John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned,undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Paul admonishes the Church in Colossi ans 1:9-10 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason (because of the love they showed) we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom in comprehensive insight into the ways and the purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things That you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and 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."
Many of the things I teach in these lessons, aren't required to "go to Heaven,"but are only to be pleasing to God and walk worthy of the Lord. Putting a guard on my mouth, so I don't transgress His Word is one example. Jesus perfectly pleased the Father and we find He did by speaking the Words of God, according to John 3:34 (Amplified) which tells us, "For since He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own Message). God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit."
Some would say it's foolishness to watch what we say, but we do so, in order to be pleasing to God and to honor His Word in our lives. We transgress with our mouths, when we confess "God uses sickness to teach us," while believing His Promise that "By His stripes we were healed." This isn't walking worthy of His Sacrifice. We are to proclaim His Own Message, just like Jesus did.
It cannot be pleasing to God (like some believe), when we're double-minded in His Promises and in His Sacrifice, but it's denying what Jesus came to free us from. Even though some are sick, doesn't mean God's Word isn't True any longer. Even though so many people remain unsaved, doesn't mean that God's will is that "He so Loved the world, He sent His Only Begotten Son so that all should be saved."
We are saved by Grace, through faith. When we put our faith into what God's grace has provided for us, we have what He has already made ours, in our lives. God has made all things available to us, if we will simply trust in His Grace and His Promise to us, in Jesus. Romans 4:10 (Amplified) 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."
It's been difficult for God's people to see themselves as the Father sees them. We continue seeing ourselves as "unworthy" and the old, "sinner saved by Grace," instead of seeing how awesome God's Grace is. All things are given to us by GRACE, as an act of faith or trusting God. We cannot get these things by our own merits and our good works, otherwise they would be things owed to us in exchange of our works. They come by God's Grace and cannot be earned by our own merits.
The Spiritual Gifts John writes about in John 1:16-17, aren't the Gifts of the Spirit found in 1Corinthians 12. Many of the Spiritual Gifts found in John 1:16-17 are things we don't associate with Spiritual Gifts, like Righteousness. Romans 5:17 (Amplified) says, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor), and the free Gift of Righteousness."
The free Gift of Righteousness is one of the Spiritual Gifts came to us in abundance. God's Grace makes all things available to us, by faith. Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) 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) Through Him also we have our access, entrance, introduction by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor in which we firmly stand). And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
Grace is the upmost importance to God, because even though God has given it us to freely, it cost the Father, His Son. Ignoring Grace and trying to achieve righteousness by any other way than Grace, is disdaining what God Paid to give it freely to us. Much has been said about men/women of faith, faith preachers and faith people. Some is misunderstood by those who try to misappropriate what our faith is for and why it's so important. It's only by faith, that we can come into the realm that Jesus came to bring us to. Our faith must be in Him and for what He has done for us and faith that God's Grace saves us.
Ignoring faith is rejecting Grace. The only way that Grace works, is by believing and having faith in God's Provision, otherwise we're on our own. Romans 4:21-24 (Amplified) says, "Fully satisfied and assured that God was Able and Mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised That is why [Abraham's] faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God) But the Words, it was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone But they were written for our sake too. Righteousness, standing acceptable to God, will be granted and credited to us also who believe in, trust in, adhere to, and rely on God Who raised Jesus from the dead."
The Blessing of Abraham comes on God's people, by faith in what He says and in His Ability to keep His Promise. We've been given the privilege of being able to come into God's Presence at any time (day or night), without sacrificing, cleansing, fasting or doing rituals, because Jesus Is and Was all that was need to come boldly before God's Throne of Grace. It must be by faith, that we enter. We cannot see "who we used to be" and feel righteous. We must see who God has made us to be and accept His Gift of Righteousness by faith in His Grace. Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) says, "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."
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Monday, October 22, 2018
Lesson 101 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a part 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, for while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 4:13-16 (Amplified) says, "For the Promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through observing the commandments of the Law but through the Righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile and empty of all meaning and the Promise of God is made void, is annulled and has no power for the Law results in Divine wrath, but where there is no Law there is no transgression of it either 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 descendants, not only to the devotees (adherents) of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "For in the Gospel as 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 and shall live by faith."
We must be declared and made righteous by the righteousness that God ascribes, by our faith and not by the works of the Law. This doesn't mean we're not to do or live in righteous works, but that we do the works in righteous and not to obtain righteousness. We were made or created in righteousness in Christ Jesus. When we substitute and perform works to become righteous in God, we are trying to obtain righteousness within ourselves, instead of God's Grace. No man was made righteous by the Law and when we try to obtain righteousness by work (which is Law), we make the Righteousness that God ascribes, void in our lives.
Paul writes about this in Romans 3:10 (Amplified), saying, "Well then, are we Jews superior and better off than they? No, not at all. We have already charge that all men, both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), are under sin (held down by and subject to it's power and control), As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), No not one."
The above scripture clearly tells us that the Law couldn't "make" men righteous in God's eyes. Paul writes again to the Church in Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) saying, "Since all have sinned and are fallen 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."
Romans 10:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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)." We've been hearing more about the Law from preachers and teachers, instead of hearing about God's Grace and His Truth. This has left the Church living in the old covenant under Law, instead of the new covenant under Grace. We're still trying to be good enough to receive the Promises, by our works, rather than simply receiving the Truth of the fulfillment of the Promises by faith.
We can't earn what Grace has provided, by our own merits. Such things as healing, answered prayer, and peace with God, must be by faith that it might be by Grace. This doesn't mean that we're not to do righteous deeds. We don't do them in order to become righteous, but we do them because we are righteous in Christ Jesus.
We can walk righteous and do right things before God, because we've been made righteous through Jesus. Righteous means we came come into God's Presence without guilt shame or condemnation. Jesus and His Righteous has restored us. to where we now have the right to come before the Father, like Jesus could come before Him. Our trying to become righteous, reveals our lack of trusting God's Grace to make us righteous.
Paul writes about our trusting in God's Grace to become righteous in His eyes, because of Jesus' Sacrifice in Hebrews 4:9-10 (Amplified). After bringing the people out of Egypt, God intended for them to rest in His Grace and allow Him to provide everything they would need in the Wilderness. They wouldn't accept by faith, His Grace to provide though. Thus Paul says, "For then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
God has made His new creation people and has rested from His labor, like He did after the first creation in Genesis. God considers His work is finished, because the full Redemption of mankind was laid upon Jesus Christ. We know that the "Promises of God are now Yes and Amen" to us, through Jesus, according to 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) which says, "For the Son of God, Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy), was not yes and no, but in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him (in His Person and by His Agency), TO THE GLORY OF GOD."
God receives glory, when we simply by faith, receive the Fulfillment of His Promises through Jesus. God doesn't receive glory from our human abilities or works or our trying to do for ourselves, what He has rested from through Jesus. Grace is the unearned and undeserved favor of God working in our lives. Grace is a Gift, which we receive by our faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. When we try adding to His Grace by our works, we're demonstrating our unbelief that Jesus was enough to fully make us righteous and free from sin, death, sickness or the works of satan. We continue trying to add a P.S. at the end of His Finished Work, adding our own ideas to it. It's not the cross and our good works. It's the cross without any of our good works. We don't need to add our own ideas to salvation, in order to make it valid in God's eyes.
We are to govern ourselves by His Word and His Spirit. Laws and rituals that appeal to the flesh and make us feel better, don't work. 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "The true sons of God are supposed to learn, walk and govern themselves by God's Word. Every scripture is God-breathed, and given by His Inspiration and profitable for instruction for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteous, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
We are the righteousness of God in Christ are are to receive from His Word, whatever we have need of by His Grace, to provide all we need and walk with Him in rest and peace. Don't allow yourself to be brought back under the Law of performance, but walk in God's liberty of Grace. This doesn't mean we can do anything we choose to do and be hedonists, but allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, receive His Word and walk in His Righteousness.
Romans 4:13-16 (Amplified) says, "For the Promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through observing the commandments of the Law but through the Righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile and empty of all meaning and the Promise of God is made void, is annulled and has no power for the Law results in Divine wrath, but where there is no Law there is no transgression of it either 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 descendants, not only to the devotees (adherents) of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "For in the Gospel as 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 and shall live by faith."
We must be declared and made righteous by the righteousness that God ascribes, by our faith and not by the works of the Law. This doesn't mean we're not to do or live in righteous works, but that we do the works in righteous and not to obtain righteousness. We were made or created in righteousness in Christ Jesus. When we substitute and perform works to become righteous in God, we are trying to obtain righteousness within ourselves, instead of God's Grace. No man was made righteous by the Law and when we try to obtain righteousness by work (which is Law), we make the Righteousness that God ascribes, void in our lives.
Paul writes about this in Romans 3:10 (Amplified), saying, "Well then, are we Jews superior and better off than they? No, not at all. We have already charge that all men, both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles), are under sin (held down by and subject to it's power and control), As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), No not one."
The above scripture clearly tells us that the Law couldn't "make" men righteous in God's eyes. Paul writes again to the Church in Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) saying, "Since all have sinned and are fallen 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."
Romans 10:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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)." We've been hearing more about the Law from preachers and teachers, instead of hearing about God's Grace and His Truth. This has left the Church living in the old covenant under Law, instead of the new covenant under Grace. We're still trying to be good enough to receive the Promises, by our works, rather than simply receiving the Truth of the fulfillment of the Promises by faith.
We can't earn what Grace has provided, by our own merits. Such things as healing, answered prayer, and peace with God, must be by faith that it might be by Grace. This doesn't mean that we're not to do righteous deeds. We don't do them in order to become righteous, but we do them because we are righteous in Christ Jesus.
We can walk righteous and do right things before God, because we've been made righteous through Jesus. Righteous means we came come into God's Presence without guilt shame or condemnation. Jesus and His Righteous has restored us. to where we now have the right to come before the Father, like Jesus could come before Him. Our trying to become righteous, reveals our lack of trusting God's Grace to make us righteous.
Paul writes about our trusting in God's Grace to become righteous in His eyes, because of Jesus' Sacrifice in Hebrews 4:9-10 (Amplified). After bringing the people out of Egypt, God intended for them to rest in His Grace and allow Him to provide everything they would need in the Wilderness. They wouldn't accept by faith, His Grace to provide though. Thus Paul says, "For then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
God has made His new creation people and has rested from His labor, like He did after the first creation in Genesis. God considers His work is finished, because the full Redemption of mankind was laid upon Jesus Christ. We know that the "Promises of God are now Yes and Amen" to us, through Jesus, according to 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) which says, "For the Son of God, Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy), was not yes and no, but in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him (in His Person and by His Agency), TO THE GLORY OF GOD."
God receives glory, when we simply by faith, receive the Fulfillment of His Promises through Jesus. God doesn't receive glory from our human abilities or works or our trying to do for ourselves, what He has rested from through Jesus. Grace is the unearned and undeserved favor of God working in our lives. Grace is a Gift, which we receive by our faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ. When we try adding to His Grace by our works, we're demonstrating our unbelief that Jesus was enough to fully make us righteous and free from sin, death, sickness or the works of satan. We continue trying to add a P.S. at the end of His Finished Work, adding our own ideas to it. It's not the cross and our good works. It's the cross without any of our good works. We don't need to add our own ideas to salvation, in order to make it valid in God's eyes.
We are to govern ourselves by His Word and His Spirit. Laws and rituals that appeal to the flesh and make us feel better, don't work. 2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "The true sons of God are supposed to learn, walk and govern themselves by God's Word. Every scripture is God-breathed, and given by His Inspiration and profitable for instruction for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteous, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
We are the righteousness of God in Christ are are to receive from His Word, whatever we have need of by His Grace, to provide all we need and walk with Him in rest and peace. Don't allow yourself to be brought back under the Law of performance, but walk in God's liberty of Grace. This doesn't mean we can do anything we choose to do and be hedonists, but allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, receive His Word and walk in His Righteousness.
Friday, October 19, 2018
Lesson 100 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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 favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Under the old Mosaic covenant, the people needed to keep the Law, in order to qualify for God's Blessings and Promises. When the people transgressed the Law, God withheld the Promises. Under our new covenant, Jesus has Perfectly fulfilled the entire Law and made provision for us. Even though we've been set free from the Law and are no longer under obligation to it, we strive to fulfill it by out own strength, works, and ability.
God's will for His children has always been Grace and Truth. He never intended for us to have to do everything for ourselves, like most parents today. We don't just give life to our children and then expect them to know or do without our provision. There comes a time in their lives, where they will be expected to live on their own, relying on the things they've been taught. Even when they're adults, we still give them advice, wisdom and other things.
We've entered into a relationship with the Father, where we're supposed to know and understand that He intends to meet our every need, by simply trusting Him. What we consider to be adulthood in this natural realm, is far less than understanding adulthood in God's realm. Understanding Spiritual Laws and how to walk in them, is far different than natural laws.
The Spiritual Blessings that we now have through Jesus, aren't things we can achieve by our natural man, but must be received by faith, into our spirit man. The Spiritual Blessing of righteousness, isn't something we can achieve on our own. We must receive it by faith in His Grace and accept it Grace. Grace is unearned and undeserved favor. It is a Gift from God and must be received as a Gift, but we still struggle to be good enough to deserve it, which is impossible. Only Jesus can give us righteousness and make us righteous before God, through His righteousness.
There's no way that mankind can heal or walk in Divine health, except by Grace and Truth in God's Word. We've conflated Law and Grace, so that neither is working for us. Law only works by Law, while Grace works only by faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus.
We've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law in Jesus, but we put ourselves back under it when we try walking the Law out on our own. The Curse is still here, but Jesus has taken it upon Himself, so that we don't have to suffer under it. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is in place and even believers reap what they sow. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked), by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower-nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
"Sowing to the flesh," is doing things our own way, instead of the way of the Spirit. If a Christian sows corn and a non-Christian sows corn, then both will reap a harvest of corn. It doesn't matter who sows it, the "seed produces after kind," according to Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified) which says, "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 its kind), upon the earth. And so it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, according to its kind. And God saw that it was Good (suitable, admirable), And He approved it."
One might think that these "seeds," only refer to vegetation and trees, but that isn't true. The entire Kingdom of God is still in Seed Principle. Jesus relates "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 saying that "Words are seeds." Galatians 3:16-17 tells us that Jesus was (and is) The Seed from which all of us (as Christians) have been born from. We are seeds of Abraham and are seeds for bringing a greater harvest of believers into God's Kingdom. Jesus refers to Himself as being "The Seed" in John 12:24 (Amplified) saying, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a gain 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 rich harvest."
Our words and actions are directed by the Seed Principle. This is what Paul writes about in Galatians 6:7-8 when he says, "God's Word is not be deluded, by man's teaching of doing our own thing." Doing our own thing is sowing to the flesh and can only produce what the flesh can do. We might be sowing to the flesh, in order to become righteous, but that can only bring forth flesh and decay. We must sow to the Spirit and apply God's Word of Grace, allowing The Seed of Righteousness Jesus, bring forth the fruit of righteousness in our lives.
Whatever you sow, that and that alone is what you will reap. We've never truly understood the covenant of Grace and Truth and we've never learned to to simply trust God's Word for our needs. I'm not suggesting that we sit back and do nothing in the world, but I'm saying when we try making God's Word work by our own methods, we're deluding ourselves and will reap to the flesh, what only the flesh can supply. We've tried to figure out "what we must do, to make God's Word work in our lives," and have lost sight of Grace. Then, we become discouraged by our own failures.
Jesus was teaching to a group of people, who had the very same questions we have today, in John 6:28-29 (Amplified) which tells us, "They then said, What are we to do, that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires?" Jesus' answer in Verse 29 probably stunned the people (just like it might stun many today). Thus, He said, "This is the work (service) that God asks of you; That you believe in the One Whom He has sent (that you cleave to, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger)." There's no other way to "do His work," other than by faith in God's Messenger Jesus.. We can't heal the sick, cast out devils, live in peace, lead others to Christ or walk in God's Promises on our own. We must believe in the One Whom God has sent.
The Spiritual Blessings are exactly that, Spiritual and they must be received into our spirit by faith, not by our carnal way of doing things. In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "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." The religious works people do in order to become what we think it right, has no bearing on what God says "makes us right." The works of the flesh profit nothing and performing rituals, laws and traditions set us up without the Spirit and profit nothing. Only faith and trust in God's Grace supplied through Jesus' Sacrifice will profit us. This is the "rest" God Promises in His Word. We must simply believe in the One Whom He has sent and have faith in His Messenger to receive His rest.
,
Under the old Mosaic covenant, the people needed to keep the Law, in order to qualify for God's Blessings and Promises. When the people transgressed the Law, God withheld the Promises. Under our new covenant, Jesus has Perfectly fulfilled the entire Law and made provision for us. Even though we've been set free from the Law and are no longer under obligation to it, we strive to fulfill it by out own strength, works, and ability.
God's will for His children has always been Grace and Truth. He never intended for us to have to do everything for ourselves, like most parents today. We don't just give life to our children and then expect them to know or do without our provision. There comes a time in their lives, where they will be expected to live on their own, relying on the things they've been taught. Even when they're adults, we still give them advice, wisdom and other things.
We've entered into a relationship with the Father, where we're supposed to know and understand that He intends to meet our every need, by simply trusting Him. What we consider to be adulthood in this natural realm, is far less than understanding adulthood in God's realm. Understanding Spiritual Laws and how to walk in them, is far different than natural laws.
The Spiritual Blessings that we now have through Jesus, aren't things we can achieve by our natural man, but must be received by faith, into our spirit man. The Spiritual Blessing of righteousness, isn't something we can achieve on our own. We must receive it by faith in His Grace and accept it Grace. Grace is unearned and undeserved favor. It is a Gift from God and must be received as a Gift, but we still struggle to be good enough to deserve it, which is impossible. Only Jesus can give us righteousness and make us righteous before God, through His righteousness.
There's no way that mankind can heal or walk in Divine health, except by Grace and Truth in God's Word. We've conflated Law and Grace, so that neither is working for us. Law only works by Law, while Grace works only by faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus.
We've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law in Jesus, but we put ourselves back under it when we try walking the Law out on our own. The Curse is still here, but Jesus has taken it upon Himself, so that we don't have to suffer under it. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is in place and even believers reap what they sow. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked), by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower-nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
"Sowing to the flesh," is doing things our own way, instead of the way of the Spirit. If a Christian sows corn and a non-Christian sows corn, then both will reap a harvest of corn. It doesn't matter who sows it, the "seed produces after kind," according to Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified) which says, "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 its kind), upon the earth. And so it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, according to its kind. And God saw that it was Good (suitable, admirable), And He approved it."
One might think that these "seeds," only refer to vegetation and trees, but that isn't true. The entire Kingdom of God is still in Seed Principle. Jesus relates "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 saying that "Words are seeds." Galatians 3:16-17 tells us that Jesus was (and is) The Seed from which all of us (as Christians) have been born from. We are seeds of Abraham and are seeds for bringing a greater harvest of believers into God's Kingdom. Jesus refers to Himself as being "The Seed" in John 12:24 (Amplified) saying, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a gain 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 rich harvest."
Our words and actions are directed by the Seed Principle. This is what Paul writes about in Galatians 6:7-8 when he says, "God's Word is not be deluded, by man's teaching of doing our own thing." Doing our own thing is sowing to the flesh and can only produce what the flesh can do. We might be sowing to the flesh, in order to become righteous, but that can only bring forth flesh and decay. We must sow to the Spirit and apply God's Word of Grace, allowing The Seed of Righteousness Jesus, bring forth the fruit of righteousness in our lives.
Whatever you sow, that and that alone is what you will reap. We've never truly understood the covenant of Grace and Truth and we've never learned to to simply trust God's Word for our needs. I'm not suggesting that we sit back and do nothing in the world, but I'm saying when we try making God's Word work by our own methods, we're deluding ourselves and will reap to the flesh, what only the flesh can supply. We've tried to figure out "what we must do, to make God's Word work in our lives," and have lost sight of Grace. Then, we become discouraged by our own failures.
Jesus was teaching to a group of people, who had the very same questions we have today, in John 6:28-29 (Amplified) which tells us, "They then said, What are we to do, that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires?" Jesus' answer in Verse 29 probably stunned the people (just like it might stun many today). Thus, He said, "This is the work (service) that God asks of you; That you believe in the One Whom He has sent (that you cleave to, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger)." There's no other way to "do His work," other than by faith in God's Messenger Jesus.. We can't heal the sick, cast out devils, live in peace, lead others to Christ or walk in God's Promises on our own. We must believe in the One Whom God has sent.
The Spiritual Blessings are exactly that, Spiritual and they must be received into our spirit by faith, not by our carnal way of doing things. In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "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." The religious works people do in order to become what we think it right, has no bearing on what God says "makes us right." The works of the flesh profit nothing and performing rituals, laws and traditions set us up without the Spirit and profit nothing. Only faith and trust in God's Grace supplied through Jesus' Sacrifice will profit us. This is the "rest" God Promises in His Word. We must simply believe in the One Whom He has sent and have faith in His Messenger to receive His rest.
,
Thursday, October 18, 2018
Lesson 99 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:!6-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
We've seemingly forgotten what it means to be born-again, acting like it only pertains to "when we leave this earth and go to the Father in Heaven." When the new birth came into us by faith, a miracle took place in our spirit and were were created as new beings. 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old (spiritual and moral condition) has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
We were created, just as surely as the heavens and earth were created by the Word of God. We are now a new being that has never been on the earth before, except for Jesus, "Who is the First Born among many brethren." Hebrews 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the Divine Nature that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into Glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect, should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to the perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest through suffering. For both He Who sanctifies (making men holy), and those who are sanctified all have One Father. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
When we determine that our salvation is only for a future time, we are also determining that our Heavenly Father can only move in our lives, at a future time. Our misunderstanding this, limits God to only after we leave this earth. God didn't do what He did, only to allow us into Heaven, but that through Jesus, He could bring His Kingdom and His Heaven to earth, through those who are a new creation family. God intended to move and live through us, like He did through the Human Body of Jesus. God intended to make His Presence known upon the earth through His new creation family, just like He did in the First Born Son, Jesus.
When we put-off what God has done, we don't allow Him to do and live and move through us, like He wants too. In spite of the teaching and preaching of God's Word, some still refused to accept the Truth in Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) which says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means! Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That you may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, and prevail when you are judged by sinful men."
When some refuse to believe and are unwilling to accept Truth, we're still the ones who are upright and justified in what God says. Jesus was the Fore-runner for the Church, just like John the Baptist was a fore-runner for Jesus. Jesus was the First Born among many brethren and now we all belong to the Same Father and the same family. We've been waiting for when we go to Heaven, to become sons and daughters of God, when have been so all along. We are sons and daughters of God now, while we're on this earth and we are to show forth His Glory to the world. God has sent us into the world as His Ambassadors from His Heavenly Kingdom.
Having unrenewed minds, keeps us thinking as mere men, when all the time we are the new creation family of God, as was Jesus, the First Born from the dead. This doesn't take away from what Jesus came to do, but it amplifies what He came to do. Jesus came to remove what Adam placed mankind under and restore what the Father had always intended for His family to be. When we deny this portion of our salvation, we are actually denying the fullness of Jesus' earthly ministry.
Some would say that this is "making light of Jesus' Deity" and making Jesus "just a Man," but nothing is further from Truth. It was by Jesus' becoming a Man on the cross, that brought us into His Deity and class of being. We would still be only human, without Jesus' allowing Himself to take our place. "Through Him, we are not as we were, but as He is," according to 1John 3:2 (Amplified) which says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed, (made clear), what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is"
I don't know what a glorified body will look like when we're actually forever in His Presence, but whatever Jesus looks like, we will also look like. Until that time, "We see no longer any man after the flesh, but after the Spirit," according to 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) which 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 knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
Most of us still see Him as the Man Who was in the flesh, walking on the Shores of Galilee. Our insight and revelation knowledge of Him, stopped after the cross. Jesus didn't stop at the cross, but He ascended to the Father in a New Form of Being, a Spirit Born Man in a Glorified Body and He took us with Him as brethren of the new creation family. We are presently still in this body, but we hold the Same Holy Spirit and same Glory of the Father Who lived in Jesus, while He was in this natural body. We've been made one with Him and are now His natural body to reach out and minister in this natural realm, like Jesus during His earthly ministry. We've become as an earthly vehicle to allow the Father to go on in the earth, like Jesus did. We're to only do what the Father does, say what the Father says and go where the Father wants to go, because It is the Father in us now, that still wants to do the work.
We've prayed and sent the Holy Spirit to minister and heal those in need. Even though part of this is right, the Holy Spirit now lives in us and we're to go in His Power, allowing Him to work through us, like He did in Jesus. God doesn't want to "be sent," He want to GO and He wants to GO through us. This is and always has been, His will and His Truth. God's will and Truth is that He could now walk in this realm and have us walk in His realm and that there'd be no separation between His family and Himself.
The first Adam and the Father walked together in spirit and in the earth. The Last Adam, Jesus, did the same thing. God wants to do the same thing with us, His sons and daughter's. Since we've become His earthly Body (the Body of Christ) and we have His Spirit living inside us, God's will is that He can now walk together with us through Jesus, like He did from the beginning. After all, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of." God can use us to do His will, when we yield ourselves to Him. He won't force Himself upon us and make us do what He wants. He wants us to submit to His will in love for Him and His Love for mankind will be made on this earth as it is in Heaven.
We've seemingly forgotten what it means to be born-again, acting like it only pertains to "when we leave this earth and go to the Father in Heaven." When the new birth came into us by faith, a miracle took place in our spirit and were were created as new beings. 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old (spiritual and moral condition) has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
We were created, just as surely as the heavens and earth were created by the Word of God. We are now a new being that has never been on the earth before, except for Jesus, "Who is the First Born among many brethren." Hebrews 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the Divine Nature that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into Glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect, should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to the perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest through suffering. For both He Who sanctifies (making men holy), and those who are sanctified all have One Father. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
When we determine that our salvation is only for a future time, we are also determining that our Heavenly Father can only move in our lives, at a future time. Our misunderstanding this, limits God to only after we leave this earth. God didn't do what He did, only to allow us into Heaven, but that through Jesus, He could bring His Kingdom and His Heaven to earth, through those who are a new creation family. God intended to move and live through us, like He did through the Human Body of Jesus. God intended to make His Presence known upon the earth through His new creation family, just like He did in the First Born Son, Jesus.
When we put-off what God has done, we don't allow Him to do and live and move through us, like He wants too. In spite of the teaching and preaching of God's Word, some still refused to accept the Truth in Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) which says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means! Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That you may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, and prevail when you are judged by sinful men."
When some refuse to believe and are unwilling to accept Truth, we're still the ones who are upright and justified in what God says. Jesus was the Fore-runner for the Church, just like John the Baptist was a fore-runner for Jesus. Jesus was the First Born among many brethren and now we all belong to the Same Father and the same family. We've been waiting for when we go to Heaven, to become sons and daughters of God, when have been so all along. We are sons and daughters of God now, while we're on this earth and we are to show forth His Glory to the world. God has sent us into the world as His Ambassadors from His Heavenly Kingdom.
Having unrenewed minds, keeps us thinking as mere men, when all the time we are the new creation family of God, as was Jesus, the First Born from the dead. This doesn't take away from what Jesus came to do, but it amplifies what He came to do. Jesus came to remove what Adam placed mankind under and restore what the Father had always intended for His family to be. When we deny this portion of our salvation, we are actually denying the fullness of Jesus' earthly ministry.
Some would say that this is "making light of Jesus' Deity" and making Jesus "just a Man," but nothing is further from Truth. It was by Jesus' becoming a Man on the cross, that brought us into His Deity and class of being. We would still be only human, without Jesus' allowing Himself to take our place. "Through Him, we are not as we were, but as He is," according to 1John 3:2 (Amplified) which says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed, (made clear), what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is"
I don't know what a glorified body will look like when we're actually forever in His Presence, but whatever Jesus looks like, we will also look like. Until that time, "We see no longer any man after the flesh, but after the Spirit," according to 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) which 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 knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
Most of us still see Him as the Man Who was in the flesh, walking on the Shores of Galilee. Our insight and revelation knowledge of Him, stopped after the cross. Jesus didn't stop at the cross, but He ascended to the Father in a New Form of Being, a Spirit Born Man in a Glorified Body and He took us with Him as brethren of the new creation family. We are presently still in this body, but we hold the Same Holy Spirit and same Glory of the Father Who lived in Jesus, while He was in this natural body. We've been made one with Him and are now His natural body to reach out and minister in this natural realm, like Jesus during His earthly ministry. We've become as an earthly vehicle to allow the Father to go on in the earth, like Jesus did. We're to only do what the Father does, say what the Father says and go where the Father wants to go, because It is the Father in us now, that still wants to do the work.
We've prayed and sent the Holy Spirit to minister and heal those in need. Even though part of this is right, the Holy Spirit now lives in us and we're to go in His Power, allowing Him to work through us, like He did in Jesus. God doesn't want to "be sent," He want to GO and He wants to GO through us. This is and always has been, His will and His Truth. God's will and Truth is that He could now walk in this realm and have us walk in His realm and that there'd be no separation between His family and Himself.
The first Adam and the Father walked together in spirit and in the earth. The Last Adam, Jesus, did the same thing. God wants to do the same thing with us, His sons and daughter's. Since we've become His earthly Body (the Body of Christ) and we have His Spirit living inside us, God's will is that He can now walk together with us through Jesus, like He did from the beginning. After all, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of." God can use us to do His will, when we yield ourselves to Him. He won't force Himself upon us and make us do what He wants. He wants us to submit to His will in love for Him and His Love for mankind will be made on this earth as it is in Heaven.
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Lesson 98 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
The Spiritual Blessings that we've now received through Jesus, weren't available to those under the Law and the old covenant. Through our new creation birth in Christ and as God's family, we've received these Spiritual Blessings. Even those under the old covenant had access to some of the things of God, but were obliged to fulfill and comply with the Law, in order to qualify for them. No One except Jesus Himself, had or has ever, fulfilled all of the Law, so Only Jesus could qualify for all the Promise.
We are looked upon as having fulfilled all the Law and are qualified for the Promises, because we are joint heir with Jesus. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God (Christ Jesus, the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus and Timothy), was not yes and no; but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ), For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), To God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
Every Promise in God's Word is now "To and through Jesus." We're in Him and have now qualified for all of God's Promises. Many of these Promises were conditional to those in the old covenant. They needed to qualify for the Promises, by their works and sacrifices. We, though, are in the "One Who went before us and He fulfilled all the Law and the prophets for us." The only qualification for us to receive the Promises, is that we are in Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
The people of the old covenant were held back from receiving all the Promises, because they lived under the old sin nature and were dead to God in their spirits. Fallen man couldn't fulfill the Law or keep it, because it was Perfect. Man couldn't be perfect, so the Law was beyond their reach. The Law was so Perfect that natural man couldn't keep or fulfill it, in themselves. God received their sacrifices of bulls and goats, covering their lack of not being able to walk it out. God could still at least Bless them, to a degree. God could not though, bring all of His Promises to pass in them.
Every Promise God made to man was fulfilled in One Man, the Man Christ Jesus. The world and religious teachings have taught us to believe we still must qualify and fulfill the Law by our works, even though we're now born-again. We've been taught that God's Promises don't work for us like God's Word says, because we "missed the mark and are not right with God." We've failed to see how the Father intended to do and to treat us, the same way He did and treated Jesus.
We still try making the Sabbath Holy, by not working on that day. The word, "Sabbath," simply means "rest." Our Sabbath is Jesus, Who completed all the work for us and we rest in Him and keep this rest holy. We're not resting in Him as the Fulfillment of our labor, when we continue to do works. The only labor we're required to do, in order to be righteous and holy, is labor to enter into the rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 (Amplified) says, "So then, there is still awaiting and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors; Just as God rested those labors peculiarly His Own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter the 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."
The Israelites in the Wilderness refused to believe that their God would and could deliver and provide for them, by Himself. They murmured and complained and strove to do it themselves, to the point of wanting to go back into the bondage and slavery of Pharaoh. Those of us in the Body of Christ, still try to be perfect, but Jesus could and has fulfilled these Promises on our behalf. There are certain laws that have been handed down for centuries, that we've been told we "must complete and fulfill to qualify." This is the very thing that prevented the Israelites from entering into His rest. We're simply called to believe and receive by faith, that Jesus did everything that was ever needed and then rest in Him. In Him, we're already now qualified for all of God's Promises and we don't have to labor and do works to qualify.
As the Body of Christ and God's family, God only requires the Church to accept by faith, what His Grace has already provided. This includes all of God's Promises that are "Yes and Amen to the Glory of God." We're instructed to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and received instructions by God's Word, so that we can live our lives in the completed work of Jesus. We're to rest in His Perfection and not our own.
The new creation family of God is required to use God's Word, to change from the inside and bring dominion over the outer-man (the carnal flesh). It's not by our works, but faith and heeding the Holy Spirit's leading. If you're still a babe or infant in Christ, then the milk of God's Word will nurse you into your mature and adult life with God. None of the rituals that we've tried, are trying to change ourselves from the outside-in. Believing God's Word and listening to God's Spirit will chnge the outer-man for us.
There has been so much controversy among the Church, about Grace and faith. Some of the teachings are Truth, but it's not much. We've exchanged the Truth of God's Word, for external performance, believing that our good works would change us, but this left the outer-man in control still.
Remember, there's still a Law of Sowing and Reaping that is at work in both the believer and unbeliever's lives. Galatians 6:5-8 (Amplified) says, "For every person will have to bear, be equal to understand and calmly receive his own little load of oppressive faults. Let him who receives instruction in the Word of God share all good things with his Teacher contributing to his support. Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained or mocked) by mere pretensions or professions, or BY HIS PRECEPTS BEING SET ASIDE. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, For whatever a man sows, that and only that will he reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (the lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
Much of our preaching and teaching over the years, have sown to our flesh and have brought ruin and destruction into our lives. We've been told that "God gives you diseases, in order to teach, correct and punish us." This isn't only sowing to the flesh, but has brought the fruits of ruin, destruction and physical death to many in God's family. We have the choice to sow either to the Spirit or to the flesh and we will sow what we reap. This doesn't include only sin, but the seeds of deception that the enemy sows. Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:13-25 (Amplified), where He said that our words are seeds and then He showed the effects they have in our lives. Jesus talks about the responsibility of the hearer, as well as the sower in Verse 24 saying, "Be careful what you are hearing; the measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you, and more besides will be given to you who hear."
God will only measure back to you, the Truth you hear. The enemy will also measure back to you, the untruth and deception you receive in your heart. What we allow to be sown in us, is what we will reap. We will reap either destruction or Truth, but both will not grow from the same seed. Are you careful about what seeds (words) you allow into your heart? Have you fallen into the enemy's trap and accept all seeds, to the point you can no longer distinguish between good seed and bad seed? The harvest is inevitable.
The Spiritual Blessings that we've now received through Jesus, weren't available to those under the Law and the old covenant. Through our new creation birth in Christ and as God's family, we've received these Spiritual Blessings. Even those under the old covenant had access to some of the things of God, but were obliged to fulfill and comply with the Law, in order to qualify for them. No One except Jesus Himself, had or has ever, fulfilled all of the Law, so Only Jesus could qualify for all the Promise.
We are looked upon as having fulfilled all the Law and are qualified for the Promises, because we are joint heir with Jesus. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God (Christ Jesus, the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus and Timothy), was not yes and no; but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ), For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), To God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
Every Promise in God's Word is now "To and through Jesus." We're in Him and have now qualified for all of God's Promises. Many of these Promises were conditional to those in the old covenant. They needed to qualify for the Promises, by their works and sacrifices. We, though, are in the "One Who went before us and He fulfilled all the Law and the prophets for us." The only qualification for us to receive the Promises, is that we are in Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
The people of the old covenant were held back from receiving all the Promises, because they lived under the old sin nature and were dead to God in their spirits. Fallen man couldn't fulfill the Law or keep it, because it was Perfect. Man couldn't be perfect, so the Law was beyond their reach. The Law was so Perfect that natural man couldn't keep or fulfill it, in themselves. God received their sacrifices of bulls and goats, covering their lack of not being able to walk it out. God could still at least Bless them, to a degree. God could not though, bring all of His Promises to pass in them.
Every Promise God made to man was fulfilled in One Man, the Man Christ Jesus. The world and religious teachings have taught us to believe we still must qualify and fulfill the Law by our works, even though we're now born-again. We've been taught that God's Promises don't work for us like God's Word says, because we "missed the mark and are not right with God." We've failed to see how the Father intended to do and to treat us, the same way He did and treated Jesus.
We still try making the Sabbath Holy, by not working on that day. The word, "Sabbath," simply means "rest." Our Sabbath is Jesus, Who completed all the work for us and we rest in Him and keep this rest holy. We're not resting in Him as the Fulfillment of our labor, when we continue to do works. The only labor we're required to do, in order to be righteous and holy, is labor to enter into the rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 (Amplified) says, "So then, there is still awaiting and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors; Just as God rested those labors peculiarly His Own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter the 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."
The Israelites in the Wilderness refused to believe that their God would and could deliver and provide for them, by Himself. They murmured and complained and strove to do it themselves, to the point of wanting to go back into the bondage and slavery of Pharaoh. Those of us in the Body of Christ, still try to be perfect, but Jesus could and has fulfilled these Promises on our behalf. There are certain laws that have been handed down for centuries, that we've been told we "must complete and fulfill to qualify." This is the very thing that prevented the Israelites from entering into His rest. We're simply called to believe and receive by faith, that Jesus did everything that was ever needed and then rest in Him. In Him, we're already now qualified for all of God's Promises and we don't have to labor and do works to qualify.
As the Body of Christ and God's family, God only requires the Church to accept by faith, what His Grace has already provided. This includes all of God's Promises that are "Yes and Amen to the Glory of God." We're instructed to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and received instructions by God's Word, so that we can live our lives in the completed work of Jesus. We're to rest in His Perfection and not our own.
The new creation family of God is required to use God's Word, to change from the inside and bring dominion over the outer-man (the carnal flesh). It's not by our works, but faith and heeding the Holy Spirit's leading. If you're still a babe or infant in Christ, then the milk of God's Word will nurse you into your mature and adult life with God. None of the rituals that we've tried, are trying to change ourselves from the outside-in. Believing God's Word and listening to God's Spirit will chnge the outer-man for us.
There has been so much controversy among the Church, about Grace and faith. Some of the teachings are Truth, but it's not much. We've exchanged the Truth of God's Word, for external performance, believing that our good works would change us, but this left the outer-man in control still.
Remember, there's still a Law of Sowing and Reaping that is at work in both the believer and unbeliever's lives. Galatians 6:5-8 (Amplified) says, "For every person will have to bear, be equal to understand and calmly receive his own little load of oppressive faults. Let him who receives instruction in the Word of God share all good things with his Teacher contributing to his support. Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained or mocked) by mere pretensions or professions, or BY HIS PRECEPTS BEING SET ASIDE. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, For whatever a man sows, that and only that will he reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (the lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
Much of our preaching and teaching over the years, have sown to our flesh and have brought ruin and destruction into our lives. We've been told that "God gives you diseases, in order to teach, correct and punish us." This isn't only sowing to the flesh, but has brought the fruits of ruin, destruction and physical death to many in God's family. We have the choice to sow either to the Spirit or to the flesh and we will sow what we reap. This doesn't include only sin, but the seeds of deception that the enemy sows. Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:13-25 (Amplified), where He said that our words are seeds and then He showed the effects they have in our lives. Jesus talks about the responsibility of the hearer, as well as the sower in Verse 24 saying, "Be careful what you are hearing; the measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you, and more besides will be given to you who hear."
God will only measure back to you, the Truth you hear. The enemy will also measure back to you, the untruth and deception you receive in your heart. What we allow to be sown in us, is what we will reap. We will reap either destruction or Truth, but both will not grow from the same seed. Are you careful about what seeds (words) you allow into your heart? Have you fallen into the enemy's trap and accept all seeds, to the point you can no longer distinguish between good seed and bad seed? The harvest is inevitable.
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Lesson 97 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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 and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Notice, how the above scripture tells us that these things, "Came through Jesus Christ." It doesn't say that, "These things are coming through or will come through Him," referring to the future. These Promises of God given in Genesis-Revelations are now ours, according to 2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) which tells us, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
The Glory of believing these Promises and accepting them as ours in Jesus, is offered up to the Father in faith through Jesus, to God's Own Glory. The Church has stumbled between Truth and tradition, for over two-thousand years. We've been living in a place of awaiting these Promises, without realizing that they're no longer Promises to those who are in Christ Jesus, but they're Truth and reality. Many of God's children haven't yet come to the Truth of whether God is for us of against us.
We've failed to understand the new covenant that has been offered to us by God's Own Spirit, through Jesus. Grace is simply God's Own will being done in those who are in Jesus and is for all who believe and come into Christ's salvation. Grace is unearned and undeserved by the whole of mankind. Many haven't accepted the Gift of Grace unto salvation and many who've accepted God's Grace to salvation, haven't yet accepted it in Truth.
God's will is Grace and Truth. God wants us to know His will and to accept it's Truth in Jesus/ The Father once told me that, "My people's faith has accepted what My Grace has provided." Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "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 (unearned, undeserved favor), to make it stable, and valid, and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
We've did nothing to be saved, but we only believed the Promise in faith. When we did this, Grace received us into the Promise and it became our Truth that we now belong to God as His children. All of the other Promises of Grace, come by the same action on our part. Grace has made them all ours, by our faith in His Truth. We don't do anything to inherit our healing, son-ship rights, access to God's Throne of Grace or our peace in Him, with Him and through Him. It is all by faith in God's will and His Truth.
God has made His will for us so very clear, when He sent Jesus to reveal it to us, but we still are unclear about it. When we see Jesus, we see God's will and His Grace for us in action. Jesus and God's will for mankind, are exactly the same. Jesus was and still is, the Exact Revelation of God's will for mankind. If Jesus didn't do it, then God doesn't do it.
Romans 8:31-32 (Amplified) says, "What then shall we say to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can be our foe, if God is on our side? He Who did not withhold or spare even His Own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all other things?" What are "all the other things?" All the Promises God made through Jesus, by His Grace. All of these Promises are now fulfilled through Jesus.
Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) 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." God's family has been taught to focus only on the last part of this scripture about "sharing in His suffering, if we are to share in His inheritance." What is the suffering that Jesus endured? His suffering on the cross of Calvary isn't what this scripture is speaking about here. Christ suffered on the cross for our benefit. Jesus did this so that we could inherit His Blessing and to deliver us from everything that we'd been subject to as a result of Adam's transgression in the Garden. Jesus' suffering was from the hands and lies of the people, who wouldn't believe in His Message of God's Grace.
James 1:5-8 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to all me liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching and fault finding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
The man without faith in the above scripture, has been taught by the world and tradition and has been told to "accept everything happening to and around him, because it's God's will." Many things happening in today's world are not God's will. These might be things that the eyes of God has seen in the future, but His will is that "all should be saved and come to the knowledge of God." 2Peter 3:19 (Amplified) says, "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He Promises, (according to some people's conception of slowness), but He is long-suffering, extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance."
We see many people who still haven't turned to repentance and are still not in God's will, but for those who have already turned, we are already in His will. The Apostle Paul speaks to the Church about our Foundation, Who is Jesus Christ, and how the House or structure being built of this Foundation, in 1Corinthians 3:9-15. Mankind has built many houses, religions, denominations and traditions on the Foundation of Jesus. The world and the devil are testing these structures right now. Even though the structure or tradition might not withstand the enemy's deception and it's destroyed, the Foundation Who is Jesus, remains strong and they are still saved.
God is looking for a few good men and women, who will carry out His end time strategies. Many will reject and turn from God's Grace and Truth. Many will hold onto tradition, just like they did in Jesus' earthly ministry. This never has, nor never will, stop God from doing what He set out to do. God will raise up an army in these Last Days before Jesus returns. These will be people who've made it their quest in life, to seek after Truth and Wisdom and have built a relationship with the Father, through the Holy Spirit.
Many will be and are being persecuted for their stand and ministry. Many will become targets of the enemy, but satan will not stop the Invading Army of God in these Last Days. Paul didn't suffer at the hands and doings of God, but he was pursued by an evil spirit that buffeted him at every turn, in order to stop him from preaching God's Grace and Truth. Paul was the only man who had been given the Revelation of God's Plan for His people, at that time. Today though, there are millions of believers spreading God's Message, so satan cannot focus on one person. We are a great and mighty army on this earth and VICTORY IS CERTAIN.
Seek God for yourself, without turning away from others. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead and instruct you. You might suffer persecution at the hands of religious leaders, just like Jesus and Paul did, but press on to see the Glory of God in this earth.
Notice, how the above scripture tells us that these things, "Came through Jesus Christ." It doesn't say that, "These things are coming through or will come through Him," referring to the future. These Promises of God given in Genesis-Revelations are now ours, according to 2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) which tells us, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
The Glory of believing these Promises and accepting them as ours in Jesus, is offered up to the Father in faith through Jesus, to God's Own Glory. The Church has stumbled between Truth and tradition, for over two-thousand years. We've been living in a place of awaiting these Promises, without realizing that they're no longer Promises to those who are in Christ Jesus, but they're Truth and reality. Many of God's children haven't yet come to the Truth of whether God is for us of against us.
We've failed to understand the new covenant that has been offered to us by God's Own Spirit, through Jesus. Grace is simply God's Own will being done in those who are in Jesus and is for all who believe and come into Christ's salvation. Grace is unearned and undeserved by the whole of mankind. Many haven't accepted the Gift of Grace unto salvation and many who've accepted God's Grace to salvation, haven't yet accepted it in Truth.
God's will is Grace and Truth. God wants us to know His will and to accept it's Truth in Jesus/ The Father once told me that, "My people's faith has accepted what My Grace has provided." Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "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 (unearned, undeserved favor), to make it stable, and valid, and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
We've did nothing to be saved, but we only believed the Promise in faith. When we did this, Grace received us into the Promise and it became our Truth that we now belong to God as His children. All of the other Promises of Grace, come by the same action on our part. Grace has made them all ours, by our faith in His Truth. We don't do anything to inherit our healing, son-ship rights, access to God's Throne of Grace or our peace in Him, with Him and through Him. It is all by faith in God's will and His Truth.
God has made His will for us so very clear, when He sent Jesus to reveal it to us, but we still are unclear about it. When we see Jesus, we see God's will and His Grace for us in action. Jesus and God's will for mankind, are exactly the same. Jesus was and still is, the Exact Revelation of God's will for mankind. If Jesus didn't do it, then God doesn't do it.
Romans 8:31-32 (Amplified) says, "What then shall we say to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can be our foe, if God is on our side? He Who did not withhold or spare even His Own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all other things?" What are "all the other things?" All the Promises God made through Jesus, by His Grace. All of these Promises are now fulfilled through Jesus.
Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) 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." God's family has been taught to focus only on the last part of this scripture about "sharing in His suffering, if we are to share in His inheritance." What is the suffering that Jesus endured? His suffering on the cross of Calvary isn't what this scripture is speaking about here. Christ suffered on the cross for our benefit. Jesus did this so that we could inherit His Blessing and to deliver us from everything that we'd been subject to as a result of Adam's transgression in the Garden. Jesus' suffering was from the hands and lies of the people, who wouldn't believe in His Message of God's Grace.
James 1:5-8 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to all me liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching and fault finding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
The man without faith in the above scripture, has been taught by the world and tradition and has been told to "accept everything happening to and around him, because it's God's will." Many things happening in today's world are not God's will. These might be things that the eyes of God has seen in the future, but His will is that "all should be saved and come to the knowledge of God." 2Peter 3:19 (Amplified) says, "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He Promises, (according to some people's conception of slowness), but He is long-suffering, extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance."
We see many people who still haven't turned to repentance and are still not in God's will, but for those who have already turned, we are already in His will. The Apostle Paul speaks to the Church about our Foundation, Who is Jesus Christ, and how the House or structure being built of this Foundation, in 1Corinthians 3:9-15. Mankind has built many houses, religions, denominations and traditions on the Foundation of Jesus. The world and the devil are testing these structures right now. Even though the structure or tradition might not withstand the enemy's deception and it's destroyed, the Foundation Who is Jesus, remains strong and they are still saved.
God is looking for a few good men and women, who will carry out His end time strategies. Many will reject and turn from God's Grace and Truth. Many will hold onto tradition, just like they did in Jesus' earthly ministry. This never has, nor never will, stop God from doing what He set out to do. God will raise up an army in these Last Days before Jesus returns. These will be people who've made it their quest in life, to seek after Truth and Wisdom and have built a relationship with the Father, through the Holy Spirit.
Many will be and are being persecuted for their stand and ministry. Many will become targets of the enemy, but satan will not stop the Invading Army of God in these Last Days. Paul didn't suffer at the hands and doings of God, but he was pursued by an evil spirit that buffeted him at every turn, in order to stop him from preaching God's Grace and Truth. Paul was the only man who had been given the Revelation of God's Plan for His people, at that time. Today though, there are millions of believers spreading God's Message, so satan cannot focus on one person. We are a great and mighty army on this earth and VICTORY IS CERTAIN.
Seek God for yourself, without turning away from others. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead and instruct you. You might suffer persecution at the hands of religious leaders, just like Jesus and Paul did, but press on to see the Glory of God in this earth.
Monday, October 15, 2018
Lesson 96 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
For many centuries, the Church has allowed the enemy to put us back under Law. It's not the Law of Moses, but man-made laws that continue to keep the Church from having the liberty of Christ and having bondage instead. Man has applied his own ideas and made the Word of God of no effect in our lives. The liberty which Jesus brought us into, has been replaced by the deceiver's efforts in the minds and hearts of God's people.
Some churches have man-made dress codes, including not wearing make-up or jewelry. My mother attended such a church and wasn't allowed to cut her hair. Some churches require their members to reject electricity, modern transportation and indoor plumbing. Some churches instruct their members to worship on certain days and forbid their worship from including instruments. My question is, "What does any of this have to do with serving God?"
There's a big difference between loving the world and living life on this earth. Whether or not we choose to believe it, we are still in this world. We might not be of this world, but we're still here until Jesus comes or our physical bodies die. I believe that the bondage the deceiver has placed on God's new creation people, is much worse that the Law that God placed on man.
The first covenant God made with man, was one giving man dominion and authority over everything God had created. The covenant God established with Abraham was one of Grace and favor, because Abraham had faith in God and His Promise. We've entered into the Blessing God Promised Abraham now, so why do we try limiting it to "when we die and leave this earth?" God Blessed Abraham in this earth and God Promised this to Abraham's Seed, when Abraham was no longer here on earth.
We've confused the Spirit of God and His Word, to where we're unable to distinguish between God and the devil. The devil has deceived many in the Church into believing that, "Such Spiritual things as speaking in other tongues, healing, miracles and authority come from him" and "Sickness, poverty, disease and suffering come from God." God's Word is very clear on Who God is and what He does.
Under the new family covenant, God doesn't train and deal with His family with sickness and disease. We've been erroneously taught this and have submitted to the enemy, when it comes to "resisting the devil and he will flee from you." How do you know whether to submit or resist, when you don't know if it's from God or satan? James 1:7 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him) and he will flee from you." In order to do this, you must know when to submit and when to resist.
If you believe that sickness is of God, then if you love God, you will submit to sickness. God's Word tells us that, "By Jesus' stripes we are healed." So, if sickness comes into your life, you must know what God's Word says, instead of relying on what man says. We've allowed satan to undermine God's Word, to where we don't truly believe in prayer any longer. We've invented man-made excuses for "why God doesn't do these things anymore," leaving us to believe our feelings about our own religious laws matter.
Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." God has a way of doing and being right. God's way is the only way to obtain what He desires to give us. Jesus only did what His Father said and did and what He saw the Father do. Did Jesus see the Father making people sick or making them well? Did Jesus see the Father placing people further under laws or loosing the people from the things tradition had forced upon them? Did Jesus ever hear the Father say, "Leave the people in the same mess you find them in" or "Deliver those who are bound?" Our man-made laws have placed us under more bondage, than the Law of Moses that Jesus came to deliver us from.
There have always been individuals from the past, who stood out by making their own decisions based on God's Word. Enoch walked with God, in a time when no one did. Noah went against everything men believed and was delivered. Abraham chose to believe God and laid the ground for the Messiah, at a time when the people chose other gods. Look at Hebrews 11 and see how many of thee people were completely out-of-step with those around them. Joshua and Caleb were sentenced to be stoned for believing God, instead of going along with the majority. God's way of doing and being right, is not subject to the majority, but by Truth in His Word.
Each individual believer is responsible to seek God for him/herself. We're not to allow someone else to build our relationship with the Father, but we're to see first, God's Kingdom and His way of doing and being right. Many times in Israel's history, the whole of Israel was determined by one or two people who still believed in God. Don't stop praying for America or any other country, just because someone stated that country was doomed under God's judgments. Learn to pray and believe God for yourself and then expect answers to your prayers, because you know God's will and His heart. 1John 5:14-15 (Amplified) tells us, "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 and hears us. And if since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him." This is absolute prayer of God's way of doing and being right and not man's ideas of how to handle your disappointment about why God doesn't answer prayer any longer. Find out for yourself.
For many centuries, the Church has allowed the enemy to put us back under Law. It's not the Law of Moses, but man-made laws that continue to keep the Church from having the liberty of Christ and having bondage instead. Man has applied his own ideas and made the Word of God of no effect in our lives. The liberty which Jesus brought us into, has been replaced by the deceiver's efforts in the minds and hearts of God's people.
Some churches have man-made dress codes, including not wearing make-up or jewelry. My mother attended such a church and wasn't allowed to cut her hair. Some churches require their members to reject electricity, modern transportation and indoor plumbing. Some churches instruct their members to worship on certain days and forbid their worship from including instruments. My question is, "What does any of this have to do with serving God?"
There's a big difference between loving the world and living life on this earth. Whether or not we choose to believe it, we are still in this world. We might not be of this world, but we're still here until Jesus comes or our physical bodies die. I believe that the bondage the deceiver has placed on God's new creation people, is much worse that the Law that God placed on man.
The first covenant God made with man, was one giving man dominion and authority over everything God had created. The covenant God established with Abraham was one of Grace and favor, because Abraham had faith in God and His Promise. We've entered into the Blessing God Promised Abraham now, so why do we try limiting it to "when we die and leave this earth?" God Blessed Abraham in this earth and God Promised this to Abraham's Seed, when Abraham was no longer here on earth.
We've confused the Spirit of God and His Word, to where we're unable to distinguish between God and the devil. The devil has deceived many in the Church into believing that, "Such Spiritual things as speaking in other tongues, healing, miracles and authority come from him" and "Sickness, poverty, disease and suffering come from God." God's Word is very clear on Who God is and what He does.
Under the new family covenant, God doesn't train and deal with His family with sickness and disease. We've been erroneously taught this and have submitted to the enemy, when it comes to "resisting the devil and he will flee from you." How do you know whether to submit or resist, when you don't know if it's from God or satan? James 1:7 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him) and he will flee from you." In order to do this, you must know when to submit and when to resist.
If you believe that sickness is of God, then if you love God, you will submit to sickness. God's Word tells us that, "By Jesus' stripes we are healed." So, if sickness comes into your life, you must know what God's Word says, instead of relying on what man says. We've allowed satan to undermine God's Word, to where we don't truly believe in prayer any longer. We've invented man-made excuses for "why God doesn't do these things anymore," leaving us to believe our feelings about our own religious laws matter.
Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." God has a way of doing and being right. God's way is the only way to obtain what He desires to give us. Jesus only did what His Father said and did and what He saw the Father do. Did Jesus see the Father making people sick or making them well? Did Jesus see the Father placing people further under laws or loosing the people from the things tradition had forced upon them? Did Jesus ever hear the Father say, "Leave the people in the same mess you find them in" or "Deliver those who are bound?" Our man-made laws have placed us under more bondage, than the Law of Moses that Jesus came to deliver us from.
There have always been individuals from the past, who stood out by making their own decisions based on God's Word. Enoch walked with God, in a time when no one did. Noah went against everything men believed and was delivered. Abraham chose to believe God and laid the ground for the Messiah, at a time when the people chose other gods. Look at Hebrews 11 and see how many of thee people were completely out-of-step with those around them. Joshua and Caleb were sentenced to be stoned for believing God, instead of going along with the majority. God's way of doing and being right, is not subject to the majority, but by Truth in His Word.
Each individual believer is responsible to seek God for him/herself. We're not to allow someone else to build our relationship with the Father, but we're to see first, God's Kingdom and His way of doing and being right. Many times in Israel's history, the whole of Israel was determined by one or two people who still believed in God. Don't stop praying for America or any other country, just because someone stated that country was doomed under God's judgments. Learn to pray and believe God for yourself and then expect answers to your prayers, because you know God's will and His heart. 1John 5:14-15 (Amplified) tells us, "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 and hears us. And if since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him." This is absolute prayer of God's way of doing and being right and not man's ideas of how to handle your disappointment about why God doesn't answer prayer any longer. Find out for yourself.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Lesson 95 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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 favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessings and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) tells us, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst after) Spiritual milk (the Word), that by it you may grow into completed salvation." James 1:5 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God, Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproach or fault finding, and it will be given him."
In John 14:11-12,17,26-27 (Amplified), Jesus said some things that the Church has either ignored or simply dismissed as being, "Not for us today" or "These were only for Jesus." Thus, Jesus says, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the very works themselves. If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's Name convince you, I assure you (most solemnly I tell you), if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he himself will be able to do the things I do; and even greater will he do than these, because I go to the Father."
Jesus tells us in Verse 17, "The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you." He goes on in Verses 26-27, "But the Comforter, Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand by, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send 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. 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."
Who directed and moved in and through Jesus? He moved by the Same Holy Spirit and the Same Father that we're supposed to be listening to and directed by. No one Jesus was in contact with, knew what He was doing or thinking. Jesus was simply led by the Holy Spirit of God. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are mature sons of God." We are to set our hearts on God's Word and His Spirit, until we're led by them.
The Church has mostly been led by our pastors and teachers. Although they're Gifts that the Father has sent to and for us, through Jesus, they cannot always know all the Truth the Father has and was directing through Jesus. We're directed to know and understand His will and His Word for ourselves. Your pastor cannot spend your time in the Word, nor can he/she spend time in fellowship with God for you. This is the responsibility of each child of God. If we depend only on the pastor, then we can only know and move in what the pastor knows.
The pastors are to, "Train up the child in the way that he/she should go, and when they are old (mature) they will not depart from it," according to Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified) 2Timothy 3:15-17 (Amplified) says, "And how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus (through the leaning if your entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus) in absolute trust and confidence in His power, Wisdom and Goodness. Every Scripture is God breathed (given by His Inspiration), and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in 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."
This is the calling of each individual in the Body of Christ. It doesn't matter what the world thinks about the Church, it's what God thinks that counts. Remember what Jesus said about the world and the Holy Spirit, in John 14:17 (Amplified),where He said, "The world cannot receive (welcome or take to heart), because they cannot see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you." When we allow the thoughts and manners of the world to dictate our relationship with the Father, we lose all of our Super-natural ability to be of any use to them. This makes God's Word only a ritual and tradition to them.
It requires diligence on the believer's behalf, to train up our spirit to hear the Father's Voice through the Holy Spirit and His Word. There are so many things that direct our attention from hearing anything, but the world. This leaves us without ears to hear. I was a kiln operator at PPG, where the noise was overwhelming. My job depended upon my hearing the P.A. system, but I couldn't control the noise. So I had to train myself to tune out the noise of the machines and hear the P.A. system. This is what we must learn to do, concerning the noises of the world.
Let's listen to God's Word and God's Spirit. Download God's Word on your devices, so that you're continuously hearing the Word and can hear the Father when He speaks and you can recognize His Voice. Hebrews 5:11-14 (Amplified) says, "Concerning this, we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your Spiritual hearing and sluggish, even slothful in achieving Spiritual insight. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. For who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskillful in the doctrine of righteousness, of conformity to the Divine will in purpose, thought and action; for he is a mere infant, not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and to distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary, either to Divine or human law."
The Church has allowed contrary laws, human laws to pass, by not speaking up or standing up, when these ran contrary to Divine Laws of God. The Church has remained as infants, who are not able to speak, for the most part. Many of us have been duped into not getting involved in politics, because they're not Spiritual. Nothing could be farther from the Truth though. We're to know and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary to Divine or human laws. If we're to be the light of the world, then we must shine some Light on the world.
Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." 1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) tells us, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst after) Spiritual milk (the Word), that by it you may grow into completed salvation." James 1:5 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God, Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproach or fault finding, and it will be given him."
In John 14:11-12,17,26-27 (Amplified), Jesus said some things that the Church has either ignored or simply dismissed as being, "Not for us today" or "These were only for Jesus." Thus, Jesus says, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the very works themselves. If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's Name convince you, I assure you (most solemnly I tell you), if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he himself will be able to do the things I do; and even greater will he do than these, because I go to the Father."
Jesus tells us in Verse 17, "The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you." He goes on in Verses 26-27, "But the Comforter, Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand by, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send 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. 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."
Who directed and moved in and through Jesus? He moved by the Same Holy Spirit and the Same Father that we're supposed to be listening to and directed by. No one Jesus was in contact with, knew what He was doing or thinking. Jesus was simply led by the Holy Spirit of God. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are mature sons of God." We are to set our hearts on God's Word and His Spirit, until we're led by them.
The Church has mostly been led by our pastors and teachers. Although they're Gifts that the Father has sent to and for us, through Jesus, they cannot always know all the Truth the Father has and was directing through Jesus. We're directed to know and understand His will and His Word for ourselves. Your pastor cannot spend your time in the Word, nor can he/she spend time in fellowship with God for you. This is the responsibility of each child of God. If we depend only on the pastor, then we can only know and move in what the pastor knows.
The pastors are to, "Train up the child in the way that he/she should go, and when they are old (mature) they will not depart from it," according to Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified) 2Timothy 3:15-17 (Amplified) says, "And how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus (through the leaning if your entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus) in absolute trust and confidence in His power, Wisdom and Goodness. Every Scripture is God breathed (given by His Inspiration), and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in 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."
This is the calling of each individual in the Body of Christ. It doesn't matter what the world thinks about the Church, it's what God thinks that counts. Remember what Jesus said about the world and the Holy Spirit, in John 14:17 (Amplified),where He said, "The world cannot receive (welcome or take to heart), because they cannot see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you." When we allow the thoughts and manners of the world to dictate our relationship with the Father, we lose all of our Super-natural ability to be of any use to them. This makes God's Word only a ritual and tradition to them.
It requires diligence on the believer's behalf, to train up our spirit to hear the Father's Voice through the Holy Spirit and His Word. There are so many things that direct our attention from hearing anything, but the world. This leaves us without ears to hear. I was a kiln operator at PPG, where the noise was overwhelming. My job depended upon my hearing the P.A. system, but I couldn't control the noise. So I had to train myself to tune out the noise of the machines and hear the P.A. system. This is what we must learn to do, concerning the noises of the world.
Let's listen to God's Word and God's Spirit. Download God's Word on your devices, so that you're continuously hearing the Word and can hear the Father when He speaks and you can recognize His Voice. Hebrews 5:11-14 (Amplified) says, "Concerning this, we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your Spiritual hearing and sluggish, even slothful in achieving Spiritual insight. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. For who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskillful in the doctrine of righteousness, of conformity to the Divine will in purpose, thought and action; for he is a mere infant, not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and to distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary, either to Divine or human law."
The Church has allowed contrary laws, human laws to pass, by not speaking up or standing up, when these ran contrary to Divine Laws of God. The Church has remained as infants, who are not able to speak, for the most part. Many of us have been duped into not getting involved in politics, because they're not Spiritual. Nothing could be farther from the Truth though. We're to know and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary to Divine or human laws. If we're to be the light of the world, then we must shine some Light on the world.
Friday, October 5, 2018
Lesson 94 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
We've missed much of what Jesus gave to us by His Sacrifice, because of our misunderstanding what Grace is. Our idea of Grace, was that God felt sorry for us and pitied us. This isn't what Grace is all about. Abraham is called, "The Father of our faith," so we must understand what kind of covenant he had with God. The Law was given 430 years after Abraham, according to Galatians 3:16-17 (Amplified) which says, "Now the Promises (agreements, covenants) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, His Heirs)." God doesn't say that the Promise was made to "his Seeds," as if referring to "many people." God's Promise was given to Abraham and "his Seed," obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ Jesus, the Messiah. Verse 17 continues, "This is my argument, the Law, which began 430 years after the covenant concerning the coming Messiah, does not and can not annual the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the Promise and make it void."
Abraham's covenant with God wasn't for Abraham alone (or maybe at all), but was for Jesus, when He was to come. Abraham was Blessed to walk in this covenant, by his faith in God, until Jesus (the Seed) was to come, because the covenant was actually for Jesus. The entire covenant with Abraham was a covenant of Grace and there was no Law at that time.
Abraham simply believed God and was Blessed in all he did, because God supplied his every need, by Grace. Abraham was Blessed with cattle, family, and health. God restored both his and Sarah's bodies, so that the Promised Seed could come through them, by Abraham's faith. Everything Abraham did was Blessed, by Grace and faith. God supplied all his needs and made Abraham great by Grace, because of his faith in Him.
We've somehow missed the full meaning of this covenant. We've remained under the Law, which operated by works, in order to be eligible for Blessing. Abraham didn't perform any works, but he only believed God. Abraham has become our example of faith and provision.
Jesus was the True Recipient of this covenant and all that God Promised to Abraham and his Seed, is now ours to receive, just like Abraham did through faith in God's Grace. This isn't new to mankind, but is what god intended for all His children, when He created Adam in the Garden of Eden. God fully intended to provide for all His children, by His Grace. He never intended for His children to rely on the world to provide for them. Like any Loving father, God intended to take care of His Own.
The only commandment God gave to Adam was, "Do not eat of this tree." Adam was intended to live in God's Grace and provision, walking with his Heavenly Father in perfect fellowship for eternity. God's children were to grow up and live like Abraham did before the Father, in fellowship and Grace. God's great Love was to teach and train them up, like He now desires to teach and train us as His children. This has always been God's will for His family.
We've believed that the Law, was God's will for His people and have forgotten that we are different than those at that time. Those people weren't born-again people and weren't born of God's Spirit. They were just people. God's Love for them and the Promise of the Messiah was still many years in the future. God could only work with them as flesh and blood people and not as spiritual people. The Law was only a school master, to hold the people until the Promise was fulfilled.
We're not just forgiven sinners, like some would have you believe. We're a new creation people, born of God and thus, recipients of the Promise, through Jesus. This is no longer a Promise, but is our Truth! Once a promise is fulfilled, it's no longer a promise, but a truth and a fact. The Promise is now fulfilled in the Risen Christ and it's ours to enjoy. The Father now deals with us in a completely different way, than He did those who were under the Law.
Everything God has Promised, is now fulfilled in Jesus, even to the truth of our live after death. Even though we will cease to live in our mortal body, we already have Eternal Life through Jesus and we've already entered into the realm of God's Glory, through Jesus' Resurrection. Romans 8:9-10 (Amplified) tells us, "But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the Life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you (directs and controls you); But if anyone does not possess the Holy Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God). But if Christ lives in you, then although your natural bod is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of the righteousness that He imputes to you."
We're to trust and have faith in God's Grace and His Holy Spirit. We're to use the Life of God that is in our spirit, to control and give life to our natural body, while we're on earth. We don't use or need Law to walk with Him, but we need Grace to keep us walking by His Spirit. 2Timothy 3:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Every Scripture is God breathed, given by His Inspiration, and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in 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."
We're supposed to be led, corrected trained up and complete in Him, by the Word and through the spirit which is born-again by His Spirit. No one needs to tell you when you're in sin or in error, because the Holy Spirit and God's Word will reveal and convict you (not condemn you, but convict you). Before ascending to the Father, Jesus told His followers in John 16:13-15 (Amplified), "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 to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future), He 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." Remember, the Promise was made to "the Seed" and not "seeds," as if referring to many. The Seed is Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:16 & 29(Amplified) tell us, "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."
Now we can understand what Jesus meant when He spoke about the Holy Spirit in John 16:14-15 (Amplified). Jesus said, "He (the Holy Spirit) will take what is Mine and reveal it unto you. Everything that the Father has, is Mine." Romans 8:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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 in His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
This suffering, isn't what Jesus suffered on the cross. This was done in order to redeem and to qualify us for salvation and Promise. Jesus' suffering was His being rejected, misunderstood and His seeing others without the Father of Life of God in them. Jesus was moved by compassion over the needs of others and their lack of understanding about His mission cause Jesus to suffer. We too, because we have the same Holy Spirit living inside us, should have this same kind of suffering or desire to see a world without despair. All people were created by God and when we see them in bondage through unbelief and the world's traditions, then that should cause us to suffer like Jesus did. Then, we can go out to them as God's hands and feet, reaching to them with God's Grace and His salvation. Jesus' Love never left people in the same way He found them and we shouldn't either.
We've missed much of what Jesus gave to us by His Sacrifice, because of our misunderstanding what Grace is. Our idea of Grace, was that God felt sorry for us and pitied us. This isn't what Grace is all about. Abraham is called, "The Father of our faith," so we must understand what kind of covenant he had with God. The Law was given 430 years after Abraham, according to Galatians 3:16-17 (Amplified) which says, "Now the Promises (agreements, covenants) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, His Heirs)." God doesn't say that the Promise was made to "his Seeds," as if referring to "many people." God's Promise was given to Abraham and "his Seed," obviously referring to One Individual, Who is none other than Christ Jesus, the Messiah. Verse 17 continues, "This is my argument, the Law, which began 430 years after the covenant concerning the coming Messiah, does not and can not annual the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the Promise and make it void."
Abraham's covenant with God wasn't for Abraham alone (or maybe at all), but was for Jesus, when He was to come. Abraham was Blessed to walk in this covenant, by his faith in God, until Jesus (the Seed) was to come, because the covenant was actually for Jesus. The entire covenant with Abraham was a covenant of Grace and there was no Law at that time.
Abraham simply believed God and was Blessed in all he did, because God supplied his every need, by Grace. Abraham was Blessed with cattle, family, and health. God restored both his and Sarah's bodies, so that the Promised Seed could come through them, by Abraham's faith. Everything Abraham did was Blessed, by Grace and faith. God supplied all his needs and made Abraham great by Grace, because of his faith in Him.
We've somehow missed the full meaning of this covenant. We've remained under the Law, which operated by works, in order to be eligible for Blessing. Abraham didn't perform any works, but he only believed God. Abraham has become our example of faith and provision.
Jesus was the True Recipient of this covenant and all that God Promised to Abraham and his Seed, is now ours to receive, just like Abraham did through faith in God's Grace. This isn't new to mankind, but is what god intended for all His children, when He created Adam in the Garden of Eden. God fully intended to provide for all His children, by His Grace. He never intended for His children to rely on the world to provide for them. Like any Loving father, God intended to take care of His Own.
The only commandment God gave to Adam was, "Do not eat of this tree." Adam was intended to live in God's Grace and provision, walking with his Heavenly Father in perfect fellowship for eternity. God's children were to grow up and live like Abraham did before the Father, in fellowship and Grace. God's great Love was to teach and train them up, like He now desires to teach and train us as His children. This has always been God's will for His family.
We've believed that the Law, was God's will for His people and have forgotten that we are different than those at that time. Those people weren't born-again people and weren't born of God's Spirit. They were just people. God's Love for them and the Promise of the Messiah was still many years in the future. God could only work with them as flesh and blood people and not as spiritual people. The Law was only a school master, to hold the people until the Promise was fulfilled.
We're not just forgiven sinners, like some would have you believe. We're a new creation people, born of God and thus, recipients of the Promise, through Jesus. This is no longer a Promise, but is our Truth! Once a promise is fulfilled, it's no longer a promise, but a truth and a fact. The Promise is now fulfilled in the Risen Christ and it's ours to enjoy. The Father now deals with us in a completely different way, than He did those who were under the Law.
Everything God has Promised, is now fulfilled in Jesus, even to the truth of our live after death. Even though we will cease to live in our mortal body, we already have Eternal Life through Jesus and we've already entered into the realm of God's Glory, through Jesus' Resurrection. Romans 8:9-10 (Amplified) tells us, "But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the Life of the Spirit, if the Holy Spirit of God really dwells within you (directs and controls you); But if anyone does not possess the Holy Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God). But if Christ lives in you, then although your natural bod is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of the righteousness that He imputes to you."
We're to trust and have faith in God's Grace and His Holy Spirit. We're to use the Life of God that is in our spirit, to control and give life to our natural body, while we're on earth. We don't use or need Law to walk with Him, but we need Grace to keep us walking by His Spirit. 2Timothy 3:16-17 (Amplified) says, "Every Scripture is God breathed, given by His Inspiration, and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in 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."
We're supposed to be led, corrected trained up and complete in Him, by the Word and through the spirit which is born-again by His Spirit. No one needs to tell you when you're in sin or in error, because the Holy Spirit and God's Word will reveal and convict you (not condemn you, but convict you). Before ascending to the Father, Jesus told His followers in John 16:13-15 (Amplified), "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 to you the things that are to come (that will happen in the future), He 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." Remember, the Promise was made to "the Seed" and not "seeds," as if referring to many. The Seed is Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:16 & 29(Amplified) tell us, "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."
Now we can understand what Jesus meant when He spoke about the Holy Spirit in John 16:14-15 (Amplified). Jesus said, "He (the Holy Spirit) will take what is Mine and reveal it unto you. Everything that the Father has, is Mine." Romans 8:17 (Amplified) tells us, "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 in His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
This suffering, isn't what Jesus suffered on the cross. This was done in order to redeem and to qualify us for salvation and Promise. Jesus' suffering was His being rejected, misunderstood and His seeing others without the Father of Life of God in them. Jesus was moved by compassion over the needs of others and their lack of understanding about His mission cause Jesus to suffer. We too, because we have the same Holy Spirit living inside us, should have this same kind of suffering or desire to see a world without despair. All people were created by God and when we see them in bondage through unbelief and the world's traditions, then that should cause us to suffer like Jesus did. Then, we can go out to them as God's hands and feet, reaching to them with God's Grace and His salvation. Jesus' Love never left people in the same way He found them and we shouldn't either.
Thursday, October 4, 2018
Lesson 93 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Romans 4:16 (Amplified) 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), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
The people under the Law had to do many things, in order to inherit the Blessing. The Law was only for the Hebrew people and those of us who were never under the Law, weren't included or qualified to have a relationship with God. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law and says in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Man is no longer required by ability or works, to inherit the Blessing of Abraham, but only needs faith in God's Grace that is already done. We're not required any longer to fulfill laws, rituals and traditions, but now, by faith, we simply trust that Jesus has already done all that needs to be done.
Many have misunderstood the use of our faith. Faith isn't trying to get God to do something, but faith is trusting in what He has already done. When we were saved, He didn't have to send Jesus to the cross again. We only had to put faith in what Jesus had done two-thousand years ago. This is the true use of faith. Faith isn't prompting God to do something, but is trust in what is already made available to us by Grace.
We've developed faith in and for being saved, but the other things Jesus did for us, have escaped us. We keep "trying to be healed," by observing certain things in our lives, in order to deserve healing. This is what Grace is all about. Grace is giving us things we don't have to work for or deserve and trusting in God's Goodness that He's already provided for us, just like He did for our salvation.
We certainly did nothing to deserve being made God's children and we certainly didn't deserve cleansing and forgiveness. It was all by faith in God's Grace. In Romans 4:16, Paul tells us that, "Inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith that it might be by Grace." Only by having faith in God's Grace, will we end up with results in our Christian walk. The harder we work and do, in order to "deserve" it, the farther we get from receiving it.
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel-a righteousness that 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, that Man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith." By faith in Jesus, we are now just and upright in God's eyes. It's not by anything we have done or deserved, but by having faith in what He has done through Jesus.
Many consider it prideful when you suggest you're justified and righteous. Some even consider it is blasphemous. We continue looking at our lives and works as falling short of what we think righteousness is. The only way to be righteous before God, is by faith in His Grace that He has now ascribed. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "A righteousness that God has ascribed." This is the only righteousness that God will accept and recognize. God sees our efforts of trying to be righteous, as filthy rags. This is only trying to be righteous by our ow efforts and denying the righteousness that Jesus came and died for, on our behalf.
When we do works, in order to be righteous, we deny what God has ascribed and accepted as right standing with Him. All that God has for us, is already been done and made available to us by faith in His Grace. We can't work our way into healing, anymore than we can work our way into being saved. You can't live good enough to deserve salvation, because it it by Grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith."
Theologians have debated and discussed this for centuries, but God's Word is Truth and Spirit. We can change the way we read God's Word and believe it means something different, but we can't change it's Truth. Jesus completely did away with sin and the sin-nature. When Jesus paid the Price for sin, He also did away with the effects of sin in our earthly bodies, which was sickness and despair. Healing, redemption, deliverance and Life through God, are all part of our salvation and must be received by faith in the same Grace that brought about the new birth or new creation man/woman. Jesus didn't leave any part of our redemption to chance, but He redeemed us completely. That is all by the Grace of God and must be received by faith in the entire death and resurrection of Jesus.
Many in today's Church have established their own laws that we must follow, in order to be in a place where we can received what God has Promised. By observing these man-made laws, we've turned from Grace and depended once again, on our own selves. Once a promise has been fulfilled, it's no longer a promise, but a truth. If you tell your child, "We'll go fishing next Saturday," then you've made a promise and your child will look forward to that coming to pass. When Saturday arrives and you take that child fishing, then it's not a promise anymore, but a fact or truth. You don't have to look forward to it any longer, because you are enjoying the fulfillment of the promise.
The things of God has Promised to us, are all "Yes and Amen (So be it) in Christ Jesus," according to 2Corinthians 1:18-19 (Amplified) which says, "As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes that might mean no. For the Son of God Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, But in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, They all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ, for this reason we also utter the Amen, so be it, to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
God receives Glory, when we simply receive His Promises as "Yes and So be it," by faith in Jesus. They are Promises to the unsaved, but are Truth and fact to those of us who are saved and in His Grace.
Romans 4:16 (Amplified) 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), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
The people under the Law had to do many things, in order to inherit the Blessing. The Law was only for the Hebrew people and those of us who were never under the Law, weren't included or qualified to have a relationship with God. Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law and says in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Man is no longer required by ability or works, to inherit the Blessing of Abraham, but only needs faith in God's Grace that is already done. We're not required any longer to fulfill laws, rituals and traditions, but now, by faith, we simply trust that Jesus has already done all that needs to be done.
Many have misunderstood the use of our faith. Faith isn't trying to get God to do something, but faith is trusting in what He has already done. When we were saved, He didn't have to send Jesus to the cross again. We only had to put faith in what Jesus had done two-thousand years ago. This is the true use of faith. Faith isn't prompting God to do something, but is trust in what is already made available to us by Grace.
We've developed faith in and for being saved, but the other things Jesus did for us, have escaped us. We keep "trying to be healed," by observing certain things in our lives, in order to deserve healing. This is what Grace is all about. Grace is giving us things we don't have to work for or deserve and trusting in God's Goodness that He's already provided for us, just like He did for our salvation.
We certainly did nothing to deserve being made God's children and we certainly didn't deserve cleansing and forgiveness. It was all by faith in God's Grace. In Romans 4:16, Paul tells us that, "Inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith that it might be by Grace." Only by having faith in God's Grace, will we end up with results in our Christian walk. The harder we work and do, in order to "deserve" it, the farther we get from receiving it.
Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel-a righteousness that 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, that Man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith." By faith in Jesus, we are now just and upright in God's eyes. It's not by anything we have done or deserved, but by having faith in what He has done through Jesus.
Many consider it prideful when you suggest you're justified and righteous. Some even consider it is blasphemous. We continue looking at our lives and works as falling short of what we think righteousness is. The only way to be righteous before God, is by faith in His Grace that He has now ascribed. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "A righteousness that God has ascribed." This is the only righteousness that God will accept and recognize. God sees our efforts of trying to be righteous, as filthy rags. This is only trying to be righteous by our ow efforts and denying the righteousness that Jesus came and died for, on our behalf.
When we do works, in order to be righteous, we deny what God has ascribed and accepted as right standing with Him. All that God has for us, is already been done and made available to us by faith in His Grace. We can't work our way into healing, anymore than we can work our way into being saved. You can't live good enough to deserve salvation, because it it by Grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith."
Theologians have debated and discussed this for centuries, but God's Word is Truth and Spirit. We can change the way we read God's Word and believe it means something different, but we can't change it's Truth. Jesus completely did away with sin and the sin-nature. When Jesus paid the Price for sin, He also did away with the effects of sin in our earthly bodies, which was sickness and despair. Healing, redemption, deliverance and Life through God, are all part of our salvation and must be received by faith in the same Grace that brought about the new birth or new creation man/woman. Jesus didn't leave any part of our redemption to chance, but He redeemed us completely. That is all by the Grace of God and must be received by faith in the entire death and resurrection of Jesus.
Many in today's Church have established their own laws that we must follow, in order to be in a place where we can received what God has Promised. By observing these man-made laws, we've turned from Grace and depended once again, on our own selves. Once a promise has been fulfilled, it's no longer a promise, but a truth. If you tell your child, "We'll go fishing next Saturday," then you've made a promise and your child will look forward to that coming to pass. When Saturday arrives and you take that child fishing, then it's not a promise anymore, but a fact or truth. You don't have to look forward to it any longer, because you are enjoying the fulfillment of the promise.
The things of God has Promised to us, are all "Yes and Amen (So be it) in Christ Jesus," according to 2Corinthians 1:18-19 (Amplified) which says, "As surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes that might mean no. For the Son of God Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus and Timothy, was not yes and no, But in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, They all find their Yes answer in Him, Christ, for this reason we also utter the Amen, so be it, to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
God receives Glory, when we simply receive His Promises as "Yes and So be it," by faith in Jesus. They are Promises to the unsaved, but are Truth and fact to those of us who are saved and in His Grace.
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Lesson 92 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Most believers haven't known much about our covenant and the family relationship we have with God our Father. We also know very little about Grace and Truth. The more we try earning or deserving God's Blessing, the more we resist Grace, which is unearned and undeserved favor." The deceiver (satan) has managed to blind our minds to the Truth that sets us free.
Because we don't understand Grace and Truth, we've allowed ourselves to be brought back into the bondage of the Law. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "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."
Jesus also said in Matthew 6:33-34 (Amplified), "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own (Sufficient for each day is its own trouble)."
We are instructed to "Seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)." What is His way of being right and His righteousness? 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
We've been made the righteousness of God, by faith in His Grace, through Jesus. We've been placed back in right standing with God, by faith in His Grace. This is God's way of doing and being right, righteous or in right standing again with Him. We see this same faith and Grace carried out through His Love for us in Ephesians 2:4-5,8 (Amplified) which says, "But God-so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense Love with which He Loved us. Even when we were dead, slain by our own shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him, for it is by Grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation." Paul continues in Verse 8 saying, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your striving), but it is the free Gift of God."
God's way of being right (righteous) and His way of salvation (as well as temporal things in this earth) all come by faith in His Love and Grace for us, in Christ Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-32 we're not to worry about food, clothing or shelter, because God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields and He will take care of us too." These things come from God's Grace and we are to receive them by faith.
God will Bless your faith in His Grace to meet your needs, even in this world. We were saved when we placed faith in God's Grace and His Word and His Love for us, through Jesus Christ. We didn't have to sacrifice, do great things to show we changed, observe rules or traditions, but we were only required to believe and apply our faith to His Grace, in order to be born-again. Why do we now feel like we need to do something to deserve healing, Blessing, favor or Grace?
We've allowed ourselves to be brought back under the Law, by believing we must do works, instead of trusting in the completed work Jesus did on the cross. We've exchanged Grace for Law and then wonder why things don't work for us like God's Word says they should. How can we believe that God is a Healer and simultaneously believe He is the One Who is making us sick? This is being double-minded, according to James 1:8 (Amplified) which tells us, "For being as he is a man of two-minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
We trusted and put faith in God's Grace and Love, leading to our being salvation, but now we've stopped growing in faith, beyond salvation, to obtain His Grace and mercy. When we continue getting sick as Christians, we feel that "This is God's will for my life" and accept that sickness, without seeking God's Wisdom about it.
All believers need to read and meditate on Psalm 103:1-22 (Amplified), which lays out God's Promises to those who are in Christ Jesus. Verses 2-5 tell us to "Bless and gratefully praise Him and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives everyone of all your iniquities, Who heals each one of all your diseases Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption. Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy Who satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's strong, overcoming, soaring."
These are all Spiritual Gifts, favor upon favor, Gift heaped upon Gift, Grace upon Grace and Love to grant them free of charge to all of us (the redeemed). These include the renewing our youth like the eagle, in order to overcome, soar and be strong. Verse 5 tells us that, "He satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation." If you're still a baby in Christ, then your mouth and situation might be less than what you need or desire. If you're a mature Christian, then God's mercy and Grace will supply your needs, as we grow in faith.
We must stop trying to earn and deserve God's Grace and Blessings and simply rest in them, by faith. This is what the Israelites in the Wilderness failed to do and they were prevented from entering into the Promised Land. They wouldn't enter into His rest. As new creation people, we are to enter into His rest. This means we simply, by faith, accept what Jesus has already done for us. We must stop striving to earn it by works and receive it by faith.
Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumsicion counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
Paul was saying that, "It doesn't matter if you're under Law or Grace (circumcised or uncircumcised), because works don't count for anything-only Love counts." Paul wasn't referring only to our loving others, but he was saying that we must understand God's Love for us. The more we understand God's Love for us, the stronger our faith in Him becomes. Faith works by Love.
Most believers haven't known much about our covenant and the family relationship we have with God our Father. We also know very little about Grace and Truth. The more we try earning or deserving God's Blessing, the more we resist Grace, which is unearned and undeserved favor." The deceiver (satan) has managed to blind our minds to the Truth that sets us free.
Because we don't understand Grace and Truth, we've allowed ourselves to be brought back into the bondage of the Law. Jesus said in John 6:63 (Amplified), "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."
Jesus also said in Matthew 6:33-34 (Amplified), "But seek, aim at and strive after first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides. So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own (Sufficient for each day is its own trouble)."
We are instructed to "Seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right)." What is His way of being right and His righteousness? 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) tells us, "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."
We've been made the righteousness of God, by faith in His Grace, through Jesus. We've been placed back in right standing with God, by faith in His Grace. This is God's way of doing and being right, righteous or in right standing again with Him. We see this same faith and Grace carried out through His Love for us in Ephesians 2:4-5,8 (Amplified) which says, "But God-so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense Love with which He Loved us. Even when we were dead, slain by our own shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; He gave us the very Life of Christ Himself, the same new Life with which He quickened Him, for it is by Grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation." Paul continues in Verse 8 saying, "For it is by free Grace (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is not of yourselves (of your own doing, it came not through your striving), but it is the free Gift of God."
God's way of being right (righteous) and His way of salvation (as well as temporal things in this earth) all come by faith in His Love and Grace for us, in Christ Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-32 we're not to worry about food, clothing or shelter, because God cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the fields and He will take care of us too." These things come from God's Grace and we are to receive them by faith.
God will Bless your faith in His Grace to meet your needs, even in this world. We were saved when we placed faith in God's Grace and His Word and His Love for us, through Jesus Christ. We didn't have to sacrifice, do great things to show we changed, observe rules or traditions, but we were only required to believe and apply our faith to His Grace, in order to be born-again. Why do we now feel like we need to do something to deserve healing, Blessing, favor or Grace?
We've allowed ourselves to be brought back under the Law, by believing we must do works, instead of trusting in the completed work Jesus did on the cross. We've exchanged Grace for Law and then wonder why things don't work for us like God's Word says they should. How can we believe that God is a Healer and simultaneously believe He is the One Who is making us sick? This is being double-minded, according to James 1:8 (Amplified) which tells us, "For being as he is a man of two-minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
We trusted and put faith in God's Grace and Love, leading to our being salvation, but now we've stopped growing in faith, beyond salvation, to obtain His Grace and mercy. When we continue getting sick as Christians, we feel that "This is God's will for my life" and accept that sickness, without seeking God's Wisdom about it.
All believers need to read and meditate on Psalm 103:1-22 (Amplified), which lays out God's Promises to those who are in Christ Jesus. Verses 2-5 tell us to "Bless and gratefully praise Him and forget not all His benefits. Who forgives everyone of all your iniquities, Who heals each one of all your diseases Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption. Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy Who satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle's strong, overcoming, soaring."
These are all Spiritual Gifts, favor upon favor, Gift heaped upon Gift, Grace upon Grace and Love to grant them free of charge to all of us (the redeemed). These include the renewing our youth like the eagle, in order to overcome, soar and be strong. Verse 5 tells us that, "He satisfies your mouth, your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation." If you're still a baby in Christ, then your mouth and situation might be less than what you need or desire. If you're a mature Christian, then God's mercy and Grace will supply your needs, as we grow in faith.
We must stop trying to earn and deserve God's Grace and Blessings and simply rest in them, by faith. This is what the Israelites in the Wilderness failed to do and they were prevented from entering into the Promised Land. They wouldn't enter into His rest. As new creation people, we are to enter into His rest. This means we simply, by faith, accept what Jesus has already done for us. We must stop striving to earn it by works and receive it by faith.
Galatians 5:6 (Amplified) says, "For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumsicion counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
Paul was saying that, "It doesn't matter if you're under Law or Grace (circumcised or uncircumcised), because works don't count for anything-only Love counts." Paul wasn't referring only to our loving others, but he was saying that we must understand God's Love for us. The more we understand God's Love for us, the stronger our faith in Him becomes. Faith works by Love.
Monday, October 1, 2018
Lesson 91 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL
John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "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. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
God didn't only forgive our sin, but through Jesus, He changed our entire sin nature, according to 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified), which 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 new and fresh has come."
Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, caused mankind to be separated from God. Adam's sin caused a wall or barrier to be built between God and man. This wall separated God and prevented His ability to communicate Life into the spirit of man. God could no longer give His Spiritual Life into man. Isaiah 59:1-2,20-21 (Amplified) says, "Behold, The Lord's hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you." Verses 20-21 go on, "He shall come as a Redeemer to Zion and to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from the Lord. As for Me, this is My covenant or league with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, Who is upon you, and Who writes the Law of God inwardly on the heart, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your true spiritual children, or out of the mouths of your children's children, says the Lord, from hence forth and forever."
Sin and the Law of Sin and Death have been removed from our lives, through Jesus our Redeemer. We now live under a new creation relationship covenant with our God and Father. Adam's transgression caused man to be cut off from God, which allowed death to come into his spirit. The Word tells us that, "The wages of sin is death," so when sin entered into Adam, death came as a result. The death wasn't only a physical thing, but it did bring physical death. Adam's sin caused separation from God, which resulted in a spiritual death, because the Spirit of God is Life.
Many in today's Church don't understand why "The wages of sin is death." Jesus stated in John 10:10 (Amplified), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." Those listening to Him must have believed, "He is crazy, because we're all alive." Some probably asked themselves, "Does Jesus think He is the only One alive?" Today's Church minister the Living Word of God, in order to bring Life into the dead spirits of those who are without Jesus.
The Law that came through Moses for the people, was based upon their doing certain things, in order that God would do certain things. When they failed to comply with the terms of their covenant, God couldn't comply with His part of it either. It was based on man's good works, in order to keep them in a place where God could still get His Blessing on them. In Deuteronomy 28:14-68 (Amplified) God says, "If you keep all My commands, these Blessings will come upon you." Verses 15-68 list the results or curses that would befall the people, in they failed to keep their part of the covenant.
Many teachings in today's Church are based on the "Laws of Conditions Between God and Believers." We're still trying to receive His Blessings, by our works. James 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it. For He Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said you shall not kill. If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the whole Law."
No person, Jesus being the Exception, has ever or could ever fulfill the Perfect Law and do it in perfection. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Once "a man" had completed and fulfilled the Law of Moses, God was able to fulfill the Blessing that were to come upon man for his fulfillment.
We were ingrafted into Jesus at our new birth, so that in Christ, God now sees us as having fulfilled the Law and there's nothing required for us to fulfill. Under the Law, God would do certain things, if the people did certain things. Our fulfilling our part of the agreement (covenant), depended on what God would do.
Many today, still preach that we must do certain things, in order for God to do certain things, resulting in our being sin conscious. If we didn't receive our healing, answered prayer or have peace in our hearts, then we were taught that we weren't doing our part. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Law was given through Moses, but Grace and Truth and Spiritual Blessings came through Christ Jesus."
We're living in a covenant of Grace, by faith in Jesus Christ. Man could never uphold his part of the covenant and his failure to do so, resulted in the Curse or penalty for that failure came upon him. Many have been taught that this is still true for the believer of Christ and we're still taught this principal in today's Church. Man's disobedience and his inability to keep the Law, left God without another choice, but to make a new covenant by and with Himself through Jesus. God couldn't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it. We now have a new covenant of Grace, which only requires our having faith in what Jesus has done for us to walk in the fullness of His Blessing.
John 6:28-29 (Amplified) says, "They then said, What are we to do that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires? Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you; that you believe in the One Whom He has sent, that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger." Our entire covenant of Grace, is based on our faith in God's Messenger, Jesus Christ His Son.
It's difficult to teach people about this covenant of Grace, when we've been taught throughout our Christian walk that "we're failures, because we cannot fulfill the Law." We've been taught that our sickness, weakness, poverty and lack of fellowship with the Father, come from our failure to do the Law. If you allow yourself to get placed under the Law by works, then you have put yourself in a position where Grace is ineffective in your natural life.
Galatians 5:4-6 (Amplified) says, "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed from) Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing). For we, not relying on the Law but through the Holy Spirit's help, by faith, anticipate and wait for the Blessing and Good for which which our righteousness and right standing with God (our conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action) causes us to hope For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
The works we've been taught about throughout our Christian walk, has resulted in man-made laws that determine God's Goodness in our lives. These laws determine how we must dress, what day we worship, in order for God's Blessing to work in our lives. Some religions mandate their members go door-to-door witnessing about God, in order to maintain good standing with God. I'm not degrading door-to-door witnessing about Christ, but we don't do these works, in order to gain God's favor. This is man's doing works, in order to receive God's Blessings. It's not believing in God's Plan to Bless us, by our faith in Christ Jesus.
Even born-again believers can actually place themselves under the Curse of the Law, when we do things as part of the Law. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, for whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap For he who sows to his own flesh (works, lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal Life."
Man-made laws established to gain access to God and His righteousness, will only end in destruction and ruin. Only the things of the Spirit will endure. One is Law and religion, while the other is by Grace and faith in Christ Jesus.
The sin barrier has been removed and the new creation family of God has been born. We function through faith in God's Grace, in order to keep us in righteousness in Jesus. Grace only works by faith and Love in our lives. When we try to "get God to perform by our good deeds," as though we've earned or deserved it, we have fallen from Grace and back under self-imposed laws of tradition.
Through faith in His Grace, we now have access into God's Throne of Grace by the Door, Who is Jesus. Our entire walk with the Father, is based on our faith that Jesus accomplished and fulfilled everything that was needed to be done. Jesus accomplished what man could never do under the Law. Righteousness, healing, Spiritual Blessing, peace, rest, fellowship, son ship, liberty, the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, counsel, citizenship in Heaven, ability to pray for and minister to others, and whatever we need from the Father, is our's by Grace and faith in that Grace.
God didn't only forgive our sin, but through Jesus, He changed our entire sin nature, according to 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified), which 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 new and fresh has come."
Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, caused mankind to be separated from God. Adam's sin caused a wall or barrier to be built between God and man. This wall separated God and prevented His ability to communicate Life into the spirit of man. God could no longer give His Spiritual Life into man. Isaiah 59:1-2,20-21 (Amplified) says, "Behold, The Lord's hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you." Verses 20-21 go on, "He shall come as a Redeemer to Zion and to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from the Lord. As for Me, this is My covenant or league with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, Who is upon you, and Who writes the Law of God inwardly on the heart, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your true spiritual children, or out of the mouths of your children's children, says the Lord, from hence forth and forever."
Sin and the Law of Sin and Death have been removed from our lives, through Jesus our Redeemer. We now live under a new creation relationship covenant with our God and Father. Adam's transgression caused man to be cut off from God, which allowed death to come into his spirit. The Word tells us that, "The wages of sin is death," so when sin entered into Adam, death came as a result. The death wasn't only a physical thing, but it did bring physical death. Adam's sin caused separation from God, which resulted in a spiritual death, because the Spirit of God is Life.
Many in today's Church don't understand why "The wages of sin is death." Jesus stated in John 10:10 (Amplified), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." Those listening to Him must have believed, "He is crazy, because we're all alive." Some probably asked themselves, "Does Jesus think He is the only One alive?" Today's Church minister the Living Word of God, in order to bring Life into the dead spirits of those who are without Jesus.
The Law that came through Moses for the people, was based upon their doing certain things, in order that God would do certain things. When they failed to comply with the terms of their covenant, God couldn't comply with His part of it either. It was based on man's good works, in order to keep them in a place where God could still get His Blessing on them. In Deuteronomy 28:14-68 (Amplified) God says, "If you keep all My commands, these Blessings will come upon you." Verses 15-68 list the results or curses that would befall the people, in they failed to keep their part of the covenant.
Many teachings in today's Church are based on the "Laws of Conditions Between God and Believers." We're still trying to receive His Blessings, by our works. James 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it. For He Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said you shall not kill. If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the whole Law."
No person, Jesus being the Exception, has ever or could ever fulfill the Perfect Law and do it in perfection. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Once "a man" had completed and fulfilled the Law of Moses, God was able to fulfill the Blessing that were to come upon man for his fulfillment.
We were ingrafted into Jesus at our new birth, so that in Christ, God now sees us as having fulfilled the Law and there's nothing required for us to fulfill. Under the Law, God would do certain things, if the people did certain things. Our fulfilling our part of the agreement (covenant), depended on what God would do.
Many today, still preach that we must do certain things, in order for God to do certain things, resulting in our being sin conscious. If we didn't receive our healing, answered prayer or have peace in our hearts, then we were taught that we weren't doing our part. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Law was given through Moses, but Grace and Truth and Spiritual Blessings came through Christ Jesus."
We're living in a covenant of Grace, by faith in Jesus Christ. Man could never uphold his part of the covenant and his failure to do so, resulted in the Curse or penalty for that failure came upon him. Many have been taught that this is still true for the believer of Christ and we're still taught this principal in today's Church. Man's disobedience and his inability to keep the Law, left God without another choice, but to make a new covenant by and with Himself through Jesus. God couldn't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it. We now have a new covenant of Grace, which only requires our having faith in what Jesus has done for us to walk in the fullness of His Blessing.
John 6:28-29 (Amplified) says, "They then said, What are we to do that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires? Jesus replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you; that you believe in the One Whom He has sent, that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger." Our entire covenant of Grace, is based on our faith in God's Messenger, Jesus Christ His Son.
It's difficult to teach people about this covenant of Grace, when we've been taught throughout our Christian walk that "we're failures, because we cannot fulfill the Law." We've been taught that our sickness, weakness, poverty and lack of fellowship with the Father, come from our failure to do the Law. If you allow yourself to get placed under the Law by works, then you have put yourself in a position where Grace is ineffective in your natural life.
Galatians 5:4-6 (Amplified) says, "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed from) Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing). For we, not relying on the Law but through the Holy Spirit's help, by faith, anticipate and wait for the Blessing and Good for which which our righteousness and right standing with God (our conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action) causes us to hope For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
The works we've been taught about throughout our Christian walk, has resulted in man-made laws that determine God's Goodness in our lives. These laws determine how we must dress, what day we worship, in order for God's Blessing to work in our lives. Some religions mandate their members go door-to-door witnessing about God, in order to maintain good standing with God. I'm not degrading door-to-door witnessing about Christ, but we don't do these works, in order to gain God's favor. This is man's doing works, in order to receive God's Blessings. It's not believing in God's Plan to Bless us, by our faith in Christ Jesus.
Even born-again believers can actually place themselves under the Curse of the Law, when we do things as part of the Law. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, for whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap For he who sows to his own flesh (works, lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal Life."
Man-made laws established to gain access to God and His righteousness, will only end in destruction and ruin. Only the things of the Spirit will endure. One is Law and religion, while the other is by Grace and faith in Christ Jesus.
The sin barrier has been removed and the new creation family of God has been born. We function through faith in God's Grace, in order to keep us in righteousness in Jesus. Grace only works by faith and Love in our lives. When we try to "get God to perform by our good deeds," as though we've earned or deserved it, we have fallen from Grace and back under self-imposed laws of tradition.
Through faith in His Grace, we now have access into God's Throne of Grace by the Door, Who is Jesus. Our entire walk with the Father, is based on our faith that Jesus accomplished and fulfilled everything that was needed to be done. Jesus accomplished what man could never do under the Law. Righteousness, healing, Spiritual Blessing, peace, rest, fellowship, son ship, liberty, the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, counsel, citizenship in Heaven, ability to pray for and minister to others, and whatever we need from the Father, is our's by Grace and faith in that Grace.
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