Lesson 9 The Holy Spirit and the Church

      John 6:63 (Amplified) says, "It is the Spirit Who gives life (He is the life giver); the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it) the words (truths) that I have been speaking to you are spirit and life."     
     Even the words that Jesus was speaking are Spirit and must be spiritually discerned.  When men approach a spiritual word with carnal minds, they cannot understand the truth that's in it.  This is why we, the Church, have had so much division and strife over the Word of God.  Some read the Word with their intellect (the wisdom of man) while others read the Word by the Spirit (the wisdom of God).  One group ends up in bondage over women cutting their hair, eating certain foods, dressing in certain ways, worshiping on certain days and even having music in the church.  The ones who read the Word by the Spirit are free from bondage and walk in liberty with Christ.
     Acts 2:12-13 (Amplified) says, "And all were beside themselves with amazement and were puzzled and bewildered, saying one to another, What can this mean?"  Verse 13 goes on, "But others made a joke of it and derisively said, They are simply drunk and full of sweet (intoxicating) wine."  These are men looking upon spiritual things with their natural minds.
     Peter, who was always asking Jesus things from a natural mind and even denied ever knowing Jesus three times, then, by the Holy Spirit, stood and spoke in Acts 2:14-17 (Amplified) which says, "But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them; You Jews and all your residents of Jerusalem, let this be (explained) to you so that you will know and understand; listen closely to what I have to say For these men are not drunk, as you imagine, for it is (only) the third hour (about 9:00 a.m.) of the day."  Verses 16-17 say, "But (instead) this is (the beginning of) what was spoken through the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy (telling forth the divine counsels) and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances) and your old men shall dream (divinely suggested) dreams."
     One group received the word from the carnal mind and thought it was a joke.  The other group (by the Holy Spirit) had full understanding of what was going on.  Without the Holy Spirit to teaching the spiritual word, it makes no sense to man.  Romans 8:6-8 (Amplified) says, "Now the mind of the flesh (which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit) is death (death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter) but the min of the (Holy) Spirit is life and (soul) peace (both now and forever)."  Verses 7-8 says, "(That is) because the mind of the flesh (with its carnal thoughts and purposes) is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. So then those who are living the life other flesh (catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal natures) cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him."
     These "impulses and the carnal nature," does not necessarily mean sin and depravity, but simply mean men who won't allow the Holy Spirit to discern the truth (Spirit) of the Word of God.  These men read the Word in the nature of man, like those who did so when the Holy Spirit was first poured out from heaven in Acts 2. 
     We read in 1Corinthians 2:13-14 (Amplified), "But the natural man, non spiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them (of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them) because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated. But the spiritual man tries all things (he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions and discerns all things) yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one (he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get insight into him)."
     Remember when Paul was speaking to the Church at Rome in Romans 10:2-3 (Amplified) concerning the Jews under the Law saying, "I bear them witness that they have a (certain) zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to (correct and vital) knowledge."  Verse 3 goes on, "For being ignorant of the righteousness that God ascribes (which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought and deed) and seeking to establish a righteousness ( a means of salvation) of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's righteousness."
     Many who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior today, haven't yet ascribed to God's righteousness and have set about to establish what they perceive as righteousness.  By not allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal God's righteousness through faith in Jesus, we have decided that righteousness is in the way we dress or the things we do that make us righteous.  The Holy Spirit teaches a spiritual truth through the Word, and declares that God made us righteous with Jesus' Own righteousness and that it was a gift by grace from our Father.  He teaches us that righteousness comes by grace and not because of works.  This is the word of truth that the Holy Spirit teaches.
     There is nothing wrong with dressing in a certain fashion or choosing not to eat certain foods or behaving in a certain way, but we don't do these things to be righteous.  We become righteous by grace and are made righteous with Jesus' Own righteousness.  It's not what we do, but why we do it.  2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says that, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (What we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
     This is the truth the Holy Spirit will reveal to us if we will listen.  This doesn't seem like enough to the carnal mind and it says we must do things on our own to become righteous.  This translates into a word we don't like to hear which is self righteousness.  This is the carnal mind being in enmity against the truth of the Word and against God, even from those who love God and have a zeal for Him.  Only the Holy Spirit can speak the Spirit of the Word into the spirit of a man and override the carnal mind and bring peace to his heart.  We can rest in our works and trust Him for our right standing with Him.
     Do all the right things, for the right reason and rest in Him that Jesus is more than enough to get you home.

Lesson 8 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     John 16:13 (Amplified) tells us, "But when He, the Spirit of truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the whole, full truth) For He will not speak His Own message (on His Own authority) but He will tell whatever He hears (from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him), and He will announce and declare unto you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
     Jesus sent the Holy Spirit back to be the guide and the teacher of the Church after ascending to heaven. Without the wisdom taught through the Holy Spirit, the best we can come up with is the carnality of men.  Some of the things the Church has learned actually came from the Holy Spirit, but other things were not.  We've built many of our own things into the Word of God that aren't the leading of the Holy Spirit.
     Because we've failed to recognize the ministry of the Teacher, we've gotten off into man's thinking about the scriptures.  We say that casting out demons, speaking in tongues, healing the sick, miracles and raising the dead are all "passed away" and not for these last days.  I find nowhere in the scriptures where these supernatural signs are to cease as long as the Church, the Holy Spirit and the unsaved are still here. 
     Jesus said in Mark 16:15-20 (Amplified), "Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature (of the whole human race). He who believes (who adheres to and trusts in and relies on the Gospel and Him Whom it sets forth) and is baptized will be saved (from the penalty of eternal death) but he who does not believe (who does not adhere to and trust in and rely on the Gospel and Him Who it sets forth) will be condemned."  Verses 17-18 say, "And these attesting signs will accompany those who believe; In My Name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; they will pick up serpents; and (even) if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well."  Verse 19-20 go on, "So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied (it) Amen (so be it)."
     Jesus confirmed what they (the believers) preached with attesting signs and miracles as He worked with them.  Could it possibly be that we don't see these signs and miracles because we don't preach it for Him to confirm? 
     The Holy Spirit was the One Who brought forth the miracles in Jesus' Own ministry.  Before He was baptized in the Jordan River and the Holy Spirit came upon Him, it is not recorded that He performed any miracles at all.  The Holy Spirit is the One Who takes the Word and brings it to pass in Jesus' Name.
     We've heard for years such things as, "These things are passed away," "Those things were only for the early Church," "These things are not for today," "These things aren't for everyone," "These things were only needed until the Church was established and only for the Apostles."  But, Jesus said that these signs would follow the believer.  Aren't we believers?  Of course we are.  But, we can only believe what we hear preached.  Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."  Psalm 119:89 (Amplified) says, "Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settles in heaven (stands firm as the heavens)."
     The Word is settled and is the foundation and the building of the Church of the Lord Jesus.  What He commissioned the Church to do then, is still what the Church is commissioned to do today.  The same Holy Spirit Who brought forth miracles then, is the same Holy Spirit Who is here now.  Hebrews 13:8 (Amplified) says, "Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is (always) the same, yesterday, today, (yes) and forever (to the ages)."
     When Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13, He said that the Spirit of truth would speak forth the whole, full truth.  In these last days before Jesus returns, the whole world is looking for truth.  Nothing ever seems to be what it's supposed to be.  Many people have come into our churches seeking help and have left disappointed at the lack of the supernatural power of God to help them.  We give them good advise and counsel from a professional standpoint, but have very little to offer in the way of power to set them free.  We tell them to stop drinking and taking drugs, but have very little power to actually set them free.
     I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to take His place in our churches once again and to be free to move like He did in past day, free from bulletins and ceremonies and at liberty to work.  We tell the sinner not to sin, the alcoholic not to drink and we tell the bound person to straighten up and fly right.  In some fellowships we're even asked to not lift our hands because it might offend others.  I know we are to speak the truth in love, but we are still to speak the truth.  We've become so afraid of offending someone that we have very little left to say.  Almost anything we preach is offensive to someone, somewhere.  They were offended at Jesus too.

Lesson 7 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     The Holy Spirit was sent by our Father to indwell His family.  The only way for His family to have the life of God again (after the fall of Adam), was by having faith in the sacrifice of Jesus and receiving life through His Spirit.  Romans 8:2 (Amplified) says, "For the Law of the Spirit of life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death."
     Romans 8:26-27 (Amplified) says, "So too the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer, nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance."  Verse 27 goes on, "And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the (Holy) Spirit (what His intent is) because the Spirit intercedes and pleads (before God) in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will."
     Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the will and knowledge of our Heavenly Father to the Church.  Man cannot know what's in the mind and heart of God without the Holy Spirit.  1Corinthians 2:9-11 (Amplified) says, "But on the contrary, as the Scripture says, what eye has not seen and ear has not heart and has not entered into the heart of man. (All that) God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him (who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed)."  Verses 10-11 go on, "Yet  to  us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden beyond man's scrutiny) For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a man's thoughts except the man's own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God."
     The only way to know the thoughts and mind (along with the character and heart) of God, is by the Holy Spirit.  The Word says that, "The things that eye hasn't seen, nor ears haven't heard nor has entered into the heart of man, All these things God has revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit."
     We hear this scripture about the things we don't know often, but we don't hear the next verse read much.  The carnal minded man stops at Verse 9.  Those of us who know the Holy Spirit, look forward to what the next verse says about how the Holy Spirit reveals all these things to us about the thoughts of God by His Spirit to us.
     We have neglected to recognize the Holy Spirit in so many areas of our Christian lives.  When we learn to listen to and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all the truth, we will all come to the knowledge and faith as one body.
     There's so much to learn about our Father and our Lord Jesus, that only the Holy Spirit can tell us.  Until we learn to let Him lead us, we will continue to stumble and concoct man made rules that hold God's family in the same bondage we were in before being saved.
     I remember the story I recanted about a giant Kodiak bear.  Even after opening the door of his cage and driving him out into a beautiful wildlife home made especially for him, the bear still held a cage in his mind that prevented his ever living in that new home.  Even though the cage the Church was opened and we were set free, we still walk as though we are not.  The cage is in the carnal mind and won't allow the Holy Spirit to shed light on who God has made us to be.
     Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the depths of God's grace and mercy for us.  Man's idea of salvation (religion) still wants us to see ourselves like we were and not what God has made us to be by Jesus.  We proclaim that we're forgiven and still refer to ourselves as sinners.  We confess that, "By His stripes we were healed" and then say God made us sick.  We read the Word of God (which is Spirit) and channel it through a carnal mind (which is enmity to God's Word) and wonder why things don't work.
     Only the Holy Spirit is capable of revealing the laws that govern the Kingdom of God and how that Kingdom operates.  When we try operating the Kingdom of the Spirit by carnal thoughts and unrenewed minds, then nothing works.  We've been stiff necked and too proud to admit we've been wrong.  We'd rather stay in strife with our own family and Father than admitting we were wrong.
     In these last days before Jesus' return, there is an awakening occurring right now that will blow all of our self righteousness and stiff necked pride out of the water.  The Holy Spirit has a job to do and He is going to do it.  There is coming a revelation (not just to the Church, but to the whole world) that will bring the greatness of our God into such light we can no longer deny the Holy Spirit.
     When the great revival is in it's full swing, we will once again see the glory of God revealed to all the world.  Right now, God is looking for "A few good men" to go into all the earth to proclaim His glory according to Romans 8:14 (Amplified) which says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."  In these last days, we are going to be led by the Spirit of God.

Lesson 6 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     John 16:12-13 (Amplified) says, "I have still many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them or to take them upon you or to grasp them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the whole, full truth) For He will not speak His Own message (from His Own authority) but He will give the message that has been given to Him and He will announce and declare to you the things-that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
     Jesus, the greatest teacher Who ever lived, said that, "Without the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us, He could not teach us further."  This is an astounding verse of scripture for me to conceive.  Until the Holy Spirit was poured out from on high to live in the hearts of men, even Jesus couldn't make man understand the new birth and the new covenant.
     Until Jesus' resurrection, men were unable to be born again.  Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (the new birth), men were still only able to have the Holy Spirit as an outside helper.  Men and women of the old covenant, only had the Spirit by a certain measure and only for a certain time.  We, through the new birth, can have this Spirit actually living within us on a permanent basis.
     The Holy Spirit will now reveal the truth (the whole and full truth) of the new birth, to our spirit.  In His earthly ministry, Jesus could only allude to the new birth through parables and by incremental statements.  These were the only way to help us understand what was yet to come.
     Today's Church mostly thinks of the Holy Spirit in terms of what we read in 1Corinthians 12 about the supernatural gifts that He provides.  It's seems strange how the very thing that was supposed to make us one with the Father and with one another, has been the very thing satan has used to divide us.  Most of the division in our church doctrines, have been about the speaking of tongues, the revelation knowledge that the Holy Spirit brings and many other things concerning His ministry.
     We all believe that we've been born again by the Holy Spirit, but we've fallen into debate over what His ministry is beyond this.  Without the Holy Spirit teaching us, we continue trying to walk in the spirit by a carnal mind concerning the scriptures.  Many splits and division have come into our fellowship with one another over the things of the Holy Spirit.  I have known of complete separations in Church groups over receiving the gifts and presence of the Holy Spirit.
     If even Jesus couldn't explain these things to natural minded men, then how can anyone hope to show us the full truth of this glorious new birth?  We might still be born again and be children of the Most High God, but still not really know our Father like Jesus did.  We need the Holy Spirit to reveal Him to us in this new light.
     We have so many different views of our heavenly Father and have built many doctrines based on our own opinions and without the true revelation of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father, the Father and I are One."  We look at Jesus' earthly walk with the miracles and healings and see how He never turned anyone away or rejected them.  We hear Him pray, "Lead us not into temptation (trials and testings(, but deliver us from the evil."  Yet, we still believe that God is trying us and testing us with all the trials of this world.
     We're still trying to understand our Father (Who is a Spirit) with our carnal minds and our own opinions about Who He really is.  Mostly, though, we still identify with the Old Testament God rather than the New Testament Father.  Without the Holy Spirit to show us the difference of the relationships, we still have a different view of Who He is to us today.
     Only the Holy Spirit can reveal Him to us as Father.  We have still looked upon Him as our problem rather than THE answer.  We pray, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and still seem to have no idea what His will is in heaven.  We act like sickness must be His will heaven and state how, "It's God's will for some to be sick on earth."  For certain, there are people (even some of His people) who are sick here on earth, but that doesn't mean it's God's will for them.
     We act like everything occurring on earth is God's will.  Some even believe that healings and miracles have passed away.  We've concluded that, because we're still sick, God no longer heals people.  I know several people who are not saved.  Does that mean God doesn't save anymore?  Or that salvation has passed away?  Of course not.
     We haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal the true nature and the true identity of our Father to us.  We still hold onto the doctrines of men more than the revelation of the Holy Spirit.  You still cannot put "new wine into old skins or bottles."  The revelation of the Holy Spirit doesn't fit into the old doctrines of our religious teachings.

Lesson 5 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     Romans 8:3-4 (Amplified) says, "For God has done what the Law could not do, (it's power) being weakened by the flesh (the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit); Sending His Own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, (God) condemned sin in the flesh (subdued, overcame, deprived it of it's power over all who accept that sacrifice."  Verse 4 says, "So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit, (our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit)."
     The nature of man without the Holy Spirit, was the sin nature that came with the fall of Adam.  When Jesus died on the cross, He died twice.  He died once in His flesh and blood body and secondly, He died spiritually and was separated from the Father.  God told Adam that the day he ate from the forbidden tree, he would surely die.  The death that Adam died that day was spiritual death or separation from God Who is life.  When Jesus was raised from the dead (in His body and His Spirit), His sacrifice restored life by the Holy Spirit, to all who will believe.
     When Adam sinned, man died spiritually first and then the body began dying.  With Jesus, the body died first and then the Spirit.  His body was placed in the tomb and the Spirit descended into the lower depths of the earth according to Ephesians 4:8-9 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore it is said, When He ascended on High, He led captivity captive (He led a train of vanquished foes) and He bestowed gifts on men."  Verse 9 says, "(But He ascended), Now what can this He ascended mean, but that He had previously descended from (the heights of) heaven into (the depths) the lower parts of the earth."
     This spiritual death or separation from God has fulfilled the Law because, "The wages of sin is death."  The death or separation from God, was the death Adam brought to all mankind.  This death or separation from God (Who is life) brought about the death in the flesh.  When Jesus rose from death to life, it was the restoration back to God into one Spirit.  Then the life in the Spirit raised natural man back to restoration of the glorified Man Who is Christ Jesus Himself.
     1Corinthians 15:44-47 (Amplified) tells us that, "It is sown a natural (physical) body; it is raised a supernatural (a spiritual) body. (As surely as) there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus, it is written, the first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality); the Last Adam (Christ) became a life giving spirit (restoring the dead to life)."  Verses 46-7 go on, "But it is not the spiritual life which came first, but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man (was) from out of earth; made of dust (earthly minded) the second Man (is) the Lord from out of heaven."
     When we were born again by the Holy Spirit, we were restored back to what God intended man to be when He made Adam in the beginning.  Being weak in his flesh, Adam fell to temptation and by so doing, ushered in spiritual death or separation from God.  Jesus was raised in the Spirit by the Holy Spirit, Who gave life to His flesh and Who raised Him whole and complete like we will be at the final restoration. 
   The Word tells us in Ephesians 2:12 (Amplified) that this separation from God kept us outside of His covenant and even His Own life.  Thus, it says, "(Remember) that you were at that time separated (living apart) from Christ (excluded from all part in Him) utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in the sacred compacts of the (Messianic) promise (with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements, His covenants). And you had no hope (no promise) you were in the world without God."
     The Holy Spirit has come to bring revelation of Jesus and our new birth, so that we can have the knowledge of our relationship with our Father through Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the One Who Jesus said would show us all things that are to come.  At the time Jesus said this, the whole plan of redemption and the new covenant was still to come.  The Holy Spirit can and will show us, through revelation of God's Word, who we are now by Jesus Christ.  He is not the one showing us who we were, but who we are now by Jesus Christ.  He doesn't reveal to us the sinner we used to be, but the new sons of God whom Jesus has made us to be.
     Without the Holy Spirit showing us by His wisdom who we are, carnally minded men make their own doctrines of shame and guilt that prevent our ever enjoying the liberty of the new man.  The Holy Spirit is the One Who will lead us into all truth.  The Church has been repeatedly reminded how we are still unclean and sinful in God's eyes.  Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to the Church that we're being changed from one glory to another glory into the Name of Jesus.
     The Holy Spirit will comfort us and strengthen us in our weaknesses until we learn to be strong in Him and the power of His might.  He is the One Who will give us counsel from the Word and bring us into maturity in the Spirit.  He is also the One Who will lead us to become manifest sons of God. 

Lesson 4 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     John 16:13 (Amplified) says, "But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the truth giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the truth (the full, whole truth) for He will not speak His Own message (on His Own authority) but He will tell whatever He hears from the Father (He will give the message that has been given to Him); And He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future)."
     The neglect we've show the Holy Spirit in the Church borders on sin.  We were provided a Teacher by our Father so we could learn from Him.  Because we've neglected to hear the Holy Spirit, we, the Church, are more divided now than they were in the early days of the Church.  The Holy Spirit won't teach everyone different doctrines or different ways of reading the scripture.  There's only one truth and Jesus said, "Thy Word is truth."
     Once we change what the Word says, we no longer have truth, but some truth.  Even the devil quoted "some truth" to Jesus on the Mount of Temptation in Matthew 4:6 (Amplified) which says, "And he (the devil) said to Him, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels Charge over you, And they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone."  Verse 7 says, "Jesus said to him, on the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, test thoroughly, or try exceedingly the Lord your God."
     Both scriptures are correct, but one was used in the wrong sense and was a truth, but in this case was not the truth.  We have used many such things in our churches today that have not only wrought division, but have added to the bondage of God's people.  When we don't listen to the Holy Spirit as our Teacher (He will teach us all about the same Father), we have invented man-made quotes and doctrines that keep God's people from The Truth.  
     Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth.  He will show us the truth and not just a truth.  Romans 3:23-4 (Amplified) reveals a truth and the truth.  Verses 23-24 reveal a truth, saying, "Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives, All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy) through the redemption which is (provided) in Christ Jesus."
     The same devil that misquoted Matthew 4, is still misquoting to God's people saying, "If you are a son of God, All have sinned and come short of His glory."   We should be doing what Jesus did and say to the devil, "It is also written, (All) are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, through our redemption that came through our faith in Jesus Christ."
     Mostly, though, we don't respond with the truth in Christ, but go back under the condemnation of "All have sinned."  We fail to speak the scriptures out on our own behalf and allow the enemy to bully us into submission.  We could and should respond from 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) saying, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
     This is the truth through our faith in the sacrifice Lamb, Jesus, we're not who we used to be, but who He made us to be in Christ Jesus.  Jesus knew Who He was when satan tried to con Him into a false move and Jesus stood on "It is written" for His deliverance.  Today, we act like God wasn't able to preserve His truth because "it was written by men" and men could be wrong and then we fail to take what God says literally.  2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "Every scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, obedience (and) for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action) so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."
     The Word, when used by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, will make us complete and equipped for every good work.  The Word without the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, will reveal to you and keep you from ever being complete and righteous enough to do good works, lay hands on the sick or feel good enough and clean enough to believe God could ever use you.
     I've never understood why we, who have a Might God as our own supernatural Father and who are made in His Image and likeness, have such a problem believing in the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Being born again is the beginning of our relationship with the supernatural.  We act like we will be supernatural when we get to heave and forgot how the supernatural came down from heaven and changed us here.  The Holy Spirit will reveal all these things to the Church, if we will allow Him to.

Lesson 3 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     When we realize that the whole ministry is now in the hands of the Holy Spirit, then it seems amazing we don't know Him better.  I don't know how many of us look to Him like we really should.  I'm sure that some know Him and fellowship with Him on a daily basis.  For many though, He is just a presence in the cosmos like gravity or oxygen.
     The Holy Spirit is to be to us, what Jesus was when He was here as a Man.  Now, the Holy Spirit doesn't live in just one man like He did in Jesus' day, but personally lives inside each believer.  The very same Holy Spirit Who led our Savior, is the very same Holy Spirit Who is to lead the Church.  He is no less God than He was then.
     When Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, He told us that when He ascended to the Father, then Jesus would sent the Holy Spirit to us.  And, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit wouldn't just be with us, but in us in John 14:16-17 (Amplified), "And I will ask the Father; and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby) that He may remain with you forever-The Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart) because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you (constantly) and will be in you."
     Notice that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth...God's truth.  In 1John2:20 and 2:27 (Amplified), we find some scripture that is overlooked in many Christian circles.  Verse 20 says, "But you have been anointed (you hold a sacred appointment from, you have been given an unction from) the Holy One, and you all know (the truth) or you know all things."  Verse 27 says, "But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides (permanently) in you' (so) then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him (being rooted in Him; knit to Him) just as (His anointing) has taught you (to do)."
     This unction or anointing is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth.  Any time some new doctrine or revelation comes to us, the Spirit of Truth will either confirm it or reject it.  He is the Spirit of Truth and He lives in us.  When John said that we know all things, he is referring to the Holy Spirit within us.  What is there that He doesn't know about God?  When we allow Him to teach us, we will come into a greater knowledge of the person of our Father.  We have received some things through religious teachings that are not truth.  The Holy Spirit will refute these things in our lives and will reveal the true nature of our Father.
     It has become difficult for the Church to pray the will of God in faith because we were not always sure what His will was.  Jesus should have put this very truth in the believer's heart when He said that, "When you see Me, you have seen the Father. He and I are One."  Anything Jesus did was the will of God.  All the things that Jesus did like healing, deliverance, mercy, love for all, understanding, miracles and so much more, were all the will of God and still are.
     Because we don't always listen to the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, we don't always receive Godly counsel.  John said that, "We have an unction (a sacred anointment) from the Father (the Holy Spirit) and we can trust Him to give us truth."  The things the Holy Spirit tells us might not be what we have always been told in the past, but it will be truth.  As we learned in a previous lesson, God deals in specifics and not generalities.  Under the old covenant, the people didn't enter into His presence by generalities, they needed to be precise.
     Sometimes, we act like the Holy Spirit is our errand boy.  We pray for Him to go to the hospital and visit the sick.  Jesus told us to go into the world and heal the sick.  He also said that the Holy Spirit would go with us; not for us.  When we go, He goes and when we sit down, He sits down because  He says that, "I will live in you and walk in you."
     Being led by the Holy Spirit is success in God.  He will never lead us in a wrong thing, but always for the glory of God.  The Holy Spirit is a person.  He is the person of God Himself.  He has a voice, He has a ministry, He has a will and it is the very same will of the Father and the Son.  1John 5:6-8 (Amplified) tells us, "This is He Who came by (with) water and Blood (His baptism and His death) Jesus Christ (the Messiah) not by (in) water only, but by (in) the water and the Blood."  Verse 7 says, "And it is the (Holy) Spirit Who bears witness, because the (Holy) Spirit is the truth."  Verse 8 goes on, "So there are three witnesses in heaven; the Father, the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit, and these three are One, And there are three witnesses on the earth, the Spirit, the water and the Blood, and these three agree (are in unison; their testimony coincides)."
     When the Holy Spirit reveals something to you, it is truth.  He cannot speak anything except the truth.  He is the Spirit of truth.
     There are many things or acts of ministry that the Holy Spirit has come to fulfill in the Church.  All of the things He has come to do or show the Church, are all based in truth.  He doesn't know anything but truth.  When He acts in the ministry of our Counselor, He will counsel by the Word because, "Thy Word is truth."  He doesn't counsel as the world counsels.  We go to a marriage counselor, but is he a Christian counselor or a worldly one?
     God has given us everything needed to walk a successful walk in what He's called us to be.  We simply need to invite the Holy Spirit to do what He came to do and then follow His counsel.  His way may or may not be the way we think we should go, but His way always works and brings us into the glory of God has for us.  We get into places where we don't "feel like we love our spouse anymore," but Jesus said, "We are to love our enemies."  Surely, if we can love an enemy, then there must be a way to love our spouse.  The Holy Spirit will show us how to do that by His counsel.

Lesson 2 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     John 14:26-27 (Amplified) says, "But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby) the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name (in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf) He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you."  Verse 27 says, "Peace I leave with you; My (Own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed, and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled)."
      As Christian people, we're always allowing ourselves to be troubled. We "tried" the Word of God in prayer, but it didn't always work out and this is troubling in itself.  We've laid hands on sick people who died anyway and we tried to stand on God's Word and have been disappointed.  Perhaps, we need to listen more to the Holy Spirit instead of tradition.
     Since the Holy Spirit is God, then why don't we do like Jesus did?  He said in John 5:30 (Amplified) that, "I am able to do nothing from Myself (independently, of My Own accord-but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders) Even as I hear, I judge (decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision) and My judgment is right (just, righteous) because I do not seek or consult My Own will (I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My Own aim, My Own purpose) but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me."
     The same Holy Spirit that Jesus received at His baptism in the Jordan River, is the same Holy Spirit Who is with us and in us.  Nothing has changed from God's viewpoint.  The same power of prayer is available to us like it was to Him.  The main difference is that Jesus listened to the Holy Spirit and we don't.  Is He not our Counselor today as He was then?  We're always saying, "I don't hear from God."  But, Jesus said that, "My sheep know My voice."  Is God not speaking or are we not listening?
     While I was fellowshipping with the Lord, I was troubled about prayer.  Jesus said in Matthew 18:19 (Amplified), "Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever (anything and everything) they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven."
     Have you ever tried finding someone to stand in agreement with in prayer?  After you've finished praying, they tell you, "I don't feel like that worked, maybe we need to pray again."
     Finding someone to agree in prayer got to be a real trial for me because I sometimes pray things that aren't "traditional."  The Lord told me that "Anytime I am praying His Word and His will, I have someone on this that Who will always agree with me and that is the Holy Spirit.  I had never thought of the Holy Spirit being the other person as my prayer partner.  Is He not on this earth?  Does He not always agree with the Word?  Does anyone know the will of God more than He does?  So, I began to pray in agreement with Him and things began changing in my prayer lfie.
     1John 5:14-15 (Amplified) says, "And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him; (we are sure) that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His Own plan) He listens to and hears us."  Verse 15 goes on, "And if (since) we (positively) know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know (with settles and absolute knowledge) that we have (granted us as our present possessions) the requests made of Him."
     When was the last time you heard Jesus ask Peter to agree with Him in prayer?  Jesus relied entirely on the Father as His source of agreement saying in John 5:31-32 (Amplified), "If I alone testify in My behalf, My testimony is not valid and cannot be worth anything; there is another Who testifies concerning Me, and I know and am certain that His evidence on My behalf is true and valid."
     Jesus went on to speak on our behalf in Verse 37 saying, "And the Father Who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. Not one of you has ever given ear to His voice or see His form (His face-what He is like) (You have always been deaf to His voice and blind to the vision of Him)."
     We have been deaf to the voice of His Spirit and blind to His presence on earth.  In these last days before Christ's return, God is raising up a people who hear and obey His voice.  The Holy Spirit is speaking louder and more distinctly than I have ever hear Him speak.  He is the One Who is not only with us, but in us.  He has made unto us Wisdom, by Jesus.
     I don't want to make anymore excuses for why God's Word isn't working in my life.  I want to find out why it isn't working and then fix it.  I want to see God manifest in the Church to where it overshadows the early Church. 
     

Lesson 1 The Holy Spirit and the Church

     John 14:26-27 (Amplified) says, "But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby) the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name, (in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf) He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you."  Verse 27 says, "Peace I leave with you; My (Own) peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled)."
     According to this Word, the Holy Spirit is to take the place of Jesus as He was in His earthly ministry.  The Holy Spirit is to represent Jesus and act on His behalf.  To t Church, the Holy Spirit is to be what Jesus was in His earthly walk.  Jesus said that it would be advantageous to us for Him to go away in John 16:7 (Amplified), "However, I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say it profitable (good, expedient, advantageous) for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away, the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby) will not come to you (into close fellowship with you), but if I go away, I will send Him to you (to be in close fellowship with you)."  Jesus continues in Verse 15 saying, "Everything that the Father has is Mine, That is what I meant when I said that He (the Spirit) will take the things that are mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you."
     We have viewed the Holy Spirit in various ways since the time Jesus made these statements.  He is to some, one thing and He is something else to others.  Mostly, the Holy Spirit has been ignored and has even been a point of ridicule in the Church because of tongues, healings and other supernatural interventions.  Yet, Jesus said we'd have an advantage even He couldn't provide while He was on earth, when the Holy Spirit was sent.
     The Holy Spirit is God even as Jesus is God.  We still struggle with the fact of God's being a tri-une Being.  Even as He, the Father, is on His throne and Jesus is seated at His right hand, it is now the dispensation of the Holy Spirit and it's all in His hands.  Few have thought of the Holy Spirit as a person.  As the world has, we, the Church has viewed the Holy Spirit like some kind of presence (much like air or a great mind in the cosmos).           
     Unlike Jesus, the Holy Spirit wouldn't just be with us, but in us.  The Holy Spirit will and has done so many things for us that we've failed to recognize as His presence.  Romans 5:5 (Amplified) says that, "Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, For God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given us."
     This love, is the love that God has for us and the love we are to share with others.  We can never come to the knowledge of the depth of God's love without acknowledging the Holy Spirit.  Many Christians are fearful of losing or of not always being in God's love.  Only the Holy Spirit can truly reveal how much He loves us because God is love.  The Holy Spirit is the love of God coming to live inside us.  Even just acknowledging His presence in us, will strengthen us in His love.
     We read in 1Corinthians 2:9-10 (Amplified), "But, on the contrary, as the scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man. (All that) God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him (who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed)."  Verse 10 says, "Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy Spirit) searches diligently, exploring and examining everything even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the Divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man's scrutiny)."
     The deep and profound things of God will only be made known to man by the Holy Spirit.  Things that man's wisdom and understanding cannot receive without the presence and acknowledgment of the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit brings revelation knowledge to the Church, those who don't acknowledge Him have difficulty receiving the revelation.  This causes many divisions among the Church and keeps the body of Christ divided.
     Many times the "revelations" coming to the Church were not from the Holy Spirit, but from man's ideas.  Those who do not acknowledge His presence, actually fight with the Holy Spirit and the true wisdom of God.
     I recall a time of praying for an elderly woman whose hand were all twisted from arthritis.  As I prayed and believed God to heal her, nothing happened.  I went before the Lord and asked why nothing happened when I prayed for her.  Afterall, James 1:5 (Amplified) say that, "If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him."
     The Holy Spirit spoke to Me, saying, "Son, there is a difference between healing and loosing.  Luke 13:16 (Amplified) says, "And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"  To me, everything was a matter of healing, but to Him it wasn't so.  So, I returned to the lady the next day, laid my hands on her and said, "Sister, I loose you from this infirmity!"  As I did this, I watched her hands uncurl and her fingers straighten.
     Without the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to tell me, this woman would have remained how she was and I would never have known why.  I have found Him, the Holy Spirit, to be my Guide in so many things ever since.  We deal with things in generalities and God deals in specifics.  Moses didn't build the tabernacle on generalities, but on specifics.  Too many times, we miss the mark by simply not hearing the voice of the Spirit of God.

                                                      

Lesson 15 Grace and Faith

     Galatians 3:20 (Amplified) says, "Now a go between (intermediary) has to do with and implies more than one party (there can be no mediator with just one person); Yet God is )only) One person (and He was the Sole Person in giving that promise to Abraham, But the Law was a contract between two, God and Israel; its validity was dependent on both)."
     While reading from Galatians 13, we see how God's promise to Abraham came 430 years before the Law was given through Moses.  God Himself made this promise to Abraham all because of the fact that Abraham believed God.  It was all based on Abraham's faith in what God had promised.  There was no Law for Abraham to fulfill or ceremonies for him to follow.  It was based on faith.
     Now, we have entered into this promise of God's grace to Abraham by our faith.  Just like it was with Abraham, so it is to us.  There's no second party in this covenant or agreement.  If by faith, we will only believe Him like Abraham did, then all can and will be fulfilled.  Our blessing doesn't depend on whether we make a mistake or mess up, like it did under the Law.   If they broke any part of the agreement or covenant, then God could not perform His part according to Galatians 3:20 which says, "The Law was a contract between two, God and Israel and its validity relied on both."  This new covenant was entirely ratified by God Who swore by Himself.  There was nothing left for us to do but simply, by faith, believe as Abraham did.
     2Timothy 2:13 (Amplified) says, "If we are faithless (do not believe and are untrue to Him) He remains true (faithful to His Word and His righteous character) for He cannot deny Himself."
     This doesn't mean we can do anything we wish and still be led by the Holy Spirit.  But, it does mean that if we make mistakes in our walk with Him, then He still honors His part of the promise in spite of our missing it.  It's not like under the Law when God's covenant was based on our performance.  He will not withhold His promise made to Abraham and His Seed, Who is Christ.  The promise was to Jesus and not to us.  Our faith in Christ Jesus qualifies us as the Seed of Abraham.
     God has fulfilled His promise to Himself in Jesus.  It's up to us now to believe His Word.  If you will study Abraham and his walk with God, then you'll find how it wasn't Abraham who was perfect, but God.  Jesus fulfilled the perfecting of this covenant of grace. 
     2Corinthians 10:5 (Amplified) says that, "(In as much as we) refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the (true) knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     Even if I miss it (and I do at times), Jesus is where my faith is and it is His obedience that God is blessing me in and not mine.  He made this covenant with Jesus and Jesus fulfilled it perfectly.  He is where my blessings are set forth.  It's Jesus' righteousness and not mine, His sanctification and not mine and His perfect sacrifice and not mine.
     Even if I'm not perfect, He is.  I bring my thoughts captive unto His obedience and not mine.  This doesn't mean that we can live any way we want to, but we're not to be under condemnation and fear when we do miss it.  I might not be where I should be yet, but thank God I'm not where I used to be.  We are all growing and learning as we go.  I don't believe that anyone who loves God isn't trying to please Him.  Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says that, "Without faith, it's impossible to please God."  When we miss it, then by faith we put it under the Blood of Jesus and continue running the race and don't quit. 
     It might take us some time before we realize our walk with God is dependent upon Jesus and our faith in His fulfillment of the covenant.  Don't you realize that God knew we were far from perfect?  He doesn't look at our imperfections, but He looks at the perfect sacrifice that has perfected us.  God only sees the Lamb.
     God already knew we were incapable of the faithfulness needed to walk out our end of the covenant.  So, He has made covenant by Himself and can judge us by His faithfulness and not ours.  We must, by faith, come to honor the sacrifice God has accepted for us and stand in His acceptance.  It is God's goodness that brings men to repentance according to Romans 2:4.
     God's Word declares in Romans 4:16 (Amplified) that, "Therefore, (inheriting) the promise is the outcome of faith and depends (entirely) on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his (Abraham's) descendants not only to the devotees and adherence of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is (thus) the father of us all."

Lesson 14 Grace and Faith

     Our covenant with God is one of grace and faith.  God, by His grace and goodness, knew man could never pay the price that must be paid for salvation.  The blood of bulls and goats could cover man's sin for awhile, but it couldn't remove the sin.  Man must have blood that wasn't tainted with sin and blood that held eternal life (unlike the blood of animals).  There was only one way of establishing this new covenant of blood and that was for God's Own Blood be given in Jesus' body for man.
     Jesus, Who had always been in God's presence, must leave heaven, come to earth as a man, subject Himself to death and take man's place.  Man could not do this because sin and death were already in every man since the fall of Adam.  Restoring man back to right standing with God, would be something only God Himself could achieve.  This covenant wouldn't depend on man for anything except putting faith in God's grace given on man's behalf.
     Because this whole covenant was to be one of God and by God, it would be perfect just like He is perfect.  Man need only believe what God had done for him, to enter into this covenant.  We don't enter into covenant with God, but by God.
    When we entered into the old covenant of the Law of Moses, we entered into covenant with God.  Man had a place and part to play in this covenant.  Man was required to do his part and then God would do His part.  As long as man would uphold his end of the covenant, God could bless, heal, prosper and protect him.  If man let his end of things fall (as he always did), then God could no longer bless man the way He wanted to.
     God has now presented a new covenant that is foolproof.  He made covenant by Himself and with Himself.  God, in the person of the Father, made a covenant with God in the person of Christ Jesus.  Jesus would carry God's Own Blood in His body and this Blood was without sin or death.  Leviticus 17 declares that, "The life is in the blood."  This life would carry eternal life to man and not temporary like the sacrifice of animals brought.  This sacrifice would be the final sacrifice for sin and death.
     Because God had made this sacrifice Himself, it is unbreakable.  God couldn't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it.   This covenant has been cut by God, through God and with God.  Now comes the part that we have entered into.  Our part is faith.  Galatians 3:16 (Amplified) says, "Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his offspring, his Heir)."  God doesn't say that the covenant is to Abraham and his seeds, as if referring to many persons.  But, God says it is to Abraham and your Seed, referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ the Messiah.
     Notice how the promise was made to Abraham because of his faith and his Seed.  The promise was made to Jesus, through Abraham.  Abraham was allowed to enjoy the promise by faith, but the promise was made for Jesus.  Man is excluded from this new covenant altogether, according to Galatians 3:20 (Amplified) which tells of a go between, an intermediary.  This implies more than one party because there cannot be mediation between just one person.  Yet, God is only One person and He is the Sole party in giving that promise to Abraham.  But, the Law was a contract between two parties, God and Israel, and it's validity was dependent on both.      
     God made the covenant and promise to and through Jesus.  Like Abraham, we can enter into this covenant of God's by faith in the One He made covenant with.  God didn't make covenant with me, He made it with Jesus.  My part is to simply trust in His covenant with Jesus, by my faith.  No good works, good deeds, giving or anything else I can do, make my blessing flow.  The covenant wasn't made with me.  All I need do to allow the blessings flow, is to trust the One the blessing was made to.
     We've always believed that if we mess up, then all things would stop, but the truth is that the blessings and promises were made to Jesus and He doesn't mess up.  The problem with the first covenant was it depended upon two parties one of which always failed (man).  If man failed to keep up his end, then God couldn't fulfill His end of the covenant.
     Our new covenant was made to Jesus, Who is God, by God and there are no mistakes.  This is why our covenant is one of pure grace.  Nothing we could do can nullify this covenant or make it void or useless.  It's not our covenant.  It's His.
     All God requires of us is to simply trust, rest, believe, have faith in and rely on His promise to Jesus.  If God made His covenant with Jesus, then it's already done and we simply need to enter in by faith in His grace.  This is why we have been called joint heirs with Jesus.  By faith in His covenant, we inherit His portion and not our own.

Lesson 13 Grace and Faith

     For so long, as Christians, we have viewed our Heavenly Father from an Old Testament knowledge and have failed to enter into the grace being offered by Him.  Even now, we're unable to believe that we have The Almighty God as our Father.  We still consider Him to be One Who is unapproachable, like He was to the Old Testament saints.  We miss out on so much in our own fellowship and peace with Him.
     Even though He is holy and righteous, we've entered into His same holiness and righteousness through Jesus our Lord.  We still shrink back from God's throne of grace (His actual throne of power) because of our sense of unworthiness.  We nearly always focus on the scriptures concerning sin and judgment, instead of the scriptures on righteousness and justification.  It's been so difficult for us to see ourselves as the Father sees us now, through Jesus.
     Jesus said in John 17:17-22 (Amplified), "Sanctify them (purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them Holy) by the truth; Your Word is truth."  Verses 18-20 say, "Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world and so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made Holy) in the truth. Neither for these alone do I pray (it is not for their sakes only that I make this request), but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching."  Verse 21 goes on, "That they all may be one (just) as You, Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be One in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me."  Verse 22 says, "I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one (even) as You and I are One."
     These scriptures are pure grace and are meant for all who will believe on Jesus.  If there was ever anyone who had all their prayers answered, then it was Jesus.  He never prayed in doubt, fear or unbelief.  He never prayed outside the will of God.  When this prayer went out from Him, it was heard and answered by the Father Who sent Him.
     The question then becomes, "Do we receive of what He prayed?"  Have we ever dared believe that we were endowed with the same glory Jesus had?  Do we dare reach out in our faith to accept what Jesus said in Verse 19, "For their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made Holy)" as truth? 
     These scriptures are the truth.  Do we dare believe this truth?  Do we dare believe that by this truth, we are holy?  John 1:17 (Amplified) says that, "For while the Law was given through Moses, grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."
     These scriptures reveal who we really are in Christ Jesus.  We still look upon our own works (which are always short of perfection) instead of looking at His works that are always perfect.  This is called grace which is undeserved favor and unearned blessing.  We can never do anything to earn this grace.  It must be received and believed by our faith in His perfect work.
     God spoke throughout His Word about the time that was to come through Jesus.  Psalm 85:9-13 (Amplified) is one of my favorite scriptures and says, "Surely His salvation is near to those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him (and is ready to appropriated) that (the manifest presence of God) His glory may tabernacle and abide in our land. Mercy and loving kindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other, truth shall spring up from the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven, Yes the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase, Righteousness shall go before Him and shall make His footsteps a way in which to walk."
     God said in Isaiah 54:14 (Amplified), "You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God's will and order) you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you."
     Do we believe, by faith, in this kind of His grace?  It belongs to us by inheritance in Christ Jesus, but do we receive this inheritance for ourselves in this life?  We struggle with the end times and all the destruction to come and have more faith in that, than in Isaiah 54:14.  Our faith must be only in Jesus and not in ourselves, our works, or our denominations.
     We can only enter God's presence, without fear and guilt, by faith in His grace.  We were taken out of sin and death by faith in His grace.  We can also be taken out of sickness, disease, fear, destruction and oppression, by faith in the same grace.
     Romans 8:1-3 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the Law could not do, (its power) being weakened by the flesh (the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit) sending His Own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, (God) condemned sin in the flesh (subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice)."
     Have you, by faith in this grace, allowed yourself to walk without condemnation or guilt of wrong doing and believed that through Jesus, you are blameless and justified and holy with Him?  Grace has provided this and so much more.  I urge you to extend you faith to walk in the liberty of the new man.
     

Lesson 12 Grace and Faith

     John 1:17 (Amplified) tells us that, "For while the Law came, was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor and spiritual blessing) and truth came through Jesus Christ."
     When Jesus came, He brought grace, truth, blessing and favor.  When you and I received Jesus as our Lord, we received, by faith, all that He came to deliver to mankind.  You and I are participants of this grace by our faith in Him.  Jesus didn't just come to take away our sins, but once the sin problem was dealt with, He brought us back to the place of sonship and favor with our Father.
     Sin caused a barrier between God and us, but once the sin was paid for and taken away, we were declared righteous by the same sacrifice that cleansed us from sin.  Now that we've been made righteous by Jesus' righteousness, we are by faith, subject to all our Father wanted to give us from the beginning.  The only way to receive the payment for sin, is by placing faith in the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin.  If a person will not accept the Lamb of God, then he is still in his sin and is exempt from the blessing and favor of God's grace.
     God's grace is still extended to whoever will believe in Jesus.  John 3:16 (Amplified) says, "For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that (He even) gave up His only begotten (Unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life."
     What if we don't believe, don't accept and reject God's gift of grace and favor?  John 3:18 (Amplified) says, "He who believes in Him (who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him) is not judged (he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is rejection, no condemnation-he incurs no damnation) but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already (he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence) because he has not believed in, and trusted in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God (he is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's Name)."
     Many people do not wish to believe that they cannot approach God as Father without their receiving Jesus.  Today, many believe they can obtain forgiveness of their sin by themselves.  Grace has been offered, but faith must accept it.  Without faith in what grace has made available, we still are in our sin.
     This is the point I wish to stress on behalf of Christian people.  This is what so many of us don't seem to be able to accept.  Now that we have expressed our faith by receiving Jesus, all of the blessings of His sacrifice have been made available to us, but it still requires faith to appropriate it in our lives.  Isaiah 53:4-5 (Amplified) says, "Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains (of punishment) yet we (ignorantly) considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God (as if with leprosy)."  Verse 5 says, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; The chastisement (needful to obtain) peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes (that was upon Him, and with the stripes that wounded) Him we are healed and made whole."
     Not only our sins were laid upon Him, but according to this scripture, our sickness, our disease, our guilt, our iniquities, our peace and well-being and our healing were also laid upon Him.  By faith, we partook of His grace for our forgiveness of sin.  But, have we ever extended our faith to partake of the healing and peace that has been offered in this same sacrifice of grace?
     We've struggled with the fact that the sacrifice of God's grace has even made us righteous by faith.  Everything grace has made available depends on whether we will believe Him for it by faith.  It all came in the Blood and resurrection of God's Lamb of grace.  See what grace has made available to us if we will believe it in Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) which says, "Therefore, Since we are justified (acquitted, declared righteous and given a right standing with God) through faith Let us (grasp the fact that we) have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy) peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."  Verse 2 says, "Through Him also we have (our) access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace (state of God's favor) in which we (firmly and safely) stand. And let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God."
     We can conclude that all these things belong to the believer by God's grace and that they are appropriated by faith.  When you receive Jesus, God accepted you as righteous, as justified and in right standing with Him.  We've been granted reconciliation and peace with God.  We also have (according to Romans 5:2) entrance and introduction by faith into this grace.  Even though it's ours by Jesus' sacrifice, what if we don't or won't believe we have healing, entrance, peace, reconciliation and full acceptance by our Heavenly Father?  We still will fail to receive it, because we refuse to take hold of it by our faith.
     Remember that we have entrance and introduction into this grace by faith.  Even though we have peace and righteousness by grace, there are many who continue stumbling at the fact they have been made righteous and in right standing with God through His grace.  We still stand outside the blessings because we fail to believe that by faith, these things are ours.  They are ours, but we fail to accept this truth and we never can enjoy what grace has made available to us.  It's much like how the world cannot receive the grace for salvation that's been so greatly offered to them.  If they won't accept the truth by faith, grace cannot and will not be granted.  If we reject this grace and do not believe it (even though it's already ours) and we fail to appropriate it for ourselves, then it's because of our lack of faith in it.
     Jesus didn't leave anything to change when He went to the cross.  He covered the whole man:  spirit, soul and body.  Nothing was left to be done except for us to believe.  Somehow, we've come to the conclusion that God really only cared about our spirit and not our body and soul.  That's not true.  Jesus redeemed the whole man when He was raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father.  It was all done.
     Hebrews 4:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, While the promise of entering His rest (grace) still holds and is offered (today) let us be afraid (to distrust it) lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of (reaching) it."
     We haven't come too late or come too short of His rest and grace.  All we need to do is extend our faith in Him to a higher place than we had been before.  Remember how Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith  that arouses to more faith) As it is written, the man who through faith is just and upright shall live by faith."
      Our faith is a growing and living walk with our Father that goes from glory to glory.  Let your faith in His grace receive into yourself, the fullness of the price of the Blood of Jesus.  Let make you all that grace has given you in Him.  Don't limit the grace of God in your life by not believing in all His goodness and favor provided us through Jesus.  It is already ours by the Lamb given for our salvation.  Receive it and walk in His grace daily.
    

Lesson 11 Grace and Faith

     Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) tells us that, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) f the things (we) hope for, being the proof of things (we) do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)."
     Notice, how Hebrews 11:1 it's no longer Law or works or anything man can do to bring it to pass, but now faith is what we put our lives into.  Faith is perceiving as real fact that which we cannot see or touch with our senses. This was a foreign idea to the old covenant people.  They had assurance in the Law, the sacrifices and the obedience to the Law.  Now faith is how we must walk and receive from God what we desire in our lives.
     No longer do blessings and our favor with God depend on Law, but depend on our faith.  Everything that the blessing and grace promised Abraham, is now available to us, but only by faith.  We keep trying to do anything to acquire these blessings and favor from our Father.  But, the more we do to try and gain His favor, the harder it becomes for us to achieve His blessing.  Everything God has promised through Abraham, is already ours by faith.
     This is the rest God spoke about entering into in Hebrews 4.  We must enter into it by faith in the finished work of Jesus.  There are no more rituals, no more ceremonies, no more sacrifice and no more working on our part, but only believing that Jesus has already done it for us.  We are only required to trust in Him, by faith, and rest in His work.
      The Hebrews in Hebrews 11 are in the Faith Hall of Fame and dared to just believe God and His promise.  Throughout the family of God today, these Hall of Famers would be labeled "fanatics."  They dared go beyond the norm and reached into the unseen.  We now look upon these people as heroes and Patriarchs, but at the time they stepped out to believe, they were viewed as foolish.
     The recent movie, "Noah," portrayed him as such a mess and deranged.  The truth is, all those around him were deranged and Noah was the only one with enough sense to trust God.  Today, if you dare to even believe by faith in speaking in tongues, then you're looked upon by some as fanatic.  Nearly everyone who dares believe God outside of their religious background is considered strange and far out.  Using today's standards, anything outside of just attending church on Sunday, is too far out.
     Whatever happened to a God Who can do anything?  When did we reduce Him to a Sunday service?  Even praying has become a last ditch effort to try, after everything else has been exhausted.  Is God still the Creator of all heaven and earth?
     Grace has done what man couldn't do in all of his efforts.  Grace has now provided complete access to God Himself.  Only He could do that.  Now, that He has done that through Jesus, there's nothing left for us to do, except by faith, entering into this grace.  The more we try improving on what Jesus has done by our works, the farther from faith in His grace we get.  Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and to be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must (necessarily) believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him (out)."
     We cannot earn God's favor or His grace.  If we could, then it would no longer be favor, but debt.  It would now be something God owes us because of our works and would no longer be grace.  If this could be done, then we wouldn't have needed a new covenant and a Savior.  Under the Law, no one could obtain righteousness because no one could perfectly keep the Law.  The Law was perfect, but man wasn't.  Imperfect man could never walk out the perfection of the Law despite how hard the tried.
     Only Jesus could fulfill the Law perfectly and complete it.  By Him and in Him, the Law with all of its promises are made mine by faith in Him.  I am not righteous because of me, but because of Jesus' right standing with God.  2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says that, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him, we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
     This kind of righteousness can only be received by faith in His grace.  We, by faith in the finished work of Jesus, must believe we are now righteous and in right standing with God because of the righteousness of Jesus Himself.  It's His righteousness, by faith, that I stand in.  I don't look at my own works or the lack thereof, to bring me into right standing with God, but by faith in what His grace has made available in Jesus.  I rest in Him.  Even if I make a mistake (and I have), my right standing doesn't rest in my own ability, but in His.  This is rest.  This is grace.  This is where the believer must live his life, by grace. 
     We can never rise above where His grace has already raised us into.  His grace, by faith in the sacrifice of His Own Lamb, has raised us back and restored us to, the place that man was to be held with God from the beginning.  The only way to be there is by faith in what His grace has provided.
     The Israelites in the wilderness, we read about in Hebrews 4, simply refused to believe and so they never entered into or saw the Promised Land.  There are many people today who because of their unbelief, have never entered into God's rest or seen the promise.  Many of God's children still walk in fear of judgment, condemnation, guilt and oppression from the enemy, over who they used to be before the death of the cross set them free.  We have never, by faith, received the unseen as real and received the title deed to what we had always hoped to be which is accepted and acceptable to the Father in all pleasing fellowship with Him.
    Mankind has done everything he knew to do and still fell short of approval from God.  We finally reached the point of being convinced we could never please such a Holy God.  We struggled with out past and we prayed for salvation over and over again.  We prayed prayers of dedication to God over again, but couldn't stay out of the pit of failure.  Only faith in His grace can stop the cycle of depression in the believer's life.  We're still learning and growing in our understanding of this grace and new covenant.  God is revealing more and more by revelation in the Holy Spirit, Who is the teacher of the Church.
     This knowledge is not something meant to puff us up, but to set us free.  Remember how Romans 14 said some have seen and understood more of our liberty than others have.  We've not to be puffed up, but to walk in love with those who haven't seen this truth yet.  It doesn't mean that some of us are really smart and others are not, but that some have had our eyes opened before some others have.
     It's like being a college student in a kindergarten class.  It's not that the kindergarteners are dumb compared to you, but that they haven't reached college level yet.  They will!  All of us are among the middle of the last day awakening of the Church.  Jesus is coming back.  There are so many things God is revealing to the Church through the Holy Spirit.  We must all learn at our own pace and we will.
     Read about the believers in Hebrews 11 and realize how we are to see and do more in these last days of the Church than has ever been done before. 
     Most of the people in Hebrews 11 were misunderstood when they dared believe God in the area of faith.  Today, however, we look back with envy at them.  They, ironically, said they wished to be here in this end time.  Hebrews 11:39-40 (Amplified) says, "And all of these, though they won divine approval by (means of) their faith, did not receive the fulfillment of what was promised."  Verse 40 goes on, "Because God had us in mind and had something greater and better in view for (us) so that they (these heroes and heroines of faith) should not come to perfection apart from us (before we could join them)."

Lesson 10 Grace and Faith

     Hebrews 4:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered today, let us be afraid to distrust it, lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of reaching it."  Verse 2 goes on, "For indeed we have had the glad tidings (Gospel of God) proclaimed to us just as truly as they (the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them) but the message they heard did not benefit them because it was not mixed with faith (with the leaning of entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones (Joshua and Caleb) who heard (did believe)."
     The "rest" God offered to those of old, was grace.  And, the entering into His grace was all He asked.  If they would have trusted in Him, then all would be alright.  The Law hadn't yet been given.  The Israelites were being delivered because of the promise (covenant) of grace between God and Abraham.  God was to furnish everything needed because of His grace, mercy and goodness.
     God proved His power to deliver them all the way to the point of crossing into Canaan Land.  The Lord showed them the very proof of His promise and they still refused to enter in according to Numbers 13:27-14:30.  Everyone except Joshua and Caleb saw only the giants in the land instead of God.  In their eyes, God was impotent against the giants of the land.
     It seemed like the Israelites had forgotten the miracles God performed on their behalf.  They had disbelief in God's promise of rest (or grace).  God didn't bless them because of their works or their faith or their obedience.  He blessed them because of His promise to Abraham.  And, all the things God did to bring them to this point, was nothing compared to what was still ahead in His promise.
     Grace was promised to them by God's covenant of grace and blessing to their Father, Abraham.  It had nothing to do with the people.  They simply had to believe God, in faith, and everything God promised Abraham would be theirs.
     Galatians 3:13-14 (Amplified) tells us that, "Christ purchased our freedom (redeeming us) from the curse (doom) of the Law (and its condemnation) by (Himself) becoming a curse for us, for it is written (in the scriptures) cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (is crucified) to the end that through (their receiving) Christ Jesus the blessing (promised) to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles; so that we through faith might (all) receive (the realization of) the promise of the (Holy) Spirit."
     We now find ourselves in the same place the Israelites were in at the edge of Canaan land.  All the Israelites needed to do was put faith in what God told them and then follow His promise.  The "rest" God offered them was to rest from their own works and to simply trust Him.  We find the same promise in Galatians 3:13-14  of rest (grace) is being offered again to us. Can we by faith, now accept this offer of God's grace and favor and stop trying to enter by our own works and enter in?
     Our forgiveness comes only by faith in God's grace.  Our righteousness comes only by faith in His grace.  Our complete new birth comes by faith in His grace.  Our healing is offered by faith in His grace.  Our peace comes by faith in His grace.  Our deliverance comes by faith in His grace.  Everything Jesus promised when He would send the Holy Spirit was ours now, by faith, according to Galatians 3:14.  There is no Law, no sacrifice, no separation and no outer court that can keep us, as sons and daughters, to come boldly into the throne room of God's grace that was given by and through faith in Jesus.  Hebrews 4:16 (Amplified) says, "Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners) that we may receive mercy (for our failures) and find grace to help in good time for every need (appropriate help and well timed help, coming just when we need it)."
     We have an invitation from our Heavenly Father to come and be seated with Jesus in the throne room where grace and mercy, God Himself is seated.  All that's needed on our part, is to mix faith with what we hear.  The Israelites heard it and wouldn't place faith in it (or Him) and didn't receive it.  Hebrews 4:1 tells us that God's rest (His grace) is being offered again to us.  Will we mist faith with what we hear or will we turn back as the Israelites wanted to?
     Even when Joshua and Caleb wanted to believe God and go on, the remaining people refused to follow them and would have stoned them for their faith.  Today, we find those daring to believe in God's promises aren't always received, but sometimes they are set apart because of it.  When I blogged, "How far is too far?," we arrived at the same place the Israelites found themselves...at the edge of His promise.
     Grace has called and been offered.  Will faith answer?

Lesson 9 Grace and Faith

     As we celebrate our independence on this 4th of July, let's remember how we broke free from the rule and law of England and set up our own Constitution.
     As Christians, we've done the same thing when we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  Like America, we've allowed all nations and people into our freedom.  All who came unto the Lord, are a new creation and have been delivered from darkness according to Colossians 1:13 (Amplified) which says, "(The Father) has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of the darkness and has transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His Love."
     We are not of this world, even as He is not of this world.  In John 17:16 (Amplified), Jesus says about His disciples, "They are not of this world (worldly, belonging to the world) (Just) as I am not of the world."  We've somehow never really gotten hold of this statement.  Our life, our security, our needs and our future all lie in the fact that we have a whole new source of doing and being done for.
     As Christians, we've done what we as Americans have done.  We've lost most of our liberties because we wouldn't turn loose of who we were in exchange for who we are.  All of us originated from other countries of the world to this land of liberty.  America was a place where "All men are created equal" and have been given our rights through our Creator God.  All the rights of America were made available to everyone who became citizens.  But, much like the Prodigal son, we became jealous over what was given to the ones who came behind us instead of looking at what we already had as citizens.
     Many never really enjoyed their new liberties because they wouldn't leave behind the old things of their past  We wanted to live in the new land with our own rules from the old life.  We're not unlike the Israelites who were delivered from the bondage of Egypt.  But, instead of walking in the liberty of the Passover, they were constantly looking back instead of ahead.
     We came from all the nations of the world to built a new nations, but we brought our old traditions with us.  We couldn't embrace the new life because we wouldn't turn loose of the old life.  We moved to America, but wouldn't allow America to move into us.  We still considered ourselves African  Americans, Italian Americans, Native Americans and Chinese Americans among many other identities.  We built our own walls of separation and lived in designated partitions according to our origins (Little Italy, Chinatown) so we could live by our own rules.
     We built Chinatown, German Town, Little Cuba, Little Italy and many other places.  We didn't assimilate by mixing with the other people or learning the new ways of  our new life.  We didn't become a new people in a new land, but remained the way we were in the old land.  We held onto out heritage like it was more important than our future.  Some immigrants never even learned a new language, but held onto their old languages.  Some never took advantage of all that was offered here, but kept to themselves in nearly isolated bands.  There are some who have never learned to read once they arrived in America.
     I remember that as a kid, people made remarks about people of different origins from theirs.  Most of them were made from ignorance and unfounded knowledge.  I remember how Italian people were called "Wops."  This had nothing to do with the Italian people at all.
    Everyone of our family members came through Ellis Island or some other point of entry.  When we arrived here, we were placed into two different groups.  One group was made up of people who had their papers and the other group was made of those who didn't have their papers.  On the back of their hands was stamped W.O.P.  It didn't matter whether you came from Italy, China or Ireland or any other nationality.  W.O.P. simply meant that you were without papers.
     So many foolish statements or inaccurate comments  have caused or created offense.  Much of this has divided and kept America divided even to this very day.  Since the oldest battle tactic in the world is to "divide and conquer," this plan has worked well for the devil whether it's a new nation, new covenant or new Christian.
     The people Paul preached to about Jesus and our new covenant, wanted to hold onto their old way of doing things in Galatians 3:2 (Amplified) which says, "Let me ask you this one question; did you receive the (Holy) Spirit as a result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing (it)? (was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith)?"  Verse 3 goes on, "Are you so foolish, and so senseless and so silly? Having began (your new life spiritually) with the (Holy) Spirit, are you now reaching perfection (by dependance on the flesh)?"
     In the Church, when you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you were made into a family in God's Image and likeness.  Galatians 3:26-28 (Amplified) tells us, "For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith For as many (of you) as were baptized into Christ (into a spiritual union and communion with Christ)  ( the Messiah, the Anointed One) have put on (clothed yourselves with) Christ."  Verse 28 says, "There is (now no distinction) neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
     This unrenewed mindset has left the Church impotent for many years, but we won't turn loose of the old and take hold of the new.  We hold onto the same traditions that kept us in bondage and then wonder why our liberties in Christ don't work like they should.  There is neither Baptist or Catholic, Protestant or Pentecostal, neither male or female in God's eyes.  We are all equal to Him.
     We have reached the point where we now have Bibles written for equal rights for women that claim God is a woman.  We have translations for the squeamish that remove all scriptures referring to the Blood of Jesus.  Wycliff (a famous publishing company) has removed all references to Jesus being the Son of God, so it won't offend the Muslims.  Some Bibles have now removed scriptures about the Virgin Birth and the Name of Jesus.
     Why can't we, as Christians and Americans, just be what are instead of who we were?  I certainly don't want to hold onto my past.  I'm a new creation ion Jesus and I have no past.  We act like what we had was better than what we now have (just like the Israelites who believed they were better off in Egypt).  If that was true, then we would still in foreign countries and as Christians, we'd live in sin and death.
     This 4th of July isn't simply an American thing, but a thing for the Church.  Jesus broke my dependence on the world and made me wholly dependent upon my faith in His grace.  As the Church, it's time we begin living by His Kingdom rule and will and turn loose of our old pedigrees and fleshly traditions.
     John 1:16 (Amplified) says that, "For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received (all had a share and were all supplied with) one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift (heaped) upon gift."  It's all been laid up for those who will receive of His grace and favor.  Once we finally consent to what we've been praying, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," and release the things we used to be, then perhaps we can begin seeing what Romans 8:19 (Amplified) says, "For (even the whole) creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made known (waits for the disclosing of their sonship)."
     2Corinthians 5:15-16 (Amplified) tells us, "And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake."  Verse 16 says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a (purely) human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value). (No) even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, yet now (we have such a knowledge of Him that) we know Him no longer (in terms of the flesh)."
     We can say the same thing about our walk in America.  We celebrate breaking our dependence from others to care for and rule us and direct our lives.  We take responsibility for our own destination as a nation, by God's divine guidance.  We no longer see anyone after who they were (in color, nation, wealth or past), but as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
     God bless America and her people.