up souls that live in perpetual pity-parties where we blame others for our lot in life. In other words…

“When we make happiness the goal of our life we live as victims rather than overcomers.

But why does this happen? Listen again to these words of Jesus…

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul’” (Matthew 16:24-26 NASU)?

As human beings created in the image of God we are wired for more than happiness as the world defines happiness. We are created by God to honor Him by becoming spiritually mature members of the Kingdom of Heaven. We do this by seeking His Kingdom first before all things and that begins by taking our eyes off of ourselves and living for a purpose greater than ourselves.

The Apostle Paul spoke of those who refused to follow this teaching of Jesus. He said…

“For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things” (Philippians 3:18-19 NASU).

Did you get that? When we refuse to die to self and live primarily to satisfy the desires of our bodies and minds – pursuing happiness as defined by this fallen world – we have made our fleshly appetites our “god”. Our desires and appetites and emotions no longer serve us, but rather have become our master.

Desires and appetites and emotions make great servants, but terrible masters.

Jesus tells us in John 10:10…

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV).

I like the way the Amplified Bible puts this…
“I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)” (John 10:10 AMP).

And how does one take hold of this abundant life? Obey the words of the One who came to give you this abundant life. Let’s repeat:

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul’” (Matthew 16:24-26 NASU)?

There’s an episode of the old “Twilight Zone” TV series entitled, “A Nice Place to Visit”. I encourage everyone listening to or reading this sermon to watch it because it speaks what I have been saying about the pursuit of happiness loudly and clearly.
The gist of the show is this: A man is gunned down and killed by the police while attempting to flee from them, just having robbed a business. But in the next scene this “dead” man, lying on the ground, wakes up and a man dressed all in white is standing beside him. As it turns out this robber had been killed and the man in white was there to show him to his new living quarters.

These quarters are lavishly furnished with expensive furniture, decorations, and a closet full of expensive clothes. But that’s just the beginning of the pleasures he is not just freely given, but encouraged to indulge himself in by the man dressed in white.

Soon, some women join him in his apartment. He said he now knows he’s in Heaven. Shortly after that he goes to a casino accompanied by the women, driving a brand new and very expensive car. Gambling was something that brought him happiness when he was alive.

While in the casino he can’t lose. No matter what type of gambling he engages in – roulette wheel, blackjack, slot machine – he wins – every time. He is having the time of his life, gambling and winning while the women surround him, watching him.

He returns to his living quarters a happy man. But something is beginning to cast a dark shadow over him. His happiness is beginning to fade. All of a sudden a pool table appears in his living quarters. He is ecstatic to have a new game to play. He excitedly rakes the balls, places the cue ball on the opposite end of the table, pulls back the cue stick and strikes the cue ball. The cue ball hits the other balls and every one of them – every one – goes into a pocket; one hit, fifteen balls go down. It’s a shot every pool player on earth dreams about. But not this guy, not this guy who was living in the lap of luxury, not this guy whose every desire – except one – would be fulfilled instantly. Instead of being thrilled with his miraculous pool shot, he broke the cue stick. Why? Because the one thing, the one desire that the man in white couldn’t (wouldn’t) fulfill was to let this thief fail – at anything.

The thief began to realize that having every pleasure fulfilled and instant success a certainty didn’t make him happy.

When he came to that realization, along with the realization that this was Heaven and this lifestyle would go on for all eternity, he told the man dressed in white he thought a mistake had been made. He had been questioning more and more how a person of his evil character could have gotten into Heaven at all and came to the conclusion that he didn’t really belong in Heaven; he belonged in “the other place”. Hearing this the man dressed in white sternly looked at the thief and said…

“Heaven? What makes you think this is Heaven? This is the other place.” And he began to laugh a diabolical laugh that became louder and louder as the thief realized no mistake had been made and that an eternity of “happiness” lay before him. He was right where he belonged.

While we may have an unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness as we read in the Declaration of Independence we discover that that pursuit is only successful when we lay down our lives for others. You see…

“Happiness doesn’t come from looking in the mirror; it comes when we put down the mirror and see Jesus.

Fight Like a Christian

Posted on by Terry L Brown

If the last presidential race proved anything it’s that Christians don’t know the rules or dress code of spiritual warfare.

The recent presidential election was the most contentious in my lifetime. Tempers flared, people called each other disparaging names, friendships were ended, family relationships were strained to the breaking point. And that was just in the Church, the Body of Christ; Christians went to war with other Christians.

And it became obvious that the Church needed to learn how to: “Fight Like a Christian”

And since every warrior needs the proper equipment to fight effectively it would be a good idea to learn what that equipment is and then learn how to use it to fight like a Christian.

Fortunately, the Bible tells us explicitly in the book of Ephesians what armor and weaponry Christians are to use in our war against evil.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:10-20 ESV).

Now, before we go to battle as Christians the second thing we need to learn after learning what armor and weaponry we are to use is to learn that fighting like a Christian requires us to recongize who are real enemy is, and it’s not the person or government that’s persecuting Christians, it’ the demonic spirits behind the person or government. Thus, before we begin to put on the armor of God Paul tells us this truth in very explicit terms as we read above. But it’s worth repeating…

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12 ESV).

Briefly, to fight like a Christian includes the following points…

The world fights to hurt or destroy, if necessary, the person who opposes it. The Christian fights to save the person who opposes him.

The world fights by calling those who oppose it with vile and degrading names, yelling and screaming at the person who opposes it. The Christian fights by blessing the person who opposes him.

The world fights by using ridicule, sarcasm, and mocking to belittle the person who opposes it. The Christian fight by using words born from gentleness and humility rather than harshness and arrogance.

The world fights from a position of human strength and ingenuity. The Christian fights from a position of grace relying upon the Name of the Lord.

The world fights not knowing it’s a prisoner of war, a POW, held captive by demonic spiritual powers and is being used by those demonic powers as human shields to hide the truth that they, the demonic spirits, are the real enemy, not the human beings we see with our eyes. The Christian fights knowing his Lord has triumphed over these spiritual powers and that he has been set free, no longer a spiritual POW, which allows him to see the real enemy.

To understand this more fully listen to the sermon “To Fight Like a Christian” and you will be better equipped to recognize and destroy the evil that threatens you and those around you.

Hallowed Be Thy Name

Posted on by Terry L Brown

Depending how old you are, you have likely read, recited, prayed, or sung a portion of Scripture commonly referred to as the “Lord’s Prayer” since it is the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray. It is one of the most well-known portions of Scripture, even by those who rarely read the Bible. This prayer is found in the Gospel of Matthew. It says…

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV).

But for all the dozens of times, perhaps hundreds of times, you have read, said, or sung these words, have you ever really deeply thought about what it means and how it applies to you? The danger of a portion of Scripture becoming so well-known is we can often mouth the words without even thinking. Satan has no problem with you mouthing the words in this prayer. What he does have a problem with is you understanding them and putting them into practice in your life.

Many years ago as I began to mediate upon this prayer the phrase that continued to come back to my mind was…

“Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9c KJV).

I kept thinking: “What does it mean to ‘hallow’ God’s name, the heavenly Father’s name?”

As I began to seek the answer to my question one of the Ten Commandments came to my mind. It was the 3rd Commandment…

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 ESV).

At first I didn’t get the connection between hallowing God’s name and not taking His name in vain. I couldn’t “hear” what the Holy Spirit was trying to teach me. But eventually the connection became clear. It became clear when I learned what the word “hallowed” means and what it means to take God’s name.

The word “hallowed” means “to be made holy”. Holiness is separation from something or someone unto something or someone. For a Christian to be holy means separating one’s self from everything in this fallen world that is contrary to the Truth as revealed to us in the Bible and joining one’s self unto the Lord, Yahweh, forsaking all other “gods” and submitting to His will for us.

When I put that understanding of “hallowed” next to the 3rd Commandment…

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 ESV)…

it was like a ray of light penetrated the darkness within my spirit. I then knew what it meant to not only take God’s name, but to take His name in vain.

It has everything to do with the marriage covenant between a man and a woman. It also explains why Satan hates marriage with such ferocity and is doing everything in his power to destroy it, significantly, not by outlawing traditional marriage, but by diluting it with unions composed persons who practice sexual perversion.

What I mean is this. When we choose to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are in essence accepting Jesus’ marriage proposal; we are accepting Him as our Husband, spiritually speaking. And when we do that we take His name in the same way a woman takes her husband’s name. The taking of the man’s name signifies the joining together of the two into one. Jesus said…

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh[.] So they are no longer two but one flesh” (Matthew 19:5-6 ESV).

Then Paul, writing to the Corinthians said…

“The who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him” (1 Corinthians 6:17 ESV).

The concept between joining one’s self in physical marriage and joining one’s self in spiritual marriage is the same. When we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we take the name “Christian” and whatever we do or say when we bear that name reflects upon our “Husband”, Jesus Christ, for good or evil just like the actions of a wife bearing her husband’s name reflects upon him.

There is much here that speaks to the truth of marriage being “holy matrimony” and to fully unpack this truth would consume of the pages of an entire book. But my point right now is for us to understand what we are really saying when we pray the words…

“Hallowed be thy name” (Matthew 6:9c KJV).

and what it means to take Jesus’ name in vain.

I have done this in a book I wrote several years ago now entitled: “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. In this book I explain in detail what it means to take God’s name and what it means to take His name in vain; thus, not hallowing His name. Then I write about ten different biblical characters, some well-known – Cain, Judas Iscariot, etc – and some less known – Diotrephes, Elkanah, etc – to use as examples of hallowing God’s name, taking it in holiness, and not hallowing God’s name, taking it in vain.

If this is something you think you may want to know more about or study, may I humbly suggest getting a copy of my book: “Hallowed By Thy Name”. It is available in paperback or in E-Book format from Authorhouse or from Amazon

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32 ESV).

Blessings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation Session 1

Posted on by Terry L Brown

Late in the 1st century the Apostle John penned a book that has fascinated countless millions of people for 2000 years. This is the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book in the New Testament. And of all the books in the Bible it is possibly the most studied – and the most misunderstood, and the most feared for within its pages we are introduced to a man who is the satanic embodiment, the satanic incarnation of Evil. This man is called the Antichrist or the Beast. It is his mark, the Mark of the Beast, that many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, fixate upon and Hollywood has sensationalized in numerous movies and TV shows.

Churches have split over the interpretation of Revelation. Does it teach a Pre-Tribulation Rapture, a Mid-Tribulation Rapture, a Post-Tribulation Rapture? Is the Millennial (1000) year reign of Jesus Christ literally a 1000 years or is it just a figure of speech? Who are the 144000? Who are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Who are the Two Witnesses? Does Revelation tell the story of national Israel or is it the story of the Church – the Israel of God? And on and on and on.

We’re going to go through this book and I will answer those questions and more. That is I will answer those questions the best I can and tell you why I believe what I believe. Can you disagree with me and still be a “good” Christian? Of course. Churches may split over the Book of Revelation, but brothers and sisters in Christ never should.

Lazarus, Come Forth

Posted on by Terry L Brown

With the approach of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus, I want to share this sermon that tells the story of a resurrection just a few days before His own.

In John 11 we are told the story of a family Jesus loved, two sisters, Martha and Mary, and their brother, Lazarus. Lazarus was sick so his sisters sent messengers to Jesus to come heal Him. Hearing this news Jesus intentionally remained where He was for two days before beginning to walk to where Martha and Mary and Lazarus lived. By the time He arrived He was told Lazarus had died four days earlier. Jesus was too late. Or was He?

Listen to the sermon, “Lazarus, Come Forth” for the answer to that question as well as why He waited before going to see Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

There is much truth packed into this story. Join me as we unpack it.

All Lives Matter

Posted on by Terry L Brown

All Lives Matter

 

Read the story of little boy here then read my thoughts.

In the ancient Roman Empire children who were deformed or the wrong sex were taken from the home and left to die of exposure and starvation. Human life in general wasn’t considered sacred, especially that of children. This mindset was the result of this pagan empire worshiping a legion of so-called gods and goddesses who’s behavior was far from divine. They are described with very human weaknesses: greed, lust, malice, vengeance, selfishness.

But then a spiritual earthquake shook the foundation upon which these demons masquerading as gods and goddesses built their enslaving lies. The earthquake was Christianity.

As the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread throughout the Roman Empire one of the seismic shifts that radiated out from the birth, life, and death of our Lord was the truth that all human life has value; all human life bears the image of God.

Therefore, Christians began to rescue these abandoned children from death and raise them as their own.

When this truth, that all human life has equal value, for all human life bears the image of God, becomes deeply rooted in one’s spirit, the ridiculousness and hypocrisy and dare I say demonic spirit of any group of people who attempt to make one believe the lives of some matter more than the lives of others is clearly exposed as the lie from hell that it is.

This little boy’s life matters. And his life wouldn’t matter more or less because of the color of his skin. He is precious in God’s eyes, as are you.

All lives matter. Period.

#alllivesmatter

 

Bearing Witness to the Truth

Posted on by Terry L Brown

After Jesus had been arrested He was brought before Pilate, the Roman Procurator who had legal jurisdiction over Jerusalem. By his word a condemned man could be set free or crucified. In questioning Jesus he asked Him what He had done to cause the religious leaders to demand He be put to death and if He were a king. Jesus responded by saying…

‘”My kingdom is not from the world.’  Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth’” (John 18:36-38 ESV)?

Jesus came to bear witness to the truth; that is, He came to testify to the truth. Generally, when one thinks of testifying he thinks of being in a courtroom, placed under oath, seated in a chair, then examined and cross-examined by being asked a series of questions. The purpose was to determine the truth. This is specifically why Jesus came into the world – to bear witness to the truth and expose the lies Satan has spoken into the ears of man ever since the Garden of Eden.

In essence, Satan put Truth on trial by attempting to convince man that Truth is what man says it is. This argument is attractive to fallen man because it allows him to engage in any type of behavior his body or mind craves regardless of how perverse or depraved it is with a clear conscience.

This type of thinking is vividly described in the book of Proverbs…

“This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I have done no wrong’” (Proverbs 30:20 ESV).

For man to believe lies and live his life based upon them is spiritual adultery for in doing so he has joined himself spiritually with Satan…

“for he (Satan) is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ESV).

When Jesus was crucified it was Satan’s attempt to kill the Truth once and for all. But Jesus’ resurrection from the dead bore witness, testified, that Jesus was…

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6 ESV).

And the Father brought the gavel down in the heavenly courtroom and declared Satan guilty of disguising lies as Truth.

For man that means it’s irrelevant how many people believe lies or how fervently they believe them, Truth is what God says it is. Period.