“The Powerful Tool For Powerful Living”

The story was told about a man who wanted to build a cabin in the woods. The place that he chose to build was far off the beaten path. He wanted that sense of privacy and remoteness and he found the perfect spot. So, he went to the local hardware store and purchased all of the latest power tools. With great excitement he loaded up all of his newly purchased treasure trove of tools and made his way to the woods. After arriving at his chosen spot and as he began to unload his tools, etc., he realized that something was very wrong. There was no power. How can you use power tools that have no power source?

God never intended for the Christian life to be led through our own abilities, gifts, or through sheer will power. Think of all the tools that He has given us as means of growth and change. He has given us His Word, corporate and personal worship, fellowship, prayer, etc. Can we participate in these means without availing ourselves of God’s power? Can we participate in the forms of godliness without power? Some would say “we can fake it, till we make it”… but, just as power tools cannot run without power Christians cannot live the Christian life without the power of God.

There were many options for the Apostle Paul in terms of which form of the Greek word for power that he would use. He chose the word dunamis to describe the nature of the gospel’s power. Why this word among the many he could have used? Well, dunamis is power, natural ability, inherent power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or power which a person or thing exerts or puts forth. The gospel is the inherent, omnipotent power of God operating in the salvation of a lost soul that accepts it.

Here we have an interesting insight into the meaning of this word. The gospel is INHERENTLY the power of God that works and operates and accomplishes God’s purpose. The gospel carries the very power of God. So, it truly is more than a mere story or message. It is a vital weapon. It is the power source of God!

“Faithfully Living Out of the Grace Given Us By Christ”

An essential principle to understand when it comes to following Christ is that of grace. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ provides us with the right motivation, hope, and joy. We are very quick to say that we are saved by grace, but we are quicker to say that we grow through sheer effort. We will have more to say about this in a future blog post. However, let us consider how we should faithfully live out of the grace given to us.

When I was a kid one of my favorite times of the year was spring. This did not really have much to do with the wonderful weather and beautiful flowers blooming. No, I loved spring because it meant digging up a large plot of grass in preparation for planting a garden in our large backyard. Now, I did not love the prospect of a garden because of all the wonderful vegetables that it would produce. No, I loved having dirt clod fights with my brother. These clods of dirt became marvelous bombs to hurl at the imaginary enemy. So, my brother and I would stand on opposite sides of the plowed dirt and throw these dirt bombs at each other. We would even dig some small foxholes and throw our dirt grenades at one another. Well, at the end of the day we were virtually unrecognizable because we were so dirty.

After one such day of glorious fun my mother called us in for dinner. When we came to the back door she immediately looked us over and said that before we set foot in the house we had to get clean. Now, believe it or not, getting clean was both an active and passive activity. It was active in that I had to put myself into the shower. It was passive in the sense that I could not get clean through this means only. I had to also actively put myself in the way of the water to get clean.

Can we apply this analogy to the process of sanctification, the power of the gospel in action? It has certainly been helpful to me over the years. My job in sanctification is to actively and intentionally put myself in the way of the means that God uses to change and transform me. This gives me great hope as I partake of these means that God is going to effectively use them in my life over time. So, as I partake of God’s Word, prayer, fellowship with fellow believers, worship, and communicating the gospel with the lost. God produces fruit in my life. I should expect to see both ministry fruit and the fruit of the Spirit borne in my heart and life. So, faith looks to and participates in God’s ordained means of grace and transformation.

What Is the Christian’s Operating System?

Through my thirty plus years of ministry I have seen a real disconnect in many believers’ lives between what they say they believe and how they actually live. I have seen what I call a GOSPEL GAP in their lives. We know that Jesus teaches us that he came to give us abundant life and that he came to give us HIS JOY. Yet, I have heard words of disenchantment with the Christian life because of this gap in their lives. “Where is this joy that Jesus said he came to give us? I don’t see anything like an abundant life anywhere around me. Have I been sold a bill of goods?”


Rather than doubting the power and sufficiency of the gospel, professing believers need to explore aspects of gospel living that they are misunderstanding, and promises that they are not applying. Could it be that though believers espouse that they are SAVED by grace, they are depending on their own efforts to grow in grace. Do we really believe that we grow by the same faith that first brought us to Christ in the first place? Could it be that we often fail to tap into the power sources that God gave us to enable us to live abundantly and in joy?


I am writing this blog on my I-Pad. What a marvelous machine. It has wonderful graphics and word processing software and many other great bells and whistles. This “Magic Keyboard” truly makes typing an easier and efficient task. However, without the IOS operating system, I could not do anything. I could not do any of the tasks that the computer promises to perform without the operating system. Is it the same way for the Christian life?


I will be contributing a series of blogs on the theme of the “Gospel Operating System.” We will be seeing how the gospel not only leads us to Christ, but it also leads us to the means of growing in Christ. These means are powerful, energizing, and catalytic to the Christian life. So, in this first blog I will try to make a few foundational points that will be expounded upon in the coming weeks.


First of all we need to reckon with the reality that Jesus did not come simply to make
something possible. Jesus did not come simply to make salvation available. He did not
come to make salvation possible. He came to accomplish salvation. He came to set
captives free. He came to give sight to the blind. He came to set free the downtrodden.
He accomplished it. It is done. It is sealed. It is fulfilled. It is finished.


It is no small Savior that we worship. It is no small gospel that we offer. It is no tiny cross
that we proclaim. Jesus has set the captives free through His perfect life, death, and
resurrection. For all who come to Him there is rest, peace, forgiveness, and eternal life. It is certain, it is sure, for He has saved His people. Not one of all those whom the Father
gave to the Son shall be lost.


This reality was certainly not lost on the “Prince of preachers,” C. Haddon Spurgeon.
Listen to His words:


Ah! what a mercy it is that it is not your hold of Christ that saves you, but his hold of you! What a sweet fact that it is not how you grasp his hand, but his grasp of yours, that saves you.

In Romans 5: 10-11, the Apostle Paul goes so far to say that we are saved by the life of
Jesus:


For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Many years ago I preached on this passage. Every time I do so I feel that I have very
insufficiently communicated the radical and glorious truth contained in these verses.
When I had made my way to the vestibule of the church building I heard a dear lady say
over and over again, “I am saved by Jesus’ life…I am saved by Jesus’ life.” She just kept repeating this over and over again, like a mantra. She had gotten it and could not get over it. Thank you Holy Spirit for working in spite of myself.


In Romans 5 Paul contrasts the work and results of two men, Adam, the first Adam, and
Jesus, the last Adam. The first Adam disobeyed God and brought upon us judgment,
condemnation, and death. His actions are greatly affecting us even now. Through Him we are even conceived in sin.

However, there is another Adam, the Lord Jesus, who perfectly obeyed the Father. He did so not only for Himself, but for a new humanity, His sheep, given to Him before the foundation of the world. So, His actions resulted in justification, abundance of grace, and righteousness for many.


Paul goes on to say in this chapter that not only are we saved by Jesus’ life, but we are
made righteous through His obedience. So, rather than assessing ourselves as to how
well we are behaving and living as if our righteousness were rooted in our actions and
works, we should ask ourselves, “Where is my righteousness?” Well, according to Paul,
my righteousness is seated at the right hand of God. This is the basis of my being right
with God, RIGHT NOW! This is why I can obey God with joy and confidence.


Far too many professing believers lack joy and confident hope in their professed faith
because they treat their faith as if it were “helicopter theology,” as something hovering over their heads but unreachable and beyond every day experience. It is as if the gospel were a mere story rather than the message of a victory that has taken place and is sealed and finished. So, they live as if their sanctification, or growth in Christ-likeness, were truly based upon their personal obedience and self-righteousness.


Remember the teaching of Romans 5. We shall be saved by the life of Jesus. Salvation,
biblically speaking, encompasses more than just coming to Christ. It encompasses
everything from regeneration (being born again) to glorification in heaven. So, all that we call sanctification is included in the salvation won for us and applied to our hearts through the Holy Spirit.


Why are so many professing believers living without this joy and confidence? It is a failure to believe in what Jesus actually accomplished. Too many professing believers are living with a truncated, Frankenstinian gospel. The gospel is truncated when we apply faith only to the process of coming to Christ. While many speak of being saved by grace, they live like they are changed through their works. Also, like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, too much of the modern gospel borrows from many other false theologies, philosophies, and even psychologies. What one has when he does this is a powerless monster that cannot save or empower.


I don’t know about you but even after being a believer for 56 years I realize even more that what I need is POWER. As the Apostle Paul teaches us, the Kingdom of God is not about words, it is about power. So, as a result of these next several weeks, I pray that we will learn to turn away from worthless means of growth and depend and rely on the power that God uses to transform us. It is my prayer that you will truly be able to say with integrity that you will pursue living “for the joy set before me.”

Hope That Sustains (Pt 1)

How a Philosophy Class Stimulated My Growth in the Real Hope

The Challenge to Trust and Hope

When you buy a bottle of aspirin today, you will find that there is a seal covering the opening. This is a safety measure against contamination. If you buy a bottle with a broken seal, this means that the contents could be defiled and dangerous. Why do these bottles have such seals?

When I was a kid, there was a scandal concerning Tylenol, in which some disturbed employee working on the assembly line randomly poisoned the product so that several of the pills became contaminated with the poison. Unfortunately, many unsuspecting consumers died as a result of taking the poisoned pills.

As can be imagined, this caused quite a commotion in the country that expanded to many aspects of the US economy. Many began to question the reliability and trustworthiness of many consumer products, especially other OTC medications. Fear became rampant.

Fear, disillusionment, and cynicism naturally result when hope and trust diminish.
Continue reading →

Walking with Depressed Loved Ones (Pt 2)

Great strides have been made in the areas of diagnosing and treating clinical depression. For this we should be thankful for God’s grace and common grace that allows for discoveries into the human heart and psyche.

However, much wisdom in this area can also be gained by looking into various writings within the last 400 years or so. Recently I came across one such resource contained in the book written by Archibald Alexander titled, “Thoughts on Religious Experience.” Alexander was one of the founders of Princeton, which originally existed for the equipping and training of those who would be pastors. He was brilliantly insightful into the Christian life and all that entails, including the work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart.
Continue reading →

Walking with Depressed Loved Ones (Pt 1)

During our current and challenging times, most of us have personally had to interact with issues such as fear, anxiety, grief, and depression. We have also had to deal with friends and loved ones who are struggling with one or more of these issues. As followers of Christ how do we understand these issues and how do we find the help we need to deal with these struggles with power and hope?

As a starting point I wanted to focus on depression. Now, depression takes place on a continuum that encompasses situational depression to clinical depression. For the sake of discussion I will take a look at clinical depression. A person who is clinically depressed is one who typically has great difficulty sleeping, eating, and functioning with common day-to-day activities. They find themselves having difficulty enjoying things that used to be easy and fun for them. For those in the throes of clinical depression, even such mundane tasks as brushing their teeth can wear them out physically. For them, the future looks bleak and one of their greatest fears is that they will stay this way forever with no way out. Continue reading →

Power is a Person

When it comes to biblical counseling, we at KAINOS believe that it must be biblically-based, Christ-centered, and grace-driven. You can find out in more detail what these concepts mean by reading the respective blogs here on the website.

The ultimate goal of this kind of counseling is to lead people to see particularly how relationship with Jesus is the source of the necessary power for transformation. In other words, while we might just want our struggles to be FIXED, Scripture teaches us that God has a much better plan for us since He desires for us to be renewed and continually revived through the power of the Spirit of Christ. Continue reading →

Living Out of Our Hearts

What is man? What does it mean to be human? When it comes to a biblical understanding of humanness, we see that Scripture defines humanness as being reflective of God. The Godhead said, “Let us make man in our image….” So, Scripture teaches that men and women are made in God’s image, which means that there are ways we are like God without ever being equal with God. God created us to think, will, and communicate. Since God is a community, we are created to live in community, outside of ourselves. Since the essence of God is love, we must see that we were created to love in a way that reflects God’s being and character. For example, beginning in Matthew 5:43, Jesus taught on what it should look like for us to love our enemies. Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.” This is how sons and daughters of God live because this is a reflection of the character and mercy of God, who makes the rain to fall “on the just and the unjust.” This is the essence of being an image bearer of God. This is the essence of humanness. Continue reading →

Living the New Life

John 3:1–8 (ESV): Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Continue reading →

What Does It Mean to Be Biblically-based?

All that we do at KAINOS seeks to be rooted and grounded in God’s Word. We truly believe that all Scripture is “God-breathed,” or “expired” by God. While He used human agents to write His Word, God did not simply use the human writers as secretaries to whom he dictated His Word. No, God used their personalities, experiences, knowledge, and life circumstances. He did not in any way circumvent their humanness. They were all carried along by the Holy Spirit so that what they wrote was what God wanted them to write. So, Scripture truly covers the full gamut of life and human experience. So, we believe that Scripture is able to equip us for all we need to be effective servants of God and for all we need to enjoy God as our loving, steadfast Heavenly Father. Continue reading →