BTZ Blog

"As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him... beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him..." (Colossians 2:6,8,9a) The Christian life is a life that is lived IN CHRIST. That is to say, to walk IN HIM is to live as a Christian. Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. A Christian is a branch that grows out of the Vine and continually produces abundant fruit for the Husbandman. The Church is the gathering together of all individual branches into one Vineyard (see John 15). In this metaphor we see that Christianity is supposed to be a living phenomenon, an observable reality, not a religious philosophy or set of teachings. As we first received the Lord Jesus, so we continue to walk in the Lord Jesus. Receiving Christ is the Gate, but walking in Him

Prov. 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish;... " When you hear this verse quoted or displayed on a banner, what is usually being referred to? To make people aware of missions and to raise money for the purpose of missions. The promoters of such a missionary endeavor interpret it to mean, "if we do not have a vision of the unsaved they will perish, or if the unsaved do not get a vision of their lost condition by us sending people to them they will be lost. Now I am not knocking that approach, it does have some effect. But the true meaning of that verse far transcends that interpretation. The ones who are unsaved are perished already. They are spiritual dead, they are separated from God. Yes it is true, if they do not see a vision of who Christ is they will die in their sins. How are they to see a vision of who Christ is? The ones who will perish (spiritually) if they do not have a vision is the believer! You, if you do not have a vision, will perish.

People need to see God's love in action working through believers as they work with God to accomplish His will on earth. We are a part of the church. We must repent if we are going to see this happen. People are headed to a christless eternity while the Church sits in the pews going through the motions. This will continue to be the case unless we repent. Perhaps you are surprised when I tell you that we need to repent. You may say, "I repented of my sin when I came to Christ, why do I need to repent now? Many people have the wrong idea about repentance. They feel repentance has taken place because they cry a little bit around the alter during the after service. But it is possible for a person to feel great emotion and to shed a great number of tears and yet never repent. Judas was like that. When true repentance takes place you make a decision. You decide to change your mind. It literally means to turn around and go the other way. If you

In some modern day church meetings the Bible is quoted, and if that causes people to seek its truth, then some good is accomplished. On the other hand, if it means that people are bulldozed into following a movement or man-made traditions through skill of propaganda, or emotional appeal, and thus induced to support man-made theories based upon wrested Scripture, then it is to their great disadvantage. It does not matter the name tag that is over the church door, any denomination that practices spiritual manipulation in using Scripture to further their own traditional beliefs and uphold man-made constitutions, does not honor God nor His Word. If you choose to abide by the Word of God rather than some denominations constitution, watch out. You will experience what it costs to go all the way with God. One of the fastest ways to loose friends, to be looked upon as odd, and to be despised is to go all the way with God. Once you become serious about spiritual matters--forsak

It is time to UNLEASH the CHURCH! What is happening in the institutionalized churches across the land? Far to often the local church is a source of discouragement and disillusionment for scores of people. Many people go to church and leave feeling worse than they did before they went. Young people are falling to the wayside with no interest in the things of God. Is this because the local church boxes them in, isn't it inhibiting their creativity, does it place to many role expectations on them, expecting them to oil the machine and make the programs move? If our young people do not experience a manifestation of the power of God we are going to loose them. It is regrettable that so few churches have broken out of their traditions, bondage and captivity. It is sad that all the ministry that takes place must take place only from the man behind the sacred desk. It is unfortunate that so much ministry potential in the local church has gone unrealized. Many people in

There seems to be written law in this world that for every original and genuine thing, man has to try and make a copy of it. As we all know, imitation anything never tastes, looks, or works nearly as well as the real thing. Imitation leather is not as good as real leather. Imitation crab-meat does not taste like real crab-meat. Incredible as it is, man has even carried this same preoccupation with imitations, into the realm of Christianity. There is true Christianity and then there is religion, the man-made, devil inspired counterfeit of Christianity. Satan is busy at work in the same field in which the Lord sowed the good seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat by another plant, the tare, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance. By the process of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the work of Christ through the Church. I believe that in most churches today people believe that they are promoting the true gospel of Christ, when, in reality they are p