Heart attitude

Philippians 3:3: [3] For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

We rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. We’re not looking to ourselves to make us acceptable before God. Our capacity of what we do aren’t the issue. Our resources are who God has made us in Him.

If you know something about Christian history in Africa over the centuries, Africa has been the stage of some of the greatest demonstrations of that verse in Philippians.

There’s a group of people, they came from Europe, called the Moravians. They're supposed to be the first missionaries from the ones recorded.

They came from central Europe to America, up in Pennsylvania in the north up there to reach the American Indians.

They had reached into the African continent. It was Africans who had been converted to Christ through the ministry of the Moravians, preaching the gospel just like we preach it, who . . .

Most of the people who captured Africans to sell them into slavery to the western slave traders, the large group of people who captured them were Muslims.

When the Islamic captors were carrying them away, just going in and Pell Mell capturing these people trying to rid areas that were not Islamic, the Moravians would go in there . . .

They actually had groups of them that sold themselves into slavery to the Western slave traders for the purpose of carrying the gospel to the slaves who were being carried away from the shores of Africa.

If you know anything about, especially the slaves who came to the North American continent, they came, many of them, with faith in Christ that largely came about because of the African Moravian Believers who were so concerned that their fellow Africans being carried away into God only knew where (they didn’t) would have a gospel witness.

You know what that is? That’s not having any confidence in the flesh, but that’s rejoicing in Christ Jesus and worshipping God in the Spirit, seeing it demonstrated in the details of life.

Beware of anything that would try and draw your attention away from Jesus Christ and just be who God has made you in Christ. That’s the only place you’re going to have safety, and it’s the only place you’re going to have usefulness in your life.

(new article tomorrow)

“There’s a principle,” Jordan says in an old Grace School of the Bible VCR tape. “Old man Bob Jones (1883-1968) used to say, ‘Duties never conflict.’ And you need to write that down upon the impress of the doorway of your mind and never forget it. It will get you through some real questionable situations.

“There’s another one the old man (an Alabama-born evangelist and pioneer religious broadcaster who founded Bob Jones University) used to say and these two pieces of advice have meant more to me through the years than almost anything and that’s, ‘The greatest ability is dependability.’ That will help you get through some real tough spots of self-doubt.

“If you have the heart attitude and be what God’s given you to be--a member of the Body of Christ functioning in that way wherever you are--you’ll find He’ll open doors and begin to move you around when He’s ready to. Doors will open and you’ll go.

“Paul writes in II Corinthians 7:1, ‘Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.’

“God’s will is that you be clean. Holiness, not a holy mess. God expects you to strive for perfect holiness in the fear of God.

“The will of God is not so much to worry about where you are as much as it is He wants you to BE where you are, living a sinless life. Your attitudes first, then your actions.

*****

“Romans 1:11 says, ‘For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.’

“This is why Paul wants to go to them. Paul’s got a big heart. He’s just an affectionate, loving fellow. He loved them. He never saw them before but he loved them.

“That verse compares with Romans 16:25: ‘Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.’

“The issue in Paul’s mind is, ‘I want to get down there and I want you people to be established.’ He says in I Thessalonians 3:10 that he’s ‘night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?’

“The issue in Paul’s mind is first and foremost, always and ever, maturity. Grow up.

“The spiritual gift he wants to give them is doctrine. That word ‘stablish’ means to be firmly grounded so that you can stand unshakably. Be grounded, stabilized, balanced-out so you stand. You’re not tossed to and fro.

“Verse 12 says, ‘And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.’

“You’ll always find that the teacher is as richly blessed as the pupil when you teach the Word and that’s what he’s saying there. Sometimes he sends a letter to do the job and sometimes he sends a man, like in I Thessalonians 3, he sent Timothy to establish the Thessalonians because he couldn’t come. The job is always to see the people get stabilized in your ministry.

*****

“Romans 1:13-15 says, [13] Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
[14] I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
[15] So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

“When he talks about Greeks and Barbarians, that’s the way the Greeks divided up the world. The Greeks, when they looked at the world, said, ‘There’s the wise Greeks and the unwise Barbarians.'

“The word ‘barbarian’ means basically ‘uneducated guy.’ It’s a reference to somebody who can’t speak Greek, in its meaning at THAT time and not today.

*****

“Regarding verse 14, I was just in a meeting where this guy wanted to advertise his bible school out on the West Coast and he gets up and says, ‘If you can’t speak Greek, you got no business teaching and preaching the Word of God.’

“I asked him, ‘When you teach and preach the Bible, do you do it in Greek?’ He said, ‘No, I teach and preach in English.’ I reminded him ‘that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.’

“I said, ‘How come you can privately interpret what the passage says and give it to me and I’m supposed to trust you and I can’t trust the 47 translators that did my Bible here? How come you know so much more than they do?’

“All of a sudden it got to wet to plow. You see, all of a sudden you got the old thing, ‘You got to have the Greek to understand God’s Word and have it really unfolded to you.’ Do you know Greek? Well, I don’t, so where do I have to go to get it?

“What Paul’s talking about in verse 14 doesn’t has nothing to do with speaking Greek today. I mean, in the world at that time there were the cultured, educated people who were the Greeks and the philosophers and all. The Greeks sort of looked down on everybody else in a hoity-toity kind of way. It was, ‘Either you’re one of us or you’re one of them.’

“And Paul says, ‘I’m bound to preach to the Greeks AND the barbarians.' That’s everybody, whether they’re the 'in-society' and the scholars union or whether they’re the outcasts and dummies on the streets.

*****

“Paul says, ‘I am ready, Rome.’ He’s ready to go. No hesitation in Paul about going and preaching. And he doesn’t miss a chance.

“Notice he says, ‘I am debtor.’ In verse 15, he says, ‘I am ready.’ In verse 16, he says, ‘I am not ashamed.’ That’s a good sermon outline.

“Acts 21:13 says, ‘Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’  

“He says, ‘I mean, what are you trying to do, break my heart? ‘For I am ready not to be bound.’

“Brother, that’s a man that’s ready, you know that? He meant it when he said that. And he never missed a chance.

“Come over to II Timothy 4:6 and notice his attitude right at the end: ‘But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
[6] For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
[7] I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’

“You see, that man could look at his life and at any time say, ‘I’m ready.’ ‘I’m ready to go, take advantage of the opportunities that come; I’m ready to meet the Lord.’

“Now, THAT'S the way to live your life, ladies and gentlemen, IF you’re going to LIVE it. That’s cocked and ready all the time. Rain or shine, hot or cold, whatever the situation.

“You are to be ready to do whatever God put you wherever you are to do, no matter what the cost, with a heart of love, but do it! See, do it!”