Hardman Truth – Page 14

Be Ready

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. — 1 Peter 3:15

Instead of being driven and shaken by threats, Peter says “be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess”. Who is this Jesus who saved your soul from the pit? We are in a passive time in our churches today. Just wink at a preacher and follow along with a canned and processed prayer and an administrative body will count you among the converted.

But what does it sound like when someone asks why we are different? Does anyone ask that of us at all? Are we really any different now? Has Jesus had any impact upon you that anyone would notice? If so, what would you say in response?

If someone comments positively on a shirt we received from someone special in our lives, we will likely respond with “my _____ gave me this shirt back when, and it’s my favorite”. Can we recall our experience with Christ Jesus in confidence? Will that passion still be evident as you recount the tale? If someone asks with hostility, can we make a defense and stand boldly in it, or will we be crushed?

Peter tells us to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts. Is He? Jesus is more than raw meat on crossed timbers. More than Easter egg hunts and presents under a tree. He is more than health and financial blessing. He is Savior, Redeemer, and He has lifted my life back into alignment with the One who made me in His image.

Move forward men, ready, even eager to make any form of defense about our Hope. In fact, He said “Go, make disciples” and it starts with making occasions to present our defense of His work in our lives.

Vance Durrance

Submission and Grace

Grace

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, ²when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. —1 Peter 3:1-2

Men, Peter tells the wives among his readers to be subject to their husbands just as servants are subject to their authorities. In like manner, some may come to the knowledge of Christ without a word spoken but by their life when pure, chaste, and reverent conduct are observed.

I’m not sure we fully grasp this as men. How many times have we heard, or said of our wives? “I don’t know how she puts up with me.” Or, “I was rotten, and she stuck by me through it all.” I suspect every husband alive has had some bone headed time where our wife amazed us by their strength to endure our periodic struggle to be decent humans.

As we have borne witness from our wives, we also should be a display to the world’s leaders. Endure, knowing that God is working all things out. That doesn’t mean we don’t give honest answers when asked, or apply accountability where our position allows, but instead of inciting greater trouble, bring peace and understanding. Bring something that the world doesn’t have. Bring enduring grace and wisdom. Bring your light, the light of our own testimony into our circumstances.

We all fall short, and the same grace extended to us by our Savior is available to even the worst of humanity. Jesus forgives. Jesus loves. Jesus reconciles. Jesus redeems. Our hearts need reminding of this sometimes so that we can include grace in our own conduct toward others. Move forward men, as Christ endures, and our wives endure, we also should endure this world, hoping for Christ to be revealed to hearts around us.

Peter says “In the same way, wives be subject…” If we were acting like the person in front of us, how would we hope our wives would deal with us? Apply that expectation to our own conduct and ask the Father to bless the occasion. I don’t expect this to be any easier for you than it is for me. But Peter is teaching the truth of Christ’s “way”.

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Honor

Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. –1 Peter 2:17

Peter tells all readers to “honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, and honor the king”. Did you catch that first part? We all have someone who we have a hard time honoring. Someone who has wronged us, or a people group who doesn’t fit in our way of thinking. Peter says to “honor all people”. It is not Americans, or any single race that bears the image of God. Humanity shares in being created in His image. Sin has warped His image on us, and we fail to recognize each other’s value by Him, but the price was paid for us all who will believe. We are to love those who come to Him.

As adopted heirs, we become family of one Holy Father. Calling each other brother or sister as we become closer should be natural. To fear God is to revere Him more and more as we grow in knowledge of Him. Who is He to you?

Take a moment and list it out. We don’t have a monarchy over us, but we do have elected governance, and managerial leadership. Good leadership is in short supply too often. Perhaps because we don’t understand the “servanthood” which we have been called into. If we understood better how to honor all people and love the believers, we would do better as leaders. Until then fear God in reverence while we submit to the authorities God has placed us under.

Move forward men, free in Christ from sin and death. Engage each other as servants, loving one another as Jesus would. Jesus knew all our sin, yet casted no stones. Jesus could have commanded legions of angels to rescue Him from Pilate and the cross but submitted to it to save us. Revere God who coordinated all these things for our good and respect the leadership which He has placed you under.

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Love in Truth

Truth-and-Love

To the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known the truth, because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. –2 John 1-3

John addresses this brief one-chapter letter to “the elect lady and her children”. Two interpretations are valid: this could be a specific woman and her children, or this could be addressed to a local church and the congregants who came to the truth from there. John then links love for “her” in truth.

Love in truth often refers to “tough love” but even so, it’s no less sincere. John says “not only I but those who have known the truth” referring to the other apostles. John’s love for “her” is not random but born out of the truth which abides in him and will be with him forever. Look closely at the first few verses in your Bible and count the times “truth” is used. John is referring to Jesus which has been taught to them accurately.

Again, false teachers have come to confuse the work of the apostles. Truth will again be a focus of attention as John deals with false teachings. Brothers, though it may sound redundant. False teaching was, is, and will continue to be an issue we must personally combat. Some teachers in our own time question the authenticity of the Word. Some question Jesus’s existence while others simply question His deity. Others come on screen to tell us Jesus wants us to be rich, so we can send in large donation checks to fund their travels on private jets. Too often messages of hyper-grace, or on the other end, legalism come from the pulpit. John brings an immediate focus on “truth”. John sends his greeting to “the elect lady” with grace, mercy, and peace which comes from God the Father and the Son in truth and love.

As we again dive into correcting the erosion of truth by deceivers, move forward men, evaluating your personal perspectives and beliefs against the truth of His precious Word. Our Father loves you and I and gave us an immovable standard for the ages to anchor our hearts to, so that deceptions do not cast us adrift from His heart.

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More Than a Good Man

Jesus

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. — 2 John 7-8 NKJV

Men, John tells his readers that many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not acknowledge Jesus as the Christ who came in the flesh. This was a particular sect of teachers called the Docetists. This sect taught that Jesus did not have a body, but only appeared to be a man. John went as far as to call them “antichrist”, which he defined earlier as anyone who did not confess Christ as Lord, Son of God the Heavenly Father.

John encourages his readers and we also, to cling to the truth that he had worked for so that we may all receive a full reward. Similar heresy exists today. We hear that Jesus was a “good man” and that His teachings are good to follow. Brothers, that sounds pleasant but it falls blasphemously short. Jesus was far more than a “good man”. He is our only path to the Father. His teachings are more than good principles, they are Life and Bread, Living Water.

Such incomplete pictures of Him leave us looking for more and too often that is where the enemy swoops in to steal us away. This salvation, and the equipping of the Holy Spirit which has been made available to us is far too valuable to allow ourselves to be swept away in false narratives.

Move forward men, adhering to the full truth of Jesus as Lord, Savior, King, Friend, Redeemer and more. He is a remarkable figure in history, but He is more, He is indispensable in every way important to mans life and eternity. Don’t settle for a piece of Him as though He were a drive thru snack. He invites you deeper, to sit at His banquet table where a feast is spread out for you.

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Certain Victory

Victory

Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one. — 1 John 5:5-8.

Everyone Fathered by God conquers the world, but how? With what power, means, or tool do we “conquer”? Our faith! Our faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that His Word is true. Jesus Christ is the One who came by water and blood. Water and blood are historically used to speak of Christ’s baptism where God spoke out of the heaven, and Jesus’s death and resurrection. He is the only One to be buried and raised both ways. How do we know this? This happened 2k years ago. How can we be sure? Evidence of Jesus existence is overwhelming, but in all the searching and digging, no one has found His body.

But that isn’t enough. The Holy Spirit testifies of the truth. The Spirit, the blood and the water all agree, that Jesus is in fact who He said He was: The Son of the Most High God. That should be good news for us who believe. Our faith assures us victory over the powers of this world. But it’s not an entirely blind faith. While blood and water are testimonies we have recorded in history, the Spirit is alive and within our own hearts. Our hearts know that He is the Son because the Spirit of God our Father resides in our hearts and testifies of His truth and goodness.

Brothers, we don’t have some “old time religion”, we have the living Lord of Hope within, empowering us for all the victories Christ died to grant us. No wonder we hear it said, “open the eyes of our hearts Lord”.

Move forward men, without defeat. This world may leave its marks on us, but our eternal victory is secure in Faith. Faith is perspective. Faith in Jesus is having the perspective of Jesus. If we believe Jesus could conquer, and we believe His Spirit is within us, we can conquer all that Jesus conquered.

What Kind of Love is This?

what_kind_of_love

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3 NKJV

John asks, “What kind of love is this? That we would be called God the Father’s children.” As we belong to Him, the world no longer knows us. As we come into alignment with Him, the world understands us less because the world doesn’t know Him. As the Father’s children, we don’t know what we will become as life continues in Him. We do know that we will be like Him, but it is not yet revealed. When it is revealed, we will be like Him and see Him finally, just as He is, in His glory.

Everyone who has this hope, and understands, purifies himself as Jesus is pure. The more we seek Him, the more we find, the more we find, the more we want. The more we want Him, the more He reveals the junk between us and Him. As He reveals it, we must confess it and repent of it. If we’re obedient to submit it and turn from it, He takes us deeper, and the cycle continues as we purify our lives in Him.

We have this idea that the process is harsh or abstract. The Father calls us His children. Bad teaching gives us a bad picture of who He is. He is a loving Father, and gentle with us. More so when we walk according to His leading. He exalts the humble, and humbles the proud. Would a good man set his children up for failure or success? Would he offer gentle and understanding correction, or allow his child to walk in error and deceit? Wouldn’t he pour out his heart and his best on his child when they come to him with their struggles, hopes, and questions? The Father of all creation is a Good Father who welcomes us as His children. He picks us up when we fall. He doesn’t wait with lightning bolts in hand like darts. He teaches and leads His attentive children and showers them with favor, though that rarely means wealth.

We have a very real enemy, and He stands watch only allowing the enemy to test us in ways He approves of for our growth. Yes, we learn and grow in struggle, and He strategically allows us to hurt. Move forward men, as children growing with the Father.

Become Holy.

Abide in Him

abide in Him

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. — 1 John 2:28-29

Brothers, we all have junk to answer for, but John encourages us to remain in Him. One fine day, He is coming back. Will we welcome Him or shrink away in the shame of our sinful state? We know that He is perfect, Holy, righteous, the Author and Perfector. So, if we walk in righteousness we know we are Fathered by Him.

I hear it often said, if God would appear, manifest, or reveal something profound I’d believe and change. Truly, even to those who know Him intimately, when He takes us to the next level it freaks us out. Even after an encounter, there is still a struggle with the flesh. We still try to explain it away. How much more will it freak us all out when we see Him after being caught up to meet Him in the clouds? The closer our walk with Him, the easier, and more welcome that experience will be.

Many of us desire a next level encounter, but not enough to open our Bibles, spend an hour or more in prayer, or to engage in Him outside the box of our traditions. Friends, He doesn’t fit in your box! To abide in Him is to abide in the weird, beyond the laws of physics, where He’s bigger than our imagination, where there is no box except what’s true in His Word, where our living sacrifice is our reasonable duty. When He comes back for us, how will we respond if it isn’t what we were taught, or what we expected? When Jesus came as a sacrifice it was not what the Jews had hoped or expected. What if it’s an inconvenient time for us in our flesh life?

Move forward men, remaining in Him. Don’t allow yourself to be caught up in the daily routine and unprepared to be “Caught Up” with Him. Be flexible when seeking Him. He knows your heart, and knows how to approach you, but He can’t lead us to the next level if we are stiff rooted in our traditions. Abide in Him and be Fathered by Him, not your parameters. Hide His Word in your heart, but when the Word is revealed different than your interpretation, follow Him into deeper Truth.

Vance Durrance

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The Holy Spirit

I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. — 1 John 2:26-27.

Too often when we discuss the Holy Spirit, we view that part of the Trinity as an abstract. We believe in the Spirit through doctrine, but too few of us have learned to acknowledge His Spirit within us.

There is no denying His Spirit however when we discover it through earnest seeking, following the prescription in scripture. Often people who have gained awareness are overlooked as weird or undisciplined. John has another take… John says the anointing of His Spirit teaches all things. That doesn’t mean we will suddenly walk around as a genius. But, when we encounter evil, false teachings, hidden agenda and such His Spirit speaks to us and alerts us to the issue at that moment.

The Spirit is the Lord’s heart with us daily. If we abide in Him, He abides in us through His Spirit placed inside us. The Spirit identifies falsehood as we engage life and He brings to mind the truth of His Word so we can combat those false ideas and teachings. When the Word tells us to stand strong in the faith, it isn’t telling us to do so without being equipped.

Too often we try to rationalize a situation even though we know something inside us is saying it’s not a good idea. We are denying the Spirit an opportunity to help us in those moments. Other times we dismiss His Spirit as some chance or coincidence. Be careful with that, dismissing Him borders on blasphemy. Other times, we know it’s Him, but reject His leading. We know the Father chastises His disobedient children who He loves.

Move forward men, as teachable children. His Spirit is real, He is alive, and He resides in you as much as you make room for Him. He is accessible to you at an instant contingent upon your willingness to seek Him, submit to Him, and hear from Him. He helps to aid in your walk in Truth and light. He interprets circumstances, environments, dreams, and even interprets His own heart into language we are ready and able to receive. He’s a comforter, closer than a brother.

Blessed be His name,
Vance Durrance

Walking in the Light

light

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. — 1 John 2:7-11, ESV.

John reminds us of the new commandment Jesus left for us in John 13:34-35: “Love one another as I have loved you.” John is not writing a new command, but reminding the people of Christ’s fulfillment of the law by His display of love on our behalf, that while we were still sinners, He came and died. If we say we are of Him and we are in the Light but hate a fellow believer, we are in darkness, stumbling, and we don’t know where we are going as in a blinded state.

Light and dark can’t coexist. Love and hate can’t exist together. When the sun comes up, night is over. When Jesus ascends the throne of your life, hate bows down. If we have Jesus’ Spirit within us, then we will begin to see people as He sees. We will feel for them the compassion that He would feel. We will love them as Jesus loves them, and again, love and hate can’t coexist. We live in a world of jealousy and malice. Our age is filled with messages like “get yours before someone else does”, “he who is on top wins” and the list goes on. Love compels us to help others first and wait on the Lord for ours. Love compels us to be humble and lift our brothers up.

What is your and my own life speaking of us? Is love evident within us? Is it hidden and obscured? Is it out in front of you recklessly spilling on whomever? If a brother does us wrong, what is our response? Move forward men, loving our brothers with abandon. Walk in light, and let it shine as evidence of the changing grace of our Lord’s work within us.

Vance Durrance