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"Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

Tag: Marriage

Level Up!

November 26, 2022 /
Matthew Botelho

Hello, my dear brothers and sisters. I’m praying that this finds you well and filled with hope in our Lord Jesus. I hope that whatever it is we are crying out for, He hears us. I am also praying that this teaching will come as an encouragement for many. We are coming close to the end of the year. There has been much shifting and sifting in the body of Christ. Holy Spirit is replacing what was good in one season with something greater. With the refining of your faith, room is being made for the new.

 “You are being protected by God’s power through faith for salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last days. You rejoice in this, though now for a short time you have had to struggle in various trials so that the genuineness of your faith-more valuable than gold, which perishes though, refined by fire- may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” –1 Peter 1:5-7.

My brothers and sisters, there is promotion coming for the Body of Christ, for the Body that wants to move forward. Who has an ear inclined to God’s Word. We must not harden our hearts to His voice or instructions. Let us be the Church that comes alive in the Word and Spirit; let there be unification in both, as Christ is not divided.

Dear friends, I am excited about what is taking place! Promotion is coming, or as the title states, the Church is about to Level Up! So many times, I have heard my kids yell that phrase while they play their video games. They get all excited and are blown away by what their character can do and how much stronger they are. This leveling up did not just happen, however. It took hours or even days to make this progress. Have you ever felt like that? You have been in faith, walking it out with our Lord for days. Then those days turn to months. The months to years. “When will this happen for me?” or better yet, “when will it happen for the Church?” Matthew 23:12 (Jesus’ speaking) “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Our posture should be one of submission to God and His Holy Spirit, for He is the head of the Body, The capital “C” Church. The body that keeps its eyes on Jesus will experience an outpouring from heaven. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” How can we, as an individual or a Church Body expect anything from God if we don’t seek Him first, more than anything else? Remember, God resists the proud and boastful. Let me remind you of what happened to king Saul. He was given specific instructions on battling the Amalekites, but Saul thought differently. Full of pride, Saul believed he knew better. His presumed knowing better would prove troublesome for Esther and her people later down the road.

“Then the Word of the Lord came to Samuel,” I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.” –1 Samuel 15:10-11.

In the same chapter, the prophet Samuel rebukes Saul for not following instructions and delivers a blow to his ego from the One who made him king, God! “Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.” –1 Samuel 15:22-23.

Some of you might be thinking, “we live under grace, not under the law. God is not vengeful towards those who do not obey. He will still love us regardless.” To this, I say yes, absolutely, I agree, but. Yes, God does love you! He loves you WITHOUT A DOUBT! Jesus went to the Cross for you and gave His life so you might have an abundance of life! However, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever! He does not change. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” –Hebrews 13:8.

But our lifestyle needs to imitate that of our Lord. The kind of relationship we have with Jesus matters, and commitment and obedience are a large part of that relationship. Like every great marriage, you must work at it equally, 100/100. No marriage will last with 100/50. Where is that other 50 going? Look, my marriage would not work if I saw my wife one or two days out of the week. I am not meeting her needs or committing my time to her. The same with our Lord Jesus. How do we draw closer to our Lord when we only visit Him once or twice a week? He is always there, 100 percent in, but you’re walking in the world. Yet you complain that nothing is happening in your Christian walk. Where is that promotion that I was promised?!

My dear brother and sister, my friends, please, heed this scripture! “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord! Will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the One who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? Then I will announce to them, I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!” –Matthew 7:21-23.

 God does not want to keep anything good from you, but if you are keeping yourself from Him, He will not exalt you and bring you to those moments of leveling up in the Kingdom. And if a particular Body is not remaining in His Word or preaching a different gospel, it will be like He never knew them. “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” –Revelation 2:5.

Jesus knows His flock. They are the ones that hear His voice and come running to him like sheep after their shepherd. They recognize the voice of the One who cares for them, feeds them, and has healed them. As we end this teaching, please know that you are all very dear to me. We have never met, but I pray you are on fire for our Lord Jesus. The blood spilled on the Cross was done out of love for you. God’s love is immeasurable. It has no end, my dear friends. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you this day and receive the fullness of the Kingdom only found in Jesus our Lord. Amen. “Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay to help them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man come, will He find that faith on earth?” –Luke 18:8.

Brothers and sisters, let this be the day you have declared Jesus as Lord over your life, and every circumstance is brought to its knees. Run to Jesus, friend. Let this be the day Jesus makes His home in you by your confession of faith in Him. Ask Jesus into your heart as Lord, and He will answer. “Jesus, wash away my sins with Your precious Blood and forgive me of my sins. Today I surrender all of me to you. Amen.”

Unfaithful. Hosea 1:2.

April 18, 2020 /
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution by not following the Lord.”

I’ve heard it said that It is important to remember that grace is not merely unmerited favor, but it is favor in spite of merited judgment…

Our Scripture is shocking I know. Not exactly the nice “after Easter message” you may have been expecting. I get it. I do. But if you’ll just extend me a little grace, I promise you the same Jesus we just praised and hailed and exalted last week—will show-up here today. Our Savior will come bursting forth as surely, as plainly and eternally, as He did that first Easter morning!

I recently read a compelling point made by commentator James Montgomery Boice concerning today’s Scripture. It opened my eyes afresh as I took in his reflection. It pointed me, with laser precision, directly toward the whole raw, deep, eternal Truth that is laid bare before us within the Book of Hosea. Boice’s arrow most definitely hitting its intended target: If Hosea’s story cannot be real (because ‘God could not ask a man to marry an unfaithful woman’), then neither is the story of salvation real, because that is precisely what Christ has done for us…

This quote instantly took me straight back to the pure, innocent, devoted, crucified Christ that I’d recently just beheld hanging on a criminal’s tree. In an instant, I found myself staring into His eyes caked with blood yet so soft still, full of a love and compassion, a tenderness, that quite literally brought me to my knees. This Godman, this Christ, was hanging there because of me. I felt the Truth of this in my soul. My sins the nails that had pierced His hands and precious feet. Innocent. And yet the Truth I saw so clearly expressed in those eyes pierced my heart. I couldn’t escape them. I didn’t want to. I never want to not know—live one second that I breathe the very air He created, outside of the Truth I saw in those eyes: “MaryEllen, my love for you is what held me—to that Cross.”

Our God—my God, this Christ that left heaven behind so that He could wrap Himself in the temporary-ness of human flesh that He might feel every thing, everything you and me feel; every need I have, we have, you’ve ever felt. From hunger and pain to cutting betrayal and great love—such inexplicable love. Thirst, hunger, heat, cold, loss too—He felt all of them. Did I mention knowing rejection by its first name? Jesus felt everything. Every hot Israeli day and it’s partner, the cold night. Every hour of deep longing for a people He came into this world specifically to die for—to make a way for, as no other ever could. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” –Matthew 23:37.

If only they’d have welcomed Him. If only they would have accepted the ring He came asking them to slip on. If only they’d have taken His name and remained faithful to Him. It is this God—this Christ, this Bridegroom that comes to Israel in the book of Hosea. That comes to you and me and him and her and says I know you’re a prostitute. I know that you’re unfaithful. I know that while you are still here, wrapped in your sin-full flesh there will always be “others” in your life—standing in between us. In Hosea, God teaches us—however frankly, not only how He feels about us, more the lengths He will go to, to make us His own. You see He knows our frame, our sinful state, as surely and completely as He knew Israel’s sins and idolatry—their whoredom. Strong words I know, but Truth is biting at times. And as we witness in the language of Hosea, God can and will be as frank as He so chooses to be to get our attention…

By the start of Hosea’s first chapter, Israel has already wandered far from God. It’s been chasing after the Baal’s. The gods of this world. Those things they thought would bring them pleasure, would satisfy their deep hunger. Sound familiar? It should. We are each guilty, on some level, of this very sin! “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?” –Ezekiel 16:15-16.

Is it any wonder then that at this pivotal moment, Gomer is introduced to us? This woman who, representing Israel, has broken her vows, her covenant to remain faithful to this innocent Prophet of God. In Gomer, we witness the condition of Israel’s heart —a people He has chosen for Himself—a wanton and rebellious people God has chosen as His own. But don’t judge them too harshly, because in Gomer a mirror is also handed to you and me—reflecting back to us our unfaithfulness. And, as painful as it may be to look into, if we, like Israel, like Gomer, are to truly repent of our whoredom—our idolatry and sin-full wonderings, our spiritual adultery, then look into it we must. “So I bought Gomer back for 6 ounces of silver and 9 bushels of barley. Then I told her, “You must stay at home with me for many days. You will not be like a prostitute. You will not have sexual relations with another man. I will be your husband.” In the same way the people of Israel will continue many days without a king or a leader. They will be without a sacrifice or a memorial stone. They will be without an ephod or a household god. After this, the people of Israel will come back and look for the Lord their God and for David their king. In the last days they will come to honor the Lord and his goodness.” Hosea 3:2-5.

Our God is long-suffering and merciful, yes, but let us never forget our Husband is also just—and jealous of His bride…

In this first chapter of Hosea, we witness the not-so-shadowy figure of the Messiah—the Christ that will come, emerging. This Jesus who will come to us while we are yet filthy and wallowing, like some unrestrained beast, in our sins. A God who is not put off by the foul-stench of these, our many sins. In this first chapter of Hosea, we meet this God who sees past all of our stuff —our every sin, our shame, lies, and our hustle, to the person He has created us to be in His Son Jesus. He bids us then to follow after Him.

Just as we are, He calls us to Himself…

Yet, as with Gomer, His great love for us refuses to leave us in the state in which He found us. Even after His bearing witness to every thing we’ve ever said and done, still, He wants us to come to Him. To not let our stuff stop us from accepting His marriage proposal. To just get up and run to Him—leaving our filthy past in the dust! And get up and follow we must! He loves us far too much, has paid too great a price to ransom us, to leave us continuing to roll around in the same filth in which He first found us. “What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” –Romans 6:21-22.

Despite how degrading and repulsive it may have felt to Hosea to be asked by God to marry Gomer, out of obedience to Him, he did it; regardless if it made sense to anyone, himself included. God had commanded Hosea to go and marry this harlot—not die for her. Jesus would soon be sent to cover dying for her. In Christ’s taking a bride from amongst a polluted, sin-drenched, wanton world, we witness the nascent beginnings of His great obedience to do the will of the Father also—however contrary the Father’s will may appear to us in sending One that is sinless to marry one so full of sin. If we were paying attention, we would have caught God’s intention to send us Christ, back in the garden when He covered Adam and Eve in bloody animal skins. But that’s for another day…

In Hosea, we see the foreshadowing of Christ’s donning His wedding suit—a human body, mere flesh, and willingly, obediently, lovingly, stepping across time and eternity at the Father’s behest. Not only to save Israel but also you and me too; we were a great part of why He came at all. To give us His name. To bestow upon us rights, privileges, and honor we’d otherwise never have known. He gave us our place in this world—and the next. In Hosea’s loving-kindness to Gomer, we are privileged to catch but a glimpse of this Jehovah God’s great love, both for Israel—His firstborn, and for you and me, branches grafted into His precious Body. And yes, even for that one too…

“For rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” –Romans 5:7-8.

Friend, if you are here today and there is something in you that’s saying, “wait, if God can love a prostitute then there’s hope for me too” you’re right! There’s room for us all at the feet of Christ Jesus! And yes, He’ll take you just as you are. No need to try and get cleaned up before you come. I was a Gomer, and He met me right where I was. Won’t you ask God to come into your life right now? Why wait? “Yet the number of the sons of Israel Shall be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.” –Hosea 1:10.

Joined. John 15:4

February 4, 2018 /

 “Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me.”

The Message Bible says it like this: “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

In the opening sentence of our Scripture we hear a vow being exchanged—a promise being made. “Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you.  An offer to make an everlasting home in, and with Jesus. “Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. So, is the Scripture talking about fruit only, or are we witnessing a marriage proposal as well? Through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, I posit, at its deepest level, this Scripture lends itself to both…

In the parable of the Vine we’re called—commanded (this is no mere suggestion) to remain joined to, to never separate from, Jesus. Just as a husband and wife are joined as one, so too are we commanded to be with Jesus in this verse—If we are His. We’re called to cling, stick to like glue, to “stay put” in Him, that we might be fruitful. As a bride becomes filled with new life once she has cleaved to her husband, so too do we, as Christians, in the Spirit, once we are joined with Jesus.

His Word tells us, as a woman without a man, Christians, outside of Jesus, will be barren—fruit-less, able to bear nothing of eternal value. They might try, through works of their own—but those works will die on the vine…

To do this, to be fruitful, prolific, we must be united to Him—belong to Him, as a wife belongs to, is joined to, her husband. After all, if you are a believer in Christ Jesus, that is exactly who you are—His Bride, the Church! A member of the, “ekklēsia” (Lexicon: Strong’s G1577 – ekklēsia). The inference being that a relationship exists, a rather intimate relationship. A knowing, gnosis, an intimate knowing, as in the knowing a husband shares of his wife. (Strong’s Greek: 1108. γνῶσις (gnósis) – a knowing, knowledge).

Hence, we begin to see the connection bubbling up between the parable of the Vine and marriage. A joining—a oneness is taking shape. No longer are they two, but now one flesh. One message. Concerning Christ, both the Vine and Marriage are inextricably linked…

Jesus makes plain that the branch cannot produce fruit outside of its relationship with the Vine; and the Body—the Church, cannot bear spiritual fruit apart from the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Each relies on intimate union that lasting fruit might be produced.

So, how does this joining—this abiding, this knowing come about? What is its genesis—where does it begin?

We witness its birth within the confines of a relationship. To truly know anything— any person, one must have a relationship with them. Otherwise, they may know about a thing, know of the person—but they do not know them. It is only within the confines of relationship that we are both known and, grow to know another…

And, as it is in our earthly relationships, how much more in our relationship with Jesus?

Jesus, speaking to His friends, is instructing them, commanding them, to remain in relationship with Him (if they want this relationship to flourish, to bloom and become all it can be—that they might continue being productive for Kingdom purposes). He assures them, in vow language, in covenant speak, that He’ll never leave them. He’ll never bail on their relationship. Never. That’s His vow to His friends—His Bride. What He’s asking of them in return is for their vow of love and fidelity also. A promise to remain loyal—to stay joined, connected—in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, being poor or in plenty, regardless the circumstance, against all odds—never let go of Me. That is—in part, what Jesus is saying in our Scripture—to their hearts and to ours.

Stay with Me…

The other part of His message?

There can only be One Source—and I’m it.

You cannot be joined to Me and the world. You must commit—be joined, serve, One, or the other… “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].” –Matthew 6:24.

We hear this echoed in Paul’s writings to the Romans. He doesn’t mention vines, but he does talk about fruit. In the 7th Chapter of Romans, Paul uses the illustration of marriage to make a point about the law having rule over a married person so long as their spouse is alive. He talks about a woman being bound to her husband—as one flesh, eternally joined. Should she leave him and be joined to another while her husband lives, she is committing adultery. (vs’s 1-3). He then flips the script and tells his audience that they in fact have died to their old life—the law. They’ve now died to being single, to doing it their way, to serving—being joined to, other gods. And, that now, since they have been freed from this death, (the husband they were bound to, the law) they’re free to be joined to Christ, married to Him. Now, they must serve Him only—bearing good and lasting fruit because of this new union, this joining. No longer will they bring forth corrupt fruit that withers and rots on the vine; a result of their marriage to, them being joined to, the law. (vs’s 4-6).

In our Scripture verse, Jesus is planting seeds that He will bring to fruition during one of His final conversations with those He loves—at their last meal together. Seeds that have lasted throughout the generations in order that you too might benefit from them today… “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” –John 14:6. Said differently, a relationship between you and Me must exist in order for you to be mine, to bear eternal fruit.  We must be one, jointed like the branch is to the vine. Joined—united, one, as a wife is to her husband.

You must know (gnosis) me…

Friend, let me ask you. What are you joined to? More directly, who? What type of fruit is your life producing? Is it lasting, eternal fruit, or is your fruit, what you’re producing, dying, and withering on the vine? If you’re reading this and you do not know Jesus, you’re not connected to Him, then please, use this invitation the Holy Spirit is extending to you to “know” Him—become joined to Him.

You’re not here by accident, you’ve been chosen! Jesus loves you…

Will you join Him so that you might become all that He has created and called you to be?

Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb ‘” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” –Revelation 19:9

 

 

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