Author: Phil Rehberg

Big brother

Our Big Brother Blazed The Way For Us

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The family of God has an unusual genesis. It has a Father like other families but it also has another member who made the family possible: a big brother. In the family of God everyone has a big brother and the big brother is Jesus. He is the “oldest” of the siblings because He is the first of the newly designed humans, the first of the new Adams. He was the first to live an ideal human life and he did this is order to blaze a new trail for the rest of us to follow. The power he had to be the first ideal human is available to us too. When we first believe we receive a new self that is like Jesus’ pure human self but it is an infant new self. God’s goal was to choose people “to become like his Son, so that his Son would Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

God Likes Our Poverty – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Mt. 5:3 (ESV) This is the first of the famous beatitudes which is the beginning of the famous Sermon on the Mount which is considered the core of Christian living taught by Jesus. The poor in spirit are those who recognize that they are spiritually destitute on their own. Since this sermon is spoken to Jesus’ disciples (Mt. 5:1) Jesus is implying that when we recognize that we are not self-sufficient and come to Jesus and follow him then the kingdom of heaven belongs to us! This is a matter of our interior life not our external actions, although later in the Sermon Jesus makes is clear that without external actions we are not his disciples. But the encouragement is that it is good to find ourselves in spiritual poverty and then come to Jesus that way, Continue Reading →

child

The Danger Of False Expectations Of God

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We are children of God so when we talk with Him we can say “Our Father in heaven” (Mt. 6:9 ESV). Isn’t it amazing that our Father is the God of all creation? He is the infinite One. He knows all things and sees all things. He is all-powerful. He is the good One. He is so infinitely loving that Scripture says “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8 ESV). He is the One who takes care of us and gives us power to become like Christ so that no matter what comes our way “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37 ESV). We must be careful about comparing God too closely to our earthly father. Many people did not have such good fathers. In that case God is not like your earthly father; rather, He is the father you never had. On the other hand Continue Reading →

Weekly words of encouragement

Absorbing Scripture Transforms Us

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“I commend 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” Acts 20:32 (ESV). This quote is from Paul’s speech to the elders of the Ephesian church and he emphasizes how important the “word of his grace” is for our spiritual growth. If we devote ourselves honestly and wholly to God’s words which we have in Scripture then his words will definitely build us up. Even more we will gain an inheritance with the rest of the saints of God, which reminds us of Jesus words to ““Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Mt. 6:20).  Below is an effective pattern for absorbing God’s words: Activational Scripture Reading. Read a passage of scripture, for example the verse in this post. What is this passage saying? Take at least 2 minutes Continue Reading →

filled with spirit joy happiness bliss

I Have The Spirit Of God Dwelling In Me

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Several years ago my longtime spiritual counselor Doug was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. Doug and his wife were effective ministers of the transforming power of God both as pastors in their church and through seminars in other churches. The cancer was tenacious and sent his white blood cells skyrocketing and he lost his energy, which was especially noticeable since he was a very energetic person. He fought back with prayer and chemotherapy and soon his white blood cells went back to normal. He regained his energy. Yet the cancer was not dead and it traveled into his groin and grew into a fist-sized tumor. More prayer and chemotherapy shrank the tumor by 75%. But after some traveling and a sickness the tumor began growing again and weakened him so much he couldn’t do chemotherapy for awhile. When he restarted chemotherapy his strength returned and he could even travel and minister. Continue Reading →