Category: Hank’s Place

Welcome to Hank’s Place 

We’re concluding Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. Our takeaway thus far: stop trying to get it right for Jesus, stop our toils FOR Him, but let us remember that place of grace we lived in when we began our walk with Him, receiving the love of God freely.

How about the promise at the end of the letter? “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” In today’s world it sounds mysterious, puzzling to be sure. We have learned that Jesus is THE Overcomer, in us, and us in Him, making us Overcomer — believe it!

How about that “tree of life?” No puzzle for the Ephesians. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was built on the site of an ancient tree shrine. A date palm tree. It was known as a refuge – as a place of salvation. There were even coins in Ephesus that had a date palm tree, their tree of life and salvation, stamped on them.

So Jesus gives them a promise – using what was very familiar. Beside the sacred tree they all knew, there now grew a new, true, tree of life for the believer. Jesus is giving them a wonderful affirmation of their position in Christ. He is saying that they – as Overcomers – have the right to eat from the REAL tree of life. What an awesome promise!

Let’s move on to the next letter, written to the church at Smyrna, Rev 2:8-11. The picture Jesus gives them of Himself is, “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life.” Smyrna worshiped Dionysus, the Greek god of wine – who supposedly was killed and was brought back to life by his father Zeus. So when Jesus presents Himself as the Resurrected One, He is saying, ‘I am the reality to your myth.’

The city itself had been sacked by the Lydians, but 300 years later was rebuilt better than ever. She was a city that was dead and had come back to life. Thus Jesus’ picture is letting them know – HE knows them, very well indeed!

More next time – till then: be encouraged – for Jesus knows YOU very well indeed. Be encouraged – and COME ALIVE! 

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Welcome to Hank’s Place 

We have been looking at Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. The Ephesians were working really hard to do all the right things, to get it right for Jesus. And they were doing this because they had left their first love. They had forgotten how they were saved, who did the saving, who does the keeping!

Jesus gave them the remedy: Remember – Repent – Do. Remember the love of God for them. Repent, turn from toiling to exhaustion for Him and do their first deeds. Those first deeds? Sitting at the feet of Jesus, like Mary – and receiving His unconditional love.

If they did not heed His instructions, Jesus said He would come and move them to a new place. Move their candlestick. Well, if you are in a place of loveless exhaustion, Jesus moving you to another place would be a much better thing than it sounds on the surface.

What does it mean “to him who overcomes?” Jesus says this in all 7 letters. Many people define overcoming as a list of things you must do – prevailing in life’s trials – victory over spiritual enemies – conquering every sin –  resisting temptation – walking in daily victory. Try to keep a list like that and you’ll get stressed out. And you will fail – it’s the law in disguise. The truth: Jesus has overcome. Past tense. The Overcomer now lives in us. 1 Jn 4:4. As He is so are we in this world. 1 Jn 4:17. We are overcomers because of Jesus. Unless we forget who we are. And think we have to earn the title and position.

We are in Jesus – Jesus is in us – we stand in His victory. We are more than conquerors. Read again Romans 8, those last few verses. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. 

These Ephesians had forgotten His unconditional, gracious love and were working to earn what they had been freely given. My dear friend, please don’t forget how much God loves you. At the end of this video, I urge you to take a moment, and remember when Jesus was your everything. Enter again – His rest. Stay there, you will COME ALIVE! 

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We are looking at Jesus’ letter to the Ephesians,  Rev 2:1-7. They were working really hard to do all the right things, to get it right for Jesus. But their toils has worn them out. And Jesus told them why: they had left their first love.

Their first love? That’s God’s love for us, not our love for God. The Ephesians had somehow lost sight of His gracious love for them.“This is agape love, not that we loved God but that He loved us.” 1 Jn 4:10. Abiding in this agape love is how we are meant to live. But in a world that has always stressed performance and achievement, our personal best every time; it is not easy. 

If you were to ask the Ephesians if they loved Jesus, they would say, “Of course. Look at all we are doing for Him. Look at our labors – our toil – our perservance – our zero tolerance policy for bad doctrine.” Do you see, my friend? They were trying to PROVE their love for God, when all the while God simply wanted them to receive HIS LOVE. They had forgotten.… If it happened to them it can happen to any of us. So Jesus helps them with direct words.

“Remember!” He says. Remember the love of God that we experienced when we first met Jesus. Remember the Lord and His love for us, His grace, His mercies. Then repent. CHANGE direction: do what we did at first. And what was that? Sit at the feet of Jesus and receive His love.

That is not to say we should not work. There are two kinds of work. One is like the apostle Paul’s work.  Paul’s labor was a response to the love of God. 2 Cor 5:14. The other is the Ephesians’ work that wears a person out. The church might tell us through hard work we prove our love to God, prove our obedience, our willingness to sacrifice and in doing so we maintain our good standing with God, but that is not true; that is a Grace-less message!

Jesus is not pushing us to perform more, He wants us to rest – in him. Can you see that? Today, how about we trade in our performance for Jesus – to rest in Jesus. Make the trade – and COME ALIVE!

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To most people the letters to the 7 churches in the book of Revelation seem… threatening. Peter writes in 1 Pe 1:13, “…fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Where’s the GRACE Peter’s referring to?

Jesus gives John these letters. To be read in each church. Each letter opens with a picture of Jesus and closes with a promise. Pictures and promises – to build their faith – and ours, for the letters are written to all who have an ear to hear. And they are Good News!

The first letter, found in Rev 2:1-7, is to the church at Ephesus. The picture? Jesus holding seven stars in his right hand, walking among seven Golden lampstands. He holds us firmly in His grip no matter how dysfunctional we might be, and walks among us – that’s comforting!

He knows their toil and perseverance. They do not tolerate evil men, false apostles and Nicolatians. They have their perseverance and their endurance. BUT, there is a problem.

Remember He says, from where they have fallen. Repent – Turn; make a change of direction. Do the deeds they did at first. Remember – repent – do. Or He will remove their lamp stand. Hmmm.

We are in His Kingdom by His blood, by His grace, not our works or our performance! Same with those Ephesians. So why is Jesus referring to their labors and toiling several times? I suggest it is because they were working too hard. To prove themselves worthy? 

well their efforts were wearing them out. 

Jesus saw THEIR perseverance – there’s nothing wrong with perseverance if we are talking about the kind that comes from Jesus that bears good fruit. But the toilsome perseverance of the Ephesians was THEIRS, not His. So Jesus just says, “I see you.” He doesn’t complement their perseverance.

Those burnt out Ephesians – exhausted. Wondering what’s wrong. Aren’t they doing all the right things, touching all the bases, ticking off all the boxes – and it’s just not working. Sound familiar perhaps? 

“What is wrong?” they cry – and Jesus tells them: they have left their first love. 

What’s that about? We’ll find out – next time. Until then, remember, we are kept by grace, not performance. Dwell on that – and COME ALIVE! 

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John 1:18 reads, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made him known.” The “Father’s side” actually reads in the Greek, “in the bosom, the heart, of the Father.”

Jesus came – and has revealed the Father’s heart toward us. He healed the sick, raised the dead, cast out demons, corrected the religious lawyers, Pharisees, Sadducees, and gave true meaning to God’s words. He revealed God – being merciful and full of compassion: always.

When John is an old man, he receives a revelation from Jesus. It’s the last book of the Bible. Jesus identifies Himself as “the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” White hair like snow, eyes a burning fire, feet like burnished bronze, His voice like the roar of many waters. From His mouth a sharp two-edged sword, His face like the sun shining in full strength. Who holds the keys of death and hell. Almighty!

JESUS – revealed as Lord of Lords, King of Kings – who rules the universe. He then instructs John to write letters to 7 churches, to be read in each one. The letters have a common thread: He knows, really knows, each church. And it sounds like for most that He is not pleased with them. That they had better straighten up and do the right things, start producing for the Kingdom, or He will flush them down the, uh, tubes.

Where’s the kindly merciful, gracious Jesus of the Gospels? My dear friend I submit to you, for your consideration, that the 7 churches are actually receiving love letters from Jesus, but our mindset, and that of most theologians, and commentators and denominations, has been to continue to mix old and new covenants and read into Jesus’ words what He is NOT saying, namely rebukes and threats and ‘good works Christianity.’

We’ll take a look at these love letters and find that our Jesus of love, grace, and mercy has not changed. He is forever the God who loved you so much that He was willing to die for you rather than live without you. It’s time to throw off your Revelation fears – and COME ALIVE! 

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A children’s song begins with the phrase, “My God is so BIG! So strong and so mighty.…” It’s true! Out of nothing, in a moment of time – no wait – there was no time and there was not even “nothing” before Creation.

In 6 days He created the heavens, the earth, living plants and creatures – and then said, “Let us make man in our image.” Gen 1:26.

Most atheists embrace a popular theory called the Big Bang. Instantly, the stuff of the universe sprang into being from a single point – all of it – including space and time. How? “We can’t say,” they say. Then, over a great period of time life began on planet earth. By chance? Ha!

Molecular biologists (modern science increasingly supports Creationism) have looked into the ‘random chance’ required to form a single protein molecule from the 150 amino acids required – supposing a primordial ocean full of amino acids under perfect conditions. They calculate there would be one chance in 10 to the 164th power – assuming 6 thousand million billion trillion trillion trillion connection attempts per minute (perfect conditions).

That’s a big number! How much time is that? After all our universe is 4.6 Billion years old according to unbelievers. Well, the biologists ask us to consider an amoeba, moving a 1 foot/year, crossing the entire observable universe of 90 billion light years, carrying 1 atom from planet earth and back. You can see we have already passed the supposed age of the universe. Well, suppose that amoeba keeps going until all the earth is transported across the universe.

Then add our entire solar system including the sun. Then add the entire Milky Way galaxy. Don’t stop there, but add the entire universe being transported 90 billion light years, one atom at a time. Is that enough time for ‘chance’ to create a protein molecule? No! Do this 56 million more times!

That gives you an idea of how long it would take for a single protein to randomly form. And the simplest cell has over 300 proteins. And they all have to form, then come together, and work together, in a protective membrane (where did that come from?), simultaneously, to form a living cell.

By the way, for evolution to create a human – that’s chance over time, has been calculated as 1 in 10 to the 2,825,000 power. As Albert Einstein has said, “God does not play dice!” There is NO CHANCE of that having happened.

God created the heavens and earth. God placed LIFE upon the earth. His crowning achievement: making man in His image. You are precious, amazing, in His image, and so loved by God Himself that He was willing to die for YOU rather than live without you – think about that – rejoice – and COME ALIVE!

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Easter Sunday. We celebrate with great joy, for Christ is Risen, He has risen indeed! Just 3 days earlier, Jesus, upon Calvary’s Cross, declared, “It is finished.” “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” John 19:30, Lu 23:46. Although the Jews and Romans were instruments of Jesus death – in truth He surrendered His life to the Father, dying for the sins of humanity.

Sunday morning the women go to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body – but Jesus is not there! He has RISEN! This resurrection from the dead is proof that we have been justified, reconciled to God. Hallelujah!

Lu 24:5-8 records some women terrified at the sight of angels at the tomb who asked, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? …He is not here, but He has risen. Remember He told you He would rise again on the 3rd day.” They thought someone had stolen Jesus’ body. We would have too.

As the women leave, Jesus makes a special appearance to Mary. She hugs Him like crazy! Jesus says, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, `I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”  Jn 20:17.

To fully accomplish redemption Jesus had to ascend – to sprinkle the genuine Mercy Seat in heaven with His own blood – MERCY. How unlike the blood of Able that cried out for vengeance from the earth. 

“My Father and your Father.” Whoa! Islam has no Father God. Buddhists don’t. Hindus don’t. But you do!

“… God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace we have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace we have been saved through faith – it is the gift of God” Eph 2:4-9.  

GO, in the grace of God, let others know Christ is Risen – help them COME ALIVE!

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We’ve been talking about “knowing the will of God” – “doing God’s will” or, “being obedient to His will.” Last time we found in Hebrews 8:11 that God said “I will be their God, And they shall be My people. And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me.” 

The word ‘know’ used here conveys the same intimacy as between a husband and wife. My friend, that’s God’s desire for us – to know Him that well! Is that awesome or what? It totally flies in the face of all that religious talk that places God far away in heaven somewhere and us so weak, feeble, insignificant, and certainly unworthy of notice by the Almighty.

We are sons of God! In union with Jesus. Sealed with the Spirit. His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. We are forever accepted in the beloved.

So desire to be in His will, for God has purposed GOOD for you. Don’t be afraid! And God is well able to cause you to be in His will – smile.

Things still a little cloudy you say? I understand. There’s enough junk in the world coming at us all the time seeking to distract us from Jesus, get us drawn away. Well, there is something you can do about it. PRAY  ABOUT  IT. Not any old way. But like Paul did for the Colossians..

In Col 1:9 Paul writes, “… we (he and timothy) have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” There you go! Pray you be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

The next verse tells us what happens: we will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, we will please Him in all respects, we will bear fruit in every good work and we will increase in the knowledge of God….” Pretty good, eh?

TODAY — PRAY that for yourself – it’s God’s word to you – and COME ALIVE!

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Knowing God’s will, knowing what He desires for us and from us – we all want to know that, right? Yet most Christians over “doing God’s will” or simply “be obedient.” And the BIG part of these struggles is finding out just what IS God’s will.

Little do they, and perhaps you too, know that the BIG part is really the LITTLE part! Check out Hebrews 8:10-11 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel (that’s the New Covenant in Jesus’ blood), After those days, (when the Old Covenant has been superseded) says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, And I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, And they shall be My people. “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me.” 

Whoa – this is HUGE. Under the New Covenant, everyone will know the Lord. God has placed ‘laws of living’ – in our minds. He has written it here – upon our hearts. It is saying we have understanding of His will; and a heart of obedience. Our performance or lack thereof cannot change it.

You say you have no idea of His will from day to day? Not so! Just this morning for example, as Mary and I were getting up, I gently massaged her forehead and head. She exclaimed, “That feels so good! How did you know that it was hurting? I didn’t even know it was hurting until you put you hand on my head.” It’s Spring here in Texas and all the pollens in the air can make heads pretty stuffy. 

 Well, I didn’t know her head hurt. She didn’t know her head hurt. But the Spirit knew. I didn’t have a vision about it, no angels appeared, no thunderous voice from heaven. Without thinking, without praying, without meditating on a Scripture, I just stretched out my hand to the woman I love so much, and touched her. 

Walking in the Spirit, walking in the will of God, is like this example. So be confident today my friend. Want to be in the will of God? Then you ARE in the will of God. Just walk it out – and COME ALIVE!

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Last time we looked at 1 Peter 5:7, “Casting all our cares upon Him for He cares for you.” Everything that steals our peace of mind – even the little things in our day to day life, matters very much to our Father!

Then we looked at the preceding verses, 5 & 6, and heard Peter telling us to put on humility, for God is opposed to the proud but gives GRACE to the humble. Let us humble ourselves – like the children of Israel in the Exodus from Egypt. At the proper time, God exalted them. They went out victorious and although some things went wrong in the desert (unbelief), Israel made it through by God’s hand, conquering over 30 kings in the process and possessing their Promised Land.

Peter warns that the proud, those who deal with life on their terms, will not have God’s help. And nor will those who worry, for both do not cast life’s cares over to God. He wants to help, is waiting to help, but they are resisting Him.

There’s more to learn about worry and fear. If we look at the following verses 8 & 9, we find Peter urging us to be on the alert for the devil is roaring like a lion! I’ve been to Africa, and there is nothing like a lion roaring to send a shiver up your back, fill your heart with fear and urge you to take action, any action, to get away from there.

In the Garden of Eden the devil suggested to Adam and Eve that God could not be trusted; that He had questionable motives. But if THEY took action – they could become as gods.

No different today, friends. We have mixed up messages all around: God is good, but He is going to beat the daylights out of you. He loves you but might send cancer on you to teach you a lesson. Untruths urging us to distrust God – to discount the precious blood of the Lamb.

We’ve all heard those evil thoughts, “Don’t wait for God – He can’t be trusted – YOU TAKE ACTION – now!”

Don’t listen to those evil words. Humble yourself by rolling your cares onto God’s big big shoulders. Wait patiently for His deliverance – for He is faithful – and COME ALIVE!

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