Lesson 83 The Church's Identity Crisis

      Romans 8:16 (Amp) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are God's children."

     Do you remember what your life was like and where it was headed, before being born-again?  We don't live in guilt and condemnation over who we once were, but we can compare what that was like with the new life and relationship we have now in Christ Jesus.  We have an adversary who hates us and everything we stand for.  He hated you before you were saved and he hates you even more now that you're close to God.  God's children have a place in God's Kingdom that satan wanted and still wants.  As God's children, we've been exalted to a place high above anything satan could imagine.

     Satan wanted to be an heir of God and joint-heir with Jesus Himself, at the time iniquity was found in him.  We need to understand the fullness of who we've become by the Blood and Power that made us new creations in Christ.  Many believers still see themselves as forgiven sinners, while satan sees us as who we truly are in Christ and he's afraid we'll discover who we are.  Jesus' death removed sin, so that the Father's Grace and mercy could do what God had intended from the beginning, when He made a family for Himself.

     God intended to Bless His family, so we could walk in fellowship with Him at all times.  The Father never intended for His family to be without Him or Him Presence.  We must understand the fullness of God's unconditional Love for us, in order to understand what He intended for us.  Most of us can easily quote John 3:16, but fail to understand the Power of God's Love this scripture speaks about.

     1John 4:16 (Amp) says, "And we know, understand (recognize, are conscious of) by observation and by experience, and believe, adhere to and put faith in and rely on the Love God cherishes for us. GOD IS LOVE, and he who dwells in God and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him."  John goes on in Verses 16-17 to describe and explain God's great Love.  When we don't understand the Love God has for us, we fail to put faith in our prayer life and in our walk with Him.  We focus on our failures, instead of God's Love for us, causing us to lose confidence in our ability to receive from Him.  1John 5:14-15 (Amp) 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 according to His will (make any request of Him, according to His Own Plan), He listens to and hears us. 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."

     If we're walking in God's Love and we love Him, then we can't ask anything outside His will and Plan for our lives.  1John 4:18 (Amp) says, "Perfect Love casts out fear and even dread of punishment."  If we're unsure of the greatness of God's Love for us, then we will hold back on our faith in Him.  We're heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus, and God's Love and perfection are His will for us.  We've been taught that certain things aren't God's will for our lives, which has held back healing and Blessings in our lives.  We're afraid to trust God, in so many areas of our lives.

     God's Love gave everything it had to give, when our Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, to Redeem and return us to Him.  If Love gave Jesus for us, then what part of His Love was held back from us?  We've judged the Love of God, by our own love for one another.  We fall in and out of love, instead of having unconditional Love God sees us through.  When we see ourselves the way God sees us, then we can understand and have faith and confidence in His Love.  We can trust and have faith in His Love for us and will be assured that He will answer our prayers.  Our entire relationship with the Father is based on understanding His Love for us.  If we don't have faith in His Love for us, then we can't have faith in the Promises God made to us through Jesus.  If you think you don't qualify, then your faith isn't active.

     We don't qualify of ourselves, but God qualifies us.  God made us righteous.  It's not something we did or could do for ourselves.  Love did that for us.  Love made us in right standing with God and has justified us, so what is there that Love would hold back from us?  God doesn't remember who we were before receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior and being made new creations.  We are pure in God's eyes and He purposely doesn't want to see us any other way, than through His Love for us.

     We must understand the depth of God's Love for us, in order to understand His will for our lives and walk with Him.  Does Love want us to "prosper and be in good health, even as our soul prospers?"  The Apostle whom Jesus Loved, wrote in 3John 1:2 (Amp), "I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers."  This is God's will and Love for us.

Lesson 82 The Church's Identity Crisis

      We're all thankful today, that the Goodness of God brings men/women to repentance.  Our Heavenly Father wanted us to have so very much and Loved us so much, that He willingly gave His Life for us.  H was willing to pay the Ransom for our sins, even though He was without sin.  We sometimes take all the Blessings we've received from God for granted, because He has Blessed us with so much.  I remember what life was like, before being born-again and being without His Blessings.

     I look back at all God has done and continues to do for me and give thanks unto Him.  My wife and I have been married for sixty years, our children are serving God, our grandchildren and great grandchildren are all health and Blessed, we are healthy and Blessed, our home is full of peace and our ministry is filled with family members who love and serve God.  I remember what it was like growing up poor and not having food to eat, so I give God special thanks for the Thanksgiving feast we sat down to.

     God is so Good to anyone who will simply receive Him and trust Him for his/her future.  I know there are people who can't find anything to be thankful for, because I lived that life before being born-again.  They have probably tried doing anything within their means, hoping to improve the quality of their life, without reaping good results.  Reaching out to God seems to be a means of last resort, but it doesn't have to be.  Things didn't  change for the better, until I allowed God to enter my life. 

     It wasn't God's fault that things were so bad.  He tried to help me for years, but I stood in His way, by being foolish, prideful and stubborn.  I felt stuck, without any way out to fix things.  I hope you won't wait until everything is lost, before turning your life over to Him.  Reach out to God, while your marriage and family are still there to love and support you.  God's Plan for your life is so much better, than the plan you have for your life.

     We've all heard testimonies coming from those who were completely lost, before they turned to God.  Don't wait until there's nothing left, before calling on Him.  Do it while you still have hope and God will redeem and restore what the enemy has tried stealing from you and yours.  It''s true that God can give you a new life even after losing everything, but why wait until you have nothing left for Him to redeem for you?

     I can't imagine what my life and the lives of my family would be like, if I had never called upon our Heavenly Father.  My wife and I would certainly be divorced and my children would probably blame me, causing them to alienate themselves from me.  My grandchildren and great grandchildren probably wouldn't know me.  God would have given me a new life and maybe even another family, but things would never be the same.

     God would that we acknowledge Him at an early age, so we would never endure turmoil and heartache.  If we could have made it on our own, then what was the cross for?  Jesus wouldn't have needed to die, if we could have made it on our own.  Jesus didn't die, just so we could go to Heaven when we die.  He died so the Father could intervene and fix the mess we've gotten into.  We've erroneously believed and been taught that God is bringing hardship and heartache, in order "to teach us something."  I can't think of anything in my life before Jesus, that God was responsible for, other than His Promise to help me if I would call on Him for help.

     My part was to believe and call on God and His part was to hear my cry and answer my prayer. God was waiting to hear and respond the entire time.  We should celebrate Thanksgiving to God, every day, not just once a year or when we need a miracle from Him.  It's far better to walk in God's Grace and mercy at all times, rather than building our faith in His faithfulness during a time of crisis.  We must know that God is our Father.

     We call Him "Father," but forget that He really is our Father.  My dad was killed in a coal mine when I was nine years old and I never gave thought to the provisions he provided, before that time.  I simply expected that we would have food at the table, at mealtime.  I never thought about having a roof over my head or having heat in the house, before his death.  I took these things for granted.  We never give much thought to the life our Heavenly Father has given, until we are in need.

     I thank God daily for my relationship with Him and for the Blessings he has given.  I recognize that my life would be a ship wreck, without Him.  I speaks heartfelt words of thanks to God, for the life I'm now living.  Does this mean that I never have a bad day or endure trials?  No.  I face several trials every day, but I also know that God will bring me through every one of them, by His Grace and love for me.

     Let's not celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, but let's live lives of constant thanks to Him.  When hard times come, then let's remember God has delivered us and thank Him that He will do it again.

Lesson 81 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Romans 8:15 (Amp) says, "For the Spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption (the Spirit of son-ship), in the bliss of which we cry, Abba, Father, Father."

     We are given names and titles that we go by, when we're birthed into this natural realm.  We become a son or daughter, a brother or sister, a friend, a preacher, pastor, neighbor, co-worker, boss, and many other names.  We receive a surname from our parents, but in my life and hopefully yours too, there is one Name that ranks above all others.  

    My name is James Larry Hayes, but not one of my children call me "Jim" or "Mister Hayes."  They all call me, "Dad."  This name is reserved for for only a few who have the right and place in my life.  This title is more intimate and precious than any of the other titles I've acquired in this life.  It's a name that only my children have a right and place to use.  I hold the endearment and love by which they use this name, to be very precious.  It signifies the respect, love, trust, acceptance, honor and privilege they have for me.

     God's Word uses many names for many nations and people, but we alone have the privilege of calling Him, "Father" and "Abba," which means "Daddy or Dad" in Hebrew.  Using this title for God makes us a unique class of people.  We're privileged to be part of God's family and use the loving term of "Father."  Only those who are born of God through faith in Jesus Christ, can call Him this.  Contrary to common belief, we're not all God's children, but only become this upon being born-again.

     We've somehow lost the understanding of what a privilege it is to call God "Father" and be in His family, so we call Him what others call Him.  Although He is the "Almighty God," I never call Him this Name, unless I'm witnessing to someone.  I'm a son of God and have my own relationship Him, whereby I refer to Him as "Father."  I doubt that President Trump's children call him, "Mr. President," unless they're speaking to others about him.  The title of "President" is one of honor, but it's not the title his children use to show their love and respect for him.  

     Many who call God "Father," still see Him the way the Old Testament people did.  He is still God but now this Awesome God has become my Father.  The relationship I have with the Father has changed from being one where I feared His Power, to being one I'm confident in, because of His Power.  I know the Truth that His Awesome Power is always there to protect, care for and provide for me, because He Loves me as His son.

     I have confidence that, "No evil shall befall me and no plague come nigh my dwelling," because my Heavenly Father watches over me and gives me Rest.  Many though, see Him as the God of the Old Testament, Who is out to get them.  They quote Hebrews 12:6, which says, "God corrects and chastens His own."  I respond by telling them that God is a Spirit and uses Spiritual things to deal with His children of the Spirit.  Ephesians 4 says that, "God uses His Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us."  We won't read that God uses sickness, disease, poverty, hardship or even Covid-19 to teach us.  God wants us to trust Him to deliver us from all these things.

     Although God is the Same God of the Old Testament, our relationship with Him isn't the same as the old covenant saints had with Him.  If you don't know this, then you don't know your Heavenly Father like you should.  Can God still deal with people like He did in the old covenant?  Yes, but not with His own kids, as Father.  Only a terrible, awful father would deal with his own children with sickness, disease, and other such afflictions.  Would you put a cancer on your baby girl, in order to teach her how to behave?  Of course not.  Are you then, a better father than our Father in Heaven?  We don't believe that a Father Who loved us enough to die in our place, would do these terrible things to see what we would do, unless the adversary has deceived us and caused us to believe that "God uses these things to teach us, out of His Love for us."

     Jesus prayed in John 17:23 (Amp), saying, "That You have loved them even as You have loved Me."  Jesus bore all the things He endured on Calvary's cross, so that we wouldn't have to.  It would be a miscarriage of justice, if our Heavenly Father placed them on us now.  It would make the cross of no avail, if He did so now.  James 1:16-18 (Amp) says, "Do not be misled, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect (large, free, full) gift is from Above; it comes down down from the Father of all that gives Light, in the shining of Whom there can be no variation (rising or setting or shadow cast by His turning as in an eclipse). And it was of His Own free will that He gave us birth as sons by His Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures, a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself."

Lesson 80 The Church's Identity Crisis

      2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, all things have become new and all things are of God."

     Many have said to me, "You're taking this God thing overboard."  I ask, "How can you have too much God in your life?"  If God is really God, and we know that He is, then how can anyone go overboard in Him?"  Is Jesus the fanatical and crazy Man others say He is?   Or did Jesus actually have a much better understanding about God, than we have today?  Many believe that taking our walk with God outside the denominational theater, makes us "fanatics and crazy."

     How far is too far?  Were the three young Hebrew men fanatics, when they were thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to bow before the statue?  Or were they walking in a faith, that the other Hebrews were afraid to walk in?  It's time that believers accept our Heavenly Father for Who He is and learn to walk in the new creation identity we've been given in Christ Jesus.  When we eliminate God from the Super-natural ability that God Alone posses, then we've reduced Him to the natural realm and made Him just a man.  Is God greater than the Covid-19 plague?  Was He greater than the plagues of the Old Testament?  Then, He still is today.  We keep the Power of God from doing what His Word has said He will do, by our unbelief and denial.  Those in the Wilderness limited God by their unbelief and we're doing this today too.  The only limits God have, are placed upon Him by unbelief.

     Joshua and Caleb refused to limit God and were the only two from their generation, who entered the Promise Land and inherited the Promise.  The others remained in the desert until they died.  They were still His people, but they never entered the Promise, because of their unbelief.  Jesus has Promised His people, a Rest , but have we been held back in the natural man, because of our unbelief and the limits we've placed on Him.  Hebrews 4:8-9,11-12 (Amp) says, "This mention of a Rest was not a reference to their entering Canaan, For if Joshua had given them rest, He (God), would not speak afterward about another day. So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God."

     Verse 11 goes onto say, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that Rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the Wilderness fell."  God says that, "His Word is still alive and active today," in Verse 12.  

     Can or do we trust God, like Joshua and Caleb did?  Or, do the giants look bigger than Our God and Father?  It's time we look to our faith in Him.  Do I want to believe what those who saw themselves as being "grasshoppers," in the eyes of the giants and limit God?  Or do I want to see the giants as being grasshoppers, in the eyes of my God?  God didn't mention the giants, because He was going to go with them into Canaan, so they need not fear the giants.  God lives inside of us and tells us that, "He will never leave or forsake us."  God intends to accompany us, in everything He has told us to do.  Jesus gives us the majority wherever we go, because He goes with us.

     The men and women of old, only had God's Word and His Promise of a Rest, but we have His Word and His Spirit living within us, to bring us into the Rest.  All of God's Promises are "Yes and Amen in Christ Jesus."  We cannot fail, because Jesus is the "Author and Finisher of our faith" and He will complete whatsoever He starts, including this Last Day Awakening.  Good fathers protect and care for their children, so when God is our Daddy, we're in good hands and "no evil shall befall you and no plague come nigh your dwelling."  Do you truly believe this, or do you limit God by seeing Covid-19 giants?  Is this over the top and too much God or is this what He expects His family to walk in?

     God's Word says that we are new creations and joint heirs with Jesus.  We have the same kind of faith that Jesus has, but we've never been taught to use like He did.  We have the Holy Spirit of God living in us, so we can do the works Jesus did.  Jesus said in John 14:12 (Amp), "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than those, because I go to My Father."

     We could dismiss the above scripture, if we didn't have the Same Holy Spirit, the Same Father and the same faith that Jesus had, but we're faced with this Truth, because Jesus said it.  Getting others saved and leading them to be born-again in the Spirit of God, are "the greater things."  The other works are meeting the needs of mankind by the Power of God, through the Same Holy Spirit Jesus had.  There has never been a people on this planet like us, except Jesus Himself.  We're born of the Same Seed, the Word of God and we know that "Every seed bears fruit after it's kind."  Genesis 1:11 (Amp) tells us, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, each according to it's kind upon the earth. And it was so."  And so it is upon the earth today, according to God's Word.

     Jesus said in John 12:24 (Amp), "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you,  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain; it never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a great harvest."  Jesus Himself is the One Grain or Seed.   When His Seed fell into the earth and died, it produced the harvest of new creation children of God.  We've become the Seed of Abraham in Christ Jesus, as He is the Promised Seed, according to Galatians 3:28-29 (Amp), which says, "There is now no distinction, neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is not male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed, then you are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise."

     You have the Same Seed living in you, which will produce after kind through your words and spirit.  You are the new creation child of God, born of the Same Word of God.  1Peter 1:23 (Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  The Same Seed, Jesus has become flesh and dwells among us.

    

Lesson 79 The Church's Identity Crisis

      2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether). The old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, all things are new and all things are of God (because Spiritual awakening bring a new Life)."

     The above scripture tells us that, "All things are new and all things are of God" and this means exactly that.  You're not the same person you were before being born-again.  God no longer sees the old sin natural and you're no longer Spiritually separated from Him, but you're a new creation in Christ Jesus.  We're now God's sons and daughters and are part of His family.  We sometimes act like we really don't belong to God and are afraid to approach Him.

     "Fearing God," doesn't mean we're to be afraid, but it means we're to honor and revere Him.  Christians should never be afraid of our Heavenly Father.  If God was out to get us, then He would have done so, before we were saved.  God seeks to save and deliver us from the one who is out to get us (satan) and return us to Himself.  God set out to bring us back to Himself by Jesus' Sacrifice, immediately after Adam's fall.  We were always on His mind and still are.

     Jesus and the Word are One.  The Word is God's perfect GPS system and is a Light unto out path.  God says that we're always to keep His Word before our eyes.  No one carries a lamp behind him/herself, but always carries is before themselves, in order to light up their path.  Psalm 23:1,3 (Amp) tells us that, "The Lord (Word) is my Shepherd and He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Own Namesake."  Jesus is the Word of God Himself and is our Shepherd, Who leads us.  He is the Lamp and the Light to our path.

     The more we know Jesus as our Lord and our Lamp, the easier it will be to follow Him.  God will direct our steps, by His Word.  We can walk in the Light, by following His path.  Jesus isn't only in the Light, but He is the Light and we will not walk in darkness.  The Word of God isn't just a book of rules and religious items we must follow, but it's a Light that will show us how and where to walk with Him.  Jesus told His followers in Matthew 6:33 (Amp), "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right)."  God's Word is His way of doing and being right.  God's Word illuminates our paths to righteousness.

     If we listen to the GPS while in our vehicle, then it will direct our every turn, so we can reach our destination.  If we don't follow the GPS and take a shortcut, then we probably will get lost or arrive late to our destination.  The GPS will continue directing you, but you probably will need to make extra turns to get back on the path.  God's GPS or His perfect Plan or system, will always bring us to our goal, if we simply follow the Lamp and Light of His Word.  There will be smaller light along the way and many roads we could take but they don't all lead to where we want to go.  Proverbs 1:20-21 (Amp) says "Wisdom cries aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the markets. She cries at the head of the noisy intersections, in the chief gathering places, at the entrance of the city gates she speaks."

     Wisdom is always trying to lead us in the paths of righteousness, but we must listen and heed it.  How many times have we failed to forgive someone, when God was trying to keep us on the right path and telling us that we needed to forgive?  Wisdom, the Word and Lamp directed us to forgive, but we took a shortcut and held onto unforgiveness, until it took a toll on us in some way.  We failed to listen to God's GPS and got lost in the noisy intersection.  Proverbs 1:2-5 (Amp) says, "That people may know skillful and Godly Wisdom and instruction, discernment and comprehend the Words of understanding and insight. Receive instruction in Wise dealings and the discipline of Wise thoughtfulness, Righteousness, justice and integrity, that prudence may be given to the simple, and knowledge discernment, and discretion to the youth. The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel, so that he may be able to steer his course rightly."

     We're new creations and citizens of a new Kingdom, so we must learn what the rules and Laws of that Kingdom are and how they  govern our lives.  The only way we can fully walk in the new Life that God's Word Jesus has given us, is by abiding by His Word.  There are many voices at a busy intersection, that will tell us to "turn here or go there."  When we listen to these voices, more than we follow God's GPS, then it will be difficult to stay on the right course or the paths of righteousness.

     We must pay very close attention to the signs and directions, while driving in a large city that we're unfamiliar with.  If we don't, then we'll get off course fairly quickly.  It doesn't mean that we won't finally reach our destination, but we might encounter construction, closed roads or spend extra hours driving, when we took the wrong turn.  God tried to have us repent and listen to His instructions, but we didn't listen and held onto our forgiveness.  

     We can still get out of trouble, after not following His Word.  We stubbornly drive around a long time, before humbling ourselves and asking for directions, but once we do this, we quickly get back on the right path.  We sometimes listen to and heed the big signs and neglect the smaller signs.  Adultery is a big sign, but shouldn't we follow the smaller sign and love our brethren?  If we drive past such small signs as forgiving, not gossiping, strive, division, unbelief, limiting God by our opinions, and lying, then we can get off course. 

     God doesn't put up road signs that aren't important, but He puts them in His Word, in order to Light our paths.  We've never walked in this new creation, so it's easy to try and follow the same paths we walked before knowing Jesus.  God's Kingdom has a way of doing and being right, which we must follow.  God is King in His Kingdom and His way is the only right way.  We must listen to God's Holy Spirit and follow His Word, in order to navigate this new Life.  Jesus is our Great Shepherd, the Word and them Lamp unto our feet.  He doesn't drive us, but leads us.  We must follow His Word.    

Lesson 78 The Church's Identity Crisis

     2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     The new creation is a NEW CREATION.  Other than Jesus Himself, we're a people who never existed before in all of God's creation.  We're elevated by faith in the Finished Work of Jesus and made new creations that aren't like the First Adam.  We've been grafted into and created in and like the Last Adam Jesus.  This is nearly impossible for the carnal mind to conceive.  The only way to truly understand the full impact of what our Father has done for us, is to receive it by the Revelation knowledge of God's Word through the Holy Spirit.

     We find very few in the history of the Church, who have moved in the Truth of this Revelation.  We have assumed though, that only a few have been chosen to do the things they did.  The Truth is that we have all been chosen to walk in this realm of Revelation, but it requires spending time in God's Word and in fellowship with the Father, in order to see it.  God doesn't have a few special people, but all are special to Him.  John 1:1-5 (Amp) says, "In the beginning (before all time), was the Word (Christ), and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it, put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it."

     We have the God-Head fully dwelling within us, Who is God, Jesus the Word made flesh and the Holy Spirit Who is also the Word.  We often view them as three separate Beings, but they are all different manifestations of the Word.  Jesus said in John 4:24 (Amp), "God is a Spirit (a Spiritual Being), and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth (reality)."  Jesus went on to say in John 6:63 (Amp), "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."

     We see in these scriptures that God, in Spirit and in the flesh, are all the Word.  John 1:14 (Amp) says, "And the Word (Christ), became flesh (human, incarnate), and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh), lived awhile among us, and we actually saw His Glory, His honor."  We look for a person or a feeling, that we can identify with, instead of identifying with the Word.  When we identity with what God's Word says about  us, then we begin to identify with the new creation Word, Spirit, Christ-like being that we've been created to be, by God's Word Jesus.  Jesus never prayed for God to do something, but prayed to find out what God would have Him do, with what what He had already said.  

     Jesus and the Word, are One and the Same.  1Peter 1:23 (Amp), "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal seed (origin, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  Jesus is the Word and God's Word is Spirit and Life.  John 1 tells us that, "The Word was with God and the Word is God."  When we spend time reading God's Word, then we're spending time in Life and fellowship with the Father.  Reading God's Word isn't a religious duty, but it's Life to all our flesh.  God says in Proverbs 4:22 (Amp), "My Words are Life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh."  Your life isn't in your flesh, but the Word and God's Spirit are the Life of your flesh.

     Reading God's Word isn't something we should do, but it's something we must to, in order to keep in fellowship with God and walk in the Light.  1John 1:7 (Amp) says, "But if we really are living and walking in the Light (the Word), as He Himself is in the Light (the Word), we have true unbroken fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses, removes us from all sin and guilt (keeps us cleansed from sin in all it's form and manifestation)."

     Jesus said in Luke 4:4 (Amp), "It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by bread alone, but by every Word and expression of God."  Jesus says that it's important for the natural body to have bread and food, but the True Life comes from God's Word, which is Spirit and Life.  Reading God's Word isn't a religious ritual or Law which must be performed, but is our very Source of Life, in itself/  Food brings nourishment to your body, but doesn't feed the spirit.  We are Spirit and must feed on God's Word, in order to keep Life flowing into our spirit and flesh.

     Reading God's Word and understanding what His Word says about us and what it is doing in and through us, is spending time in fellowship with God.  Jesus tells us in John 10:20 (Amp) that, "I and the Father are One."  The Word, which is God, the Word Who became flesh, and the Word by which we were born-again, are also One.  We are of the Word of God and born of that Word, like Jesus was.  We are one with Him and One in the Father.  We don't have Life, if we don't have God's Word, which is Spirit and Eternal, living in us.  The more we're in God's Word, the more we'll experience the God Kind of Life in our spirit.  Jesus said in John 10:10 (Amp), "I have come that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the fill, til if overflows)."  The more Word we have in us, the more we'll have the Overflow of God Himself in us.  When hard times come, we draw from the Overflow of God Himself and the Abundance of Life through the Spirit operating in us, like it did in Jesus.  Jesus said that, "The Words I am speaking to you are Spirit and they are Life."  These are the Words of Life spoken by the Word Himself, to all who would hear Him.

     If we're unable to understand the difference between the old and new covenants, then we won't have the enjoyment and overflow that Jesus Promised, even though the Promise is still there.  The Law will continue to accuse us and make us feel guilty, limiting the joy of fellowship through our natural man/woman of the flesh.  We must know that we're born of and in the Likeness of the Truth of God's Word.  The Law of Genesis says, "Everything produces after kind, and everything has Seed in itself to bring forth after kind."  We're born of the Seed (Word), which is God Himself and produced after Kind.  We're not the same apple, but like it. 

Lesson 77 The Church's Identity Crisis

     2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether)."

     We seldom see ourselves, the way God's Word describes us to be, in Jesus.  We've mostly seen ourselves as "forgiven sinners."  This is a true description of us, but we are far more than that.  The Blood of Jesus completely removed our sins and the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has elevated into right standing with God.  We've been made new creatures and that means we're creatures who never existed before.

     What kind of new creature have we been created to be?  We didn't become a new creature, but were created new.  This means that the person we were before receiving Jesus, no longer exists.  God didn't just repair the old man/woman with all his/her faults and sins, but He made us new creatures in Christ.  God didn't repair the earth and the heavens.  They never existed, until God created them.  

   We still see ourselves in a natural mirror, instead of the Mirror of God's Word.  James 1:22-26 (Amp), says, "But be doers of the Word (obey the Message), and not just merely listeners to it; betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law (the Law of Liberty), and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing (his life of obedience). If anyone thinks himself to be religious (previously observant of the external duties of his faith), and does not bridal his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person's religious service is worthless (futile, barren)."

     James sums up the duties or service, of the new creation person that the Perfect Law of Liberty reflects back to those who perseveres, in Verse 27, which says, "The pure and unblemished service in the sight of God the Father is this: To visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their afflictions and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world."  God rejects the external, religious worship and outward acts.  God tells us in Isaiah 58, that His way of fasting isn't  going without food, but is a way of Life for the believer.  This is how we're to live before Him, in our every day life on earth.  God doesn't respond to the outward religious acts and worship.  He doesn't wants us to give an offering for the poor and widows in church.  It's good that we give an offering to help the orphans and widows, but God also wants us to help our neighbors and those around us.

     We send offerings and help those in other nations, but we should also help those around us, as our personal worship to the Father.  When we don't see ourselves in the Mirror of God's Word like we should, we leave it up to the pastor to ensure our giving goes where it should.  Even though the pastors are doing good with our gifts, he/she might not know that our neighbor is in need.  This is personal ministry.

     You might think it's better to feed two-thousand people, instead of just one.  If you were "the one," and had three hungry children, then you probably wouldn't agree.  This is the Isaiah Fast and the personal service towards God.  This is just as Super-natural, as laying hands on the sick and casting out devils.  You might need to lay hands on your neighbor or cast a demon out, that has held your neighbor under the Curse for years.  This isn't just a way to worship God in this realm of life.  When we live in the Law of Liberty, we operate in both realms of life (spirit, soul, and body).  There's an old saying that says, "You get so Heavenly minded, that you're no earthly good."  I believe we can also get so earthly minded, that we're no Heavenly good.

     We must learn who we are In God and learn the might and ability He has provided us, in order to function like He intends.  We can't meet the needs of all those who have needs, without the Super-natural provisions of our Father.  Even Jesus had to go to His Father, in order to feed the five-thousand.  There are more needs than any one person can provide on his/her own, but there's no need that our Father can't meet.   If we don't see who we are in the new creation, then it can be overwhelming to see the needs, healing, hunger, depression, poverty and despair of those around us.  We must learn who we are and what Heaven has made available to us, if we ever hope to reach the dying world.

     God can build a ministry and bring those who are Gifted by the Spirit to help, but every individual still has service and duty that He has given him/her.  There are many charity organizations that provide aid for those in need around the world, but our personal prayer and help is still needed.  We've mostly looked at the ministry as being a pulpit and a building, but when God sends us to minister to someone who thinks God has forgotten them, it's personal.  

     Let's do everything we do, as unto the Lord, because it all matters.  We shouldn't just appoint a visitation committee to do what we are called to do.  This doesn't mean we should quit our job and take up full-time ministry.  We should make our jobs personal between God and ourselves, ministering beyond the professional realm into the Spirit.  Let's allow God to reach beyond our natural selves.  Let's allow His ability reach into the new creation person He's made us to be,  into those we touch.

Lesson 76 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Romans 8:16-17 (Amp) says, "The Spirit Himself thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him, only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."  The suffering Paul writes about here, isn't the suffering Jesus endured on the cross.  No man can suffer that, except Jesus.  This suffering was for our salvation and redemption and the new creation Life we have in Christ Jesus.

     The "suffering we share with Him," is the rejection Jesus received from those who misunderstood Who and What He was, as the Son of God.  Many today, don't understand who and what we are in Him, so they persecute and reject us, like they did Jesus.  Being joint heirs with Jesus, means that everything the Father did and furnished for Christ, has been made available to us today.  This is the Super-natural provision our Father has provided from our new position in Jesus, so we can do what we've been commissioned to do, which is to reveal the Father to world and bring the salvation that Jesus provided to them.  Jesus said in Mark 16:15 (Amp), "Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the Gospel to every creature of the human race."

     At the time of His earthly ministry, Jesus was the Only Begotten Son of God.  After His Resurrection, He is called "the First Born of many brethren."  Romans 8:29 (Amp) says, "For those whom He foreknew (of whom He was aware of and Love beforehand), He also destined from the beginning, foreordaining them to be molded into the Image of His Son and share inwardly His Likeness, that He might become the First Born among many brethren."  Jesus isn't the Only Begotten Son, but is now the First Born of many brethren.

     God sees us through Jesus, as being as much His children as Jesus is.  Jesus is the First Born and is exalted to High Priest and Lord over all that God has in His new creation family.  We're brothers and sisters of Christ, sharing in His inheritance the Father gave at Jesus' Resurrection, in order to bring back what the Father had intended for His family in the beginning, before time.  God isn't waiting to see how we turn out, before He accepts us.  We were in His heart, before the foundation of the world.  There was no reason for God to create the earth, if His family didn't need a home.  God created everything here for His family, including the beauty of the flowers and the glory of the sun and stars.  It was all for you and is now yours again, through Jesus.

     Jesus prayed in John 17:22-23 (Amp), I have given to them the glory and honor which You have give to Me, that they may be one even as We are One; I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that You have sent Me and that You have Loved them even as You have Loved Me."  Jesus didn't refer to us as being, "step children," but called us "God's Own Offspring."  This is for now, while we're still on this earth and not just when we get to Heaven.

     We've been taught that humans are low and weak beings, that fall short of what God intended.  Adam's sin of disobedience resulted in mankind's being separated from God, but the Father never left us there.  Through Jesus, we've been lifted up and exalted above all creatures, including satan, by the Power of His Name, which is above all names.  We're identified in Him and not in ourselves.  When we confess that we're unrighteous, we're telling the Father that Jesus wasn't enough for us.  This is prideful and is false humility.  

     Jesus' death and Blood were more than enough to pay the Price for Adam's transgression and to satisfy the Heavenly Courts of Justice.  We're to humble ourselves under the Mighty Hand of God, according to 1Peter 5:6 (Amp), which says, "Therefore humble yourselves, demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation under the Mighty Hand of God, that in time He may exalt you."  The Holy Spirit inspires Jame to write in James 4:7 (Amp), "So be subject to God, resist the devil, stand firm against him, and he will flee from you."

     The only way the devil will flee from us, is by understanding the Authority of who we are in Christ Jesus.  If we try standing against him in our own power, then satan will rule over us and keep us in the same bondage he's held mankind in for millenniums.  We must submit and be subject to God.  How do we do this?  By accepting what Jesus has done for us, when He made us without sin and perfect and righteous before God, even when we don't feel righteous, sinless or perfect in our own righteousness and imperfections.

     Being subject to God, is believing what He says about us, instead of what we say about ourselves or what others say about us.  If God says we are righteous in Jesus, then who are we to disagree with the One Who created us?  Paul says we must renew our minds, in Romans 12:1-2 (Amp), saying, "I appeal to you therefore brethren, and beg of you in view of all the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies, presenting all your members and faculties as a living sacrifice, holy, devoted, consecrated and well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent), service and Spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), fashioned after and adapted to it's external (superficial) customs, but be transformed, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by it's new ideals and it's new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing that is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you."

     Paul goes on in the next Verse, saying we're not to have an exaggerated opinion of ourselves.  Some have read this scripture and believe we're to debase ourselves, continuing to see ourselves as old sinners saved by Grace.  This is contrary to scripture.  When we think of ourselves in ways that are contrary to what God has made us to be in Jesus, then we're thinking more highly of ourselves than we should.  You've never done anything that the Power of Jesus' Blood hasn't covered.  If you think otherwise, then you won't have Power in the Blood of Jesus and you won't know God's will and purpose for you life.  Many prayers aren't answered in Christian circles, because we feel like we don't deserve God's Blessing.  WE DON'T DESERVE IT---this is Grace.  Don't deny God's Grace and try "getting" God to answer your prayers, by your own merit.  Romans 4:16 (Amp) says, "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)." 

Lesson 75 The Church's Identity Crisis

      2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     The above scripture tells believers that we are more than just forgiven sinners.   The first human the Father created was Adam and He has made us new creations too.  Adam didn't have a past, so there were no sin barriers between him and the Father.  It was only after Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, that he and Eve lost fellowship with God.  The Father could only cover their sin by the blood of animals, which the Father killed and went onto make tunics for them to wear.

     The blood of animals could only cover the sin for a period of time, so it needed to be reapplied on a regular basis.  When the Last Adam Jesus was born into this earth, His Blood (the very Blood of God Himself) brought Life instead of death to mankind and His Blood only needed to be applied by faith one time.  The Blood of Jesus eradicated sin at it's very base and reapplied the Life again, creating a new creation people.  We continue to see ourselves as merely forgiven sinners, instead of a new creation.  We're every bit as new as Adam was, when God created him in His Image and Likeness.  Mankind had never existed, before God created Adam.  

     As new creations, we're on a higher scale than the First Adam was, because we've been made to be the very Body of Christ Himself.  We're not only made in the Image and Likeness of God, but we've actually become the temple of the Holy Spirit, according to 1Corinthians 6:19 (Amp), which says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very Sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you."  Adam was created in God's Image.  We've been created to be one spirit and one Body, in Christ Jesus.  We are more than like Him, we are one in Him.

     My children were born to be like me.  My DNA was in them.  They were one in me and I in them, like Jesus said in John 17:22-23 (Amp), saying, "I have given to them the Glory and Honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One. I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have Loved them even as You have Loved Me."  

     The Glory and Honor given to Jesus, is the same Glory and Honor that God Himself is made of; it's His DNA.  It's His Spirit, which is the Glory and Life in its fullness.  We're given a glimpse of this Glory and Honor in Matthew 17:1-2 (Amp), which says, "And six days after this, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them upon a high mountain by themselves and His appearance underwent a change in their presence; and His face shone clear and bright like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light."  This is the DNA that we've received in this new creation, with the Living Spirit of God living within us.  We just don't recognize yet, who we've become in Him.

     God instructed the First Adam to "take dominion over everything on this earth."  God wouldn't have told him to do this, if Adm didn't have the authority and ability to do so.  The new creation people have been granted and inherited this authority and ability, in Jesus.  We have more though, because we have the Name and Person of Jesus to back us up.  We're a Super-natural being, created by and in Him.  We're not just like Him, but we're in Him and have become one with Him.

     The world and religion have told us that we're just forgiven sinners, instead of sons and daughter and heirs of God.  God's Kingdom doesn't only extend into the heavens, but over all the earth and everything in it.  There have been a handful of believers, like John G. Lake and Smith Wigglesworth, who have understood the Revelation of their true identity in Christ.  Their teachings staggered the world and religion said that, "Only a few were chosen to do these things" and "God didn't allow everyone to walk in the things these men and women walked in."  These believers chose God and rejected the world's idea of Who He really is.  Most of us have accepted the world's idea of Who God is, rather than what His Word has said about Him and about us being in Him.  I believe that God intended all of His Children to walk naturally Super-natural, like Jesus did on this earth.  This Super-natural ability came into our new creation spirit, the very moment we received Jesus and the new birth.

     We need to be sold-out to God's Word and His Spirit, in order to walk in who we've been created to be in Jesus.  God has made this available to all His children, but it must be developed in our hearts by God's Word and the Revelation knowledge the Holy Spirit gives.  We have the Same Holy Spirit and the Same Father that Jesus has, so we have the same potential of Genesis 1:11 (Amp), where God said, "Let the earth put forth tender vegetation; plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself, Each according to its kind upon the earth. And it was so."

     This is still God's Plan and His way of doing today.  Everything still bears fruit after its seed.  We are heirs with The Seed Jesus and The Seed Principal above, is fulfilled in Him.  We've been cautioned to "Be careful, so as not to exalt ourselves," instead of being told to "Be ourselves."  We've been careful and have forgotten who we were created to be and what we are created for.  Jesus told His followers, in John 16:14-15 (Amp), "God will honor and Glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. 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."

     God's Word says that, "Every seed bears fruit after kind."  We're the fruit that came from the Seed Jesus, Who is God's Word.  1Peter 1:23 (Amp) says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from a mortal origin (Seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."  The principal that, "Everything bears fruit after kind," is still True for us today.  1John 4:17 (Amp) says, "In this union and communion with Him, Love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us; that we may have confidence for the Day of Judgment with assurance and boldness to face Him, because as He is, so are we in this world." 

Lesson 74 The Church's Identity Crisis

     2Corinthians 5:17 (Amp) says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."

     This is more than just a "hopeful" scripture.  This is our new identity into and unto the family of the Most High God.  Hebrews 11:1 (Amp) says, "NOW FAITH is the assurance, the confirmation, THE TITLE DEED OF 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."

     We need to have hope mixed with faith, in order to give it substance, so we can walk in the true identity we have in Christ, in this life.  There's much more that we can't currently see, but faith in God's Word is still revealing them to us when we have faith in His Promises.  You are NOW as much a child of God, as you will be when Jesus returns or when we die and go to be with Him in Heaven.  When you go to Heaven, you'll understand more of what the new creation family of God already has here on earth, but it won't take faith to walk it out, because you won't need faith to believe what you can already see.  We need to have faith here, in what God has already done in us and for us.  We must understand our new identity in Christ to have faith.

     It's no surprise that the Church doesn't know who we really are.  Many men and women in this generation, don't know what sex they are.  Some men believe they are women and some women believe they are men, while some can't decide what sex or even species they are.  The Church widely accepts that we are saved, but disagrees with the Father, as to when salvation comes.  Many question whether we're saved after we die or when Jesus died.  Does salvation come after we're raised from the dead and go to Heaven or are we now saved and made to be what God created us to be in Christ Jesus?

     The enemy has diligently worked to cause God's people to wonder when we're saved.  Many believers still struggle with the Truth that our sins are gone and that God remembers them no more.  We still walk under the condemnation of  the mistakes we made in our past lives.  1Corinthians 6:11 (Amp) says, "And such were some of you, But you were washed clean, purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin; and you were justified (pronounced righteous), by trusting in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit of God."

     Many people say that, "They're trying to find themselves."  The only way believers can find themselves, is to look into God's Word and by faith, believe who we are in Christ Jesus.  James 1:23-25 (Amp) says, "For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror. For he thoughtfully observes himself and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law (the Law of Liberty, the Word of God, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."

     2Corinthians 3:17-18 (Amp) says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom) And all of us, as with unveiled face, because we continue to behold in the Word of God AS IN A MIRROR THE GLORY OF THE LORD, are constantly being transfigured into His Very Own Image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord Who is the Spirit."

     We are new creation and the only way to understand the creation, is to go to the One Who created it.  We must find out what God has made us to be, by going to His Word and listening to His Spirit.  If you ask people what the new creation is supposed to be, then you'll receive many opinions.  The more people you ask, the more opinions you'll end up with.  God's Word is the Manufacturer's Handbook, on what the new creation is to be and how it's supposed to function.  The world and religion have tried telling us what the new creation is,, but they've done so with carnal minds.  

     Romans 8:7 (Amp) 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 Laws; indeed it cannot."  This is why Paul writes in Hebrews 11;1, "Now faith is the substance of things we hope for."  A carnal mind can't understand our new creation identity.  We must have faith in the Perfect Law of Liberty and God's Word, which is Spirit, in order to do so.

     The "things we hope for," is right standing with God and the ability to come into His Presence without guilt or shame, as His family.  Even though this is already Truth, if we don't have faith in this hope, then the carnal mind will hold us back and we'll forget the Perfect Law of Liberty, which requires faith in Jesus and His Sacrifice and not our good works.  We were created in and by and through Jesus' Own Righteousness and that can't be improved upon.  We must accept this by faith.  This is what we hoped for and faith in Him has give us the title deed and substance of our hope.  When you look into the mirror of God's Word, you must accept what it says your true identity in Jesus is.