Category: Hank’s Place

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In Jeremiah 2:13, it reads, “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

What a picture! And religious people are still doing the same thing today. Rejecting the Living God with His Living Waters, and making their own religious cisterns – full of stagnant water IF they could hold water at all, but they are broken! Are you dry? In a place without water – is church so dry and you feel trapped in a DIY religion where your “to-do” list is off the charts? 

In Jn 7:37-38 it reads, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast (of Tabernacles), Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being (that’s YOUR innermost being my friend) will flow rivers of living water.’”” When you come to Jesus you get to drink from living waters, true refreshment, and you become a conduit for those rivers of living water.

So let me ask you again, is your religious life dry, drier, the driest ever? Come back to Jesus! Religion, religious thinking and practices may have turned you toward their cracked and empty cisterns of promises based upon works and performance, but just come back to JESUS!

In John 4, we see Jesus resting at a well in Sychar, when a Samaritan woman approaches. Jesus asks her for a drink. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, and it was not proper to speak to a woman in public. But Jesus breaks through tradition, religion, custom and prejudice. The woman is shocked. Jesus go on saying, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” He adds, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 

Jesus is giving this Samaritan woman, an outcast, the same message He would later give to the crowds in Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. John 7. No one is left out. All are invited. 

 Dear friend, are you thirsty? Then you are qualified! Come afresh to Jesus and drink from the Living Waters of the Spirit – and COME ALIVE!

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Today we have – Illustrations.

Here we have a bowl of coffee beans. (point to beans) Green. Unroasted. 100% the genuine article plucked from the coffee bushes. When the beans are subjected to high temperatures, they transform into this: (point to bowl of roasted beans). Into something wonderful. Having aroma. Flavor. Taste. Desirable. The heat was external and it transformed those beans.

Can you see that there is no going back for those beans? A coffee bean may continue to think, if it could think, that it is the same old green bean it always was from inception, without flavor, aroma, taste—but it is not! It has been transformed. That bean needs to have its coffee bean mind renewed to the truth of what it has become. To put off the old thinking and think according to the truth. 

It is the same for you and I – we have been transformed by a power external to ourselves: the Holy Spirit! And it is permanent. Friend, if you are in Christ, you are a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Cor 5:17. What once was true about you is no longer true. Renew your mind to God’s truth. You are a new creation and there is no going back!

But we do not yet appear as who we really are! Recently I was in the Franklin, NJ Mining Museum. It holds the world’s largest collection of fluorescent rocks. Here they are. (rocks in regular light). They look like everyday rocks. Completely ordinary. But in ultraviolet light they are gorgeous! Incredibly beautify! (photo)

The world might tell these rocks that they are still ordinary. But something has happened with these rocks! Like YOU! A geologist might ‘find fault’ with my example, but I’m sure you get the point! 

Dear Christian, you may look plain and ordinary on the outside, but Christ is IN you and makes you to shine! Maybe not to everyone but to those who can see in the spirit — they will see: that you have COME ALIVE!

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Please—stop striving to prove yourself worthy of God’s favor, blessing, eternal life. Believe the GOOD NEWS. Salvation is FREE, thanks to Jesus’ matchless sacrifice at Calvary. Ah, but each Sunday, messages are preached that add another component to the Good News: YOU. How you better act like a Christian. Perform. Produce. Pay God back in installments when the offering plate comes by – or those blessings will stop!

How ludicrous my friend. He who began the Good Work in you will complete it. Phil 1:6. Not you— JESUS will complete it! You – HOLD FAST your CONFIDENCE in Him. Heb 3:6. He WILL see you through every trial.

Believe the GOSPEL. Enter His rest – in fact Heb 4:10 says ‘be diligent’ to enter His rest. That word has its root origin in “diligere” to love, take delight in. Take delight in entering His rest, dear friend. In John 14:2-3 we learn there are many dwelling places in heaven; and Jesus has gone to prepare a place for US, will return to receive us to Himself, so we can all be together. There is no struggle in that – this is ALL JESUS. Start rejoicing!

Afraid you are too weak of faith, too frail in the face of temptation? Well, HOLD FAST your CONFIDENCE in – yourself? Your abilities? Ha! Our confidence is in JESUS! He knows our weaknesses and has sympathy for us – Heb 4:14.

That great while throne of judgment in Rev 20:11 – has become a Throne of Grace for believers, a place to receive mercy, and receive grace to help in time of need. Keep rejoicing!

Mercy – not getting what we deserve. GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Getting what we do not deserve. God is love. He made a way of salvation for mankind. Sending Jesus. That He could shower us with grace, and grace, and more grace: goodness lovingkindness at His expense.

Friend, got issues? Messed up? RUN to the throne of grace right now. Receive mercy. Got big needs? Hurts? RUN to the throne of grace right now!  You will find grace to help you NOW. In fact, you will find grace to COME ALIVE!

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The Gospel means Good News. Crafted by God. God is GOOD, and His news is ALL Good News — not mostly Good News with some Bad News thrown in. There is no price tag found in God’s free gift of salvation — unless you are hearing a counterfeit gospel.

Does the God of the gospel you hear remember a wrong suffered? Does your forgiveness come at a price you pay? That’s not God’s true love found in 1 Cor 13. It is not the genuine Gospel.

Some preachers thunder from the pulpit: “Beware of greasy grace and those who preach it! We have got to have rules to obey. Guard rails on the roadway of life to keep us on course.” “Greasy grace is nothing more than a license to sin,” they bellow.

Going back to the rules is – wrong. Don’t you remember, friend?
• the Law is not of faith – Gal 3:12. No faith in it. Following the rules is not of faith.
• the Law inflames sin. Rather than HELP you be godly, it promotes ungodliness!
• the Law was designed to lead us to Christ – Gal 3:24. A tutor. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor – Gal 3:25.

Don’t go back to rule keeping. ”Follow all the rules, all our rules, and you’ll be blessed of God” is a counterfeit gospel! It’s rubbish! “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Gal 5:1.

Adding rules to the Gospel means you have fallen from GRACE — you attempt to be justified by the law. It’s a counterfeit gospel, and you have become estranged from Christ.

The Counterfeit Gospel is the one with the RULES IN IT. Jesus gave us the Gospel of Grace! Walk by faith. Walk in the Spirit – don’t worry, just do it!

Adding rules to the Gospel means you are saying Jesus Christ did NOT DO ENOUGH at Calvary, and there remains “your part” to perform. Rather than experiencing the joy of the Lord, you live in a shadowland where you have never done enough.

Friend, if this has been you, has been your life, it’s time to stand in the liberty, in the GRACE given you in Christ Jesus – firmly, and  — COME ALIVE!

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Jesus IS the Vine, we ARE the branches. Happened when we said YES to Jesus. Now Father, Son and Holy Spirit abide in us: they make their HOME in us. And they are not going anywhere.

Ro 6:3 says when we believed we were baptized into His death – we have died to sin and are alive to God. Ro 6:11. In this baptism, we went into those spiritual waters looking like Adam and came out looking like Jesus. Close your eyes and see that, my friend!

There is no longer any separation between God and a believer. We are JOINED to the Lord and ONE SPIRIT with HIM. 1 Cor 6:17. Consider Ro 7:4 where Paul says we have died to the Law, all those do’s and don’ts, and have been JOINED to another: JESUS. Now we serve in newness of the Spirit.

Sadly, so many Christians have trouble understanding this JOINING, this UNION that has been accomplished. If we used marriage as an example, they would be acting like they were single despite the fact that they were married. Someone who lives this way will miss out on most all of the benefits that marriage brings.

In the Old Covenant, unholy things would make whatever they touched unholy. Lepers. Keep away from me! Bleeding people. Keep away! Gentiles! Etc. But Jesus cleansed the lepers, the bleeders, the Gentiles, Samaritans and tax-gatherers. Jesus cleanses you. He has made you holy, sanctified. Forever. So now live that way. Stop thinking and acting as though God is far away and you have to sacrifice to get closer.

We are already joined to Him, one Spirit with Him. How about marveling at the wonders of the CROSS and what our loving God did for us there? What we could never do, He did, and took the punishment for all our wrongdoing. And offers us UNITY with Him for all ETERNITY. Pretty good, eh?

Stop with doom and gloom thinking; just STOP IT. Stir up your faith in God. He IS with you and wants to make your life a wonderful testimony. A good one.
He is the LIVING GOD and He is here to help us: COME ALIVE!

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Hebrews 3:1 reads, “you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.”  Consider Jesus! He’s the one who brings life to the dead; who causes us to come alive!

He is the awesome Apostle, the messenger of this Good News of the New Covenant. He is our high priest, the one who enters God’s Presence for us. He enters with our confession: this Good News that is the Gospel. He is the One who has made the perfect sacrifice and has sat down – making perfect purification of our sins.

Atonement for our sins has fully, totally, perfectly, completely, been accomplished, for all eternity, friends! That’s why Jesus could sit down! Therefore, HOLD FAST your confidence in Jesus Christ – it’s OK to boast in the Lord and to keep on boasting; no matter what the world may say.

Israel in their wanderings, Heb 3 & 4 tells us, carcassed in the desert (that’s Heb 3:17). They rebelled, they refused to believe in God’s provision and insisted upon their own way. And carcassed. Well, don’t you carcass, my friend. Hold onto Jesus. Find rest in Him. Rest from your own efforts at improving yourself, of trying to be a better person, of trying harder, of climbing up to God. Efforts at self-improvement are not the answer. Believe, and find rest in His salvation.

More on Jesus, our Great High Priest! High Priests mediate, and Jesus is mediator of a better covenant, founded upon better promises! Check out Heb 8! The Old Covenant, instituted through Moses on Mt Sinai, had tons of requirements for us to fulfill. The New Covenant, instituted through the blood of Jesus, has one condition for us: believe upon Jesus and keep on believing. Even then, if we are faithless, 2 Tim 2:13 tells us He remains faithful, for that is who He is.

Some might say, “But it’s up to you, to prove to God that you believe through good works and sacrifice, Bible reading, prayer, and such” No, God sent His son to save us. Believe it. Enter His rest. You don’t have to ‘prove’ anything to anyone.

Jesus does tell us to love one another, and we can love one another, for that is the nature of God within us. Yes, love is of God, and those who love are born of God and know God. 1 Jn 4:7.

As one who has been born of God, 1 Jn 5:4, you are an overcomer in THIS world; rejoice, knowing you are someone who has COME ALIVE!

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Did you know John the Baptist is recorded in each Gospel as saying there was One coming after him who would baptize in the Holy Spirit? 4 times! 4 times! Must be important, don’t you think? Just listen….

In Acts 8:15-17, Peter and John were sent by the church leaders down to the new believers in Samaria, to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It says they laid their hands on them and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. A professional magician named Simon was so impressed that he offered them $$ to have the same authority; think about how impressive that must have been!

On Pentecost a few years earlier, only Jews and proselytes were baptized in the Holy Spirit. But now the Good News was being shared even with Samaritans.

So who were the Samaritans? Samaria was capitol of the Northern Kingdom, begun by Jeroboam following Solomon’s death. 1 Ki 11-12. It was capital of the 10 tribes. Jeroboam made 2 golden calves for the people to include in their worship. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. Genuine worship became a memory. In 721BC Sargon of the Assyrians conquered them and carried off 27,290 inhabitants, replacing them with conquered foreigners – who brought along their gods. So Samaria was a mixed race of people, mongrels, with a heathen core. You might say they were very low on the Jewish totem pole, try: at the bottom. Racist? Yes indeed.

But these ‘inferior people’ as far as the Judaean Jews were concerned, were hearing the Gospel and believing it! And truly amazing: the leadership in Jerusalem, upon hearing this, actually SENT Peter and John down to them to get the Holy Spirit baptism! It was so important that the Jewish church leaders sent apostles to them, overcoming all the centuries of antagonism, to be sure they were filled with the HS. Today I invite you to grasp this truth: God does not care about your breeding or background: He wants you born again, part of His family, and filled with power from on high. So why delay – be filled today – and COME ALIVE!

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John 3:16 is truly awesome! The Gospel in a verse. But did you know the verses that sandwich it are also awesome? Yes! In John 3 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus admonishes him – if you stumble over my words, Jesus tells him, when I’m speaking earthly things, what will you do when I share with you heavenly truths? Then Jesus unloads blockbuster spiritual truths on Nicodemus!

In verses :14 & :15, Jesus says that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and in the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up. In Moses’ day, there was a time when serpents were biting and killing the grumbling, rebellious, hard-hearted Israelites. BUT – if a bitten Israelite would look to the serpent that Moses had placed upon a staff, he would not die, but be healed. Sin was the issue. Could the Israelite see his sin – in the form of that serpent – upon that pole? If he did, he got healed! Faith! And God’s mercies!

It’s the same with us today, my friend. If we can see Jesus bearing OUR sin upon Calvary’s cross, then we too will be healed from our sin and enter eternal life! This truth is stated in :15 and repeated in :16 – it is super important!

More of the sandwich – in :17 Jesus tells Nicodemus that God sent His son to SAVE us, not to judge us, and if we believe in Jesus we are not judged.

Ominously, Jesus then goes on to say he who does NOT believe in Him has been judged already. Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. God is not their judge, but they have judged themselves, choosing the darkness and evil over the Light of the world.

God does not send people to Hell; they judge themselves. And send themselves to the destination created for the devil and his angelic followers. O my friend! Help others to see Jesus bearing their sin to Calvary – that they may not die – but COME ALIVE!

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Watch the video! See Hank speak about going up/down the tower. (He really did—I know—because I’m Hank.)

Hank had a blast being free to go up/down. Until he found all the rules about tower usage. Where was the fun then, eh?

Life’s like that: live by the rules and there isn’t much life to your life. On the other hand, walk/live by the Spirit of the Living God and there are oceans of life to enjoy. Personally! And don’t worry about getting into the flesh and making a scene. When you are walking in the Spirit there’s no room for the flesh to mess things up.

And remember, as you walk in the Spirit, you will COME ALIVE!

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Recently we focused on Romans 6, citing 10 verses that ALL pointed to our OLD nature being dead, and the NEW man, our new nature, being alive to God – Hallelujah!

Unfortunately, sin doesn’t like having you dead to it, and hammers so many of us, deceiving to get us believing that the old man is still alive! And Romans 7 seems to say it’s true. Is it?

In Ro 7:4-6 Paul declares we were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ. We have been joined to Jesus – not ‘going to be’ but JOINED in UNION when we believed.

The sinful passions in us were aroused by the Law, but WE HAVE DIED to the Law to serve in newness of the Spirit. The Law was good, because it revealed, in fact inflamed, the sin that was within us. The Law said ‘this is the way to life’ – but was a fault finder; we were never good enough. In fact, Paul declares that the Law was a real killer – because of the sin that was within us.

Beginning with verse 14, Paul employs an ANALEPSIS – today we would say FLASHBACK – to a time when he was trying to obey the Law. Many commentators and preachers forget all about Romans 6 when they read 7, the truth that in Christ Jesus we ARE dead to sin, dead to the Law, and alive to God. They forget Paul just said we are IN UNION with Jesus–that means as righteous as He is righteous, and they make incorrect statements, like the Old Man Sin Nature is still there in us, fighting for top dog status.

Not true! Paul is simply explaining what it was like for him as old Paul the sinner, not as New Creation Paul. He found that even when he knew what “good” was, and even when he tried to do it, that he kept failing. There is no hope in the Law, friends. Trying your best to do what is right and good is never good enough!

But if you turn to Christ: BOOM! Along comes Romans 8 – “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death”

You do NOT have old and new natures duking it out within you. You are not a wretched person but a righteous new creation. Now is the time to renew that old man mind of yours into new man righteous thinking — and COME ALIVE!

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