Author: Hank

Welcome to Hank’s Place. 8/11 

Here at Hank’s Place we believe that God is a God of Grace – Grace: unmerited favor. Is there any other kind? Can you earn grace? Of course not! Think: when someone asks you a favor – they haven’t done stuff to earn that favor have they? No, that’s why it’s called a favor. And grace is God’s unmerited favor – that’s the definition. I think they put in the word unmerited just in case you are inclined to think there is something you can do to earn God’s grace.

Paul defined his ministry in Acts 20:24 as something which he “received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.” See? The Good News is that unmerited favor of God, is directed toward you and me, toward everyone who believes upon Jesus.

Someone scholars define grace as His “lovingkindness toward us” — God blesses those who believe in Christ Jesus for NO OTHER REASON than it pleases Him!

Remember what Paul and Silas said to the Philippian jailer when he asked, “What must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Acts 16:31.

This is not some mysterious thing. God gave us His son Who is our Savior. If we believe this, it becomes reality for us. This is not some complicated theological structure my friend. Christ gave His life to those who need life. Who are honest enough to say “Help, I do not have it all together.” And God responds “I am your very great helper.” And suddenly there is Jesus – your life changer, New Creation maker, on the scene of the shattered mess of your life!

And it all changes – for the good! What’s that? Are yousaying I don’t know the troubles you have, the troubles you have caused yourself and others? Or your incurable sickness or whatever? I don’t have to, friend! Take a look at Jesus in Mt 14:14. It says He looked at the crowds of people. He felt sorry for them and healed their sick, irregardless of anything.

Irregardless. Because He is the God of compassion. God is not against us. God is for us, with us, and through Jesus is in us. Col 1:27. May that reality burst upon you my friend: you’ll COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place.  

I so enjoy sharing with you the incredible change to living, real living, that the Cross, that Jesus’ life given for us, has made. Life is all about Jesus. God’s mercies and grace, His love expressed toward us, is revealed in Christ Jesus – and it just keeps getting better the more we come to know Him!

Before the Cross, there was the Law – it was the epitome of what Paul calls the elementary principles of this world, Col 2:8 & 20. Men had come up with own ideas of how live to get ahead, to succeed. God gave us His: the LAW.
It one sense it is very logical, ‘easy’ to assimilate and understand.

Paraphrasing, “If you do well, you will be rewarded – if you do not do well, you will be punished.” Look around this world – everywhere you look you find this same practice. People struggling to keep their version of the Law.

What “Doing well” means may vary. God’s Law has only good things, but people may come up with odd things, questionable things that include cheating, stealing, back stabbing and worse. People call them ‘good’ if they can get away with them.

But then we have GRACE. And grace is beyond puzzling.Take David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Who became an adulterer and murderer. And by grace became the Psalmist once again.

Or Peter, who swore he would never deny Christ and did just that – 3 times. Declaring something 3 times in Jewish culture made it a permanent and irrevocable truth – but wait! Peter became Jesus’ messenger and leader in the early Church.

Then there was Zacchaeus: tax collector and crook. Someone has said the cleanest part of his life was the money he laundered. But grace abounded; Jesus had time for him and it changed Zacchaeus’ life.
Grace upon grace.

It seems God is looking for more ways to ‘get us home’ – to include us – than to keep us out. There is not person who came to God seeking grace and did not find it! Receive His grace today my friend, and COME ALIVE!

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Is the venom, poison, and downright evil so prominently displayed in all arrogance on social media getting you down?

Well, it’s the world, and the world talks death. You on the other hand are not of this world. That kind of talk is not you. As a representative of the Kingdom of God, you can LET YOUR VOICE be that of Heaven’s conversation. Good words, edifying words, building up others. Speaking the truth in love. Some use that verse as an excuse to put down others while piously claiming it is in love. There is a way to speak that encourages people to listen, not shut their ears, and by the Holy Spirit you do know how. Not sure? Listen to the voice of the Spirit and repeat! Simple, eh?

Here’s something else on the topic of speaking. Your words have authority in this world. In Mt 16:19 Jesus said to His disciples. “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” 

In Luke 9:1 He gave the 12 power and authority over all demons and to heal all diseases. It gets better! To the 70 ‘others’ – believers like you and me, in Lu 10:19, Jesus declares He has given us authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and NOTHING will injure us. This is supported by His words to His followers in Mark 16:17-18.

Most of us have never even thought about binding demons or demonic powers, never thought of casting them out. How about loosing people from bondages to sinful behavior? If prayers don’t seem to work, it’s likely time to rebuke those demons my friend. 

This is your privilege, your RIGHT as a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Don’t let the devil have a field day in your life or in the lives of loved ones or friends! It’s the day to speak freedom – binding – loosing – healing – delivering – helping many to COME ALIVE! 

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The New Testament is full of amazing truths of what had happened as a result of Calvary. They are hiding in plain sight – they can only be spiritually revealed.
For instance, Col 1:13-14 reveals God has translated us OUT of the domain of this world and IN to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. In Jesus we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This world is full of accusation, condemnation, lusts and evil desires, and worse. But none of it need affect our behavior my friend, for none other than GOD HIMSELF has translated us into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, where righteousness, peace and joy are keystones. Ro 14:17. We don’t dwell on sin, for we have been forgiven our sins through the blood.

In Jn 17:14 and 16, Jesus declares we are not OF this world even as He was not of this world. That’s a statement with profound implications. One is that the world will not like us – hate us even – for we are not like them.

Since we are in the world, how can we be SURE we are no longer OF it? Eph 1:3 tells us, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

God has placed His Holy Spirit into us. This passage speaks of the Holy Spirit as our engagement ring – down payment and evidence of an unbreakable promise of eternal life together, with God has been made.

Imagine my friend. Imagine. One with God. By GRACE. What love! For awhile we are still living in this world, and the world seeks to distract us from the truth. The world accuses and seeks to condemn us before God. The world throws doo-doo at us and shouts, “Look at you, you miserable wretch who dares to call him/herself a Christian!”

But you know the truth, don’t you – there is no longer any condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Ro 8:1. We ARE the righteousness of God in Him. Regardless. 2 Cor 5:21.

And that doo-doo thrown on you? It cannot stick to those robes of righteousness that clothe you my friend! Be of good cheer – in Christ Jesus you have overcome the world. 1 Johne 4:4, 5:4, 5:5 – hallelujah!
Rejoice in this truth today dear overcomer, and COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place. 7/24

There is a remarkable revelation about this world, and it’s found in Is 14:12-17 where Isaiah writes with regard to a world ruler, and the ruler of this world – the devil. The devil made a great start, but then unrighteousness was found in him. In this passage the devil is recorded saying, “I will ascend to heaven…I will raise my throne above the stars of God (the other angels)…I will make myself like the Most High.”

A heart lifted up with pride. Lucifer and his followers tried to overthrow the throne of God most high. Failing in that, he then goes tempting Adam and Eve with pride, saying to them in Gen 3:4, “…the day you eat from it (the forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” We all know the outcome of that, and pride has been rampant in the world ever since!

And that’s sad, for by pride comes ONLY contention – Pr 13:10. Just look around you – the world is full of conflict, strife, turmoil and war, and it call all be traced back to pride. PRIDE DOES NOT LISTEN TO OTHERS. Wisdom does.

Pride drives a person to achieve, get ahead, contend with others — to beat them, win, succeed over all others. Misunderstandings, disagreements, matrimonial friction, family turmoil? Bet you will find closed ears; closed by pride.

Pride exalts itself above true relationship to God, as Isaiah’s words reveal. So, how does one ‘get humble’ you may ask. Glad you asked!

As a believer, your ears ARE open to Jesus – My sheep hear my voice – John 10:27. So, just LISTEN! Before you blurt out, “I know” or “I will” or seek to direct – or control – others, LISTEN to the Holy Spirit. Listen first, and listen continually as you go through daily life.

A cool thing is that humility is associated with lowliness, thinking ‘low’ of yourself. And wisdom. Check out Pr 11:2, Ro 12:6, and Ja 1:9.

A truly humble person cannot be humiliated. How can you put down someone who is already low and sitting at the feet of Jesus as Mary did in Lu 10:39, or the demoniac in Lu 8:35. They sat, they listened, and they CAME ALIVE!

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Paul in Col 1:27 tells us of a mystery, a rich and glorious one – Christ, the Anointed One, God Himself, was LIVING IN the Colossian believers. How can that be? They were ignorant of the Mosaic Covenant and all that people must do to be acceptable to God. They were Gentiles. They had no covenant with God. No Ten Commandments. No rites, rituals and observations from on high. So what did they DO to earn the right to have God Himself living IN them, making them complete in Him, and blessing them with every spiritual blessing?

The simple answer: THEY DID NOTHING. OBEYED NOTHING. They BELIEVED the Good News friends, that GOD had accomplished salvation, and offers it freely to everyone. Forgiveness of sins. Justification. Righteousness. Eternal life. Thanks to the BLOOD of the CROSS, people w/o a clue to the ways of the Living God found this Living God—LIVING IN THEM!

A few miles to the east of Colossae, the Galatians were in a pickle. Some law-abiding Jewish believers had come by to try to get them to obey all the Jewish Laws in order to be ‘proper’ ‘authentic’ Christians.

Paul corrected them in the book of Gal, especially chapt 3, vs 2-12. Here are some snippets: “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? …does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? …

He reminds them, and us, that Abraham BELIEVED GOD, and God counted him RIGHTEOUS. And then he quotes from  the Old Testament, saying that you can’t obey just some of the law, but you must obey ALL the rules or you put yourself under a curse! He hammers the point that the Righteous (that’s YOU because of the Blood) live by faith and focusing on keeping the rules is NOT of Faith.

If you have been trying to be a good-little-obedient-rule keeping Christian that God can be proud of, well, your thinking is mixed up.

We were made to live by the Spirit. DON’T GO BACK to observing rules, even perfect rules like the Ten Commandments. Don’t look back. Stay on this side of the CROSS — keep looking to Jesus, learn more about living by the Spirit. That’s how you Come Alive and Stay Alive in this nasty generation!

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In Moses’ day, people were afraid of God, and rightly so! They asked Moses to bring down orders from headquarters, and all that God says, they promised to do. That’s Ex 19:8. BOOM – there were the 10 C’s among others rules. All required strict adherence, through the power of the flesh. But flesh is weak, so although the commandments appeared to be rules to keep, they were in fact a mirror – to point out our shortcomings. And they were perfect at it.

Back in Jesus’ day there was trouble! For over a 1,000 years the Jewish leaders had opportunity to learn that mankind cannot obey God’s rules – we need a Savior. By Jesus’ time they should have or certainly could have, been ready to receive Jesus as that Savior – after all, it was the fullness of time.

But the Pharisees and law teachers placed their traditions and interpretations ahead of God’s Laws. They emptied the Law of the power to condemn. The Law’s perfect purpose was thwarted: sin was not being named as sin, and the self-righteous were not being silenced.

Today in so many places we hear a mixed message. Law – just listen for the “if’s” – “if you do this, then God will do…” or, “you need to do this before God will do… something” Mixed with GRACE – when you hear what God has done, especially concerning Calvary, you are hearing grace. Acts 20:24 says the Gospel is the Good News of His GRACE. You may hear that God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us keep the 10C’s. This is incorrect! Gal 3:12 says, “But the Law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”” The Law is a “to do” list. It is NOT of faith, and it’s faith that pleases God. Ro 1:27 “The just shall live by faith”. Heb 11:6 “…without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Here’s the point of today’s Hank’s Place. The Holy Spirit is NOT GOING TO HELP US KEEP A SET OF RULES. Rules are NOT of Faith. Read Gal 3:12 for yourself. It is only faith that pleases God.

There are a lot of voices out there, a lot of confusion when Law and Grace are mixed. Don’t be confused my dear friend. Simply walk in the Spirit, live in the Spirit. Find true LIFE by simple faith in the Living God – you will enter His rest my friend. You will Come Alive!

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We have been pointing out that the Cross has changed….everything. And it is all for the GOOD!

Today’s message is so freedom inspiring that I’m concerned your head may explode if you are locked into performance based religion. Ready for the challenge? OK, let’s think about the Gospels. Where is the Cross in the Gospels? Near the end of each one, right? Now THINK! That means all of what you read in the Gospels, until the very end, are events that happened UNDER THE LAW. Jesus was born, lived, and died under the LAW.

When Jesus spoke, it was to people who were under the LAW. Keep in mind that the Gospel is the Good News of the GRACE of God that would come to us AFTER Jesus did His marvelous work at Calvary. Let’s look at an example of this GRACE from Calvary.

In Mt 6:14-15 Jesus says, “…if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” Read that and you see God’s forgiveness of you is conditional on your forgiveness of others. When Jesus spoke those words, BEFORE the Cross, it was totally TRUE.

But we are living AFTER the Cross, my dear friend! Let’s read Col 2:13, written AFTER the Cross. Paul writes, “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.” Friend, we were forgiven while we were lost and dead in our sins. And read Col 3:13, “bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.”

So what do we believe? Do you have to forgive first in order to be forgiven, or are you already forgiven? Before the Cross, you must forgive FIRST. AFTER the Cross, you forgive – in overwhelming thankfulness at knowing you yourself have already been forgiven. Before the Cross, forgiveness was something God would DO—only IF YOU did your part first. After the Cross, forgiveness is something God GIVES. It’s a gift by God’s grace—something you receive. The Gospel is the Good News, declaring what GOD has done for us, not what we must do to satisfy God!

My dear believing friend: you ARE already forgiven – give a shout out to Jesus! Get rid of any condemnation you may be under — RECEIVE that gift of forgiveness. Then, in gratitude and joy, forgive others—and COME ALIVE! 

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In Matthew 14, Jesus, after feeding 5,000 men plus women and children, instructs His disciples to get into a boat and cross over, while He dismisses the crowds, then goes up a mountain to pray through the night.

There He sees them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them. And comes to them, walking on the water. Peter asks Jesus to bid him to come — Jesus does, and we find Peter miraculously walking on the water to Jesus.
Peter had a word from God: “Come.” By God’s word the universe sprang into being; God’s words are – substantial. The word was both an invitation and a promise from GOD – to be believed.

And Peter believed! Peter was walking on the water! Then he looked at his situation. Saw the wind. Began to sink. The promise was real – the invitation to do what no man had ever done before was real. Peter believed – then the situation surrounding him caused him to let go of the promise. It has happened to all of us.

Thankfully, Jesus was still there and rescued Peter, as He has done for us, again and again. God promises to keep His promises toward us. That’s Gen 28:15. He does. God watches over His word to perform it. Heb 1:12. That’s another way of saying He makes sure He keeps all His promises! And He does.
Our part, so that grace may abound, is to believe the word of God, holding fast to the promises He has made toward us.

Unlike Peter, let us keep a focused eye upon Jesus – not the situation around us. Not what we see; not what others are saying; but what God has said.

Today friend, consider His promises toward you. Put GOD in remembrance of those promises. How? When you pray don’t pray the problems only – include the promise.

As David did in so many Psalms. David would begin talking about his enemies, then go on to remind God that he knows who He is praying to, the Almighty One, who has sw orn to keep His promises. Of protection, provision, deliverance, victory.

Miracles await you. Talk more about His promises, not what did not or is not working – and you’ll COME ALIVE!

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We have been pointing out that the Cross has changed….everything. The Cross tells us He loves us more than His own life! It tells us that if God is for us, nothing can stand against us, not even our own sin!

The blood of the Lamb of God has purchased our forgiveness. Sin no longer has a claim on us, hallelujah! Because it is Almighty Father who has qualified us, our sins cannot disqualify us. The only way we can lose out is if we fail to believe the Good News!

Before the Cross we were slaves to sin, with no escape. Try to do good, or purpose to do bad – it made no difference: we remained slaves to sin. But AFTER the Cross we have a choice: stay in the prison or run free. The prison doors are open! Live according to the old Law of sin and death, or live according the Law of the Spirit of LIFE in Christ Jesus! Either way, you are free to choose thanks be to JESUS.

Here’s a hint: if your spiritual life seems based on conditions, if you find yourself saying, “I’ll be blessed IF I do such and such,” or, “I’ll miss a blessing if I miss my morning prayer time” – well, that tells me you have yet to make the right choice, to LIVE FREE in Jesus! Maybe you are just waffling. Well, STOP IT.

God qualifies us and clothes us with His robes of righteousness. It’s all through Jesus Christ. But if you ignore what Jesus has done, you wind up remaining under the Law.

Look—God did not redeem you because He was looking for a servant. He redeemed you so He could show you His matchless grace. Also, consider this: God gave up His son for us. So how are you going to pay Him back? We can’t! Instead of thinking that way, let your life be a shining testimony of the generosity of your gracious Father.

Some people say, God will bless you as you do your part. Friend, your part is to BELIEVE God has done it ALL, and has chosen to bless us abundantly as we simply believe and enter His rest. It’s past time for you to be a son in His wonderful family. So join the FAMILY; get those happy feet a dancing, and Come Alive!

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