Archives for November 2015

Mark Maulding’s Blog 2015-11-25 02:42:00

For the past year, my 24 year old daughter has been very sick. She has autoimmune encephalitis which basically means that her immune system is attacking her brain, attempting to kill it. It started last December with psychiatric problems such as hearing voices, seeing people who weren’t there, irrational fears, and a complete psychotic break down. At first, we had no idea what was wrong. She was in the hospital for 4 days and over the next three months would visit 16 doctors, have multiple tests and be admitted to the ER three times. No one could find what was wrong. The only diagnosis was PTSD and sleep deprivation. She eventually became unable to feed herself and so listless that the weekend before she was to go to Duke University Hospital, Ellen and I prayed she wouldn’t die. Once there, she was finally accurately diagnosed and hospitalized for five days while being given 1000 mg of steroids through an IV.

About the second day in the hospital, I asked myself some honest but troubling questions. “Have I been fooling myself all of these years about Jesus? Is He really real?” You see, hundreds of people were praying for Bekah and she was getting worse by the day, not better. The reason I was able to be honest about my doubts was I knew that if what I taught people, which is that we are united with God, He would take me from that place of questioning and doubt to wherever He wanted me to go. And, He did. That was in April.

Not only did He assure me that He was real, somewhere along the way I began to thank God for everything which was happening, not only with Bekah, our daughter, but other challenges. For example, I discovered I had precancerous tissue in my esophagus after an endoscopy for reflux. The foundation of our house sank twice and one of those has been fixed to date (not cheap!). Our roof is still leaking after two repairs. Our missionary support took a nose dive, our only means of getting a paycheck. Ellen and I became exhausted because of alternating nights of keeping an eye on Bekah. My newly rebuilt transmission started having problems. And much, much more.

How am I able to “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and proclaim sincerely that God is good, faithful, loving, and sovereign? There is only one answer to that. Jesus who lives in me is rising up enabling me to do all of it. (2nd Peter 1:3)

How about you? Are you thanking God for all of the bad happening in your life as well as the good? Are you able to proclaim how good God is in your circumstances? If not, turn to Jesus and tell Him everything you feel. Ask Him to bring you to this place of thanksgiving for all. It’s only as He rises up within us that we can do this in such a way that we actually have peace.

Don’t get me wrong. I am praying for and believing God to heal my daughter. We are getting her the best medical treatment available. We want her, this young adult who now has the mentality of a three year old, to be restored to the joyful, outgoing independent person she once was; but, I am still thanking Him along the way. It’s still very stressful and sad to see her like this. But I am able to still thank God. (2nd Cor. 12:10)

This is the Gospel of grace meeting real life. What an amazing Jesus we have in us!

Believe it! It’s the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Answering an Objection to My Blog: A Christian Can’t Break Fellowship with God

I received an email strongly objecting to a blog I wrote recently. It was the one stating a Christian Can’t Break Fellowship with God. The concern was two-fold. First, that the teaching of complete forgiveness will lead a person to stop confessing their sins to God and into a belief that it’s Ok to sin. I addressed that part last week. If you missed it, go to www.MarkMaulding.com and check it out.

The second strong concern stated that we definitely lose our fellowship with God when we sin. Please join me below in my response. (BTW, I’d much prefer someone to email me with their concerns about something I write rather than just opting out. At least I can address it. Of course, I always enjoy emails people send stating how much they were encouraged by the blog, as well.)

I am unaware of any Scripture which says a Christian breaks fellowship with God when he/she sins. If that were the case, every Christians would constantly be breaking fellowship with God. Here is why I say that. Romans 14:23 defines sin as not living by faith, that is, not living dependent on God. If we are not depending on God, we are depending on our flesh. The context of that verse is certainly in the context of eating meat sacrificed to idols but it is a truth which transcends that issue. Any time a person lives even one second depending on their flesh, rather than God, that is sin. This means we all sin a lot more often than we are aware of.

The word fellowship means partnership or partaker. With this in mind, fellowship with God is two-fold. The first has to do with our wonderful position of our union with God the moment of our salvation. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. That union cannot be broken by a Christian’s sin. There is a common belief that when a Christian sins, some kind of barrier comes between that person and God until that sin is confessed to God. In the New Covenant, God removed forever any barrier between the believer and Himself when Jesus Christ died and was resurrected according to Hebrews 10:17. Then He says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” To lose fellowship with God would mean to lose your salvation.

The second meaning of fellowship is our experience of intimacy with God. This is the enjoyment we have when we commune with God. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14. Can we stop enjoying our intimacy with God? Yes, absolutely but it’s not because He recoils from us when we sin. When a Christian sins, they are not experiencing fellowship/intimacy with God in that moment at all. They are living as if they are separated from God though they are not. If we could lose fellowship with God, it would mean we lose our union with God. We can’t be separated from our God with Whom we are united. Otherwise, we would be jumping in and out of Christ all day long. And He would be jumping in and out of us.

Believe it! It’s the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Teaching Complete Forgiveness Leads Christians to Sin?

God knew that the teaching of His complete forgiveness of our past, present and future sins would appear to be a license to give Christians the OK from God to sin. That is why He clearly addresses it showing the complete opposite. Let’s look at why the Gospel of Grace leads us to live a righteous life instead of a sinful one.

God’s grace is greater than the sins of any unbeliever. Romans 5:20-21 says, The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God is clearly saying that His grace is greater than the sin of the most despicable sinner so that he/she can be saved. In 1Timothy 1:12-16 Paul shows this saying God saved him as the foremost of sinners. His point was that if God could save a persecutor of Christians to the point of giving hearty approval of the murder of Stephen in Acts 8:1, He could save anyone.

God’s grace is also greater than the sins of any Christian. No Christian can commit any sin Jesus did not already forgive through the death of Jesus according to these Scriptures: Colossians 2:13, When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. Ephesians 1:7, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 4:32, Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Hebrew 8:12, “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 10:12, But He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. Hebrews 10:14, For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Hebrew 10:17-18, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

God knows that His complete forgiveness is going to appear to mean that a Christian can just go out and sin because of grace. He answers why this is absolutely not true in Romans 6:1-2, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? God’s answer is that anyone who believes God’s forgiveness gives a Christian permission to sin is dead wrong and doesn’t understand the Gospel completely. The reason grace is not a license to sin is that we died to sin and were made alive to Him. Romans 6 spends the remainder explaining what this means. God tells how our old nature, our sinful identity in Adam, which loved to sin, was once and for all put to death with Jesus on the cross. He shows clearly that we are no longer a slave of sin but of righteousness. In other words, a complete understanding of grace will never lead the believer into sin but will give him/her the desire and power to overcome it. Another way of saying this is that our new nature, our identity in Christ, hates to sin and desires to live a righteous life which glorifies God.

Neither I nor Grace Life International teach or believe that God’s complete forgiveness is a license to sin. To the contrary, we believe and teach that when the Gospel is understood in its entirety, a person will see their sins more clearly and confess them to God (meaning they are in agreement with God that they did not act like who they are) being assured of their forgiveness by God through the blood of Jesus. We also believe that God’s grace will lead a person to turn from sin and live a righteous, holy life consistent with who they already are in Christ and Who Christ is in them. That’s repentance leading to real freedom. We see freedom from all kinds of sins happen every week at GLI from believing the truth.

Truth sets people free. Error keeps them in bondage.

Believe it! It’s the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

Why Halloween May Not Have Been Demonic

Recently on Halloween, millions of kids dressed up to go from house to house in hopes of getting enough candy to give them a stomach ache for three days. It seems like innocent fun but many Christians wrestle with whether to let their kids participate.

Here are a few questions at play on this issue. Am I teaching my kids to worship Satan by letting them do this? Am I personally worshipping Satan by letting my kids do this? Will I open my kids up to demonic attacks? Every parent must answer these questions if they are to live a life pleasing to the Lord in this area. Ellen and I had to do this ourselves when our kids were very young as we were coming out of legalistic Christianity into our freedom in Christ.

What does the New Covenant teach us about Halloween in the Bible? The closest passage to this is found in 1 Corinthians 8. In this case, the issue was whether or not a Christian could eat a grilled steak whose meat had been sacrificed to idols. It’s an eye opening read because the Holy Spirit does not say through Paul that they shouldn’t do it because it would displease the Lord or open them up to demonic attacks. He comes at it from a perspective of freedom in Christ and loving our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Paul made clear the knowledge of the Gospel and how God provides freedom for some Christians to do this, but not all. He hedges a little by saying in verse 4. For even if there are so called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. The first part might be a reference to the demonic world.

The Christians who knew this and believed it were simply living out their freedom in Christ. Yet, Paul warns that they may need to put the brakes on their freedom for the sake of loving a Christian who doesn’t understand that freedom yet. Because, if they saw them eating in the temple and went and did the same without understanding our freedom in Christ, it would be sin for them. Love sometimes limits our public freedom in Christ.

Similarly, many of you may have a completely clear conscience before God that your kids can go trick or treating. Others of you are not there yet and for you, no matter how many of your Christian friends let their kids do this, you shouldn’t. Why? Because for you, it would be sinful. Take your kids to a local church instead as a wonderful alternative.

Christians who live free in this area, don’t invite your friends who don’t. Show them the love of Christ and don’t make them stumble in their conscience before God. And Christians who don’t believe you are free to participate in Halloween, don’t condemn those who do. No matter which of these camps you fall into, your decision will be pleasing to the Lord according to 1 Corinthians 8 as well as Romans 14:1-22 through 15:1-12 as long as you live in love towards those in the opposite camp.

Whether you think it is safe for your kids to get candy from your neighbors is a different matter which each parent must weigh as well. I’ve simply written from a New Covenant perspective.

Concluding words: I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. Romans 14:14

Believe it. It’s the Gospel.

Live Free in Christ,

Archives for November 2015

Charlotte