​WORD From The Woods


Revelation 2:12-17
    “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:‘The words of him who has the sharp two- edged sword.
 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you:you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”


     In this message to the church in Pergamum, believers are commended for faithfully holding fast to the name of Christ. They weren’t afraid to stand for Christ, even to the point of death! But, they lacked discernment regarding false teachers. All kinds of things had crept into the church there, all sorts of pagan ideas and sexual immorality were being accepted as “normal.” In the Roman Empire at the time this message was written, people were required to worship the Emperor as a god and it was a huge problem for Christians, worship Cesar to stay safe or refuse and face extreme persecution or death! I can only imagine that many Christians tried to rationalize these things to get along in the culture of the day. All of these things are why Pergamum was called “where satan’s throne is.” I see so many similarities between what these believers faced and what we face today. There are false teachers all over the place on TV and radio, and a multitude of pressures from our culture to blur the line between right and wrong. Christ was warning the Christians in Pergamum to stand against paganism and false teachers because they were leading people straight to hell. He says that the one conquers will be given a white stone. In those days a white stone was given to victors at games to be granted entrance to a special banquet, also a similar white stone would be used at trials to vote for acquittal of the accused. This was a powerful way to illustrate the point that people who claim the name of Christ must stand firm on the truth and against false teaching to be true Christ-followers. Now, this false teaching wasn’t just a small deviation, but significant enough that it was a black and white issue that drew a line between the saved and the lost. I believe that we have many of those same kinds of false teachers today, and many are quite popular. I don’t want to start a debate about who is and isn’t a false teacher but people like Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyer, John Hagee, and T.D. Jakes, books like “The Shack” and “Heaven is for real” are popular, but are proven false when held up to the light of God’s word. And they are leading people subtly, but clearly away from Christ instead of toward Him. If anyone wants to know why I’ve name these people or books specifically, please get in touch with me and I’d be happy to expand on this more. The point is, we must become more discerning and hold everyone and everything they say up to the light of God’s word and stand firm on what is true. It’s not about who’s right or wrong. It’s about truth and who Christ is!


Hebrews 4:12  
    “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two- edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” 


God bless and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
Revelation 2:8-11
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty ( but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”
    The church in Smyrna was one of the two churches out of the seven mentioned in Revelation that did not receive any kind of rebuke. The believers there were simply encouraged to be strong and keep their eyes on Christ. The city of Smyrna was a port city know for its cults and temples to different pagan gods. There was also a zealous following of Jews that rejected Christ as Messiah and they were persecuting the Christians in Smyrna. Between the Jews and all the pagan cults, the Christians there were under intense persecution and I’m sure that they felt alone and that their trials would never end. They were in poverty, likely because they had been blacklisted from the business community for choosing to follow Jesus instead of the culture. They were told that their suffering would get worse before it got better, that some would face prison and even death. But even death would not conquer them because Christ offers the crown of life, eternal life! Despite their poverty, they were rich in Christ! They were told that in comparison to eternity, their persecution was like 10 days and if they just persevere and keep their eyes on Christ, by His power, they will be victorious in the end. This message of encouragement is not just for the Christians in Smyrna 2000 years ago, it also applies to us today. The same Jesus that they followed back then is the very same Jesus we follow today. We might not be facing the same kind of persecution today where we live, but many of our brothers and sisters do around the world. Someday, maybe very soon we will face it here as well. We do face a very real opposition to the things of God, just watch anything on TV an you’ll see the blatant messages against God. If Jesus sent a message to us like He did to the seven churches in Revelation, would we receive rebuke form our King our just encouragement to continue standing against the wickedness of the culture around us?


God Bless and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
Genesis 12:1-9
​     “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.”
    This is just a short story, but there is something very important we can learn from Abram’s heart in how he responded to God’s calling.  In the logging industry, we're faced with a lot of difficult decisions and challenges. We can spend a lot of time and energy worrying, and trying to plan for the future. I don't know about you, but the future has never really played out how I had it pictured in my mind. Over the years, my family and I have been on quite a journey. I work with my dad and brother in a family logging company. God has led us through some difficult trials. We thought at times that there was no way out, and by our own judgement, there was no way out. But, God had other plans for us, plans that moved our family and company from Montana to Oregon, plans that we couldn't understand at the time, but when we stand where we are today and look back over the years, we can clearly see the hand of God guiding our steps day by day in ways we could have never imagined.  God hasn't called us to figure out how we're going to make everything happen according to our own hopes and dreams, He's called us to live day to day, trusting in His good plan for our life. This is exactly what Abram modeled for us in account we just read. God told him to leave everything he had ever known, and go to a new land, a land that God would show him along the way, God didn't even tell Abram the final destination until he got there! I love Abram's response in verse 4, following God's call to leave his homeland, Abram simply went. He didn't check google maps for the best route and look for the best deals on hotels,  he just went and trusted His Lord with each step that he took.
Matthew 6:33-34
    “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
    If we have placed our faith and trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, then we have been called to walk day by day in faith, not by sight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
   “Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.”
   God doesn't promise that our life will be easy if we trust in His plan, but it will be the best plan for us! As you go out this week, take the time to seek God and ask Him to guide you day by day in each step you take, and that He will give you the faith, wisdom and encouragement you'll need to take the next step.
God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
Genesis 22:1-18
​    “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
    This well know Old Testament passage is one of the clearest and most awesome foreshadows of God's plan of redemption through what Christ would accomplish on the cross. This story beautifully points to Christ, the ultimate sacrificial lamb, who Paul makes clear in Galatians 3:16, is the offspring of Abraham that would bring blessing to all the nations of the world. I want to focus in on the obedience of Abraham and his son Isaac, who was probably around 15 years old at the time. It's apparent by Abraham's response to God's calling in verse 1, that Abraham had a deep, worshipful relationship with the Lord. God called him by name and with eagerness he answers "here I am." If we could just learn how to hear God's calling and answer in that way when He calls us into service, the world around us would be transformed by the power of the gospel!  Now, I don't think that God has ever called another person to offer their own son as a sacrifice as He asked of Abraham, this was a unique event that would be used throughout history to point people to Christ, but God does call us to do things that go far beyond our understanding and our comfort zone. This passage demonstrates an incredible lesson in trusting God. Abraham and Isaac knew that God had promised to bless the entire world through their descendants, so if God was calling Isaac to lay his life down at the hand of his father, then God would raise him from the dead if necessary. They knew that their Lord God was a good and loving God, who had a great and awesome plan that they could trust and rest in! Abraham and Isaac had the kind of relationship with God that builds this kind of trust, they had truly trusted God with their life!  God will certainly call us into things that we don't understand and at times will terrify us, but as we seek God and go through the sanctification process, we will develop the same kind of trust in Him that Abraham and Isaac had, after all, we serve the same God today that they did, the same God who spoke the limitless galaxies into existence and gave all living things the breath of life! He certainly is a God who can be trusted!  The reason, so many times, that we fail to trust God in situations is simply that we don't fully trust and believe that He has our situation under control.  As followers of Christ, we still struggle with doubt, fear and unbelief. This is all part of a growing faith, we need to be able to admit our fear and doubts to God and ask him to help us with our unbelief just as the boy's father did in Mark 9. As you go out this week, get real with God, be honest with Him and ask him to develop in you the kind of trust and faith that Abraham and Isaac had, ask Him to teach you to clearly hear His calling and respond with “hear I am Lord.”


God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
James 2:1-8
     “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”
James 5:1-5
“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.”
     In these passages, James addresses the issues of partiality and greed based on wealth and position. I think this is a real problem that we face today, especially in the logging business. I think that most churches do a pretty good job of welcoming people from all walks of life, regardless of their income or level of success. I think it's easy to leave this heart of impartiality at "church" though. James' readers were apparently very caught up in a person's wealth and outward appearance, and I think we have a temptation to do the very same thing in our daily lives. The industry we work in involves a tremendous amount of overhead. The cost of new equipment is getting higher all the time. A new log truck with new gear and all the chrome and extras is over $300k, and a new yarder is well over a million! The fact is, it takes a LOT of money to be in this business and keep our equipment updated. Everything we do is driven by money. We see another logger with an older pickup, a beat up old log truck, or we see an old faded out shovel on a lowboy and we judge their success. It seems like everything is based on wealth, getting bigger, and becoming more successful. A lot of the "successful" mega church preachers on TV and radio even teach that our relationship with the Lord is about health and wealth.  Every aspect of our culture is focused on wealth and success. James calls us to a different way of thinking, to a totally different heart! There is nothing wrong with being wealthy or successful. If we follow biblical principles and are good stewards of the financial resources God gives us, then many times we will be financially successful. I believe that, if we're going to be in business of any kind as Christians, we should strive to do well and run a successful business because we represent Christ in everything we do. We should strive to well because we have a heart for Christ, not because we have a heart for money. James calls us to have a heart like God's in the way we look at people in every area of our lives.  It really comes down to the basic question of whether we do what we do for our own selfish desires or if we do it for the Lord. Is it all about serving ourselves or is it about serving the Creator of the universe? If we seriously asked this question before we made every decision, it would radically change the way we live our lives.


God bless and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods

Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”


     This week, we’ll finish up our short study on the “Dominion Mandate” from Genesis 1. If you haven’t read the last few devotionals, go back and check them out to get an overall view of what it’s all about. The dominion mandate is, simply put, to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and take dominion over all the earth for the glory of God. We’ve looked at that a bit backward from the way it’s written in Genesis because I wanted to start with a look at who God is and why we can have this dominion in the first place. Then we looked at subduing the earth through the victorious advance of the gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in discipling the nations. Today I want to look at the “be fruitful” part. What does it mean to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth?” I think we need to have a good biblical understanding of this to even be able to subdue the earth by the advancement of the gospel. Obviously, we can’t do it alone, we need to multiply. I think the context of human reproduction through childbirth is obvious here, we’ll talk more about that in a minute. But multiplication is not just about having babies, and those who are single or not able to have children can still be a vital part of being fruitful and multiplying. When we evangelize the lost and hurting world and disciple them to do the same, we are being fruitful and multiplying. You can have 20 kids, but if they aren’t raised to be disciples of Christ, then you haven’t done anything to the Glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom. There are many opportunities for us to pour into others in ways that advance the cause of Christ and contribute to the building up of the Kingdom.  One of the big things you can do especially if you’re older and wiser in the faith is come alongside a young family and help them learn to raise their kiddos in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. Or maybe take a wayward, fatherless young person under your wing. For those who own a company, this might be a great opportunity to hire a guy and demonstrate Christ through being a Godly leader. So much more could be said on all of this, just look around and you’ll see plenty of places to put this into practice. So let’s talk about making babies! This is really central to the dominion mandate. Be fruitful and multiply is the first part of it, and it’s the first commission Adam was given other than naming the animals. We can’t multiply without reproducing, that’s pretty obvious, right? A little math here, if two people come together and only have two kids, then they haven’t multiplied, have they? They’ve only replaced themselves, and with death rates factored in, society will decrease with an average birth rate of just two per household. So, for Christians to be fruitful and multiply, we need to have at least three kids, six is better!  Don’t mess around, let’s get to multiplying, plus making babies is a lot of fun!   Psalms 127:5 says “Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”  A quiver is 12 so there you go! You will have to be that family with a full-size van though…. But at least you’ll have a crummy full of people so you can maybe start a yarder side and actually have a riggin crew! All joking aside, making babies is God’s plan to fill the earth with people who glorify Him. So many people in our culture today look down on large families, even within the church. Raising a family has become self-focused and not at all about advancing the Kingdom. A boy for me and a girl for you, and send them off to daycare and school ASAP so mom and dad can find fulfillment in their careers. Everyone leading separate lives and living for the glory of self. We desperately need to recapture a Biblical view of the family, where mom and dad come together and become one flesh before God to be helpmates to each other in this life, both with distinct but complementary roles and abilities and giftings. The central focus of the family should be to raise up a Godly family. Men this responsibility falls first and foremost on you. Men need to step up and take seriously the responsibility to lead their household to fear and honor the living God. If you are in the child-raising years, one of the most important things you need to understand is found in Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
This is all about discipling your children, Ephesians 6:4 says “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I believe that we can stand on the promises of scripture and that if we are faithful to raise our kids in the discipline and instruction of the Lord when they are old, they will not depart from it. On the flip side, if you turn your children over to a corrupt government-run,  institutionalized system, they will learn to be good compliant little statists, and when they’re old, they won’t depart from that! If this last year and a half hasn’t proved this to you, pull your head out of whatever dark stinky hole it’s been in and look around you! As Vodie Bachum says, “don’t send your children to be trained by Caesar and be surprised when they come home as Romans.” There is a lot we could talk about regarding school that we don’t have time to get into today. I’m a huge proponent of homeschooling or a good solid Christian school. But if you take anything away from today, let it be this. YOU are the parent, YOU have a responsibility before God to raise YOUR kids. Don’t just turn them over to the state and let them raise your kids for you. I’d like to say so much more on all of this, but this is getting a bit long as it is and I have to get to work. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to discuss any of this stuff more, maybe you disagree with me and think I’m crazy, but that’s ok too, I’d love to talk to you more about it. Anyway, let’s go shake things up and change the world through the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ!


God bless, and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
     If you haven’t noticed, we keep returning to the same passage in Genesis. That’s because I really want everyone to get their minds around the concept of taking dominion in the world or what’s been called the “Dominion Mandate” It’s what God was saying when He commanded Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion.” Last week we looked at why we’re able to have dominion. Because, Christ is ruling and reigning as the King of kings and Lord of lords, in authority over all things in heaven and on earth. (See Ephesians 1) I’m not going to quote the whole chapter here, just go read it! Please read it, and shout it out in the most victorious way you can muster! Anyway, today I want to look at what it means to subdue the earth. Webster's Dictionary defines it this way: 1. “to conquer or bring into subjection” 2. “To bring under control, especially by an exertion of the will” That is exactly what’s in view when God said to subdue the earth! And to tie it to a New Testament context, it’s exactly what’s in view in the great commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 when Jesus commanded his disciples to go disciple the nations and teach them to obey all that He had commanded. That great commission was to go conquer the world with the gospel, and bring it into subjection under the will of Christ by teaching them to obey Him! The great commission wasn’t to just go sing Jesus loves me and be nice to everyone so they want to join our nice club. And, notice that Jesus said to disciple the nations, not just make individual disciples. He was talking about calling entire nations to obey Him! Jesus actually commanded His disciples, which should include us, to go out into the world and call all people everywhere to follow him and obey all that He commanded. If that’s not a commission to a conquering, victorious advance of Christ’s kingdom, I don’t know what is! That’s why all throughout the gospels, Jesus proclaimed the gospel of the Kingdom. Because it was all about His Kingdom! And we can embark on this great and glorious mission because we know that our King, Jesus Christ, sits on His heavenly throne at the right hand of the Father and that all authority has been given to Him in every realm, in heaven, and on earth, and that all things are being brought into subjection under His feet! So, with all of this in mind, we should be able to share the gospel with an outlook of victory and confidence that the advance of the Kingdom can and will conquer and subdue the darkness that is at work in the world. It’s really all about the Gospel. It’s not a battle that we fight with weapons of war. It’s a battle we fight by going out into a lost and hurting world, enslaved to sin, and spreading the good news of Jesus Christ! He was crucified for our sin, raised again on the third day and now sits enthroned on His glorious throne in heaven above all things. And remember, it’s not just about telling people about Jesus. When God saves them out of darkness and redeems them through what Christ has done, we are commanded to disciple them and teach them to obey Him! That’s where this mission has failed. That’s where the church has failed. We have stopped preaching repentance, or turning from sin and darkness to obey and serve the King! We’ve stopped discipling people. As more and more people turn to Christ and learn to obey Him, the more the world becomes subdued according to His will. That mindset of gospel conquest and Kingdom advance was the common Christian worldview in generations past, but it’s been mostly abandoned by today’s self-focused, weak, and ineffective version of Christianity. We desperately need to get back to a victorious Christian life and start being faithful to Christ’s great commission to go out and change the world with the power of the gospel of His kingdom! Look around folks, it’s messed up out there. So let’s get to work!


God bless and have a great week! -Terry-   ​

WORD From The Woods
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
    Last week, I started talking about the “dominion mandate” found in this passage in Genesis. If you didn’t see the Word From The Woods from last week, please go check it out to set the stage for this one. In that devotional, we looked specifically at the word “dominion” and the reality that we are called to take dominion in this world under the authority of Christ. This week I want to take a little closer look at what the authority of Christ really looks like. Jesus came in His earthly ministry, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that it was at hand and had already come upon his contemporaries.
Luke 11:20 “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
Mark 1:14-15 “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
There is so much we could talk about throughout the gospels regarding the nature and reality of the gospel of the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed. But, for the sake of time, I’m going to recommend that you take a deeper look at the gospel accounts of the earthly ministry of King Jesus on your own. What I want to point out is that Jesus clearly proclaimed that he had come as the promised Messiah, to fulfill all that had been written by the prophets concerning the coming savior and King. That He, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was and still is today, the King of Kings! And, we see from numerous passages, that he is ruling and reigning from his throne in heaven at the right hand of God the Father, completely and fully today and has been throughout the last 2,000 years!
Acts 2:32-26 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
So, when we look at the dominion mandate in Genesis, and the idea of taking dominion in the world under the authority of Christ, it’s not just something that we await someday in the future. Christ is King today, he is Lord today! I mentioned before that the Christian culture today has really lost focus on Christ’s authority and come to hold a really low view of Him and His kingdom. In effect, we’ve adopted a really low view of the great commission and how it advances in the world altogether. Christians have essentially abandoned a Christ-centered, Christian worldview. We often hear the great commission quoted as just Matthew 28:19, starting with “Go, therefore.” Well, therefore what? What’s the therefore there for? Just look at the previous verse….
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We can therefore go because all authority has been given to him by the Father when Christ ascended to heaven after His resurrection. Where he was seated on His throne at the right hand of the father, and established his Kingdom. This is a really quick look at Christ’s authority and kingdom. It’s something that you should really dive into on your own. And, if you want to reach out to me, I’d be glad to talk about it more in-depth. This is just to help get us thinking about His authority in a more Biblical and robust way than many of us have been taught by modern, popular Christian culture. The takeaway for today is this, since Christ is King and has all authority in heaven and here on earth, we can go into all the world, proclaiming His gospel, discipling the nations, and teaching them to obey all that He commanded. That’s what taking dominion looks like! More on this next week.


God bless and have a great week! -Terry-

WORD From The Woods
Genesis 1:26-28
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”


     This passage, from the first page of the Bible, in the book of Genesis is probably very familiar to most of us. It’s Moses’ account of the grand finale of creation when God created mankind. Mankind was the final phase of God’s creation, you could say that we are the crowning jewel of creation. Mankind is the only thing in all the universe that God created after His own image. Just stop right there and ponder on that for a minute, THAT IS AWESOME! (Yes, all caps means I’m shouting.) Now, there is a lot that we could talk about from this short passage, like the fact that God created us male and female (boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.) I apologize if my bluntness makes anyone uncomfortable, but there are many people today who seem to be confused about this, so I just thought I’d clear that up…. Anyway, what I really want to focus on in this passage, is what’s known as the “dominion mandate.” The dominion mandate is the idea that God gave mankind dominion over all the other created things on the earth and gave us the command to go out into the world, subdue it, and multiply. This is a concept that has largely been lost to the last few generations in Christian culture. I believe it’s foundational to a robust and victorious Christian worldview. I want to clarify a couple of basic presuppositions that we should stand on as Christians before we get into more detail. First, Genesis 1:1, ”In the beginning God,” this might seem simple but it’s the first and most important thing we must believe. God is above all and before all things. If He has the power to speak the universe into existence, then He has the power and authority to give us the dominion mandate in the first place. He is God, we are not, it’s all and always for His glory. If you’re reading this early in the morning when I sent it out go outside, look to the stars, and behold the glory of the Holy God of all creation, then fall on your face in humble worship! Second, verse 27, “God created man in His own image.” This tells us that we are set apart from the rest of creation. The world teaches us that we’re just less hairy apes, just another animal. That’s a bunch of BS, and we must understand the distinction to properly understand the dominion mandate. When God created us in His own image, that doesn’t mean we have the power to create a universe. What it means is that we have personhood. Unlike the animals, we have an eternally existent spirit created by God and united to our physical body. It’s this spirit that gives us our unique intellect, sensibility, and will, that is distinctly different from the animal world, this is what makes us a person and it’s a special blessing from God that was not given to any of the animals. R.C. Sproul once said in one of his most memorable quotes “What’s wrong with you people?, the problem with the Christian church is, we don’t know who God is and we don’t know who we are.”  We have to have a proper understanding of who God is and who we are to understand the dominion mandate. So, with that in mind let’s look at what this “dominion mandate” really is. It is clearly spelled out in verse 28 “And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This means exactly what it says. “Be fruitful and multiply” means have lots of babies, we’ll talk more about that in the coming weeks. “Subdue it” means to take charge and literally subdue it, we’ll talk more about that later as well. The part I want to focus on today is the word dominion. The word dominion comes from the word domain. God clearly laid out what domain he was referring to, the whole earth and every living thing in it. He mandated that we should take dominion over the whole earth. Remember who God is and who we are, He created us in his image to take dominion over the earth that He created and placed us on. He literally placed us in charge of the world, but under His authority and accountability, and all for His glory. This is a positional thing that we need to firmly grasp, and it’s tied to the gospel in a powerful way. Remember the great commission in Matthew 28? Because all authority was given to Christ, “therefore go into all the world, disciple the nations, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded” Do you see it? It’s the same dominion mandate that God gave Adam back on the very first page. As I said, we’ll talk about this more in the coming weeks. Way too much to cover in just one Setting. I hope this wets your appetite a bit. Be sure to keep up with the next few because they’ll all tie together. So, ponder and pray on this until next week.


God Bless and have a great week! -Terry-