Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

For anyone to flourish there must be a radicalisation in their minds and a total renewal of their consciences. As we have discussed earlier, those who want to flourish must be like the palm tree being able to renew itself regularly and be able to stand the storms that will come ever-so often. The renewal of the mind will never occur if we just follow rituals. However, it will occur once we are exposed to new words, new concepts and new ways of doing things. And so we are encouraged to seek the transformation of our lives by being renewed in our minds (Romans 12:1&2). This is why Jesus instituted the new covenant [New Testament] to do away with the ritualistic way of making atonement for our wrongs. I am aware of those who question the loving nature of our God who seemingly allowed the brutal murder of his only son without intervention. And they ask questions such as, how can God be both loving and wrathful? As we shall see, performing rituals or being ritualistic would never institute eternal redemption. So how do we get out of the ritualistic mode? The writer of Hebrews gives us an insight into this. He often quoted from the Old Testament and Juxtaposed this against what Jesus did when he died on the cross. In times gone by the high priest would go into the holy of holies, kill a lamb for each family, place its blood on the mercy seat and then burn it on the altar. The smoke would ascend to God, he would then take the ashes that remained and sprinkle it on the ground and stand on it. Once this ritual was complete those being represented by the priest had their guilt removed and their sin atoned for. This ritual only occurred once every year and was only performed by the high priest in the inner sanctum. Obviously a lot of lambs were offered up and a lot of blood was shed. However, these rituals had little bearing on the minds and hearts of the adherents and did nothing for their consciences. Although rituals have their place it is the consciences of individuals that need to be transformed to bring total restoration and redemption, so that they can flourish like the palm tree and grow tall and strong in their environment. On the contrary when Jesus died on the cross, the writer of Hebrews states that he entered the most holy place as the high priest to offer up the lamb as the eternal sacrifice once (Heb 9:11ff), but astonishingly he was also the lamb to be offered and symbolically it was his body that was broken to bring about our salvation and redemption. So today if you want to flourish like a palm tree, you must first be planted like a seed, then die [to self], be watered [with the word so that mind renewal can occur] and keep in step with the eternal spirit. So keep in step with the Holy Spirit rather than being bound to ritualistic practices. Read Hebrews 9 and be sprinkled with the blood of the lamb.