Glen Hartline

I received a call the other evening and on the other end of the line was someone I have been mentoring for just a couple weeks. They have been going through some very difficult battles and are trying to walk in the authority and power given to them through Jesus. This is a very new concept for them and they are looking for answers everywhere. They had been praying and decided to sit down and watch television. When they turned it on, a channel they never watch was on and they began watching an evangelist and wanted my opinion on what they were hearing. As I listened to the evangelist preaching about faith and favor, the Spirit of God rose up in me and I became extremely disgusted at what I was hearing and the condition of the body of Christ.

Now I understand that this evangelist was trying to raise money, and I have no problem with that. It’s not the raising of money, but how he was going about it. He was telling us that faith moves God, and that we can open the heavens over our lives and the lives of our family if we give a sacrificial gift in faith. That it was the gift that would cause the favor of God or His grace to flow. He then went on to give heartwarming accounts of how giving sacrificially unlocked a miracle in his life and then in lives of others. Then as if on cue the phones began ringing and people began giving.

First of all let me continue by saying this is a complete mockery of the sacrifice of Jesus. It is teachings like this that give an appearance of the gospel but are actually anti-Christ. Anything that diminishes what Jesus did by making you add to it is anti-Christ. God does not move based on our gifts or actions. God moved based on Jesus’ sacrifice alone and nothing else. It is not your faith that moves God, but you receive through faith what He has already freely given. It is no different than salvation. He doesn’t wait to save you when you receive Jesus as savior. He had already saved you, you just had to receive it by faith. His grace and favor was poured out through Jesus and He has already freely given us all things. We just have to receive it. As children of God we give because we love Him and we love others. We should give so that others will hear the gospel and give to those who feed us spiritually, not to get something but because we, like our father, are generous givers. We don’t need to sacrifice or plead to get God to open the heavens over us, because it’s not the sacrifice that makes things happen, it’s the faith in Jesus and the fact that we have the kingdom of God within us, we have the fullness of Jesus in us, why would we need anything else? Unless we as the body of Christ stop acting like babies and start developing our own relationship with our Father and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we will continue to allow people like this to play on our emotions and fleece us for everything we have. We MUST STOP giving to messages like this, because by doing so we are condoning it and encouraging these people to continue in their soulish manipulations. I don’t put the blame entirely on this evangelist, but on the rest of the body for allowing them to spoon feed us this sewage. They are only giving us what most of the body is crying for and paying for. It is time for the sons of God to say enough is enough and start being the body Jesus paid the price for us to become.

As we enter into the season of the spring feasts I start getting questions about do Christians need to keep them? Let me start by giving the quick answer NO and then I’ll explain what I mean.

Many years ago I began learning about the feasts of the Lord and trying to follow them mainly because they fascinate me. To me they speak of how big God is and how He knows the end from the beginning. He can institute a feast that meticulously describes an event that will take place thousands of years later- that really blows my mind! Anyway, I started associating with others that kept the feasts, mainly so I could learn more, but as time went on I became aware that my new acquaintances believed that if you are a Christian you must keep the feasts or you will not see God’s favor or His blessings in your life. Still being new to all this it was having a greater impact on me then I realized. Then one night the Lord woke me up saying, “you are starting to go down a very slippery path.” He then said, “Why do you desire to go back under the law?” Now understand that He wasn’t saying that by keeping the feasts I was going under the law, but the instant I started believing I could earn God’s grace or had to earn His grace by keeping the feasts, that was when I was putting myself under the law and not His grace. It’s all a matter of the heart. Why do you celebrate the feasts? I believe they are great and declare the greatness of my Father! They all point to Jesus, and if not, you are wasting your time. So if you celebrate, I want to remind you of one little thing as you celebrate Passover.

Col 2:16-17

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (NKJV)

Like I said before, the feasts are only shadows of what was to come; the reality of them is Jesus. He is the reason for the feasts because they point to Him and what He did. In Exodus we read that the Israelites placed the blood of the lamb (representing Jesus) on the door posts so that death would pass by, but what happens next is what I want to show you. Right after that Pharaoh set the Israelites free after having been slaves for hundreds of years. And when they left, there was NONE FEEBLE among them. They were all healed and healthy! The only burden they had was that of carrying their prosperity.

Ps 105:37

37 He also brought them out with silver and gold, And there was none feeble among His tribes. (NKJV)

Now if just the shadow of what Jesus did healed all the people, dare to believe what the reality can do. Jesus is that reality and He has paid the price so that you can be healed. You can be free of any physical, mental, financial, dis –ease you may be struggling with. Be healed in Jesus’ name!

Luke 9:51-56

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”*

55 But He turned and rebuked them,* and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.“* And they went to another village. (NKJV)

1. Disciples wanted to call down fire because of an offense like Elijah had done.
2. Jesus rebuked them because they wanted to act out of a wrong spirit.

What could be wrong with wanting to act like one of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament? You hear everywhere you go people saying they are called to be and act like Elijah, Elisha, David ect, but Jesus rebuked His disciples for doing what many Christians today are trying to do. The men and women of the Old Testament did not have their sins forgiven. They did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They only knew God who was at war against their sins, and they related to Him and others accordingly. Jesus rebuked them because God is no longer judging us according to our sins. Jesus took all sin and all judgment to the cross and forever satisfied God’s wrath.

John 12:30-33

Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” 33 This He said, signifying by what death He would die. (NKJV)

1. The world is being judged and it’s ruler (satan) is being cast out
   
2. The word “peoples” in verse 32 was not in the original Greek. It should read “will draw all to myself”
   
3. Jesus talks about His crucifixion.
   

Since we know that the subject in verse 31 is “judgment” and verse 32 He was speaking about how He would die. Jesus wasn’t saying that if you preach about my crucifixion everyone will come, He was talking about His upcoming death. In light of this we see that the subject in verse 31 carries over to verse 32 and so Jesus was saying,” If I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all judgment to Myself“. He was saying that when He died He would take all God’s wrath and judgment towards sin and all men to Himself! God isn’t about to judge you, Jesus has already been judged for you!

I am NOT condoning sin or saying that God does not care if you sin! Just that He does not change the way He relates to you based on if you are sinning or not. It is not based on your actions, but based on Jesus’ sacrifice. There are consequences to sin! When you sin you give a place to satan to come in and destroy your life. If you yield yourself to sin you yield yourself to the author of that sin (satan). (Rom 6:16) Satan will destroy you but God isn’t judging you. When you realize the free gift we have been given through Jesus you would have to be stupid to yield yourself to sin and allow satan to destroy you. But God loves you stupid!

Why do we need to know this?

1. Otherwise you will believe God is the problem, causing or allowing sickness as judgment and punishment.
   
2. You will always wonder about God’s will and never be truly able to be in faith. As long as you are not sure, you will always be on a rollercoaster of faith or unbelief.
   
3. You will be problem-focused instead of solution focused (Jesus).
   
4. You will judge people instead of ministering to them.
   
5. You will become purely works-based, prescribing things the person needs to live up to before God will move on their behalf.
   
6. You will minister condemnation and guilt which leads nowhere good.
   
7. You will confuse people.
   

Matt 10:34-36

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’;
36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household. (NKJV)

1. Jesus Himself said not to think He came to bring peace.
   
2. He came to set a man against his father, daughter against mother, daughter – in-law against mother-in-law.
   
3. A man’s enemy shall be in his own household.
   

Matt 24:6-8

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all* these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,* and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (NKJV)

1. Wars and rumors of wars
   
2. Nation against Nation
   
3. Kingdom against Kingdom
   
4. Famines
   
5. Pestilences
   
6. Earthquakes
   
   

With these verses it is impossible to come to the conclusion that Jesus came to bring peace on the earth between people. To do so would mean that you either do not know scripture or that you are intentionally being deceptive. If Jesus did not come to bring peace between men, then what do these verses say?

Luke 2:14

4 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
(NKJV)

The angels were announcing peace on earth and goodwill between God and man. Before Jesus there was enmity between God and man. Basically God was at war against man’s sin. The angels were proclaiming that the war was over; there was now peace between God and man. God was no longer pouring out wrath on man because of his sin.

2 Cor 5:17-19

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (NKJV)

1. Reconcile – To make friendly or to bring back into harmony.
   
2. God reconciled the world to Himself through Jesus.
   
3. Imputing– Accounting term means to hold against
   

Paul is telling us that God was in Jesus reconciling man back to Himself and not counting our sins against us, and not only ours but the sins of the whole world!

Rom 5:13

3 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (NKJV)

1. Law – Sin imputed
   
2. No Law – Sin is not imputed
   

1 John 2:2

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (NKJV)

Heb 8:12

2 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (NIV)

Heb 10:17

“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” (NIV)

Ps 103:12

2 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (NKJV)

God is not angry at us. He is not judging man because of sin. Jesus took all the sin of the world on Himself on the cross and paid the price. This is the good news! This is the message we are to declare to the world. Jesus has paid the price for your sins and all you have to do is receive that payment! God has reconciled Himself back to man through Jesus, now we just need to be reconciled to God. That is not saying that all are saved or that nobody will pay the price for sin. You will not receive the benefit of Jesus’ sacrifice if you don’t accept it by receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord. There will be eternal punishment if you refuse this free gift. It is not God judging you. You were already judged because of your sin and because you chose to remain the servant of satan, God is just allowing you to have what you have freely chosen. (Free Will)

    Talking to a friend the other day they were frustrated with their walk as a Christian. They were telling me they felt like a hypocrite. They were tired of telling people that they needed to love God with all their heart, soul, and body, when they themselves didn’t love God the way they felt they should. They were tired of teaching that we are to love one another when they didn’t love others they way they felt they should. They were saying, “I know I’m to love people and do to them how I would want them to do to me, but sometimes when the phone rings and someone needs help, I don’t want to answer it. I just want to go off by myself, away from everyone else.” They wanted to give up on ministering to others because they didn’t want to be a hypocrite. Now I know this person and they love the Lord tremendously and give themselves to others, but why was something wrong. And as I asked God for wisdom, I knew His answer was as much for me as for my friend.

    The problem was that my friend was trying to live up to an expectation of how much they should love God. Now loving God is a good thing but when you use how much you love God to measure your relationship with Him, then you are going back under the law. And under the law there is never freedom, only bondage and condemnation. Anything that points to your ability or focuses on you in any way is works and the law which brings death. We are called to live under grace which produces life. You see our spiritual maturity and health is not based on how much we love God but is dependent on the knowledge of how much He loves us. When we walk in the assurance of His love for us we will be able to overcome every obstacle, and endure every challenge, but when our relationship is based on how much we love God we will not stand and when challenges come (and they will) we will fall and possibly even deny Him.

    In John chapter 13 we get a picture of these two forms. On one side we see John reclining against Jesus declaring that he is the one Jesus loves. On the other side we see Peter not allowing Jesus to serve him because works serves God, and declaring that he would lay down his life for Jesus. When it was all over Peter who declared his ability and his love for Jesus denied Him three times, while John who rested on the fact that Jesus loved him, was standing at the cross before Jesus and agreeing to take care of His mother.

    So here is the answer. My friend, we need to quit basing our spiritual life and health on our love for God. That will only bring frustration and condemnation. We need to rest in the knowledge of His tremendous love for us. He has given us the most precious treasure of heaven – Jesus. He will freely give us all things and withhold no good thing. When we minister to someone we have His love for them as an assurance that He will withhold no healing or miracle from them. We don’t minister just out of our love but out of His love. We love because He first loved us. You are not a hypocrite if you operate out of His love instead of relying on your ability to love.

Be blessed!

1 John 2:2

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

John 3:17

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

2 Cor 5:18-19

18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Heb 10:17

then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

Rom 5:13

3 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

1 John 2:2

And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Why do we keep calling groups to come together to plead with God and ask Him not to judge this nation because of sins of its people? It seems like the perfect plan of the enemy to get a bunch of Christians to get together and pray, feel good about themselves, and think they’ve done what they need to do. Unless you get out and change the hearts and minds of individuals, you are not doing God’s will! We, the Christians are the ones that will be judged for what we’ve done with Jesus, and what our intentions are, not the sinners. The sinners will be judged whether they have received Jesus or not.

    First of all I want to make it very clear that I am not against prophetic words, experiences, or any prophets, or apostles, ect… Over the last 12 years, most of my times with the Lord have included prophetic words and experiences. These are very important and can be extremely beneficial to an individual. What I am trying to do is to break some mindsets that have become so pervasive throughout the church today. In a never ending attempt to “know what God’s will is” or to get a personal word from the Lord, Christians follow and are enamored with everyone that calls themselves a prophet or apostle. This is not the way God wants it to be! It has gotten to the point for many Christians that unless they hear a word from the Lord and have it confirmed three or four times they won’t do anything. Believing that this makes them more spiritual or as they call it, “doing only what they are led by the spirit to do.” In reality, most never do anything other than talk about what God has called them to do.

Heb 1:1-4

1 Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. 4 This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

Here we see that God spoke to the patriarchs through the prophets, but in the last days (that’s right now) He has spoken to us through His Son. You see, the Old Testament patriarchs did not have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. They were not one with Christ. They had to rely on the few who the Spirit would fall upon to tell them what God’s desire was. These days every Christian not only has the Holy Spirit in them but also the mind of Christ.

1 Cor 2:11-16

11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 13 These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

We have the ability to hear from God ourselves. Its o.k., especially in the beginning to use these gifted men and women to confirm what God’s will is so that you can gain confidence that you are hearing from God. But we must get to the point where we are not only able hear His voice for ourselves, but also to trust that we are hearing. Unlike man under the old covenant we have the ability to go directly to God for ourselves, we don’t need to have another man to go on our behalf. There is only one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus. Any other way is anti-Christ. It is essential we get to the point we know what God’s will is ourselves and act on it!

Another way to know the will of God is to look at Jesus.

Heb 1:3

3 The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

Jesus is the express image of God’s person or character. The Old Testament did not reflect God’s character, but it did reflect God’s holiness and justice. It showed how God had to deal with man based on his sin, not how God wanted to deal with man. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we can see how God deals with man when sin is no longer an issue. If you want to know what God’s will is, look at what Jesus did. Jesus showed us that it is always God’s desire to heal and bless man even though we don’t deserve it. That’s the point, we don’t deserve it and we never will. It’s all by grace, it’s all Jesus. Nothing you can do can take away from it or add to it. We can never repent enough or act sorry enough to appease God. We either believe and receive or doubt and do without. Even your repentance doesn’t change how God views you; it just changes your view of yourself and shuts the door to the devil. His view of you is entirely based on Jesus. So if you are presented with an opportunity to pray for someone or bless them then do it! You don’t need to ask God if He wants you to do it, Jesus did it so He wants you to do it!

Finally, if you wait to mature before you step out, you will never do anything. First all, you cannot mature without doing what you are commanded to do. You cannot study or learn your way to maturity. In order to mature spiritually you have to move beyond spiritual milk and eat meat.

Heb 5:12-14

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

John 4:32-34

32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work

As long as you are just learning, and not doing you are taking in milk only. I don’t care who told you they were giving you meat, they can only give you milk. It becomes meat as you put the revelation to use. Another way I like to explain it is found in James.

James 1:22-25

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.

When we hear or read the word and don’t do it it’s like looking in a mirror and seeing who we are. As we go away and don’t act like the image we saw, that image in our mind dims and we forget who we are. But if we view that image and when we turn away start acting and being who we were shown we are, that image is reinforced in our minds. Our minds are renewed and we become that image. When we become who He says we are, then we will have fulfilled what He called us to do.