Dwelling Inside Our Metron in Christ

Apr2 by Michael

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure [Grk. metron] of faith (Romans 12:3).

I have observed that a great many of the saints of the Lord are finding themselves rejected by the leaders in Christendom and it is out of concern for these precious ones that I have written this piece.

In the institutions of men that are drunk on power there are very few sober thoughts. Sober thinking is thinking with the mind of Christ who took on the form of a servant and lived a life and died a death for the benefit of all. The problem with institutions is that they have the life of Christ organized out to them and take on a life that is against the life which Christ desires to manifest in His saints, giving each member of His body a measure of the Spirit by which to serve one another. The mindset of that system is that the person at the top (pastor, apostle, evangelist, bishop, C.E.O., etc.) has every ability to do everything that needs to be done and that other people exist to augment those abilities. The trouble is that this is exactly what has been going on in the visible church for almost 1900 years and a disease called, “give us a king” (see 1 Samuel ch. 8: 4-7) has settled into the minds of the faithful who populate the church system and they “love to have it so.” Thus the prophesy is fulfilled spoken by Jeremiah almost 3000 years ago…

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction [by their own power]; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes? (Jer. 5:30-31 RSVA)

I believe that we are seeing “the end” of the visible church that is now laced with false teachers and false prophets and pastors and leaders who rule by their own fleshly charisma drawing away disciples after themselves. Paul saw this coming as well and spoke to the elders of the Ephesian church about it and it brought him to tears to see it coming (see Acts 20: 29-31).

How opposite this is from how the Spirit moves among us with HIS measures of grace given to each member to function not according to the dictates of an office holder, but rather to function according to the will of Jesus where all that is done is done in a mindset of pure servant-hood and laying down our lives for one another.

These delusional leaders which are so common in this system, might have a metron in which they are gifted by God and as a result gain much attention because of this gifting. But the mindset of the systems of the world soon has them trying to minister outside their metron and they fail every time. Not only that, but they take over in an area that God has given to other members of Christ’s body in their metrons and now the body is robbed many times over. Like all diseases, this infection soon becomes exponential and it is not long until the whole body is functionally dead and enveloped in dead works generated by man, simply because each member is not answering to the Head who is Christ but rather the will of an over bearing human with a title.

What happens to the dear saint that is caught in that system who desires to be obedient to the Spirit of God dwelling within them? They end up suffering much confusion because the Spirit is telling them to do one thing while the management is demanding that they do “the program” it has generated. Eventually, the poor saint that seeks to obey the Spirit leaves that system (or is driven out, branded as a “rebel”) and finds himself fulfilling another scripture as they follow their Lord…

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. Be not carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with foods [strange doctrines], which have not profited them that have been observing them. We have an altar [filled with spiritual food], of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp,bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. (Heb 13:8-14 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

If they had “strange doctrines” circulating through the church in 55 A.D. when this was written, how much more it is true almost 2000 years later? As we obey the Spirit and our high callings to be conformed to the very image of Christ we will find that we must go “outside the camp” of Christendom because the spiritual atmosphere there is too stifling under all that man-made control which conflicts with what the Spirit is asking us to do. Just as Jesus was rejected and persecuted by the chief priests and elders of Judaism, so it will be with those who follow Him (see Mark 8:31 and John 15:20).

Jesus Christ is the same now as He was when the Book of Hebrews was written under His inspiration. The further one gets from eating the doctrines of men, the more he will find that God has a table set for Him with the wonderful truth of the true gospel of Christ. Yes, there is a reproach associated with following Jesus outside the camp whether it be the Baptist camp, the high church camp, the Pentecostal camp (or any one of 33,000 different denominations and Christian sects we have today), but going outside the gate unto Him and the call of HIS voice is worth it.

Remember that these saints of old mentioned in Hebrews chapter eleven never found an earthly city that they could call theirs, either, but they sought that kingdom that comes not with outward observation, a heavenly city with a heavenly temple made of living stones where Christ has been made the Corner Stone of all that is built upon Him. Just as that Precious Stone laid in Zion was rejected by the builders 2000 years ago, so it is with today’s church builders, so don’t be surprised that as you are laid upon Him by God, you will be rejected as well.

As it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.” (Rom 9:33 KJ2000)

Jesus said unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Mat 21:42-43 KJ2000)

It is evident that the church has gone full circle in the last 1900 years and its visible form is being rejected by God and once again “given to a nation” that will bring forth the fruits of God’s kingdom in His love. Listen to the voice of the Spirit and seek to operate inside your God given metron, building up the body of Christ in His selfless love as the Bride makes herself ready.

A Better Covenant – A Better Hope – A New Priesthood – A New Law

Apr1 by Michael

The Book of Hebrews is one of the most important books in the New Testament. In it we read what the nature of the NEW Covenant really is…

Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levit’ical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchiz’edek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well… This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchiz’edek, who has become a priest, not according to a legal requirement concerning bodily descent [ descendants of Aaron] but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchiz’edek.” On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. Those who formerly became priests took their office without an oath, but this one was addressed with an oath, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘Thou art a priest for ever.'” This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant. (Heb 7:11-22 RSVA – emphasis added)

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “The days will come, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in my covenant, and so I paid no heed to them, says the Lord. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant he treats the first as obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb 8:6-13 RSVA – emphasis added)

How many times in our Bible reading have we breezed by these verses in Hebrews and never absorbed what the writer is really saying under the inspiration of God? It is evident that the leaders of Christendom down through the history of Christianity since it became a “religion” or “religions” have failed to understand their meaning or just plain ignored these passages. Just how much of what we do in churches today that is linked to the Old Covenant is evidence of this. Many of us just observed one of the traditional feasts, Easter (named after the fertility goddess, Ishtar). It was originally observed on the Jewish Passover when Christ died on the cross, but later was changed to the pagan feast observed in the spring according to the movement of heavenly bodies (In 725, Bede succinctly wrote, “The Sunday following the full Moon which falls on or after the equinox will give the lawful Easter.” – This formula is still pretty much what the church system goes by today, not the Jewish Passover). Then we have the feast of the winter solstice we call “Christmas” and all its associated pagan traditions when Jesus true birth date according to most scholars was in the spring of the year.

The point I am making is that in the church today we have certain feasts that must be observed if you are to be called a “Christian” just as they had in the Old Covenant. “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place which he will choose: at the feast of unleavened bread [Passover], at the feast of weeks [Pentecost], and at the feast of booths [Tabernacles]…” (Deu 16:16 RSVA).

What other traditions do we keep from the Old Law? We still have a paid professional priesthood we call “pastors.” But what does the New Covenant say about this? Aren’t all who are Christ’s His priests?

… To him [Jesus] who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Rev 1:5-6 RSVA)

Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1Pe 2:4-5 RSVA)

But in the church systems today we still have our special temples and synagogues [called churches and cathedrals] that we must assemble at on a regular basis so we can “worship” there. Did I hear someone say, “But isn’t that where we are to worship? Surely you don’t believe that a person can worship out on a fishing stream or while hiking in the mountains on a Sunday, do you?” Well, Jesus was quite clear on this when HE was talking about the New Covenant saying,

Jesus said to her [the Samaritan woman], “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Joh 4:21-24 RSVA)

True worship of the Father is a state of being, not being in a certain place to be-in.

So we Christians today, like the Jews, have our special buildings where we carry on our special feasts at the hands of a special paid professional priesthood. What else? Oh yes, where there are special buildings and a special priesthood there must be support moneys coming in so we observe the law of the tithe (or at least a warped version of it). All this and much more is required in this earth-bound false system just like the Old Covenant observances and traditions were in that system that appealed to the five earthly senses with it trumpets, incense, gold and silver plating, tapestries, priestly garments, etc. But the nature of the New Covenant is one that is “a heavenly.” Even those of the first covenant who walked with God by faith were not bound in their worship of Him by the things of this world. In Hebrews eleven, the great “faith chapter” we read,

For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:14-16 KJ2000)

Do we who call ourselves “Christians” really worship our Father in Spirit and in Truth? Does the Holy Spirit in our spirits lead us in our worship which is not bound by an earthly local? Is the Living Truth, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, leading us into all truth (see John 16: 13-15) or do we still rely on human teachers to teach us all things? “And they shall not teach every one his fellow or every one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest.” Do we even know what covenant we are of?

So what about keeping the law? Surely the New Covenant incorporates all the ten commandments of the old law? Well, yes and no. In the quotes above found in Hebrews chapter seven and eight the writer is telling us that with the NEW priesthood it is necessary to have a new law and that it would be inscribed upon our new hearts. Jesus made it clear what that “new law” is saying, “A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (Joh 13:34-35 KJ2000). Paul went on to write,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, self-control: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-25 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

If we walk in the Spirit of Christ we will be walking in His love toward our fellow man and the love of God fulfils the whole law and commandments. In fact there is one true sign given by Jesus that we are a true disciple of Christ and that is that we are walking with one another in His love. Without His love in our hearts we are only a bunch of religious hypocrites putting on an outward show in a religion that is all about the outward things of this world.

Freedom! To walk in unity with Jesus by His Spirit is true freedom, freedom from sin and freedom from law keeping by the flesh. It is also freedom from any “new covenant” church laws made by men to keep us serving in their church systems. We are like the wind that can not be bottled up and sold by men. As Jesus said to that bound up old church man 2000 years ago, “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell from where it came, and where it goes: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” (Joh 3:8 KJ2000). Jesus’ own words all pointed to our freedom that He died for that we might be free IN Him as we abide IN Him. The law is only a school master to keep us in check as long as we are not truly born anew by the Father. Those who are under the old fleshly natures of Adam are still subject to the law to keep them in check (see Galatians 3:24-25), but those who have receive their new natures in Christ are walking by His law of love and are the only ones on this earth that are truly free, because they are not of this world, but are of His heavenly kingdom under the rule of His Spirit, bound to Him and one another by love. Be free, my brothers and sister and walk in the light as He is in the light. Amen.

Our End from the Beginning

Mar16 by Michael

Which Came First, the End or the Beginning? This might seem like a trivial question to some. But if God is not bound by time for He created it, isn’t the beginning and the end both the same to Him as far as His purposes go? He declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah prophesied,

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isa 46:9-10 Webster)

God also declares things that are not as though they are…

It is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.”(Genesis 17:5) God considers Abraham to be our father. The God that Abraham believed in gives life to the dead. Abraham’s God also speaks of things that do not exist as if they do exist. (Rom 4:17 NIRV)

Oh, how wondrous are the ways of God! I have been pondering these above passages for a long time. God not only knows all, knowing the things that will happen in the end of days as well as the past and present, but He has known it all from the beginning! This same God who through His Son, Jesus, spoke creation into being also had declared what the end of it all shall be from the beginning.

Here we have to deal with two concepts that are beyond our own human limitations. One that God creates all things simply by speaking them into existence. And two, He is not bound by time or any other human limitation as we are. Man can make nothing without first starting with something that God made and man does nothing without being subject to the limitations of time so these two concepts of making something from nothing and not being bound by time are a real stretch for us to comprehend. Both matter and time were the result of creation and God rests in a timeless state outside of His creation ever since it was completed. Yet, He sent Jesus to this earth to become subject to both time and matter. Christ was subjected to all the human frailties and weaknesses just as we are, yet in it all He was in perfect obedience to His Father and many of His acts defied both time and matter such as raising the rotting body of Lazarus from the dead.

Now, consider this passage:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Rom 8:28-31 KJ2000)

God foreknew each of us who are His in a special way. Not only that, He predestined us not just to be born, to live on this earth and to be saved from our sins, but to be totally conformed to the image of His Son! What image? The image of the babe in the manger? How about the image of the Teacher walking around doing good and miracles? How about the image of Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father in heavenly places? Just what does it mean to be IN Christ? Paul went so far to say, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17 KJ2000).

God KNEW our end — being conformed into the image of Christ — from the very beginning of creation. In the New Testament we read that Jesus learned obedience by the things that He suffered. We also read that He was crucified from the very foundation of the world. Jesus subjected Himself to the hand of the Father from the beginning as the perfect obedient Son of God. I believe that all these wonderful thoughts are wrapped up in the council at the beginning of Genesis where we read these words, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness… male and female made He them.” God knew what it would take from the very beginning to create many sons (and daughters) unto His glory and put creation in motion from day one with that end in mind.

In the above passage from Romans we see this wonderful progression designed by God to produce His desired outcome in the words; foreknew, predestinate, called, justified and glorified… the divine progression to a desired end starting with foreknew and ending with glorified. He knew our end (glorified in the image of God) from the beginning (foreknown and predestined). He not only foreknew who would be His, but He foreknew what it would take to get us there and incorporated us into that divine plan.

God from the beginning knew that He would be sending His Son to live and die and rise again for us and to lead the way as the Captain of our salvation. Thus we see our faith-trek as His family starting out with Abraham, continuing down through the patriarchs to Moses, and through the Children of Israel to Christ Himself. All that history of Israel (and the linage of Christ) was set in motion to bring forth His Son upon this earth in such a way that man would recognize Him when He came. The whole Old Testament is filled with prophesies and shadows of Christ and only those who received Him by faith were able to read those writings and see Him in it all (see Luke 24:13-36). God designed all that history of the people of Israel so that Christ could come and not only die for their sins, but the sins of the whole world and become manifest to all His creation as the Son of God. He was the First Born of many brethren. In Christ, the Father would have a vast family of many sons and daughters and this was His plan from the beginning.

Now consider this, God not only knew what it would take to save mankind from our sins and conform us into the image of Christ who are called (in a collective sense), but He also knew what it would take to get EACH of us to our appointed end IN Christ. We each have a history designed by God that was set in motion from the day we were born. Think about the chain of events that had to take place to get you where you are today in Christ. We each have had divine appointments and events along the way that were integral to our becoming saved, filled with His Spirit, tested, tried, and becoming “more than overcomers” as we have learned to trust in our Lord for all things. He has got us this far and He will get us to the His desired end for us as the sons of God. “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end” (Heb 3:14 KJ2000).

God has declared the end from the beginning! He has spoken our divine sonship into existence from the foundation of the world and He is arranging our lives so that we will reach that goal. Paul saw that end and wrote,

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Rom 8:35-37 KJ2000)

Yes, many things that happen in our lives do not seem to be ideal or perfect and often seem adverse to God’s end, but He knows our end from the beginning. Do you not think that He knew from the beginning when we would make a wrong choice or were attacked and also had that worked into His plan? He did not destine us to blow it or others to sin against us, but He did have a plan that would take even that into consideration and redeem us from our mistakes and sins. His mind is always on the end, HIS desired end for us and it is that end, many sons who would share His glory, He has known from the beginning.

Paul wrote,

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:4-10 KJ2000)

Did you catch that? We are not going to die in order to go to heaven. We are ALREADY in heavenly places as we abide IN Christ as branches of the True Vine. We have been created IN Christ and this is the source of all spiritual fruit and good works… He is our very Life. It is ALL a gift of God. We are HIS workmanship and were created IN Christ from the foundation of the world. It is from THIS enfolded joint life IN Christ that all everlasting works which the Father set in motion from the foundation of the world happen. All we can do is rest in the Son and watch the faith of Christ in us work through the love of God.

So, dear saints, our faith, rest, works, love, life, and even our hope are all bound up in our existence IN Christ and have been from the foundation of the world. This gives the “eternal salvation” of God great scope. Can we grieve the Spirit of God? Yes. Can we fall short of all that He has for us? Yes. But if we continue to walk by faith and not by sight, relying on the Son of God as our hope and salvation, He will make sure that we reach our eternal goal as sons of God. “For it is IN Him that we live and move and have our being.”

Has God revealed His Son in Us?

Mar12 by Michael

Has God revealed His Son in us as He did with Paul? If not, how will we ever be a witness of who He is to the world? Forgive me while I quote from our brother, T. A. Sparks once again, “The church has no existence in the thought of God apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, and it is judged according to the measure in which Christ the Son of God’s love is in evidence by its existence. ” I am bone tired of all that is being sold as “the church,” even house churches that do not manifest Christ’s life and love. “In Him was life and the LIFE was the light of men.”

“It pleased God… to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him.” (Gal.1:15,16)

1. Everything Tested by Inwardness

Since Paul’s day so very much of Christian activity has been the furthering of a movement, the propagating of a teaching, and the furthering of the interests of an institution. It is not a movement, nor to establish a movement in the Earth and to get followers, adherents, members, support. It is not an institution, even though we might call that institution the church. The church has no existence in the thought of God apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, and it is judged according to the measure in which Christ the Son of God’s love is in evidence by its existence. It is not a testimony, if by that you mean a specific form of teaching, a systematized doctrine. No, it is not a testimony. Let us be careful what we mean when we speak about “the testimony”. We may have in our minds some arrangement of truth, and that truth couched in certain phraseology, form of words, and thus speak about “the testimony”; it is not the testimony in that sense. It is not a denomination, and it is not a “non-denomination”, and it is not an “inter-denomination”. It is not Christianity. It is not “the work” – oh, we are always talking about “the work”: “How is the work getting on?” – we are giving ourselves to the work, we are interested in the work, we are out in the work. It is not a mission. It is Christ! “…That I might preach Him.” If that had remained central and pre-eminent all these horrible disintegrating jealousies would never have had a chance. All the wretched mess that exists in the organization of Christianity today would never have come about. It is because something specific in itself, a movement, a mission, a teaching, a testimony, a fellowship, has taken the place of Christ. People have gone out to further that, to project that, to establish that. It would not be confessed; nevertheless it is true, that today it is not so much Christ that is our work.

Now beloved, an inward revelation is the cure of all that. Am I saying too hard a thing, too sweeping a thing? The existence of all that represents the absence of an adequate inward revelation of Christ. If Christ the Son of God’s love is central and supreme in the heart of the believer so much else goes down, it must go down. Controversies with God will divide, but those artificial things, those things resultant from man’s activity and his projecting of himself, insinuating of himself into the interests of God, those things cannot abide where there is an adequate inward revelation of the Lord Jesus; they cannot be. These two things are before us: one, because of the revelation of Jesus Christ in our hearts we have a passion for Him; on the other hand, because of the absence of a sufficient revelation of Christ in our hearts we are out for other things which we would say are in His interests, and for Him, but which can never, never satisfy God’s heart. It is the satisfaction of the heart of the Father, which is in view.

Beloved I am speaking about the individual. I am not justified, and you are not justified, in claiming to be Christians except in the measure in which Christ is manifested in me, in you; and all the force and weight and ingenuity of hell is out against that. Believers have far more to provoke them to un-Christ-likeness than anyone else in the world. Believers have far more assaults to churn them up and to make them betray Christ than anyone else. Hell is dead set against the revelation of Jesus Christ. Everything begins with this, the revelation of Jesus Christ within.

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/000420.html

Why Testings, Isolation, Loneliness in Our Spiritual Life?

Mar7 by Michael

I have been going through a time of stripping, loneliness and isolation again and have been asking God, “WHY?” I came across this writing by T. Austin-Sparks that seems to explain why. I know that many of you will be able to relate.

MDC

Christ has Gathered up Everything and Transferred it into Heaven

by T. Austin-Sparks

The next thing (and for the moment the last thing, but not by any means least in importance) is this: that Christ has gathered up everything and has removed it, transferred it, to heaven. God’s thought is centred in Christ in heaven, and God’s resources are centred in Christ in heaven. That means that the Lord’s people in this dispensation are essentially a heavenly people, and that means that it is quite impossible to attain unto God’s thought or to know God’s resources in Christ until we are a heavenly people. If in any way (and we are speaking to the Lord’s people now, and speaking of the life which we would call the Christian life), or in any measure we are earthbound, it will be in that measure impossible to attain unto God’s thought, and to know God’s resources. God only takes responsibility to supply and to carry on that which is essentially heavenly, and in the measure in which a thing is heavenly, and only in that measure (but surely in that measure), God takes responsibility for it. If it is in any way linked with this world, becoming a part of this world system, related to this earth, it has got to take responsibility for itself to carry its own weight, to find its own resources, to see its own way through.

Now we come back to what we stated earlier. In the end everything is going to be sovereignly tested by those heavenly realities. Where are we today? One of the tests that is being applied today is: How far can that which claims to be of the Lord go on in fulness, in life, triumphantly, without any kind of dependence upon this? How far can the thing go on in famine, in drought, in depression, in all conditions into which this world moves, so that its resources are no longer available? Can it go on mightily, strongly, as though it mattered not what the world does; where God’s work, God’s interests pursue their way in a glorious independence? God is going to place that issue. One of the tests at the end will have to be: How much is this of heaven and how much is this of earth and of man? How much in all this has been man’s? Yes, it may have been endeavour for God, but it may not have been a work straight out of heaven by God. There is all the difference between those things. How far has this been a great deal of busy activity for the Lord, and how far has this been the direct activity of the Holy Spirit from the Lord? There is a big difference between those two, and the test is going to be to be applied severely.

Christ now is in heaven, and when Christ returned to heaven, He transferred the basis of operations to heaven; He transferred all the resources to heaven; He transferred all the the knowledge of God to heaven. And the Lord’s people through this dispensation have to get their knowledge from heaven, their resources from heaven, all their government from heaven. Since the Lord returned it has never been centred and seated in this world.

We can only know Christ after the Spirit, so that Christ for us in this dispensation is spiritual in the sense that all that we know of Him or can have to do with Him can only be in the Spirit. “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer.” (2 Cor. 5:16). He is known after the Spirit.

Our resources are spiritual. The weapons of our warfare are spiritual. Everything has got to come to us from above. The one great effort of the enemy, which is again and again successful through this dispensation, has been to bring the things of God down to the attachment with this world, attachment to this earth, to make them something here.

Now we come back to the New Testament, and you only need to read John to see how unattached everything is, how everything is lifted clean out of this world, and everything is bound up with the fact that Christ is in heaven, and that the Lord’s people are here but not here, here but not known, in the world but not of it; a mystery people in this world so far as the world is concerned… unrecognised, unknown. And yet by that very means and for that very reason, the most potent force that this universe knows: the spiritual, hidden, secret people of God in this earth.

To take hold of Christianity and mould it, and shape it, and systematise it, and crystallise it, and make it some mighty Movement here; with its roots here, with all its associations such as man can see, appreciate and approve; to register itself upon the ordinary consciousness of this world as being something; all of that is contrary to the Word of God and is contrary to spiritual life and spiritual power. Christ is in heaven, and we are lifted out, translated, seated together with Him in the heavenlies. Our present purpose in this world is testimony only, by which others will be taken out of the nations, a people for His name.

Perhaps one of the things which you and I and the Lord’s people everywhere need to recognise more than anything else at an end time is the fact of our heavenliness. There is going to be a testing of everything which bears the Lord’s name by the law of the beginning governing the end. In the beginning they were a heavenly people, with everything for them in heaven, in Christ, and being drawn from Christ in heaven. All their government, direction, resource came from Him and was in Him as in heaven. The Lord comes back again and again to test things by that beginning, and in the end the test is going to be applied very stringently. We are going to see the outward form of things, which is earthly, man-made, man-constituted, an imitation or a representation of spiritual things, breaking down, shaking at its very foundations. All the organisations of our work are going to be shattered. In the nations all that framework will be broken up. That which alone will be left will be the people themselves, and they will probably be scattered. Then the test will be as to how much of this is Christ here. If there has been dependence upon orders, churches, systems, even meetings and conferences, the many things which in themselves are looked to as the means of support of the Christian life, when they are gone, broken, the question will be, How much of Christ is here? What is the measure of Christ, the heavenly Christ?

You see how that was the crisis for the disciples. They had three years with Him, but there was an outward detachment, an outward dependence, a physical, sentient association. In those days they could say some very bold things, they could make great confessions and professions, they could declare themselves as to Him, Who He was, what they thought of Him, what they believed concerning Him, what they would do for Him. Then He was taken from them, and what was left? No Christ, no life, nothing to live for, everything gone! When the life of senses ceased, the outward order came to an end, they had nothing left, they were in despair, their faith was shattered.

There is much of that today. We do not know how much there is until the break comes, until we are no longer able to do anything for the Lord, until we are no longer able even to pray and read the Word of God, and carry on the usual devotional exercises, until we are no longer able to meet with the Lord’s people. Multitudes of the Lord’s people are coming there now. Over wide stretches of the earth the people of God are being driven, scattered, having everything outward taken. The question is: Why does the Lord allow it? Why is it so, if the Lord is wise, and almighty, and gracious? It is to discover how much the Heavenly Christ is to His people, and how much they depend upon the earthly order of things, even the Christian order.

“That which was from the beginning… Little children, it is the last hour… the one who does the will of God lives for ever“. Do you see the link? If at the end, at the last hour, it is as it was from the beginning, then it will abide for ever, but if it has become something else, it will go. This whole question of heavenly relationship with the Lord is a tremendously searching one, the fact that Christ has transferred everything to heaven and that nothing less than a life in heavenly union with Him will stand the test at any time.

We will ask the Lord that He will take this – if it really is the truth – and search us. It may be that some of us will find comfort, because we shall see this is exactly what the Lord is doing with us. Why isolation? Why the testings? Why the loneliness in spiritual life? To save us from things unto Himself, even Christian things, so that God’s end that Christ may be all and in all shall be reached; not things, but Christ; not Christianity, but Christ; not Christian work, but Christ.

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002953.html

Is It of Works of Is It Grace?

Feb10 by Michael

In the gospel of Mark we read about a great contrast of Jesus resting in His Father’s will and the disciples fighting to save their lives all in the same place and at the same time…

And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him just as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the rear of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awoke him, and said unto him, Teacher, care you not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mar 4:36-39 KJ2000)

What and insult the fearful mind of man is to God. “Don’t you care that we perish?” The Son of God was in perfect peace and rest even as a great storm bashed away at the little boat they were in. He knew the end from the beginning. Didn’t He hear the Father say, “Go to the other side of the lake”? After all we know that He only spoke the words He heard His Father saying.

I think that the second to the last paragraph in my last blog article “The Process of Faith…” has pulled a lot of us off coarse and I apologize for that. The heart of the questions that have come up regarding it seems to be this, “Is it of works or is it grace?

Paul wrote,

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7 KJ2000)

Wait a minute! I thought we were saved by faith? But here Paul writes that we are saved by grace! You see, God is the Prime Mover in our salvation and desires to be such in our lives as well. It is because of His mercy and grace that any of us are saved, not because we have worked hard enough to earn it. He even gives us the faith we need to believe in His Son!

So where do works come into the Heavenly picture? He has made us ALIVE with and IN Christ! The works are not our own, but of Christ in whom we dwell. As Paul said in Acts, “In HIM we live and move and have our being… for we are also His offspring.” We who are born from above live in Christ, move only in Christ for IN Him we have our very beings. If we are still living in and of ourselves all that we do, no matter how “good” the works we do might be, they will never satisfy the Father for only those works which are inspired by and come out from the Father and the Son have any eternal weight of glory in them. Yes, we have been saved by grace and the faith of Jesus which the Father has put in our hearts, but as we see in this passage, we are then MADE TO SIT in heavenly places IN Christ… that same Christ who was dying on the cross and cried out “It is FINISHED!” If we are not resting in the Father’s grace and Jesus’ completed work on the cross, we can NOT walk by faith.

Jesus said, “My Father works still and I work.” This is the only work that counts in the Father’s kingdom and for His kingdom purposes. To the natural man, the Adam nature within, grace is an insult. The old nature of Adam has been snake bit for that serpent of old said to Eve, “For God knows that the day you eat of this tree, you will be like God knowing both good and evil.” Oh, how the fallen adamic nature within wants to be “like God.” How we love our “good works.” It is all about the source of the works we do that makes the difference. Jesus said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up.” He did not say that it would never take root, but that it would be rooted up. So, our efforts to be “like God” in our state of rebellion (not abiding in Christ and His rest) leads us into doing all kinds of “good works.” But guess what, just as we have to be born from above by the Father, so all works that are done and are to remain, these also must be born from above as well.

God worked six days and then He rested on the seventh. Man was created at the end of the sixth day. Man’s first day began with creation’s seventh day, God’s rest. So in Hebrews we read, “For we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, they [the Children of Israel in the wilderness] shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb 4:3 KJ2000). God is timeless and He is not like us who are bound by our clocks and calendars. To Him a thousand years are like one day and a day is as a thousand years. His works were foreordained from the foundation of the world. He put the whole thing in motion and invited us who are His sons and daughters to enter into not only His rest, but also those works that He has foreordained to happen down through the ages. Hebrews goes on to say,

There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Heb 4:9-11 KJ2000)

In HIS rest we cease from our own labors and truly begin to walk by faith. Now that we are saved, do we become totally inactive? No, we become obedient to HIS workings as we are activated by the Holy Spirit, following His leading and being empowered by His grace to do those works that He has foreordained from the foundation of the world that we should walk in them. All of our imaginings are to no avail when it comes to doing the works of God. Peter wrote, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1Pe 1:19-20 KJ2000). Do you see what I mean by timelessness in God? Christ was crucified in the mind and plan of God from the foundation of the world, but it was not made evident to man until 2000 years ago, thousands of year after the initial six day of creation. So it is with all His works that He seeks to manifest in and through us! To be in His rest is to be in-tune with His will.

We who are Christ’s have rested from our own works, the works of fallen Adam who tries so hard to be “like God” and a god unto ourselves. Oh, how the religious mind of man is deceived! How he fails to enter into God’s rest and move only by God’s grace. We watch church program after church program that leaders thrust upon their congregations and what comes of them? Another failed attempt to prefect in the flesh what God has started out in the Spirit (see Galatians 3:3). Paul says it so plainly,

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

Here in these two verses we see “not of works,” “His workmanship” and “created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” Which way is it, Paul? Is it not of works or is it unto good works? A Pharisee came to Jesus and said ,”Good master…” Jesus answered back, “Who do you call good?” Only one is good and He is our Father in heaven.” Our Christian lives are not about us or our goodness! Any doing that happens in us is not of our works! In us dwells no good thing, unless that indwelling is the life of the Father which was put in us at salvation. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights…” (Jam 1:17 KJ2000). So we must understand that the Father has created us IN His Son, Christ Jesus, and it is from abiding in Him, the True Vine as HIS workmanship that we bring forth good fruit (See John ch. 15). Do we imagine a “good thing” to do or set out to do something because we read about it in the Bible? NO! We abide in the Son IN whom we have been created and then the Father’s works which were ordained form the foundation of the world are ours to walk in. Without entering into HIS rest, we will never know those works, much less walk in obedience to the Father as Jesus did. Our frenzied minds which seek to cover our spiritual nakedness with religious garments of fig leaves must be crucified. We MUST have the mind of Christ or we will never know the Father’s works much less do them.

So, is it of grace or of works? Both… His grace and HIS works. We can not generate His grace and we can not generate HIS works. Father is our All in all.

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Eph 3:14-19 KJ2000)

The Process of Faith – from Thorns to Sons

Jan26 by Michael

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city. (Heb 11:13-16 KJ2000)

As some of you might have observed, there has been a great struggle of gaining true faith in Christ and His kingdom within me. How many of us are truly “strangers and exiles” on this earth? We Christians, especially here in America, still have our hopes in a land where we can find our city. We still hope to get a secure place here on earth and this delusion is probably greatest in “the land of the free.” Our founding fathers thought that they had finally found that secure place on this earth. Many of them had fled Europe because of persecution for their faith. They worked hard to make America secure, not only for them, but for us. But in this present hour we are watching all their hard work and all our “securities” evaporate before out eyes; our 401k retirement plans, our property values, our family ties, world peace and safety, even our so-called Constitutional rights they fought so hard to secure! All that we relate to as “security” in this world is evaporating before our eyes and there is panic in the air.

The above passage is from the great “faith chapter” in Hebrews. There we find a list of people who put their trust in God. All these saints of old had one thing in common… not one of them ever found a secure place in this world, but their hopes were in something far off, “a heavenly.” Is that where we have our only hope? Is God “not ashamed to be called our God”?

Americans are about the richest people on earth, but our riches have deceived us. They have made us put our hopes in things that are temporary and transient. In His parable of the sower, Jesus warned, “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Mat 13:22 KJ2000). We American Christians hear the words of Christ and His gospel and we think that we are thus “saved,” because we once made a “decision” for Christ. But what happens after that? How many of us go out and get all wrapped up with the cares and concerns of this world after Jesus sets us free? Jesus said that where a man’s treasure is, there will his heart be also. The hearts of many are waxing cold for fear of what is coming upon this country and the world. Many Christians are even taking up arms and are willing to kill to save themselves and what is theirs. Have we not learned from the example of Peter with his sword? Jesus said, “He who finds his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” Thorns – the cares of this world, choke out faith and can kill our relationship with God.

In Romans we read,

For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body. (Rom 8:19-23 KJ2000)

Glorious liberty! Are we truly the Sons of Liberty? Our founding fathers thought they were. I think we are in the process of being freed in the truest spiritual since. We have been born into vanity and futility as sons of Adam. We are in bondage because we think that our continuing city, our “peace of the rock” is to be found on this earth. I can see why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor.” They have a lot less “thorns” in their lives to be released of.

We give lip service that Jesus is our Rock, the Rock of our salvation, but are all our hopes and dreams founded on that Rock alone? So, as we watch all our earthly securities being vaporized, God is hoping we get the picture! HE has subjected us to lives of vanity here on earth in hope that we will finally see that being totally IN Christ is our only hope. HE alone is that which can not be shaken while everything else is shaking and falling apart (see Hebrews 12:26-29). Our hope and our lives must be IN Him or we will suffer great loss as the waves of tribulation come crashing in upon us.

Paul wrote, “For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.” He is talking about the labor pains of a woman. You see, the earth is the womb we are in. It is rumbling and pushing and being stressed to its limits. Why? So we who are Christ’s would dig in and hold on for all that we are worth? So we would fight to hold this existence together to our dying breaths?

Jesus defined some of these “birth pains” as wars, earthquakes, natural disasters, famines, pestilence, and such. Men cry “Peace! Peace! And there is no peace.” This age is coming to an end and the whole creation is giving birth, actually pushing us out of this world and all that pertains to it. Is it any wonder that everything we cling to as “security” in this life is failing?

I think a baby must feel a great deal of rejection in the birthing process. All of a sudden the walls of his world are closing in on that once warm and comfortable place that was its whole life and reality. Its whole known world is pushing it out as if it is unwanted! Then that blast of cold air and the bright lights. Oh, the trauma! No wonder they come out crying. But what is next? The mother takes the child, wraps it in a blanket and puts him on her breast. The crying is over. There is no more of a peaceful sight than a baby nursing at its mother’s breast. This is all a parable from God. We should take hope in what is ahead, dear saints. “Travail lasts for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Paul continues, “We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body.” The redemption of our body… what does that mean? He is speaking of our being caught up into that eternal city whose builder and maker is God whose Foundation is Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. For here we have no continuing city. There is a groaning within us, those who are His, to get out of here and get on with REAL Life… that eternal life we have had a foretaste of in Christ!

Paul wrote,

“For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that has made us for the same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord” (2Co 5:4-6 KJ2000).

Our redemption has been sealed by the Holy Spirit within. He is the “earnest money” of the agreement we have made with God when we first surrendered to Jesus. Next came the “down payment.” We gave all we had to get that house. We surrender ALL to Him in this life process. Then comes the closing and we finally get the keys to our house and we get to move in. And guess what? Once we are moved in we find a note on the kitchen counter that the rest of the loan is paid off! The house is totally ours because Jesus paid the full price after all.

Lord, open our eyes to what a great salvation you have given us. Free us of the thorns that seek to choke out our faith in your Son. Raise us up as joint heirs with Christ and let us see that we NOW live in heavenly places as we put our trust in Him alone. Amen.

The Letter of the Law or the Spirit?

Jan25 by Michael

To answer this question correctly is to understand the nature of the New Covenant under Christ as its Head.

Apostle Paul was once a Pharisee who taught the law. He knew everything there was to know about God and he persecuted the church (and Jesus), but after he had an encounter with the living Christ he wrote,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. (1Co 2:7-9 KJ2000)

The wisdom of the New Covenant is hidden from those who are of the world and its way of thinking. But it is given to those who love God. Love is the key. Not love of religion, one’s denomination or even a love for the Bible, but His wisdom is given to those who truly love God! These other things can be good, but the worst enemy of the best is not evil, but what is merely “good” for they make us settle for a near miss. Many want to be seen as those who love God, but few are willing to pay the price for what it means to be a follower of His only Begotten Son whom God sent. We would much rather follow the world’s princes and leaders… kings, presidents, heads of denominations, popes, generals, etc., the very ones who lead us away from Christ and to themselves (see Acts 20: 29-31).

In the world there is a saying, “Rex Lex,” The law is king. The letter of the law must be observed! “To hell with mercy. Enforce the law!” they say. The Jews lived by this mindset. As I read the Bible, it seems that they spent their whole day searching for someone that broke their law so they could kill them. There is in Christendom a form of legalism that clings to the letter of the law, the Bible as well. The people of this mindset are loyal to God and hate everyone that is not as “loyal” as they are. Just as it was with the scribes and Pharisees of 2000 years ago, it is all about power and control to this day among the self-righteous religionists. But is this what Jesus, the Son of God, came to portray to all men regarding His Father? I think not.

Let’s look at a comparison of the letter of the law to the Spirit of Christ.

The letter of the Old Covenant says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But Jesus came saying,

“But I say unto you, That you resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away.” (Mat 5:39-42 KJ2000)

The letter of the Jews’ law says, “You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.” But Jesus said,

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them who love you, what reward have you? do not even the tax collectors the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the tax collectors so? Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” (Mat 5:44-48 KJV2000)

The letter said that a woman caught in adultery should be stoned. But Jesus when confronted by the Jews over an adulterous woman said,

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing before him. When Jesus had lifted himself up, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, “Woman, where are those your accusers? has no man condemned you?” She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more.” (Joh 8:7-11 KJV2000)

The law kills, but Jesus gave life and came that we might have life more abundantly (see 2 Cor. 3:6).

The letter of the law said that Jews were not to talk to Samaritans, especially their women! But Jesus spoke words to an adulterous Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well that no legalistic Jew ever heard – words of healing and words of life…

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said unto him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said unto him, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw.” …The woman said unto him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said unto her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (Joh 4:10-24 KJV2000)

He spoke to her of her need of the Spirit to dwell within who would become an artesian force of life flowing out of her. There was not a single word of condemnation, though He could see her whole life clearly. In this conversation Jesus also went up against the law of the Jews by saying that their temple was no longer needed to worship God, but that REAL worshipers of God do so in the Spirit out of lives lived in the Truth. Tell that one to your pastor or priest and see how far it will get you!

The letter of the law said that hands had to be washed before one could eat, yet the disciples who were with Jesus ate with unwashed hands. The self-righteous Jews were all about looking good on the outside and being seen of men as they did their religious duties, but Jesus taught that God looks not on the outward, but rather on the heart from where comes the real issues and motivations of our lives (read Matt. ch. 23). What an ugly sight that must be!

The Jews’ law said that it was okay to circumcise a man on the Sabbath, but they sought to kill Jesus because he healed a lame man on the Sabbath and made him whole. Does anyone see the irony in this? It is okay under the law to maim but not to heal? It is okay to loose one’s donkey or ox on the Sabbath and take them to water, but it is a sin to loose a woman of the demon that possessed her? To these hypocrites Jesus said, “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day” (Mat 12:6-8 KJ2000 – emphasis added).

If Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, then it was impossible for Him to break the Sabbath. And the Lord of the Sabbath said, “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man.” It was meant to be day of rest, not a day of condemnation and judgment.

We Need a New Mind!

Why is everything so twisted up in the religious minds of men? Jesus came to set all men free and religion comes to bind them up again! It is simple. The carnal mind is enmity against God and the religious mind is carnal. Paul wrote,

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom 8:6-8 KJ2000)

Jesus made it clear that we have to be born of the Spirit or we will never understand God (see John ch. 3), in fact we will end up being His enemies! Paul went on to say,

But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Rom 8:9-10 KJ2000)

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but few want to die that they might truly live. The Spirit of Christ must be in us if we are true Christians. That which is born of the flesh only is only flesh! But that which is born from above of the Spirit of God is spirit. Sorry all you who pursue Bible teaching with the power of your intellects only, you are out of luck. Is it any wonder that the first Christian seminary was not built until well into the fourth century when the church had already fallen under Roman control?

The mind when used properly is a good thing, but it has to be submitted to God and tuned to the Holy Spirit and not just used for intellectual pursuits or the Truth will never be fully apprehended by it. But we have an alternative to our carnal minds with which to explore and respond to God. Paul wrote,

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phi 2:5 KJ2000).

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1Co 2:12-16 KJ2000).

Peter wrote the same saying, “Since therefore Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God” (1Pe 4:1-2 KJ2000). The real battle is to LET this mind be in us, the mind of Christ, that we might fully comprehend the kingdom of God and His Son with the help of the Spirit who is our Teacher (See 1 John 2:26-27). The letter of the Bible is not enough. Without the Spirit of God we are blind to the things of God and will use them to do damage to others just as the Jews used them to justify the murder of Christ. Because they did not know the day of their visitation from God, their house has been left to them desolate. The temple is no more, but God still has His true worshipers and they worship and live IN the Spirit and IN the Truth, even Jesus Christ.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me again, till you shall say, Blessed is he who comes IN the name of the Lord. (Mat 23:37-39 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

“My Kingdom Is Not of This World”

Jan24 by Michael

Pilate answered [Jesus], Am I a Jew? your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you unto me: what have you done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from here. Pilate therefore said unto him, Are you a king then? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.
(Joh 18:35-37 KJ2000)

Pilate asked Jesus what He had done to be delivered to be delivered by the Jewish authority for execution. Jesus answered him succinctly, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

If we are of this world (kosmos – world system) we will support the governments of men on one side or the other, putting our hopes in them and not the Prince of Peace. We will stand and fight and the world will love us. Our actions will always lead to murder and war (see James 4:1-6). The “peace movement” of the sixties turned violent very quickly because they were ignorant of this fact. Satan had them in his hand in a heartbeat.

Jesus was killed by the religious and governmental systems of men because he was NOT of this world so were Stephen and the rest of the early church martyrs. It was not until Christianity became a religious system under Emperor Constantine’s control that it became murderous. “God and country” whether it is Allah and country under sheriah law or the American version “Moral Majority” is still the same murderous delusion. When religion gets punitive power it becomes bloody every time, even killing the Christ and His messengers who come to save them from themselves.

Much of Christianity today appeals to the Old Covenant to justify governmental power and even murder. They use it to justify hatred for minorities, homosexuals and other religions of the world, but Jesus brought an end to that covenant and filled up the just requirements of its law as He died on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We are not under that covenant, but rather one that is NEW in every way with Christ, the Prince of Peace, as our only Head. If we had known what this means, “I shall have mercy, not sacrifice,” we would have not condemned the guiltless. Jesus came to tear down the wall of separation between all men, not establish a new one. His mercy triumphs over judgement and HIS kingdom will triumph over the fallen kingdoms of men.

Choices are being made in this hour as to who is our King and in which kingdom we will be found taking our stand. Guns stores are being emptied of weapons and ammunition here in America. There will be another bloody revolution as King Obama or is ilk continues to strip away our civil rights with increasing centralized governmental power. To many Christians in America this is a severe test. May we who belong to Jesus all be found standing with the Prince of Peace in the days ahead no matter the cost.

Metamorphosis

Jan18 by Michael

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1Jo 3:2 KJV)

A few years ago I prayed, “Father, make me like your Son, only doing those things I see you doing and speaking those things I hear you saying.” I had just enough time to think to myself, “Man! That was sure a righteous prayer!” To this He replied, “No, my son, that is only the starting point!”

So many of us want to walk as Jesus walked on this earth, doing good, healing the sick and speaking great words of wisdom from God. But this is where success is found… only doing and saying what He desires to do and say through us. BUT here is the test… are we willing to learn obedience the way Jesus had to learn it? Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Many want to be spiritual, but few want to pay the price that is attached to true spirituality in Christ. After praying this prayer I went into a time of suffering and isolation. I learned that I had to suffer many of the same things Jesus did and often at the hand of religious Christians! Isaiah 53 became my life story; a root out of dry ground with nothing about me that men would desired, despised, rejected, cut off from fellowship and friends and judged by others as being under the judgment of God. Yes, “to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Who, indeed? Just how bad do any of us want to have Christ revealed in us?

You see, to get to this point of being totally tuned into and obedient to our Father takes a total transformation. The flesh profits nothing. We first have to come to realize that there is no good thing in us and seek HIS resolution to the problem. This word, transformation is packed with meaning. Have you seen the movie, “Metamorphosis”? I recently watched it with a brother in Christ from Canada who came to our home and he brought it with him. It is a documentary about what takes place in a the life-cycle of a butterfly and part of what I am writing here, he shared with me. It was a special time together in Christ.

For years it has been a mystery how that lowly worm, the caterpillar, was transformed (Greek – metamorpho) into a butterfly in that hard, ugly chrysalis. Then some scientists did an MRI of one of them while it went through this process. It seems that the worm, while in the chrysalis, completely dissolves and none of the original legs, organs, digestive track, etc. remains. Then there are some small cell packages in what’s left that take that “worm soup” and reform it into the organs that are common only to the butterfly. The worm does not change himself but rather he gives up his life so that a new and more glorious life might spring forth from what was once the old. He has to lose his old identity completely for this to happen. The whole thing is a miracle and it is a living parable of what God desires to do with each of us. Paul wrote about this process saying,

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed [metamorpho] by the renewing of your mind [literally, a whole new mind], that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:1-2 KJ2000).

There is no comparison of the caterpillar to the butterfly. Once, the worm had a gut that digested leaves, but the butterfly now eats and digests nectar from flowers with a new digestive track. Once the worm had stubby little legs that were made to grasp leaves, now the butterfly has long articulated legs made to grasp flowers. Once the worm had no eyes, but now the butterfly has compound eyes that see everything around it. Once the worm had no proboscis, but now the butterfly has a long one that can reach the bottom of the deepest flower. Once the worm was confined to the branch it was hatched on, now the butterfly, like the Monarch, can fly for thousands of miles and with his new mind and know exactly how to get to where he is supposed to be. And who can deny the beauty of the butterfly? There is no comparison of its form to the former worm.

As we progress in Christ we, like the butterfly larva, become a “living sacrifice” that goes into a total dormant state for a season (some call it a time of deep trials, darkness or wilderness) while we trade one life form for another. We are being transformed from lowly worms into beautiful spiritual butterflies that we might “mount up with wings as eagles” and rest on and move with the winds of the Spirit. This is what obedience is — resting in the Spirit in our new lives not striving as a worm to do what only a butterfly can do. Paul described this process this way,

For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2Co 4:11 KJ2000)

Did you know that even Jesus went through a metamorphosis right before the eyes of his disciples?

And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart, And was transfigured [metamorpho] before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his clothing was white as the light. (Mat 17:1-2 KJ2000)

You see, Jesus is the pattern Son. God sent Him into the world to show us the path of true righteousness and then to empower us by the gift of His Spirit abiding in us to carry it out. ALL things necessary for salvation, justification, righteousness and our glorification are ours as we abide IN Christ and submit ourselves to this process. This revelation should give scope to what Paul wrote in Romans chapter eight…

For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God… but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body… Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness… And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Rom 8:19-32 KJ2000)

Remember how I wrote above that the worm was dissolved inside the chrysalis? Now look at what Paul wrote to the Corinthians…

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven… Now he that has made us for the same thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. (2Co 5:1-5 KJ2000)

This transformation process that the saints of God must go through was a mystery down through the ages. It was hidden though the prophets desired to understand what God would do to change us. How would God ever get sinful men and women to become His sons and daughters? It was not done through the keeping of the law because the law was weak because of our sinful flesh (See Romans 8:3). No, it was done by the cross of Christ and the imparting into us of His resurrection life.

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Col 1:26-27 KJ2000)

Just as our suffering starts in this lifetime, so does our transformation, our metamorphosis, and herein is the glory of God seen among His sons and daughters for he submits us to this process in hope. Jesus Christ, the First-born Son of God, is our hope and our glory in all things pertaining to life as we abide IN Him.

Amen. Even so, Come Lord Jesus… in us all.

	The Spirit Lives Wit… on In the Beginning Was the …
	Michael on The Bride of the Lamb
	Jim B. on The Bride of the Lamb
	Michael on The Bride of the Lamb
	Jim B on The Bride of the Lamb

A Wilderness Voice

"The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of hosts." (Hag 2:9)

Dwelling Inside Our Metron in Christ

A Better Covenant – A Better Hope – A New Priesthood – A New Law

Our End from the Beginning

Has God revealed His Son in Us?

Why Testings, Isolation, Loneliness in Our Spiritual Life?

Is It of Works of Is It Grace?

The Process of Faith – from Thorns to Sons

The Letter of the Law or the Spirit?

“My Kingdom Is Not of This World”

Metamorphosis

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