tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54632921038651634952024-03-13T08:40:36.275-05:00BrotherJoeRadostiParticipating and sharing in God's love, compassion and mercy for humanity.BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-64870287477209646202022-06-08T15:25:00.002-05:002023-04-08T14:10:38.275-05:00Divine Ecstacy and the Ecstatic LifeBefore I started learning about divine ecstacy, and the ecstatic life, I wouldn't have thought of ecstacy when thinking about God, or the new creation life that we've been given as a gift. However, now that I've learned more about the trinitarian life, I can't stop thinking about divine ecstacy. For whenever I hear someone talking about union, or oneness, I immediately think of the ecstacy BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-79315653921274639592022-03-12T07:02:00.002-06:002022-07-31T06:33:23.282-05:00The Spirit of Jubilee Jubilee in the Old TestamentIn ancient Israel, every seventh year the people celebrated the land rest. They did not sow, nor reap a harvest from the land. God provided three years worth of harvest in the sixth year;¹ so the people ate the harvest of the sixth year; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth years (Lev. 25:20-22). The Jubilee was celebrated in the fiftieth year, starting on the BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-57927052042351577372021-11-25T09:24:00.007-06:002022-03-27T08:45:47.128-05:00Does God Have Form?While reading through the gospel of John, I came across John 5:37, which I've probably read hundreds of times. I was prodded to stop, and think about it more deeply. The scripture reads as follows: "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form" (John 5:37 NASB). Well, God is Spirit (John 4:34), and doesn't have form. BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-16983452808330747352021-10-09T06:27:00.001-05:002021-10-09T06:27:24.324-05:00Redeem the TimeRedeeming the time is living in the Reality of God. As his divine children we live, move, and exist in him (Acts 17:28-29). God stands outside of time and space. Time and space is God's creation. Yes, we exist inside of God's created world because we are part of his creation. But the greater Reality is that we live, move, and exist in him. In him we too stand outside of time and space - we are BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-51209953847190152292021-09-28T16:36:00.004-05:002021-10-08T17:37:01.386-05:00All That MattersAccording to the Apostle Paul, all that matters is faith expressed through love (Gal. 5:16 Berean Study Bible). If our faith is genuine, it must lead to love. For after all, it's Christ's faith in us, and we know that God is love (1 John 4:16). We know that Jesus entered this world to give us life (John 10:10). He willingly gave his life so that we can share in the life of God. I've heard Dr. BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-90867701409189034192021-08-14T07:08:00.003-05:002021-08-14T07:14:28.118-05:00To Be Absent From the Body is to Be Present with the Lord - 2 Corinthians 5:6-8To
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord…
If
we try to squeeze what the apostle Paul was saying into our religious paradigm,
we will automatically think that Paul is saying that when we die we leave our
sinful human body behind and our spirit goes to heaven to be with the Lord.
But
that’s not what Paul was saying. The Apostle Paul was not a Gnostic. This is
the same Paul that BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-16738330484873322662021-04-03T09:09:00.006-05:002022-03-12T07:08:06.956-06:00Love Never FailsLight of the world shine on me, love is the answer. Shine on us all, set us free, love is the answer.¹ I do believe love is "the" answer. For the Apostle Paul tells us that love never fails (1 Cor. 13:8 NIV). Now think about that for a moment. Love.... never.....fails! That means in every situation where there is a disagreement between neighbors, or between nations; love is "the" BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-35041362496316045202020-12-18T06:25:00.000-06:002020-12-18T06:25:02.863-06:00A Call To Lament The Bible tells us there were periods of time when the nation of Israel lamented. Jesus and his disciples lamented. The scriptures instruct us to lament, mourn, and grieve. We as human beings make poor decisions that lead to sin, suffering, and death for ourselves and for our neighbors. At other times we are apathetic, and people suffer because of our absence. We experience pain, and BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-90096907820247644692020-11-01T02:43:00.001-06:002020-11-01T02:43:56.710-06:00ParousiaParousia (para - beside; ousia - being) refers to much more than the second coming of Christ. God has come to us in the person of Jesus, and "as creature within our creaturely being," says Thomas F. Torrance.¹ Even though hidden from sight, Jesus is still Jesus. God became flesh. He became a human being in Christ Jesus. He went to the cross with the same human body, and still livesBrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-69531737198171581682020-06-12T06:16:00.001-05:002021-10-09T06:35:51.095-05:00Go Ahead Make My Day
No, Jesus isn't Dirty Harry. Clint Eastwood does well in Hollywood because we as human beings often like to see the bad guy get what's coming to him. However, in Jesus' upside down cruciform world, justice is mercy!
Jesus said, "Go ahead and make my day," by forgiving us of our sins; by entering into our darkness; by becoming one of us; taking on our vengeful, hateful, get the bad guy natureBrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-82264326358791188852020-03-13T06:39:00.000-05:002020-03-13T06:39:09.666-05:00What Jesus Accomplished Outside of the Cross
So often we talk about what Jesus accomplished at the cross, but what about what Jesus accomplished outside of the cross?
For some time I've been preaching that the "finished work of Jesus," is much more than what Jesus did. When we speak of "the cross," we're talking about much more than Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. Yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-42290105616760818752020-03-07T06:37:00.001-06:002020-03-07T06:37:30.559-06:00Experiencing God
Experiencing God is experiencing Reality. For God is the ultimate Reality. The true God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is love, and has always lived the life of love. It would be silly to say that God is love, and then believe that God would live some other way. If God is love, he can never be hateful. He can never live in opposition to who he is. He would be a hypocrite if he did that.&BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-37886895015841949942019-11-26T08:11:00.001-06:002022-05-23T07:32:25.875-05:00The Result of A Non Inclusive Mindset
The result of a non-inclusive mindset is division. We see it in religion, politics, and the world. The tribal mindset is a result of a non-inclusive mentality. Jesus has come that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This abundant life that Jesus speaks of is the life of God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's a life of other-centered-love; and BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-65425787866013017292019-11-15T08:22:00.000-06:002019-11-22T08:47:15.531-06:00Inclusion
In October, I attended "The Creed" conference hosted by John Crowder, and C. Baxter Kruger. I'll sum up the conference in one quote by Dr. Kruger, who said, "The true hermeneutic is the Light of the World." For me that means all Scripture is interpreted in Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit. Scripture doesn't interpret Scripture. Jesus interprets BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-69103037413099837642019-06-01T08:38:00.000-05:002019-06-01T08:38:03.998-05:00This Is Eternal Life - Part 3
Not knowing the true God of John 17:3, and not knowing Jesus leads to a murderous spirit. Notice what Jesus said, "...the hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or me (John 16:2-3).
Sometime later, Stephen was murdered. Stephen saw heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-57119149453495207772019-05-30T17:34:00.001-05:002019-11-18T11:24:56.716-06:00This Is Eternal Life - Part 2
At the Last Supper, before Jesus was crucified, he was gathered with the twelve disciples. Jesus told his disciples that one of them would betray him. After he had dipped the morsel, and gave it to Judas, Satan entered Judas. Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly" (John 13:27). After Judas departed, Jesus told the eleven disciples, "I am the way, the truth, and the life;&BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-72849139130254539532019-05-26T09:02:00.000-05:002019-06-01T07:45:47.059-05:00This Is Eternal Life
When Jesus came down from heaven, and became a man, he turned religious paradigms upside down. Praying to the Father before he was crucified, he said, "This is eternal life that they may know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3¹ my emphasis²). Jesus was sent by the Father. But why? "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-8837521083271520322019-02-16T07:26:00.000-06:002019-04-14T08:25:40.780-05:00Why Did Jesus Die?
The question of why Jesus died, has everything to do with who Jesus is. Jesus asked the question, "Who do you say that I am?" It was the demons that were the first to recognize Jesus. When Jesus went to the country of the Gerasenes to heal a man who was demon possessed, upon seeing Jesus, the wicked spirits that had possessed the man cried out, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-48317396128393826222018-09-22T08:29:00.002-05:002018-09-22T19:56:03.311-05:00The Death of Religion
The death of religion is good news for all! It was religion that killed Jesus. But God raised Jesus from the dead, and put an end to religion, and death.
God took ancient Israel into the Promised Land despite their resistance. They refused to enter God's rest. Israel wanted to continue to labor and so does religion today. God has given us the good news of Jesus the Christ. Israel would BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-45606796111227786252018-08-31T18:57:00.000-05:002018-09-15T08:43:48.698-05:00Free, Free, Free
The apostle Paul tells us, "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal. 5:1). Are we free to sin? Absolutely not! How can we who died sin any longer? (Rom. 6:1-11). The body of sin, the old man in Adam, has been (past tense), crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20). The good news, or the gospel, is that we have been raised up with or in Christ, not after we figured it out, but BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-58305497664845146612018-07-07T09:25:00.000-05:002018-07-07T09:25:21.400-05:00Your Highest Calling
What is your highest calling? A calling is a conviction that comes from God. We might have several calls throughout our lives, but there is only one highest calling.
Jesus said that we needed to become like children to enter the kingdom of God (Mat. 18:1-4). We're called to receive the kingdom of God like a child (Mark 10:15; Luke 18:16-17).
The Apostle Paul preached Jesus, and theBrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-66981857129223476572018-06-23T09:27:00.002-05:002018-06-23T09:27:43.499-05:00The Great Commission Revisited
Jesus gave his apostles several mandates. The first was to be witnesses (martyrs) of Jesus life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, 21-26, 2:32). The second, was for Jesus' disciples to love one another, as Jesus loved them (John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:11, 14; 4:7-12). The third mandate, is for the apostles to make disciples of all nations (people) BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-32256459869430582452018-06-15T18:02:00.000-05:002019-04-13T08:33:28.056-05:00Heaven Or Iowa?
In the movie, "Field of Dreams," Ray Kinsella builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn fields after hearing a voice that tells him, "If you build it, he will come." Soon deceased baseball players, raised from the dead as young men, come out of Ray's cornfields. One of the players is Ray's father, John Kinsella. While Ray and John are renewing their relationship, John asks Ray, "BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-4392901084289219992018-05-19T07:38:00.000-05:002018-05-19T07:38:13.549-05:00Pentecost
Jesus directed his apostles to be witnesses of his life, death, resurrection, and ascension (Acts 1:8). These men ate, drank, slept, and lived with Jesus for three or so years. They experienced the miracles of Jesus. They witnessed his crucifixion. Most importantly, they were first hand witnesses of his resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:22-24, 32).
The word witness, is translated from the BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5463292103865163495.post-22989675097794743132018-05-09T07:26:00.003-05:002018-05-16T09:04:46.522-05:00The Ascension of Jesus Christ
Happy Ascension Day, friends!
Many people actually
celebrate this day without fully realizing what the day means. The good news of
Jesus is in his life, death, resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit.
When Joshua took the children of Israel into the Promised Land in the fortieth year after the Exodus (Josh 4:19), he foreshadowed what Jesus was to do. In the forty days after BrotherJoeRadostihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00817470734360608004noreply@blogger.com0