WHEN WE DON'T LEARN MORE BECAUSE WE THINK WE KNOW TOO ENOUGH. By Dr Josimar Salum

WHEN WE DON'T LEARN MORE BECAUSE WE THINK WE KNOW TOO ENOUGH. By Dr Josimar Salum

The Lord awakened me this morning to something very serious and important in our lives.

God sets before us people who are His Voice. But as time goes by, we “mature” and purposefully silence this Voice of God.

“Said person does not always speak correctly! By what right does he or she speak like this to me? I'm not a child anymore!"

This happens first with our parents.

“They no longer talk within reason, they no longer know as much as they knew, they have become obsolete and inadequate. Today we know more!”

In addition to parents are friends and our parents in faith. Those who discipled us lost the right to correct us, because we are already enough. We don't learn anymore because we don't need to. We become masters and judges.

 “By what right can they continue to correct me?”

The apostle Paul scoffed at the Corinthians on this: “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings." 1 Corinthians 4:8‭-‬9 

In fact, we feel humiliated and ashamed when we are corrected in front of others. A sense of irritation takes over because of our feeling of inferiority. Both this and the feeling of superiority is in fact a great spiritual imbalance of the sin of pride.

When I stop listening to my brothers and sisters who correct me to justify my ability, I may have already erased the Holy Spirit in my life.

Don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't resist the Holy Spirit. Don't quench the Holy Spirit.

The path between saddening and quenching may be shorter than we think.

May we clothe ourselves with humility without which we can never truly learn and not be transformed in a religious world of so many myths, false teachings and traditions that try to invalidate the Word of God.

#ASONE

THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Josimar Salum

THE TREE OF LIFE AND THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Josimar Salum

The Tree of Life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and every tree that is pleasing to the eye.

In the middle of the garden, the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that could be there anywhere, in any part of the garden.

Because the Word of God clearly says that "in the middle of the garden was the Tree of Life".

If you study the Bible from Genesis to Revelation you will notice that man is compared to the tree in several passages.

Psalm 1, for example, says that man is like a tree planted by the stream that at the right time bears its fruit.

Jesus said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit" - "Every tree that bears good fruit"

These expressions are about trees: "You will be an oak of Justice". Tree in the Bible is related to man and the Tree of Life, clearly in Scripture, is Jesus.

We understand that man and woman, male and female were already similar to God. The Word of God is very clear when it says that God created man in His image.

God created man. When the Bible says, "God created man," it's not, God created mankind, God created Adam.

God created man, male and female created them.

God spoke to the man and the woman. The woman already knew clearly why she heard the following command from God.

You've heard the version that the woman was not present when God spoke to the man, the woman only learned about it through the man. All these conjectures have no basis in Scripture.

What was the reason for the fall of man? What did the man lose? When I say that, "male and female", when did he take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and eat it?

See Genesis 3: "The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," 

The serpent wanted her to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

"But God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

The tree in the middle of the garden was the Tree of Life and not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

People develop a huge theology on top of this saying that God knows good and evil. But in the Scriptures it doesn't say that God knows good and evil, it was Satan who said that.

There's another passage that says there in verse 22:

"And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever.”

When Satan speaks something, he speaks something similar to what God said, but distorted. He gives it another meaning. Adam was already similar to God, he would not be equal to God for having knowledge of good and evil.

Quickly, in Genesis we find the Tree of Life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we find every tree that is pleasing to the sight that man could eat.

In the middle of the garden the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is man, the Tree of Life is Jesus.

"But every man is enticed by his own covetousness. Then covetousness, having conceived, gives birth to sin..." James 1:14-15)

Look what the woman did:

"And, seeing the woman that that tree was good to eat..." - the lust of the flesh.

"And pleasing to the eye..." - the lust of the eyes.

"And a desirable tree to give understanding, she took of her fruit, and ate, and gave also to her husband, and he ate with her." — The pride of life

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is man, the Tree of Life is Jesus.

Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 speaks of the fall of an anointed one that we translate as "lucifer", but the word "lucifer" is just a transliteration of the Latin word.

It is not the word that appears in Hebrew, it is not the word that appears in Greek.

The text describes that this being, this anointed one, wanted to be like God… He wanted to go up and be like God.

Isaiah 14 is the biblical description, without making it up, of what happened in Genesis 3.

The only being the Bible references who wanted to be equal to God is not this mythological figure of Lucifer.

In the Bible, in the written Word of God, who wanted to be equal with God was man (Adam).

The text says in Genesis 3 that they, seeing that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eyes, a desirable tree to give understanding, they took its fruit and ate.

Interestingly, the temptation was a false temptation and every word Satan uses there was totally false, totally untrue. Satan is the father of lies.

He is the father of the lie from the beginning according to Jesus in John 8. Satan never stood on the truth.

In other words, Satan was not an angel, Satan was never an angel of light, he passes himself off as an angel of light as it says in Corinthians.

But according to the Scripture, in John 8, it states clearly that he was a murderer, a liar from the beginning.

And what he uses here is exactly a lie.

And he makes a proposal to Adam, the man and the woman, the male and the female saying, "Ah, the day you eat you will be like God".

They were already like God, because God created them in His image and likeness.

That's what the text says: "And God blessed them. And God created man in His image, the image of God created him, male and female created them."

They were already like God, they were the image of God. What they really wanted was to be more than God, to go beyond in such a way that they became independent of God, that they became independent of their Creator.

What happens when man takes the tree and eats its fruit? What happens ?

What's the first thing that happens?

The first thing that happens is that he has lost the image and likeness of God. He ceases to be similar to his Creator, he ceases to have the Image of his Creator, and in that instant man becomes sin.

This expression we find in 2 Corinthians 5, when the Bible says, "He who knew no sin made Himself sin for us..."

In a very simple way, biblically speaking, man did not simply sin, man became sin. Man is sin.

This is so serious and so important to understand, because it's going to bring about a redefinition, it's going to bring about a very big repentance in our mind, a change of thought, of mind that's going to change our whole focus on our life with Jesus. Our whole focus will be changed, our whole way of looking at this issue will be changed.

We're going to actually face ourselves for what we are and what we've come to be when we've received the Power to be made children of God.

When we have been transformed back into the Image and Likeness of God, and it is this likeness that the Spirit of God continues to work on today, it is not a process. The word process does not appear in the Bible. It's a metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis is the biblical word for this journey that is taking place with me and you in such a way that He is working in me and in you according to His Image of Glory.

He is transforming us. He is “metamorphosing” us, if there is such a verb, I just created it.

The Holy Spirit works in me this metamorphosis according to the Image of Jesus, according to the same Image.

And this Image, according to the Image of God is the Image of the very Son of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, because the Bible says He is the Image of the invisible God, He is the exact expression of His being.

If Adam looks like someone, Adam the man and woman before they are cast out of the garden, they look like Jesus.

If you probably look at the image of Adam and the image of his wife who was also called Adam… She was renamed Eve only after she lost the Image of God. If you look at each other, look at Jesus, look at the man Adam, look at the woman Adam they are the same, they are alike, because Jesus is the express Image of His being.

I'm not interpreting anything, I'm just putting the texts of the Bible as they appear in the Scriptures.

What happens to a man when he takes from the tree and eats? He misses the Image of God.

Sin in Scripture is not being equal to God. Sin is not being like Jesus.

The Tree of Life and the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil…

You eat from the Tree of Life, you become the Tree of Life: "Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." John 6:53 

You eat from the Tree of Life to become the Tree of Life and you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and you become the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And experiencing the knowledge of good and evil is what resulted in sin.

Sin entered the world because man ceased to be the Image and Likeness of God.

Man became sin.

Sin is an entity. 

Sin is an organism.

Sin is not a person, but it is a spiritual being.

I am a tree, you are a tree.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil only works sin when that lust gives birth, and lust giving birth begets sin.

There is the Tree of Life: The fruits of the Tree of Life are fruits of Righteousness. The fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, long-suffering, patience, self-control … this is the fruit of the Spirit.

But you don't have the fruit of the flesh. You have the works of the flesh, the works of that flesh that became sin.

The Apostle Paul says: "Sin dwells in me." (Romans 7:17).

Sin is an entity and I become that sin, because I am not like Jesus, I am not like Jesus.

If I become like Jesus, if I become like Jesus I can no longer sin.

Now, you have the tree that is sin and you have the fruits of that tree that are: adultery, prostitution, lying, etc.

Jesus speaks thus: From the heart proceed all these things, iniquity, lies, greed, idolatry, sins.

All these works of the flesh come from a tree called sin and the sins are adultery, prostitution, they are the fruits of that tree.

So when I look at myself: In sin my mother conceived me.

Until recently, about 20 years ago people thought that this "in sin my mother conceived me" was because they had a sexual relationship and that is sinful. It's absurd, but I've heard this in sermons.

"In sin my mother conceived me" is because Adam's nature passed into his descendants, and throughout the Bible and throughout history it passed from one to the other.

"But what do I have to do with Adam's sin?"

"What if I'm not disobedient?" "What if I don't lie, don't practice idolatry?" 'What if I'm a completely correct person, "holy"?'

 The Bible speaks in Romans 5: "For as death reigned from Adam to Moses, so death passed to all men." (Romans 5:12)

But we don't have the same sin of likeness that they did, as Adam did. But why does sin dwell in me? Because I die, because you die.

Death is not the consequence because you lied or you stole. The wages of sin is death, not the wages of sins. The wages, the reward of sin is death.

Sin is me, sin is you, the wages you receive for being who you are is death, but God's free gift is Eternal Life.

That's why the Bible says in Corinthians: "He became sin for us, that we might be made the Righteousness of God." (II Corinthians 5:21)

You are not eternally condemned, using the language that is used, you do not go to hell because you committed adultery, because you lied, because you stole, because you coveted, because you dishonored father and mother, because you killed, because you committed adultery, no. You are condemned because you rejected Christ Jesus' gift of life.

Because every sinner who has sinned all kinds of sins, but receives the free gift of God which is Eternal Life, which is Jesus Himself, the Tree of Life, is not condemned.

You do not go “to heaven” or receive eternal life, because you have stopped sinning. You receive eternal life, because you believed in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross of Calvary, and His sacrifice, God's operation completely transformed you in Jesus' Name, Amen!

#ASONE

WHAT DO THE MILLIONS OF SERMONS PREACHED DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY? Josimar Salum

WHAT DO THE MILLIONS OF SERMONS PREACHED DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY? Josimar Salum

Imagine: If we have 100,000 churches, we have 100,000 preachers who preach 100,000 sermons every Sunday. If these churches have two services a week it's 100,000 churches with 100,000 preachers preaching 200,000 sermons a week. At the end of the year, 10,400,000 sermons are preached each year. Where are the deep changes and transformations in the cities and towns where all these preachings are proclaimed?

This church of prosperity preaching, of giving campaigns on the radio, on TV, on the internet, of the millions of evangelical deals is lost, powerless, and cannot save itself.

It is necessary to humble ourselves and recognize that we are poor in the Power of God.

I hate poverty and misery in people's lives. I hate the sin that causes people to live like wanderers. But I also hate oppressive wealth, which makes others miserable.

Don't say that I'm against believers giving up their tithes and offerings, that I don't believe in the God who gives power to acquire wealth, that I don't believe in the God who wants me to be a head and not a tail, that teaches to lend instead of borrow and allows me to eat the best of this earth.

This insistence on asking for money non-stop in the lives of many leaders is only a symptom of an upcoming downfall. The answer they get from thousands is the reason they live: to enrich themselves and continue to despise the poor, the widow, the missionary work and the causes of the Kingdom of God.

We must recognize that we are in a terrible crisis of legitimacy in evangelical leadership, that this avalanche of leaders who get divorced, become involved in scandals, who live in unbridled competition among themselves, who build ever-larger empires around themselves, are symptoms of an apostate church that lives the manifestation of the antichrist in its bosom.

A church that needs to turn totally to God and His Word, to the simplicity of the Gospel, to the exclusive Preaching of the Message of the Cross.

A church that needs to abandon the fads, the exotericisms, the mysticisms, the amulets, the brightness of the stage and the platform and turn to the knees of the dark rooms, to the hills where broken hearts meet the Spirit, to live today as if Jesus was going to come today and work to earn resources to do His work while He is not coming.

 

A Church that is concerned exclusively with what it is in Christ – its identity – and not with what it has or what it wants. A church that learned only to seek the Kingdom of God and His Justice for what God is, and not for the things that will be added. Yes, a Church that seeks the face of Jesus more than it seeks his Hands. Because success with God is measured by who one is in Christ and NOT by what one has.

#ASONE

THE KINGDOM OF GOD SUFFERS VIOLENCE AND THE VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE. Dr Paul Taylor

THE KINGDOM OF GOD SUFFERS VIOLENCE AND THE VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE. Dr Paul Taylor

I have been meditating on this scripture for a long time.  

“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the Kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.”  Luke 16:16

The word “pressing” in the Greek is “biazetai”.  It means “force or pressing oneself into or to seize.”  It is the same word used in Matthew 11:12.  “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.”  The word “violence or violent” is the same word, “biazetai”.  

Why does it take force to enter the Kingdom of God?  What is the resistance to entering the Kingdom of God?  

Please, let me encourage you to read this Scripture before we continue: 

“Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.” Acts‬ ‭14:22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I have often made the comment that their will be many who will be saved, but will never walk in the Kingdom of God here on Earth.  

I truly believe there is a great difference. There is no doubt that salvation is needed to enter the Kingdom of God. Salvation is freely given and freely received by those who have faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world. Jesus is the Door, there is no other way to salvation and a relationship with our heavenly Father.  However, I have no doubt that Jesus never intended the salvation message to be the end, but the beginning to a life relationship with God and His Kingdom or realm on the Earth!  

The great difference that I see between the message of salvation and the message of the Kingdom of God is that the first may prepare you for heaven but the second prepares you for a life long adventure here on Earth with God, and to live eternally in His Kingdom. The message of salvation is about heaven, but the message of the Kingdom is about the Kingdom. 

It should be noted that the message of the Kingdom reconciles you with your Heavenly Father and allows you to walk in the realm of heaven on Earth for a life long adventure with God!  However it is a journey, not a destination! It is not the end, but just the beginning.

This relationship with God is amazing, but comes with a price!  Not a price that you can purchase, because you do not earn it!  The price is effort, pressing, violence (spiritual), denying of oneself to enter in to the Kingdom realm. The apostle Paul said it comes through much tribulation or hardships.  The word in the Greek means, persecution, affliction, distress, tribulation. From the Greek word “thlibo”; pressure.

Again, my question is why?

I am sure there are many answers to this question.  When I read the context of scripture I see two enemies or powers that resist my walking in the Kingdom of God.  

Remember I don’t earn it and you don’t earn it.  It was purchased by the blood of Jesus and made available to everyone who is born again.  Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  John 3:3. 

You cannot even see the Kingdom of God without being born again!  This scripture also verifies that there is more to our relationship with God and our purpose here on Earth than salvation.

The first resistance is that of the religious system, the law.  Read how the Pharisees despised Jesus for preaching the Kingdom of God.  Why?  The law allowed you to manipulate it.  You can keep the law and be far from the Kingdom of God!  Today it may not be the law by the Pharisees, but it is by the church through legalisms, rules and systems.

Jesus doesn’t want your sacrifice of works.  He wants your heart!  The law will allow you to justify yourself before men!  But that can’t happen in the realm of God.  You must press past the resistance of religion!

“Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭16:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As you can notice it is the same problem today. Some leaders are lovers of money and through the preaching of works they make money. As my beloved friend Josimar Salum says: “There is no way someone can make money by preaching the Grace of God.”

The second resistance is your mind, yourself.  My greatest enemy is not the devil.  He has been defeated at the Cross.  My greatest enemy is ME!  My mind!  

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” II Corinthians‬ ‭10:3-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I have to battle against my mind and what I know to be true in my flesh.  This is where repentance takes place. I have to change my thinking by God’s thoughts. This is where the battle of faith intensifies.  I know what I see with my eyes or know with my intellect, but the things of God are spiritually perceived!

 “However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” I Corinthians‬ ‭2:6-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is an extremely important portion of scripture.  You cannot know God and His Kingdom realm with your natural mind.  You must press past the resistance of your human flesh to SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD!  

Walking in the Kingdom of God is a constant battle between flesh and spirit.  I wish I could say I win that battle every day, but it is my desire to walk in the Kingdom realm of God on Earth, as it is in heaven.  The answers to today’s problems are found in this realm of God!  It is not by an escape from this world fed by the rapture mentality. It is a solution to the problems that mankind faces here on Earth.  It is not super spiritual, but it is supernatural! We are all on this journey together.  

I pray you will join me as I press into the Kingdom of God.

#ASONE

THERE IS NO FREEDOM IN ANY RELIGION. Josimar Salum

THERE IS NO FREEDOM IN ANY RELIGION

Josimar Salum

It is not in God's nature to control anyone. Granting Freedom is God's means. The greater the Freedom you have in God, the more submissive you want to be to Him.

Jesus was anointed by the Spirit to set the oppressed free and open the prison for all inmates.

Sinners today leave their lives of oppression and demonic suffering and become evangelicals to continue living under an even greater weight of oppression from an entity they call "god."

Everything is nothing but a personal and human projection, an oppressive religion that took its inspiration from the threat of hell and judgment, which imposes a fear and a dread of sin based on “it may be the consequence of sin”, the curse of the police-priests of the religion who oppress their followers, making them more miserable than they were when they lived in the “world”.

And the world is still the world, but now religious - decorated with lamps (the established legalisms) and conventional clichés (the idioms of the evangelical: "you're tied up", "go on in victory, the blood of "jesus" have power, get out satan, shalom, peace of the lord, etc.).

It's all just a hypocrisy to maintain themselves with a so-called transformed status, when all they experienced was a botched reform. They live under an infernal charge to stay in the group and to be promoted in it, almost having to sell their souls to the devil again.

The Grace of Freedom in Jesus is that anyone could be whoever they were and strip themselves entirely before the One who not only probes the deepest of hearts, but has the Power to transform any heart, no matter how corrupt. 

Jesus came to give Freedom to the Children of God. And Liberty never matches Religion. There is no freedom in any religion.

#ASONE

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS BEING OBEDIENT TO THE LORD AND TRAINING THEIR FAMILIES IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Dr. Paul Taylor

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS BEING OBEDIENT TO THE LORD AND TRAINING THEIR FAMILIES IN RIGHTEOUSNESS. Dr. Paul Taylor

Josimar asked me to write a message since business has slowed and I have a little more time.  

I have so much to say and want to give just a short message on the importance of fathers being obedient to the Lord and training their families in righteousness.   

I want to encourage you. We can often be hard on ourselves, but your love for God is pleasing to the Lord.  

Your obedience sets you apart from others.  Your family is an amazing blessing and such a testimony of your spiritual leadership as a father, and husband.  This qualifies you to listen in on the plans of God.  

“Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.””

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭18:16-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

 One of my favorite stories.  There is a conversation in heaven and it is recorded here.  

God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...”  The answer is no.  Why?  “For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”  

There is so much in this conversation that we are allowed to listen in on with God.  

The bottom line is the obedience of Abraham to teach his children and household allows God to bring to Abraham all that He had spoken to him previously.  In your case, your obedience will allow you to receive all that God has for you.  This includes the promises of Abraham!!!  

Being a godly husband and father allows God to share with you His plans!  If you can be trusted with earthly things, such as training your children and raising them in righteousness, then God will trust you with some of His plans.  He is looking for faithful men!  

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. “ 2 Chron. 16:9. 

Do not think your faithfulness to the Lord goes unnoticed.  

#ASONE

REPENTANCE IS THE CHANGING OF CONCEPTS Josimar Salum

REPENTANCE IS THE CHANGING OF CONCEPTS

Josimar Salum

"My thoughts are not your thoughts."

It is necessary to repent, to change our thoughts, because what we believe, what we say, what we learn, what we study in theology, what we have been taught, needs to be revised. We need to change our thinking.

You have to discover the revelation of the Gospel, the revelation of Jesus.

What does the Bible really teach? It is necessary to make an enormous effort to remove all these heavy things that have trapped us, that are not satisfying.

Sometimes we don't even feel the Presence of God. When we hear sermons, they are empty; knowledge preaching only.

Week after week, Sunday after Sunday, and now with the advent of the cell phone you hear messages of all kinds, from everywhere, your choice. 

Then, in the pandemic, believers could choose who they would listen to, right?

Who would they watch on Sunday? Then they heard the 8:00 preaching, the 10:00 preaching, the midday preaching, the 2:00 preaching and it continues the same way.

Why?

"Because My thoughts are not your thoughts."

Repenting has to do with a change of concept, it has to do with a change in thinking, understanding, knowing,  intellection, practice that will bring about a transformation and change in your life.

I told Carlinhos Felix this when he wrote the song, "I want to go back to the beginning of everything, I want to review my concepts, I want to go back to the first Love."

Returning to the first Love does not mean returning to the "jesus" you encountered in childhood, it may not be.

Returning to the first Love does not mean returning to the day you were converted, the day you decided to follow Jesus.

To return to the first Love is to return to Jesus.

I hear a lot of people saying, "Ah, we have to go back to the early church."

We don't have to go back to the early church at all!

There are others who say that we are going back to Eden! We don't have to go back to Eden, we don't have to go back to Paradise, we have to turn totally to God, to Jesus, before the creation of the world, before He had done anything, that's where we have to go back.

#ASONE

THE GOSPEL AS IT IS: WHY I FOLLOW JESUS Dr Josimar Salum

THE GOSPEL AS IT IS: WHY I FOLLOW JESUS

Dr Josimar Salum

Following Jesus, deciding to follow the Lord is deciding to die.

When He comes and says: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be a witness to me" ... we have already talked about it, the word in use is not "witness." This is false. This is a lie.

The word used is to be my "martyrs" ... You will be a martyr, you will die out of love for Me.

This is what He is teaching. Who wants to die for Jesus? Because to earn the life, you have to die ... This is the message of the Gospel.

To earn the life ... you have to give up everything you have.

This is what the disciples talked to Jesus about when they said: "Lord, we left our fathers, our mothers, what are we going to gain?"

They had understood the Truth! You will not gain anything.

Then Jesus added: "He who left his father and mother will receive a hundred times more."

But He adds in the Gospel of Mark an expression: with persecutions, with struggles.

See Peter when he preached in Acts chapter 2… They asked, “What must we do, brothers?” And he said, "Repent."

All this religion, all these things that you are doing, if it were today it would be ... all these services that we are doing, all these meetings that we attended, this is all wrong, ... You have to repent from it!

You have to find the way that pleases the Lord.

But we insist on doing the same traditions, we insist on doing the same things.

If you read the Gospel with this Kingdom perspective, your life will be totally transformed.

Start thinking about the Gospel, not as a rewarding Gospel.

They followed Jesus and what did Jesus offer Peter when he met Jesus there in the Sea of ​​Galilee? He offered for him to be a fisherman of men, that was the promise that He gave him.

He gave no promise that he would prosper greatly ... You can see that on two occasions when they go to meet Jesus, their business was almost bankrupt.

At first, Jesus gave that order for them to catch many fish and there after the resurrection the same thing.

They did not have the dimension of the blessing to follow Jesus.

You do not follow Jesus to be blessed, this is a fake message! You do not follow Jesus to be healed, this is a fake message, this is not the message of the Gospel.

You do not follow Jesus to prosper, this message is a fake message.

You don't find such things here in the Bible, "accept Jesus or convert to Jesus so you can be blessed." No!

We surrender to Jesus because He is Lord. What will happen to my life after that is none of my business.

I can be blessed. "I am blessed, I am in the USA, man. I have a good job, I have an office ..." But there are brothers who are there in Iraq who do not have an office.

They receive Jesus to die, literally.

Those who are in China in the concentration camp.

So who is this God that after I start following Him, my prize will be being imprisonment for 3 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years? 

It is because we only have the perspective of our place, our city, our country.

We don't have the perspective of the Gospel throughout the earth, and what does that mean?

"We don't want to be persecuted, that's why we are fighting communism in Brazil" But the Church is already being persecuted for something worse in Brazil, for materialism.

I don't need communism to make it ineffective, it already has materialism, it already has all these facilities.

This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is true, I will be healed, Jesus heals me but there are others that Jesus does not heal, others He kills. There are others who die injured, there are others who die burned.

I see the brothers in these COVID days, people send me messages, and I'm not saying this to judge anyone, "Look what a blessing, the pastor was healed" Well, my mother-in-law died, what a blessing, she died, brothers. And I don't say this because she is a mother-in-law, all right? My father died, I almost died.

Now, the Gospel of the Kingdom is a Gospel that declares that even if this happens to me, I continue to be blessed, because I was saved, I was reached by Jesus to be like Him.

And to be like Jesus I have to suffer, to be like Jesus I have to die, to be like Jesus I have to be crucified.

To be like Jesus I need to die to receive the Holy Spirit who is the Power of God that vivifies me from the dead.

#ASONE

PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

youversion.com

Note: The term “Christians” used in this article refers to those who are true followers of Jesus. “Christians” are the ones who are born again, who have personal relationship with Jesus, who has received Jesus as their Lord and King and as result they have become sons of God.

Many Christians think that God considers some workers more valuable than others—and at the top of the rung are missionaries, pastors and other people with “spiritual” vocations. 

If we’re honest, most of us probably buy into this thinking to some degree and believe there is a divide between the sacred and secular. After all, social workers and grant writers are more important to society than waste collectors and cashiers, right?

But that’s not true. During the Protestant Reformation, a doctrine was developed that has significantly altered the way many Christians understand themselves and their relation to God and others: the priesthood of all believers.

In sum, it teaches that all believers—no matter their personal history, ethnicity, occupation, you name it—are priests before God.

Prior to the Reformation, the western church taught that only clergy (ordained priests) had a sacred calling from God. But according to the apostle Peter, all Christians are priests: 

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession” (1 Peter 2:9). 

Peter hearkens back to Exodus 19:6, where God tells Israel, “you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Although the people of Israel failed in their priestly calling, Christ has restored to believers our true identity as royal priests. 

In him, we stand on equal footing with one another, and each of us has a vital role in carrying out God’s work.

There is one body, consisting of various parts, and one head, Christ. Each member, though distinct from the others, performs a different function and is equally vital for the health of the body.

Connecting

Christians are equally important, serving one Lord, yet they fulfill different roles for the sake of the church and the good of society. 

What makes work sacred is not the type of work that we do but the work of Christ in us. Those who have been baptized into Christ all have equal standing and have been called by him to do work that not only bears dignifying significance, but also gives glory to God. 

No matter what line of work you’re in, you have a special calling from God to work for his glory and for the benefit of others.

Do you see your work as part of God’s calling on your life to be his priest, representing him in the work that you do?

————

Such a powerful truth if only the body of Christ could understand this truth, the world would be such a better place. People would be free from guilt of not serving God if they are not a pastor, teacher, etc. 

Jesus, give the people ears to hear this truth!  Amen

Dr. Paul Taylor

#JSalum #ASONE

Disciples and Sheep: Why is it so complicated to understand something so simple? By Josimar Salum

Disciples and Sheep: Why is it so complicated to understand something so simple? By Josimar Salum

How to follow Jesus and understand the Jesus who freed all men to worship God everywhere, anywhere?

What does it really mean to love? To worship is to serve God as we serve one another and others everywhere.

Worship is no longer going to Jerusalem or anywhere else to worship, because the hour has already come when true worshipers worship the Father in Spirit and Truth.

Worship God who serves, who serves men and sings, raises his hands and dances, never failing to serve one another and men.

Devotion is to pray hand in hand not only as we sing and speak together with God, but in the day to day life as we live.

You would never find Jesus directing a service in the Gospels! You find him initially going as usual to the synagogue of the Jews, but you will soon find that his journeys almost always ended in his expulsion.

You find Him, the God and Creator of the universe, Jesus, just in the courts of the temple.

Jesus could not enter into the holy place much less in the Holy of Holies. He was not a priest of the tribe of Levi. Remember that David, like Jesus, from the tribe of Judah dared to enter the holy place and ate the loaves and then what happened?

Well, it was hundreds of years ago that the Holy of Holies did not even visit that place anymore. The Ark of the covenant had already disappeared from that little place behind the veil hundreds of years ago.

For when Jesus was taken to the temple as a child and when he went to the temple, the Son of God did not set foot in that "most holy place."

Well, the people and the priests did not know God. Jesus the Holy of Hollies, the Ark of the Covenant could now be seen and even touched on the streets of the cities and on the roads of Israel by anyone, seen by Greeks and pagans and even touched by wounded lepers and bleeding women. 

The journeys of Jesus and His disciples to the temple and synagogues always ended in conflict. There was no more place for the Word of Truth in religious structures. Not today. Long ago there were times when the Word manifested itself, but since the age of Samuel it had become scarce.

Where do we find Jesus and His disciples doing what they love to do?

In the houses eating with his guests and friends while Jesus taught His Kingdom.

In the daily meals, eating together, yes, having supper together, for every supper among disciples is holy. This is what the Holy Spirit really means when He says "not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

How dare religious people think that meeting together is about worship services?

Jesus and His disciples would also be found in the streets and squares of cities proclaiming the Gospel, doing good, healing the sick, casting out demons, freeing the captives, raising the dead, eating and drinking with publicans - public officers, politicians? - and sinners and announcing that every year now is acceptable to the Lord.

Jesus was never a religious leader, a cult leader, a church worker, or a pastor of any flock. Jesus is the Shepherd of one flock. And there are no others. Only one! One Shepherd and one Sheep! That simple!

Jesus never performed any worship in the empty temple of the Jews, nor in a public square, anywhere.

Jesus is a Teacher, He teaches, He makes disciples, He has no organization with members. The Church that Jesus built on Himself has no structures, because it is the Body. The Church is the structure.

The wine-skins of men, houses, temples, seminaries, buildings, and any others are just wine-skins. Maybe Kingdom Wreaths if they are useful for the Kingdom. As God always has new wine, men's wine-skins always break, break, shatter and lose wine, because they can not handle God's new wine. For God, all these structures have nothing to do with the Church. And invariably they become scandals and offenses in the Kingdom. Ultimately they will be uprooted from the Kingdom forever.

The Church is the Bride, the Body and the House of the Lord. And the Kingdom is the Lord! And His children as He, kings and priests, all of them. In the Kingdom all are kings and priests. All!

These wine-skins have never been able to restrain the Church, to mold the Church, to organize the Church, to surround the Church, to subject the Church to leadership as pious as it may be, to "commemorate" and bind disciples in a community in itself under men who while insisting in being the church, fragment, divide, and separate the disciples of Jesus from one another.

Yes, men shepherd the Church of God, the flock of God, not the churches. But they are shepherding like sheep, for they are not essentially shepherds, they are only sheep. Yes, men make disciples, but they are not "discipl-ers", they are essentially disciples. All of us, one by one, each one, are only sheep and disciples of Jesus.

Let us return to Jesus and His disciples who in the cities and fields as laborers worked the harvest to gather the sheep before Jesus and the nations made disciples only for Jesus.

And, "following the truth in love, let us in all things grow up in him who is the head, Christ, of whom the whole body, well adjusted and strengthened by the help of every p art, effects his own increase for the building up of himself in love." Ephesians 4: 15-16

There are no seasons of fruitlessness in the Kingdom of God!

There are no seasons of fruitlessness in the Kingdom of God!

Dr. Paul Taylor

Why Jesus cursed the fig tree?

“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.” Mark 11:12,13

This portion of scripture is not about food or Jesus being angry because there was no fruit on the fig tree.  No, Jesus is teaching His disciples and us about the Kingdom mindset or thinking.  I have always wondered why Jesus cursed the tree when it was not the season for fruit!  What right did He have to do that?

Here in lies the power of the Kingdom of God.  This portion of scripture is all about Kingdom thinking and having a renewed mind in Christ!  Jesus had every right to expect fruit because there are no seasons of fruitlessness in the Kingdom of God!  There are no seasons of want, of need, of sickness, of lack, of sorrow, of.…..there is only FULLNESS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

Walking with God in the Kingdom is a walk of expectation, of hope, of faith!  The renewed mind allows us to believe for the possible, when with man it is impossible!  This message is continued when the disciples see the fig tree withered away because Jesus cursed it.  Do not focus on the curse, but focus on the expectation!  

The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

22So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23For assuredly, I say to you, whoever saysto this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:21-24

Jesus’ answer to their question was HAVE FAITH IN GOD!  IF YOU HAVE FAITH, YOU HAVE HOPE AND YOU CAN EXPECT GOD FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE.

1. We have the right to expect fruit (abundance, to prosper, provision) in an unfruitful season.  Remember there are no seasons with God.  Can you ever imagine thinking, “Well, this is not the season for God to answer my prayer!”  I don’t think so!  We would be of all people hopeless, but we are not hopeless.  We are people of faith believing God for the impossible!  

2. We have the right to expect the impossible to be possible!  With man things are impossible, but with God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!  This is the power of the mind of Christ and Kingdom thinking.  There are so many examples of Kingdom thinking, even in the Old Testament.   I encourage you to read the story of Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25-27) . Esau thought like a man and he sold his birthright as the first born to his brother Jacob.  Jacob realized and understood the importance of being first born.  When time came for the blessing from his father Abraham, even though he had to disguise himself as Esau, he had every right to answer his father’s question, “Who are you my son?”  Jacob answered, “I am Esau your first born.”  Why did he have the right to say this?  Because he had purchased Esau’s birthright!  Jesus is the firstborn and has purchased the birthright and we are in Him!  We have every right to say to our Heavenly Father, I am your son and have the right of the firstborn!  Bless me!!!!

3. We have the right to speak that, which is not, as though it was!  (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) ◙ in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” ◙ 19And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Romans 4:17-22

My friends, today in whatever season you find yourself, put on the mind of Christ and BELIEVE!  Believe for fruit in a fruitless season.  Believe for the impossible.  Speak to that which is not, as though it was and you will receive it just as Abraham received Isaac.  I believe in you!