12-16-18 – Part III – JOY TO YOUR WORLD

Bishop Jim’s insightful messages help others find THEIR METRON through M~otivation E~nlightenment T~ranscendence R~enewal O~utreach and N~etworking

12-16-18 – JOY TO YOUR WORLD: Unleashing the Power of the Word Made Flesh, Part III

Today’s Notes:

I – “The Voice was and is God. This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator; His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating,all things that exist were birthed in Him. His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light— A light that thrives in the depths of darkness, blazes through murky bottoms. It cannot and will not be quenched….The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us…”
(John 1:1-5, 14 – The Voice)

II – “In the very beginning the Living Expression was already there. And the Living Expression was with God, yet fully God. They were together—face-to-face, in the very beginning. And through his creative inspiration, this Living Expression made all things, for nothing has existence apart from him! Life came into being because of him, for his life is light for all humanity. And this Living Expression is the Light that bursts through gloom[i]— the Light that darkness could not diminish! …And so the Living Expression became a man and lived among us!…”
(John 1:1-5, 14 – TPT)

III – “All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].”
(1 Corinthians 10:23 AMPC)

IV – “Accumulating orthodoxy makes it harder year-by-year to be a Christian than it was in Jesus’ day.” ― Brian D. McLaren

V – “My belief is that, morally, God and Satan are vaguely on the same page. According to the common understanding of Satan’s origins, ‘holiness’ is, metaphorically, frozen stiff in his veins: and at that a corrupted formula – i.e. legalism. The vital difference is that God is willing to offer grace for our sins; he delights in grace. God is the one and only holy and just punisher of sin, yes, but that is partly so because punishment for the sake of punishment is not something he loves. Whereas Satan, as the accuser, and as it is written, actually seeks God’s permission to punish; he, being a seasoned legalist, delights in finding wrongs and will defy his own morality just to expose immorality. This is why both the anti-religious soul and the violently religious soul are, whether consciously or unconsciously, and sadly enough, glorifying their biggest hater: Satan is not only a lawless lover of punishing lawlessness, but also the sharpest theologian of us all. He loves wickedness, but only because he loves punishing wickedness.”
― Criss Jami

VI – “Our cultural conditioning is so ingrained in us that we often see these customs and taboos as inherent to the fabric of the cosmos. We spiritualize them. Legalize them. And when someone else doesn’t follow them, it can feel to us like an attack on our very personhood. This kind of cultural blindness affects how we order creation.” ― Michael Gungor

VII – “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
(John 6:51 – NKJV)