Hank’s Place

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Needy? – 405

https://youtu.be/IoNjEZVqsgw

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – Coming to you from Venice, Florida

Last message, I shared that the Triune God dwelt in Jesus in bodily form fully; that Jesus dwells in us, and therefore so does the Godhead – by faith, not our efforts. A truth beyond human comprehension. We are growing day by day into what Paul calls the fullness of God. Not only a greater understanding of but an actual oneness with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And, when Jesus returns, we shall know Him just as He is, fully, for we shall be like Him – is God’s promise to us! 1 John 3:2.

In every epistle of Paul’s, we find him exhorting believers to put off the old man, the carnal ways of living, for we have been made new creations, and the old no longer fits us. Instead we put on the new, the GOD ways.

Peter agrees, saying we …have purified our souls in obedience to the truth, ridding ourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, for we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. That’s 1 Peter 1:22, 2:1, and 2:9.

One new creation way of living is in the matter of giving. Paul described the Philippians as giving in 2 Corinthians 8 out of their deep poverty. Their giving was sacrificial. And in Philippians 4:19 Paul thanks the Philippians for their generous support of him through his difficulties, and lest any think that as a result they may have to go without, he assures them God is well aware, saying, “I am convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through Jesus Christ!” Jubilee Translation.

What a promise dear friends, for us as well in OUR giving, for God’s promise – unbreakable promise, to His children, is to supply all our need out of HIS, riches in glory. And there are NO LIMITS TO THOSE RICHES.

So today, dear new creation believer, be not afraid to give to others. It’s in your new nature. It’s important to follow the prompting of the Spirit, although you can help the poor whenever you wish to, Mark 14:7. God has got you, He has got me, and will see that our needs are more than met, and in the unfolding we will —  COME ALIVE!

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Complete – 404

https://youtu.be/XDUpFKDUV2o

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – Coming to you from Paradise (Venice, FL)!

Last message, from Colossians chapter 1, we found that through faith, not works, Jesus, son of God, the Holy One, dwells in us, which is beyond comprehension.

It gets better, for in Colossians 2:9-10 Paul wrote, “… in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, that means ALL of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and in Him you have been MADE COMPLETE, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”

Paul makes powerful revelations in a few words! All of God dwells in Jesus in bodily form. He who created and fills the universe, who holds it together fits into Jesus? If you can explain it please let me know! This is totally contrary to skeptics who said God despised material creation and had no part in it.

Now if all the fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and as believers we are united to Him in a faith-relationship, then WE are also complete in Him. The completeness of Jesus, and our resultant completeness in Him, tells us that other philosophies, religious observances and traditions are unnecessary.

Totally unnecessary. Friend, if you are a believer, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in you, through Jesus. YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, Who is the head of all principality and power. This can only be true because Jesus is truly God. If He were not God, we couldn’t be complete in Him. Anything that says we are not complete in Him also takes away from the deity of Jesus. There is no need to go elsewhere to be fulfilled, be it for the Colossians, or us.

It may not look like it; it may not feel like it and the devil is sure to point out any inconsistencies in our walk or talk, but we are complete in Him.

Although we are complete in Him, we are continuing to GROW in Him. Col 3:10 says we, “… have put on the new self WHO IS BEING renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.” This process has been initiated by and is ongoing through God Himself.

Today, dwell on what Jesus has done for you; then stop letting the devil push you around, but — COME ALIVE!

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Glorious Mystery – 403

https://youtu.be/d055LhdCviI

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – Paradise Edition!

In Matthew 7:14 Jesus cautions that the path that leads to life is narrow and few find it! Right now we are on a narrow path leading to the Gulf. It leads to a beautiful setting!

And there’s no place like this setting to share with you from Colossians. In chapter 1 verse 19, Paul writes of Jesus, “For it pleased the Father that in Him ALL the fullness should dwell” – dwell – as in a permanent dwelling, ie, Jesus is permanently God. God did not make an appearance for a few years on earth in a temporary state that people could see and then go back somewhere. Jesus was fully God – Jesus is fully God, Jesus is eternally fully God.

And it is in Him that all the fullness dwells. In Jesus Christ. Not in a church; not in a priesthood; not in a building; not in a sacrament; not in the saints; not in a method or a program — but in Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus is the sole “distribution point” for humanity, of God. So should we want more of God and all that He is, we will find it in Jesus Christ — and ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Then Paul mentions the mystery that has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. Hidden. But not like an Agatha Christie mystery story that we can puzzle through and solve. Not a riddle to fathom. No, in the Bible a mystery is a truth that can only be known by revelation, never by intellect or intuition. Now it can be known, because it now has been revealed to His saints.

The specific mystery Paul refers to is this: that God had designed to grant the Gentiles the same privileges with the Jews, and make them His people who were not His people. And these privileges, are obtained not through rituals, laws to obey, things to do, but solely through believing upon Jesus. And one more thing – something that to me is beyond comprehension: that Jesus would actually indwell all believers. Indwell you and me. That’s the riches of the glory of this mystery.

Today I invite you to well on this truth dear friend: Christ in you — and you will COME ALIVE!

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GOD meets us – 402

https://youtu.be/N2IDL65DrBc

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – Florida!

Friends, no matter how unimportant, useless, we may feel, we have GOD’s attention always – just like the Colossians. Colossae was a small and unimportant city in the Roman empire, but Paul wrote to them because they MATTERED to Paul and to God!

In Colossae, just like today, religious mixing was going on, with people borrowing from this religion and from that and getting mixed up. Paul’s solution: a better understanding of Jesus. Knowing the real Jesus helps us to stay away from the counterfeit, no matter how it may be packaged.

So Paul tells them salvation is ALL GOD. GOD has qualified us. GOD has made us partakers of the rich inheritance in Him; it’s not our works. GOD has delivered us from the powers of darkness. GOD has translated us into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the son of His love. It is GOD the Father who has created the greatest love story ever told: His son Jesus and His bride: US! 

Now JESUS has provided redemption, forgiveness of sin, through His blood. His doing. His work. Here at the beach there are some really misguided people. Some poor souls try to emulate Buddha, who was thought to have achieved god status, becoming one with the universe, by SELF-EFFORT. That’s total rubbish! Deception! What if a lifeguard yelled to a drowning man to swim to shore so the lifeguard could meet him?

Thankfully, God didn’t tell us to try anyhow as we were drowning in sin. And God didn’t meet us halfway. God met us all the way — and invites us to accept it. And that redemption was accomplished at the CROSS, through Jesus’ BODY, not in hell. The price for our release was the blood of Jesus. This is one reason why pleading the blood of Jesus – in the right sense, not in a magical or superstitious sense – has such great significance in spiritual warfare. It shows the “receipt” of our lawful purchase as redeemed people.

Also, the blood of His cross has given us peace with God. We don’t make our own peace with God, but Jesus made peace for us through His work on the cross. The blood of the cross speaks to us of the real, physical death of Jesus Christ in our place, on our behalf, before God. That literal death in our place, and the literal judgment He bore on our behalf, is what saves us.

So believe upon Jesus dear friend! He makes us holy, and blameless, and above reproach; approved by God, and far beyond merely escaping the fires of hell, we COME ALIVE!

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Self-Denying Goodness – 401

https://youtu.be/rr6zB1KQ6go

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – FLORIDA EDITION

Coming to you from Venice, Florida, which the locals refer to as Paradise. The epistle to the Philippians may be the Apostle Paul’s first letter. Paul began the church at Philippi 11 years earlier – that’s in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas were beaten and tossed in jail – and God delivered them. Now Paul, this time in a Roman jail, missing his beloved Philippians, writes them a letter. What should he write? GRACE and PEACE to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

GRACE and PEACE to you, dear friends, the GRACE and PEACE that only comes from the Father and Son. We need both in these tumultuous days!

Then Paul reminds them that this Christian life of ours came from God. It was begun by God, it is carried on by God and it will be completed by God on the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:7. Friends, the Christian life is not a ‘to do’ list, not instructions for godly living and working as if we were employees of some heavenly corporation. It is LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS, Glorious Life – Living In Him. Him living in us. Colossians 1:27.

Spurgeon comments, “It was indeed a good work begun in the Philippians and in all believers. The work of grace has its root in the DIVINE GOODNESS of the Father, it is planted by the SELF-DENYING GOODNESS of the Son, and it is daily watered by the GOODNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT; it springs from good and leads to good, and so is altogether good.”

So how do we partake of this goodness of God who is altogether good? We simply, well, not so simply maybe, YIELD to the Holy Spirit – Remember Steven in Acts 7? He summed up the rebellious actions of Israel in the days of Moses, through whom the Holy Spirit was speaking, saying in verse 51 “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you.” The natural man isn’t interested in responding to the Holy Spirit. But you and I are SUPER-natural now!

The Spirit will lead us into Goodness, Self-denying Goodness – as demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Don’t fear. Inwardly you want to yield to the Spirit for you have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. Do it. Forget what is behind. Reach forward to what is ahead, the goal — the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus  — COME ALIVE!

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Hold Fast – 400

https://youtu.be/uh1DNYwrF-4

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place – FLORIDA EDITION

This episode of Hank’s Place is coming to you from Venice, Florida. And so will many future episodes, because the Lord has done Amazing Things for us; indeed, Amazing Grace-filled things.

For about 2 years Mary and I had a Holy Spirit ‘feeling’ that our work based out of Cedar Park Texas was coming to an end, and that the Lord had another place for us. As we began praying about this, the sense we had was that when it was time to move, things would happen very quickly, ’suddenly.’

I’m sharing this with you that you, my dear friend, may have encouragement and fresh hope. For I believe many are in a similar situation: the Spirit has been whispering ‘future things’ to you, but absolutely nothing is changing, nothing is different.

‘So where is His promise,’ the devil questions. Doubts arise; did God even speak to me? Was that my imagination? Friend, HOLD FAST the word of the Spirit. BELIEVE that word. Speak it ALOUD as something GOD has said to you, and that HE will accomplish it for you. His part is to MAKE it happen; your part is to BELIEVE it will happen! We can run into trouble when WE try to make the God thing happen by our own efforts. Check out king Saul for example in 1 Samuel 13.

Long story short, in a matter of days, from May 12th to July 1st, that’s 50 days, and 50 is God’s JUBILEE number, when debts are canceled, work is canceled, and lost goods and land restored, we sold our home in Cedar Park, retired from work at Apple, and moved into an apartment in Venice, Florida while our new home there was being completed.

That is a SUDDENLY my friend, a SUDDEN demonstration and outpouring of God’s Amazing Grace, Grace, Grace!

Today, if you have a promise or promises from God concerning you or loved ones; HOLD FAST your believing, HOLD FAST your confession of what He has promised. Yes, HOLD FAST to these truths, for your day of fulfillment is coming, the day that you will — COME ALIVE!

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Is Your Gospel Greasy? – 399 – Classics 67

https://youtu.be/VXJpdodn3tM

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place  – CLASSIC SERIES – #67

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 explain.

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 – Ro 5:20. 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! 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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God of Grace – 398

https://youtu.be/oFVoNUhmGXQ

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul declares of first importance in the Gospel is “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” While we were still sinners, separated from God, out of His great love, Jesus died for us, in our place, canceling out the debts we accumulated, paying the penalty for all our sins, transgressions, Colossians 2:14.

If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior, then, by the grace of God, not our works, we are saved. Eternally. 

That is super Good News. It’s the Gospel. Paul calls this Good News the Gospel of His grace.

One of the elementary principles of this world is that if we do good we will be rewarded; do bad and we will be punished. Many people think it works this way with God. I recently discovered that Mormons, those nice clean cut people with nice families believe they have to do good works in hope of approval by God. By obeying the Commandments and doing good works. No room for the grace of God in their so-called gospel. 

I’m calling out Mormons only in that their reliance upon their works also permeates the believing of many church goers, even genuine Christians. To help you today, listen to a few Bible verses concerning the grace of God. 

John 1:14, 17 Jesus, the Word, became flesh, full of grace, the favor of God, and truth. Grace and truth were manifested, that is became obvious, became clear, through Jesus Christ. Grace and truth.

Paul and Barnabas were preaching at Pisidian Antioch, and Acts 13:43 says, “many of the Jews and the God-fearing proselytes followed them, who were speaking to them and urging them to continue in the grace of God.” Not the Commandments or do good works, but continue in God’s favor. His grace.

In Acts 14:3 at Iconium, Paul and Barnabas spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be performed by their hands. Miracles, because of the grace of God. 

From Miletus Paul sent word to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church. In Acts 20:24, he stated his ministry which he received from the Lord Jesus: to solemnly testify of the gospel of God’s grace. And in verse 32 Paul adds, “And now I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

These are just a few verses concerning God’s grace my friend. Today, stop climbing. There’s no stairway to heaven. Working your way to heaven — doesn’t work. Stop. We can’t get there from here. 

But by God’s amazing grace, He can take us there. Believe it. Receive it. And COME ALIVE!

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Doting Father – 397

https://youtu.be/X6H1VHucakU

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place

Today’s word is “doting.” Written out it looks like dot-ing, as in dot the i’s and cross those t’s. But when pronounced ‘doting’ it means ‘excessively fond,’ ‘adoring,’ affectionate,’ ‘showing that you love someone very much.’ One web source asked the question, “How do you know if someone is doting on you?” And answered, “If someone you know adores you beyond all reason, only seeing your good points and completely disregarding your faults, they’re doting. Your doting uncle might offer to fly you to Disney World for spring break, and your doting older sister might wake up early to make your favorite breakfast when you visit her.”

My granddaughter Violet is doted upon by her parents. And you know what? She just receives all that love and attention, care and affection, they give her. She is quite young, and has no trouble receiving. She just — receives. And blooms with life!

Is God a doting Father? Do you think He adores you beyond all reason, only seeing your good points and completely disregarding your faults? Or does He wear a frown when looking at you?

I’ll let you draw your own conclusion, but consider, if you are a Christian, the blood of Jesus of cleansed us from all unrighteousness, has washed us whiter than snow from our sins, has removed all condemnation (it fell upon Jesus, remember?), and prepared us perfectly as a new creation, a son or daughter of the Living God, fully accepted in the Beloved — fellow heirs in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Zephaniah 3:17 KJV says, “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing.” Sure sounds like someone is doting over us, dear friend! The word picture here is full of emotion. God the Father is the One who holds His daughter Jerusalem and sings joyfully in her presence. Just as a loving parent cradles a child and sings out of love, so God’s song over His people is born of His great love — and this was written at a time when Israel of old was very rebellious and unbelieving. And of course the result was their not receiving, either.

But a time was coming when it would all change for them. My friend, that time has come — Jesus has made the difference. Stop trying to prove your worth before God. It’s not our performance; you and I have already been accepted in the Beloved — thanks to Jesus’ blood.

So like my granddaughter, why not open up and freely receive ALL that your Heavenly Father has for you? It is beyond what we could ask or think. Beyond what our ears have heard or eyes have seen. All that He has prepared for us who love Him. 

Don’t wait till you get to heaven my friend. Don’t resist your Heavenly Father’s doting. Open up — you’ll COME ALIVE!

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Work vs Yield – 396

https://youtu.be/WG9B8Ocu2hg

 

Welcome to Hank’s Place

Hank’s Place is a place — of God’s grace. A place where we have ceased striving with our feeble attempts to prove our acceptability before God, and now KNOW that He is God, the God who justifies and makes righteous as a free gift by His grace — all for putting our trust, our believing into whom He has sent as Savior: Jesus Christ. 

That’s a mouthful, and it is all true! Today let’s look at Galatians, chapter 5. Paul declares in the first verse, “Stand fast therefore in THE liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” 

Jesus HAS made us free. If we live in bondage to a legal relationship with God, it isn’t because God wills it. God pleads with us to take His strength and walk in that freedom, and to not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Notice that it is Christ who has made us free. We don’t make ourselves free. Freedom is a gift of Jesus, given to us — received by faith. When we struggle to free ourselves, we just become more entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Paul made it emphatic: THE liberty. Not the false liberty of doing whatever we want, and never denying any desire. THE liberty is our freedom from the tyranny of having to earn our own way to God, the freedom from sin and guilt and condemnation, freedom from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and eventually freedom from the presence of sin. We cannot thru struggling, free ourselves, nor gain TRUE liberty.

Recently I heard a preacher, 20+ years of pastoring, speak on Galatians 5, 16 thru 24, the works of the flesh contrasted to the fruit of the Spirit. Somehow he missed the huge point that fleshly actions are WORKS, efforts. And the actions of the Spirit through us are FRUITS. He spoke of struggling daily to perform all the fruits of the Spirit. Laying one burden after another upon the listeners, more “to-do’s” in a never ending ‘to-do list’ if we WORK at being Christian. We can STRIVE in the flesh or choose to YIELD to the Spirit. 

Verses 16-18 in the Passion Bible read, “As you YIELD to the dynamic life and power of the Holy Spirit, you will abandon the cravings of your self-life. When your self-life craves the things that offend the Holy Spirit, you hinder Him from living free within you! And the Holy Spirit’s intense cravings hinder your self-life from dominating you! So then, the two incompatible and conflicting forces within you are your self-life of the flesh and the NEW CREATION life of the Spirit.

Isn’t it time to abandon our Christian “to-do” list, but YIELD to the life of the Spirit of God within us? We will soar — and COME ALIVE!

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