About The Author

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Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Blood of the New Covenant Part Five

Anyone who refuses to accept the sacrifice made on the cross continues to stand under the very wrath of God because they are rejecting the available remission of sin made possible through Jesus Christ!


John 3:34 "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35 "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. 36 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

This is also what the Holy Spirit refers to when He offers a very sober warning to those Jewish believers tempted to turn back in the letter to the Hebrews:

Hebrews 10:28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Notice the crime is trampling under foot the blood of the New Covenant and insulting the Spirit of grace.

The disciples were all he time asking Jesus what sin someone committed to be sick or diseased or blind. The idea was that they were being made to pay for someone’s sin. But Jesus refused to accept that line of reasoning.

But, when we come to the Corinthians we see a situation where many are sick and dying. Why? They treated the communion observance with contempt. They came with a selfish attitude to the table and acted like it was no big deal.  Without regard for others they engorged themselves eating up the food and in so doing were treating the moment with contempt.

Understanding and appreciating this New Covenant, standing firmly upon the payment made once and for all for our sin is not negotiable!

Only the blood of Jesus Christ can pay for sin once and for all! That is why His New Covenant completely replaces the Old one, with better promises and New commands!

What are you putting your confidence in when faced with the most important questions in life?

How will you escape the judgment of God who is absolutely Holy?

How will that escape be maintained throughout this life?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Blood of the New Covenant Part Four

The problem the Old Covenant had was that it was weak due to it’s dependence upon the flesh. It had no power outside the cooperation of men to remit sin and therefore continual sacrifice had to be made because of the corruption of man from the fall. The priest was kept busy.


Everything under the Old Covenant had a temporal affect about it. There was nothing permanent, there was no hope of a final solution.

Under the New Covenant we have this reality to rejoice about.

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Here it is most clear that the concept of a walk in the flesh is a walk of attempting to keep the law. A walk in the Spirit is a walk that puts trust in Christ and therefore enjoys an imputed righteousness that satisfies the demands of the law on the basis of Christ becoming our substitution on the cross. He paid the price with His own blood!

This blood initiated a New Covenant that completely replaces the Old one. It does not renew as some might think. It completely replaces it. Which is why new commands have been given by the One who initiated this New Covenant.

1John 3:23 ¶ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. 24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.


What are his commandments? Believe on Jesus Christ and love one another!

Why? Because there is no other means for remission! There is no other way to deal with the problem of sin inherit in man. Christ alone is the answer and His covenant is better than that of the Old!

Jesus said himself,

John 6:39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." 41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."

See why the Jews complained about him? Jesus was declaring Himself to be the final solution to just penalty of sin and He would make eternal life possible for all who believe in Him.

Jesus is the bread of life! That symbolic bread in the meal is intended to remind us of Him and the fact that He bore our punishment on the cross!

The only way the wrath of God is satisfied is through the cross of Christ!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Blood of the New Covenant Part Three

“This is my blood shed for many for the remission of sin.”


What on earth does remission even mean?

859 afesiv aphesis af'-es-is AV-remission 9, forgiveness 6, deliverance 1, liberty 1; 17
1) release from bondage or imprisonment
2) forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty

This word is a legal word. It addresses ownership, guilt and just penalty.

It addresses ownership in that the Scripture clearly teaches us:

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

It addresses guilt in that the Scriptures teach us:

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

And it addresses penalty in that the Scriptures teach us:

John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

This is what it means to receive the remission of sins through the shedding of Jesus blood.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The Blood of the New Covenant Part Two

The matter of how sin is dealt with and the longevity of it’s solution is where a definite difference is made between an Old Covenant and a New Covenant.


Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you." 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 23 ¶ Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another––26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

Here is a doctrinal truth that cannot be altered or tampered with. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Sin cannot be dealt with apart from the shedding of blood.

This was true under the Law and it is true under the New Covenant as well.

No matter how good a person may appear, no matter how generous or nice they may be, they may live very moral disciplined lives, but without the application of the blood of Christ to their lives they are still very much in sin and therefore will be judged by God justly and punished accordingly.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The Blood of the New Covenant Part One

As Easter approaches many churches choose to hold Seders in order to look into the Jewish Passover meal and examine all the types and shadows of the Messiah to come that are hidden within the meal itself.


The Passover meal was instituted to remind the Jews of how God spared them from death on the night He set the stage for their deliverance from Egypt. The meal is full of prophetic implications regarding the Messiah to come. But if it is observed in the mode of remembering the Exodus the prophetic implications are wasted. Jesus the Messiah observed this meal with His disciples just prior to being betrayed and going to the cross. There was however a transition in this meal that took place. It was time to address what the bread and the wine were truly intended to represent.

Matthew 26:26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

VS26 gives us the emphasis now of partaking of Christ himself!

VS27 & 28 gives us the emphasis of a blood bought covenant that is new. A blood that is shed for many for the remission of sins.

It does not say a blood that was shed for every person that ever lived or will live. It says many. It does not use the term all. It says many. I find that interesting.

There will be some who will not see the benefit of this blood that was shed. They will not enter into this New Covenant made by Christ. They will not receive the remission of their sins.

If a persons sins are not remitted what does that mean?

It means that apart from Christ sin is still counted against a person no matter how well they live their lives.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Teaching That Establishes Part Five

Hebrews 8:6 ¶ But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah–– 9 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD. 10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Teaching that establishes disciples for Christ is teaching the Commands of Christ under the New Covenant. After all we now have received better things!

Kingdom thinking is that which takes into account what Christ has done and what He has said.

The Old Covenant could not contain the New Wine so a New Covenant was made to establish believers in the Spirit. The Kingdom of God has come to us through Christ!

When making a disciple for Christ we must labor to help them understand what Christ has done for them. We should always point them to Christ and what He, as the establisher of the New Covenant, has commanded.

It is still Christ who alone has the words of eternal life.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Teaching That Establishes Part Four

Christ’ New Covenant is built on better promises established with better blood and better things on every level. It is the ministry of this New Covenant that Paul was called to participate in teaching.


2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 ¶ who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.


Paul’s understanding of being a minister was not one of being a minister of something Old and faded but rather something New and authoritative. God made the apostles ministers of a New Covenant not the Old one.

Notice how the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul very descriptively uses the term, “the ministry of death written and engraved on stones.” This makes it abundantly clear what Law is referred to here in reference to the ministry of death. The only law written and engraved on stones was the Ten Commandments. That ministry while it was in force was glorious! The quest to adhere to it was noble at best but impossible. But it says clearly that if that Old ministry of death had glory the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. Righteousness is the issue in both Covenants but only one has the ability to truly do something about the real problem.

To dwell on the Old Covenant is not only offensive to Christ who shed His own blood to establish this New Covenant, it is also offensive to the Holy Spirit because the agent for enforcing this New Covenant of Christ is the Spirit Himself, not tablets!

That is what is meant when it says I will write my laws upon their hearts in Jeremiah! This ministry on the heart is a direct reference to the ministry of the Spirit in the life of a true believer.

Before the New Covenant men would experience the Holy Spirit coming upon them and they would do great exploits.  But now that this New Covenant has come men expereince the Holy Spirit within them and should that not be enough to lead us into great things for God's glory?

Under the Old Covenant men would experience the departure of the Holy Spirit on their lives, under the New Covenant we can grieve Him but He doesn't run away from us.  We are Christ' eternal inheritance brought into an eternal covenant, established by His blood!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Teaching That Establishes Part Three

Question: If Jesus did not fulfill the Law, did His mission fail?

If He said He came to fulfill it but somehow we are still under it then Jesus did not do all that was needed to fulfill it as He stated.

If you believe Jesus got this wrong, what else will you be willing to believe He got wrong? In John 6 many turned away from Jesus so He asked the twelve if they too would leave. Peter’s statement is very revealing. He said, “where would we go you alone have the words of eternal life.”

Some people get stuck on the statement, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled, and think Jesus is giving a literal timeline for the Law to be in force. It is language meant to make a point more than establish the length of time for the Law to be in force.

Jesus is making it clear He must fulfill the Law, or else. The law still stands as a witness against all who have not received Christ because it reveals their deeds are sinful. It proves mankind is not righteous. Using it for this purpose would be using it lawfully. But as children of God through Christ we are not under the law.

All of the types and shadows under Moses point to Christ, the Prophets who spoke were declaring things regarding Christ, Abraham, Noah, and David all looked with faith for the day of Christ!

If Jesus was so zealous about preserving the Old Covenant prior to the cross, do you think He would be any less diligent to defend the New Covenant He established with His own blood?

This is what the letter to the Hebrews is speaking of when it speaks of trampling under foot the blood of Jesus.

The writer is speaking to Jewish believers who are tempted to return to the old ways due to the persecution they are receiving from the Judaisers.

They are being told by the Holy Spirit there is nothing in the Old Covenant that can save them. They are being warned that if they disbelieve that Christ sacrifice was sufficient and thus return to the old methods for security they will be trampling under foot the blood of Christ. The sin of disbelief that questions whether or not Christ did all that was required to fulfill the righteous demands of the Law is a sin that destroys those who embrace it.

Some of the Israelites who were brought up out of Egypt didn’t like what was happening under Moses and they declared they wished to go back to Egypt instead of staying the course with Moses and inheriting the promised land. It was unbelief in the promise that caused so much death and ruin in that generation. The same thing plagues professing “Christians” today. Many would rather run back to something that is antiquated and useless for righteousness. They would rather put their faith in the Old Covenant given by Moses rather than live in the exceeding glory of the New Covenant that came through Jesus Christ.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Teaching That Establishes Part Two

Often I encounter situations where someone gets confused regarding statements Jesus made such as:

Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

When Jesus says this he is a man under the Law. He is speaking prior to the cross, he has not yet ascended to the real holy of holies to sprinkle His blood on all the articles and offer a final atonement that is good for all eternity.

He reinforces the Law to those under it so that they clearly realize they cannot be made righteous by it. It is intended to drive them to a better solution which will be given to them under a New Covenant soon to be established by Jesus himself. Just as Moses ascended up the mountain to bring back a covenant Jesus ascended Golgotha to a cross, then to a borrowed grave, and from there into heaven itself to establish His Covenant.

Until the New Covenant was in place the Old one remained in force and to teach men to break it would have been horrible because one would be teaching men to stumble. Not that we now teach men to be law breakers but we do not use the law as a means to establish righteousness, now that a new way has been made.

In other words whatever covenant is in force those who adhere to it and teach others to do so are the greatest and those who esteem it lightly and teach others to do the same are the least.  This was true of the Old Covenant while it was in force and is now true of the New Covenant that is everlasting and in force.