BTZ Blog

The one thing you should not leave earth without is SALVATION!

Outer beauty may catch the eye and turn heads, but outer beauty fades with the passing of time. Inner beauty touches the heart, turns peoples lives around and never fades with time. It actually grows more beautiful with the passing of time! Inner ugliness mars outer beauty, but the beauty of inner beauty transforms any outer ugliness to beauty! If you had the choice to choose between inner or outer beauty, what would your choice be?

Many people believe that the Lord is preparing a place for them. We also need to let the Lord prepare us for that place! By being prepared for that place, we would be prepared for the present! PREPARE to be PREPARED!

The Church that Jesus is building has no denominational name tag over the door, no bylaws or man-made constitutions to adhere to, no regulatory meetings to attend, or no man-made traditions to abide by. It is not built by human effort! It is His Church, He is its only Head, and He alone can build it!

Religion or Life which will it be? Webster’s definition of ‘religion’...“piety, conscientiousness, scrupulousness, from ‘religare,’ re- ‘to bind back;’ and ‘ligare,’ to bind together...” Religion is a BINDER, it is binding oneself to the keeping of rules and regulations that govern conduct and formulas as the pathway to God. This is neither pleasing to God or accepted by Him. In fact, it is “another gospel” and not the “gospel of Christ” All religions see God as distant, unfriendly and the giver of laws as the way to approach Him. All religion, no matter the brand or it location, is the upward reach of man searching for a way to please the God of whom he is so afraid. Religion is hard work and is ‘performance’ based. The more we do the better we are! Or so we think. So, it becomes a life of hard work in order to get ‘closer’ to God. God is not religious. He is Life! Friends, God is not egotistic desiring all people to be his slaves of performance, performing to rules and regulati...

As Believers many of us put the cart before the horse: We work hard for God rather than first discerning what God is doing and then working WITH God. So often our approach is, “God we are going to to plant 20 churches this year for you, we are going to have 6 conferences on healing, we are going to establish a prayer center”, etc, “we pray that you will bless our efforts”. It is not so much about working For Christ as it is working WITH Christ!

Intimidation, accusation, and condemnation of believers in order to keep them towing the denominational line, and calling believers immature, rebellious and guilty of insurrection when they question the status-quo, will no longer sway those who have discovered a relational love relationship with God. Mercy and love reigns in their heart and flows from their life!

Remember that childhood doesn’t last a lifetime. When children reach their elderly years and can reflect back on good childhood memories, it will keep them young at heart and give them lots to smile about. Ensure that you give children many great memories that will last them for a lifetime!

Are you tired of doing things for God that He has never initiated? Are you weary of following man-made plans and programs to fulfill God's purposes? Are you sick of church and ministry activities that have nothing to do with what God's plan for the Community of the Redeemed? Are you fed up with church as usual? We need an interruption of all man-made church-as-usual traditions and a Holy Spirit infusion of grace and love so Jesus can hdo his doing ithe Community of Himanity.

As Believers we do have freedom in Christ. When people leave “churches” because freedom is stifled, the new found freedom must always be guided by love; love for God and love for people, including people in the group that was left.  If we love, we will consider how our actions will affect other believers. In religion, often respect for people’s best interests gives way to the interests of the particular “faith” that one belongs to and their actions can be so serious as to alienate one from their personal faith in Christ because they are so turned off by the actions. We need to re-examine our actions and form them in ways that build up the body of Christ through loving relationships with one another.  Freedom in Christ should not sever unity with believers in Christ! It may sever ties with a denomination but should never sever ties with believers in that denomination. Even though they may shun you and say all manner of evil against you,TRUE LOVE WILL PREVAIL!

There are two highways you can travel along the journey of life, LOVE and HATE. Chose the highway of Love, because no matter the detours, no matter how rough the road gets, no matter what lies around the next bend, no matter how many rivers there are to cross, the highway of Love will never lead you astray, Love will bring you to the safest and best destination!

Who can dispute that we are living in a day where we are seeing an increase in Satan’s efforts to be “lord”. He is trying to solidify his stranglehold on all of God’s creation including the Church (the believers). Most believers and their leaders are looking forward to a future event across the ocean, waiting for the rise of Antichrist as he sits himself down on a throne in a new temple to be built in Jerusalem, while at the same time are oblivious to the truth that it is already happening in our midst and the majority of the people of God, are totally ignorant to the fact. Paul the apostle warned the Church what to expect of Satan in 2 Thess. 2:4...”who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing Himself that He is God.” The Bible leaves no doubt as to “who” the temple of God is! 1 Corinthians 3:16...Do you not know the “YOU” are the “TEMPLE” of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? Could it...

The best way to end an argument is with love, understanding and silence. Silence, silences the most heated of arguments!

To many people live IMITATING Christ which prevents Christ from doing His work through them, rather than IDENTIFYING  with Christ allowing Him to do His work in them and through them. IMITATION is a LIMITATION of the REALIZATION of true SALVATION! IMITATORS are FAKERS" unless" like Paul, the IMITATION is a REALIZATION that Christ is doing His work through them because of their IDENTIFICATION with Christ.

A wise man knows his own ignorance! A man who thinks he is wise, yet knows not his own ignorance is a foolish man indeed!

Unforgivness is a very imprisoning bar-less prison, it benefits no one and hurts the one who holds the unforgivness more than the one who is unforgiven. No person is really free until they are in control of themselves, unforgivness puts you under the control of the unforgiven.

Yes, you are living in this world but, also realize that there is a world living in you! Although you may be physically miles apart from family and friends they are still living in the world of your heart. Usually the world living in your heart is manifested in the world that you are living in! What world in our heart are we showing to the people of the world we live in?

On this Journey of life there are a few things that I have learned that would be good for all of us to realize. I can learn from others, even though they may not believe as I do. I do not have to prove that I am right. It is better for me and the other person if I don’t expect expectations. Kindness and compassion wins out over charisma and super-spirituality. The people that society values least, I should value the highest. Here is an eye-opener, everyone doesn’t love me, in fact not everyone even likes me!

How many people endure repetitive rituals certain that doing so endears them to God? How many embrace a slate of ethical rules or doctrinal propositions thinking that doing so ensures God's blessings? Jesus offered us a vibrant life of relationship with his Father, and people ended up creating a system that often disarms our love relationship with God and with people and robs the gospel of its glory.

Many people give God their Sundays but not their Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays or Saturdays! We honor Him with our actions and lip service, but our attitudes speak differently! We give Him some of our time but not our mind! We give Him our pain but refuse to give Him our bodies! We want Him to give us good health but we fail to give Him our hearts! We give Him some of our money but not our life! Lets be a total SURRENDER-ER and not just a PRETENDER so we can experience RELATIONSHIP, FELLOWSHIP and COMPANIONSHIP under His LORDSHIP!

One of the greatest strongholds that Satan has capitalized on, and is using as a barrier to the expansion of God’s Kingdom in the world is MAN-MADE RELIGION! Jesus talking about the Pharisees (religious leaders) of His day, in Matthew 15:14 states, “...they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind they both will fall into the ditch.” Following religious leaders may cause you to be blind to the truth regarding God's purpose in the earth, as they themselves are!

What I am about to  relate here will be taken by some as heresy because of the stronghold that denominationalism (many different churches, teaching various doctrines they deem to be right) has on the religious world. But the idea of many different churches with their own doctrine is foreign to, and not sanctioned in the N. T. The Church that Jesus that Jesus is building is not comprised of many different denominations segregated into different religious camps. Please understand that what I pen is not a slight against people within denominations, for members of the body of Christ may be found in them all, I am referring to the entity itself. This post is not meant to be taken personal but to give an understanding of denominationalism that not many is willing to present given the criticism that may result from such a view. The many different churches concept was absent in the early church era. Denominationalism is division personified. The fragmented condition of the Church at Cori...

It is not so much about how much of God you have as it is about how much of you does God have that will make the difference in your life!

Isn’t the bible filled with examples of rules, regulations and traditions to be followed. Yes, in the OT after the fall God gave them rules and regulations to observe. He sent Jesus to break the yoke of burdensome religion to bring back the intimate relationship with God that was in the garden. Yet all man did was to adapt the OT system to the NT. The renting of the veil was to destroy the religious system not revamp it to the post cross world.

The fact of faith needs to be backed up with the act of faith! The act of faith is nothing more than total trust and confidence in God that things will work out for His good thus, your good. The evidence that you have faith and trust in God is that you will rest in calm assurance and be at peace no matter the situation you find yourself in. Acting in fear is an indication of lack of trust in God!

Church is nothing more or nothing less than Christ living His resurrected life through the members of His body who love as He loves! Receive His love and live in His love so that the image of His invisible nature is an outflow of our spirit and soul and is manifested in our daily living to people that cross your path. Church is not a Sunday programmed event, but a daily expression of God's nature in living!

CHURCH life is a gathered community of believers that live by the divine life of Jesus and is naturally produced by members who have encountered Jesus Christ in reality. Church life is born from and is sustained by the spiritual life of Christ lived through believers (His body). CHURCH is a far cry from buildings that house human institutions, controlled by human ideologies under a hierarchy of the spiritual elite, shaped by man-made constitutions and lifeless rituals of do’s and don’ts that is held together by religious programs to keep the denominational wheels in motion. Consider the words of John Wesley: "Would to God that all party names, and un-scriptural phrases and forms which have divided the Christian world, were forgot…that the very name (Methodist, dm) might never be mentioned more, but be buried in eternal oblivion" (Universal Knowledge, Vol. 9, pg. 540). Also the words of Charles Spurgeon: "I look forward with pleasure to the day when there will not b...

I wonder, if the focus of the different churches  were open for scrutiny with regards to their allotment of time, energy, skills and budget, would it be found to be following in the footsteps of Jesus or would it be found wanting? Would it be found that the overwhelming percentage of time, energy, skills, budget and creativity are tied up in preparing for Sunday services, conferences and programs,  rather than on how to be effective as Believer? Jesus’ focus was on discipleship, relationships, and radical service to hurting people, His driving force was a overwhelming love for people. As I read the New Testament I am perplexed as to how it was determined that sermons, worship time, songs and church going is what makes us most like Jesus. Would we not be more like Jesus if we had hands and feet that address the needs of people in society instead of being pew warmers with a big open mouth to be spoon fed by the professional clergy and becoming spiritually obese? Do we not place...

Living a good life should be an expression of the salvation God has provided by His grace. We should not carry the burden of religious obligations in order to live a good life and qualify us for salvation. We are to live an upright life out of gratitude and love not out of fear of losing our spiritual status or our reservation for heaven.

Love to a lot of people is nothing more than a game of fantasy and manipulation to gratify the fleshly desires of human nature. Love is relegated to being food to feed the flesh. This is a far cry from what true love really is. True love is others-oriented not self-oriented, it is others-focused not self-focused, true love is unconditional not conditional!

As God’s children, I believe He desires us to laugh long, forgive always, love a lot and leave our worries in His hands.

Believers in a structured organized denomination, live most of their life in a closed organization which requires adherence to their creed and doctrine by the signing of a membership document in order to be a part of their in-group or “their church”. They deem that church happens in a meeting-place at a specific meeting-time. Would an “unstructured” church lifestyle promote a “loose association” of believers in each locality that are knitted in the bond of LOVE under the headship of the LOVER, who go beyond a set meeting-place or a set meeting-time to being the church daily to all people because they are members of the CHURCH that Jesus is building. Church ought to be LOVE-DRIVEN rather the EVENT-DRIVEN, don’t you think!

You may be an adviser that gives good advice but, people follow example more than advice. The verbalization of advice is far less effective than being a living example of the advice you articulate.

To lift you out of un-pleasurable-ness, you will find that doing pleasurable deeds for others will bring pleasure to you! Pleasure someones life today and you will also  bring pleasure to your life.

If the written word of God does not lead us to the “LIVING WORD” then we are misunderstanding His written word! If the written word leads us to dependence on man  for spiritual growth, we have missed the mark! The bible is the road map that points to Jesus as the all sufficient ONE!

Could it not be correctly concluded that institutionalism has rendered relationship with God to where it is best described as more commemorative - serving to honor, and keep alive the memory of life in Christ rather than participation in the life of Christ? In part, if not in whole, the “church” is impelled by a devotion to hollowed places, rule and regulation keeping, and religious rituals! Hence the irrelevancy of the contemporary church to people’s reality, because it does not and cannot relate to the practical life people live. What the Father had clearly manifested through His Son, and further purposes to manifest through the body of Christ is shrouded in mystery and reduced to cryptic rituals and ceremony and is by it’s very nature intended to be aloof and mysterious. Religion cannot withstand the test of scriptural examination and therefore is maintained by spiritual ignorance. Hence the mystique of mystery...the notion that spiritual truths and the rituals are beyond the comp...

Spiritual understanding cannot be understood with brain matter in the deciphering of a relational journey with God. Brain thinking bypasses the heart. When it comes to God and His working, His ways cannot be reasoned with the brain, rather it is reasoned and understood with the heart! You see according to Proverbs 23:7, the heart can think! Relationship with God is not a BRAIN thing it's a HEART thing!

Your past is past, your present is now, your future is not so much what is ahead of you as it is what is within you!

I wonder...if the “church” was less interested in trying to get people ready to die to go to heaven and more interested in preparing people to live in the atmosphere of heaven, would there not be more people ready to die? The “Lords Prayer” is a prayer to bring the atmosphere of heaven to earth rather than bring the atmosphere of earth to heaven. The kingdom of God is within us, should we not participate in the reality of Christ’s life, rather than just commemorating it?

When God said; “Love not the world neither the things of the world”, He was not referring to people! People are not commodities or things to be used by people for their benefit. People are the crowning glory of God’s creation. All people are worthy of His love! That includes you my friend...You are valued by God and loved by Him as much as anyone in the world.

Grace was purposed by  God, planned by God, provided by God, executed by God, completed by God therefore, the SALVATION of humanity is wholly and solely of God! That means there is no work we can do to put us in right standing with God but, because His Grace makes our salvation complete we are able to be in relationship with God working with God to share His Grace with people!

Law and grace are not both sides of the same coin that work together for God’s good, let alone our good. Law and grace are the exact opposites of each other, in other words, if you are depending on law plus grace you have nullified grace completely and end up in confusion. The teaching that law and grace co-exist to bring man into right relationship with God has caused much confusion to the Gospel of Grace that Jesus came to establish. The Law was given by Moses. Grace was given by Jesus Christ. Law is a demander, grace is a giver. The law demanded righteous behavior from man as a condition for acceptance by religion, acceptance and blessing. Grace provides all that is needed for life to UNDESERVING people! Why is it that religion is so drawn to law-keeping? Is it because of the correlation between the law and the flesh? Many times in the New Testament law and flesh are mentioned in the same verse or the context is such that the  correlation between the two is undeniable and are ...

If you are in a situation where your relationship is based on obligation and expectation you are a slave and not free. Post Options

 You should not conclude what God is like by looking at your circumstances! Many people do this and become disillusioned, confused and angry at God when their circumstance are sour and they figure that God has abandoned them. Just because you can’t see or feel Him, does.’t mean He isn’t there working things out for His good. He is going through the firestorm with you. God is always at work in your life’s circumstances!

The Muslims follow Mohammad, the Buddhists follow Buddha, the confused follow the Confucianism of Confucius, the Catholics follow the Pope, Protestants follow the Executive Council of the denomination. It cannot go unnoticed, they all follow and work FOR MAN! On the other hand, BELIEVERS FOLLOW JESUS, JESUS LIVES in them and desires to do HIS work of LOVE THROUGH them!

There exists no Love:     so True,     so Real,     so Tender     so Forgiving,     so Understanding,     so Accepting,        so Encompassing,     so Inclusive,     so Expectation-less,     so Loving, as God’s LOVE! It is His LOVE we have received from Him, it is the love we ought to be demonstrating in our relationship with people.

You may be a  product of your past, but you do not have to be a prisoner of you past! Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the prison of your past to the freedom of your present and the fulfillment of your future. Search for You may be a product of your past, but you do not have to be ... Search for a map Translate Source: Attribution goes here About Bing Highlights Bing Highlights Version 1.0.0 (12) Copyright © 2010 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Support Source: Attribution goes here About Bing Highlights

There are many things that could shape our understanding of scripture and relationship? Without a doubt, culture, upbringing, environment, religious persuasion, all influence our ideas about relationships, leadership and “church”. These shape-ers reflect what we believe in life. Dependent on the degree of rigidity with which we hold onto what we believe, will determine our acceptability to change when that which we have believed does not line up with the totality of truth on the issue. There is nothing more defining or impacting on our relationship with God and with people than our perception and understanding of our relationship with God. It is vital to understand within the myriad of “church expressions” that assail us, a proper understanding of power and authority among the body of Christ is essential. An hindrance to our understanding any issue is the degree of rigidity we hold unto what we  have already understood to be truth. We must understand that what we believe to be ...

Unless we are in a relational relationship with God, our sense of value as individuals will come from how we perform as a person and how well others reward our behavior in order to be accepted as a member in good standing by a particular group, religious or secular. This leads to a false view of who we are because of the circumstances we may find ourselves in.

Some people smile only when circumstances allow it. The thing about it is, smiling in-spite of the circumstance will help you through the circumstance. The circumstances of life are not suppose to render you helpless or smile-less, they are suppose to help you discover who you really are. Smiling through difficulties will hep you discover the genuine you.

Why did God give mankind a free will when He knew the potential for evil to be chosen over good? Because it is also the only way that love can be genuine and lovable. Love that is not by choice is not true love. True love cannot be robotically programmed, it has to be given freely by an act of the will!

This is a day when we need to pray much more with our lives than with our mouths. While most lip service prayers are an escape from having to get intimate with people who hurt, heart born prayers results in life lived prayers of faith living involvement with people who are hurting.

This Christ life that is in believers is indestructible, it cannot fail! But our human spirit, still has the power and ability to fail and fall into sin. Therefore, it is imperative that we learn how to abide and live in Christ and He in us. As long as we allow Him to live His life through us, we too will not fail. When we wander off into paths of our own making, it is then that we fail and succumb to temptation.

No change takes place in a relationship that does not begin with LOVE, COMPASSION and FORGIVENESS. Our problem is that we relate those terms to a human understanding rather than God’s understanding of them. We look at expressing those words as a problem because of the expectation we expect to receive in return for expressing them, “What, I have to love the unloving...I have to have compassion on that drunkard...I have to forgive that cheater, all I will get is hurt by them again, no way!” When we understand these words from the standpoint of GRACE rather than the standpoint of EXPECTATION, they take on a whole new meaning and when lived from the standpoint of GRACE, RELATIONSHIPS change.

Living in FEAR is indication that you believe man’s opinions and/or the devil’s dream, that will bring you WORRY, DISCONTENTMENT and DEFEAT. Living in FAITH is indication that your belief and trust is in God’s purpose, that will bring you PEACE, CONTENTMENT and VICTORY!

The heart of the matter is that most matters are not heart matters, therefore the matter doesn't really matter! It’s not a HEAD MATTER that really MATTERS but, a HEART MATTER does really MATTER!

God is not necessarily against our customs and practices unless they are directly contrary to His explicit instruction or the time to discontinue the practice has come. This is clearly taught with regard to Jesus going to the Synagogue as was His custom on the Sabbath, (Luke 4:16). Jesus began to disassociate Himself from the Synagogue: in Matthew 10:17 He says”Be on your guard...they will flog you in their synagogues”. Notice what He says “their” synagogues, no longer our synagogues! That does not discount the fact that the Son and the Spirit worked through the Synagogue, even if it was a “custom” that He did not command. He still works through the practice of religion today to meet truth seeking and sincere people, but He did not command the practice of religion. Because He avails of the opportunity to help people in religion does not mean he has condoned religion, just as, because God saves a murderer does not mean He condones murder! A practice, tradition or custom isn’t a God-giv...

People who articulate the facts, or know the bible so scriptures can be quoted, is not enough to ensure the proper context to practically apply it to their lives in daily living. To articulate TRUTH without its most important ingredient “LOVE”, is sometimes CONDEMNATORY! Jesus did not come to CONDEMN, He came to EXPEND His life in LOVING people so that they may live life abundantly!

The lighthouse is not the “church” that sits on the hill, or the “church” downtown, or the “church” in the countryside, nor is is the “crystal cathedrals” or ‘mega-churches” of the world. The lighthouses are people who shine forth the LIGHT “JESUS” from their lives on a daily basis guiding people into His community of believers. JESUS is the LIGHT of the WORLD!