Lesson 10 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Many believers won't or can't accept the Truth of God's Word about Righteousness, because they've been taught that it's prideful.  It's impossible for some to think of themselves as being righteous in God's eyes, because they're under condemnation and still feel guilty about their prior lives.  We've been rightly taught that being prideful is against God' Word.  Accepting God's Word though isn't pride, but Grace.
     Our unrenewed minds continue holding onto the sinful lives we lived before receiving Jesus as our Savior.  God Promises in His Word that, "Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more."  We can't stand in faith on what God's Word says about us, while clinging to the things our unrenewed minds say.  James 1:8 (Amplified) says, "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."
     The "man of two minds" is someone who has received Jesus as our Lord, after living in the world.  He/she has the mind of Christ, but still has an unrenewed mind of the world and the past.  This persons reads God's Word which says "we've been made righteous in God's eyes, through Jesus," but the old sense ruled mind refutes that Truth, by carnal thinking.  We know that we're not righteous in ourselves.  Satan tries condemning and shaming us about our former lives, leaving us to feel hypocritical about being righteous.  The righteousness we've received through Jesus' Sacrifice, allows us to come boldly and stand in peace before God's Throne of Grace.  The enemy tries stealing the peace with have with the Father, by making us feel unworthy.
     If you've truly received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you've been made righteous in the new creation being and born into God's family.  Denying this righteousness, doesn't make you unrighteous.  Righteousness has already become your Spiritual DNA, through the new birth.  Denying righteousness will keep your from confidently fellowshipping with the Father and standing in faith that He hears and answers your prayers.  Being double-minded and believing you're unrighteous and unworthy, will prevent your faith to fully work on your behalf.  Reading God's Word which says you are righteous and knowing you're unworthy, is being double-minded.
     Your faith must be established in Grace, in order to receive Truth instead of condemnation.  Your faith must be established in Grace, in order to walk in what Jesus provided, instead of what we think we deserve.  We don't deserve to be righteous, but Grace didn't give us what we deserve, Grace gave us what God chose for us.
     Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "For it is by FREE GRACE (God's unmerited favor), that you are saved, delivered from judgment and make partakers of Christ's salvation, through your faith. And this salvation is NOT OF YOURSELVES (of your own doing, it came not through your own striving), but it is the Gift of God."  Romans 5:17 (Amplified) says, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one (Adam), must more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor), and the FREE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, putting them in right standing with Himself, reign as kings in life, through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     Listening to the dictates of the flesh and rejecting God's Gift of Righteousness, will result in your not having the faith it takes to "reign as kings in life."  We can't overlook the Truth that we're not just forgiven sinners, but we were created new in Jesus.  The new creation man/woman doesn't have a past life.  If we don't renew our minds by God's Word, then our unrenewed minds will continue holding us under condemnation and shame, which keeps us from enjoying our new place of right standing with the Father and from reigning as kings and queens in life.  Righteousness is our doorway into God's Presence and since Jesus became the Door, we can't enter God's Presence or receive His Promises.  If we don't have faith that we're righteous in the Righteousness of Jesus, then we won't have the confidence to come boldly before God's Throne Room of Grace.
     Our minds, will, emotions and flesh weren't changed when we were created new in Jesus.  Our dead spirits were created in the Life of God.  It's up to us to renew our minds with the Truth of God's Word and His Spirit.  Your mind was trained by the world and will resist the Truth of God's Word and cause you to draw back from that Truth.  Romans 8:7 (Amplified) says, "That is because the mind of the flesh, with its carnal thoughts and purposes, is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot."
     Your new creation spirit delights in its new found relationship with the Father, while the carnal mind will not change and will stand against the Truth of God's Word.  The carnal mind will fight against the Truth, using carnal weapons of guilt, shame, condemnation, rebellion and pride.  The old shame and pride will keep us from having unbroken fellowship with the Father.  These things must be put under subjection of our new creation person.  Righteousness is a Gift and must be received.  God will never force it upon you.  You must by faith, receive this Awesome Gift in humility, in order to enter into God's Presence.
     Our pride will keep us from receiving what God has done for us, by Grace.  The reality of the Spirit tells us it's not prideful to confess the Righteousness we've been given, but it's pride that makes us unwilling and unable to receive the Gift.  Everything Jesus did for us, must be received in humility and faith.  How do you humble yourself to God's will and Grace, when your carnal mind is hostile to what you're trying to accept and become the Truth of what God's Word says about you?
     Renewing our minds isn't a religious things we're to act out.  It's accepting what the Father says about us, rather than what the flesh says about us.  This is a personal relationship with the Father, instead of a denominational relationship.  It's relationship and not religion.  We can't believe what others and other denominations say, if these things are contrary to the Truth of God's Word.
     This is exactly what the people in the Wilderness did in Numbers 13, when twelve men went to spy out the Promised Land.  Joshua and Caleb believed God, while ten spies didn't.  Nearly one million people believed the ten spies and never entered into God's Promised Land, but died in the Wilderness.  We can't allow the opinion of others, to prevent our entering the Father's House, as His family.  Let's dare to see ourselves as our Heavenly Father sees us, through Jesus.  He sees us as being Righteous, pure, holy, sanctified, justified and bought back by the Blood of Jesus.  Colossi ans 1:22-23 (Amplified) says, "Yet now has Christ (the Messiah), reconciled you to God in the Body of His Flesh, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His (the Father's) Presence. And this He will do provided that you continue to stay with and in the faith in Christ, well grounded and settled and steadfast, not shifting and moving away from the Hope which rests on and is inspired by the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached as being designed for and offered without restrictions to every person under Heaven and of which, I Paul, became a minister."
     The Church has been taught to focus more and to point out our faults and misgivings, instead of being taught what Jesus has done and who the Father created us to be.  We still have things to work on in our Christian walks, but it's much easier to work on them from God's viewpoint, instead of the world's carnal viewpoints.  Our spirit man/woman is perfect in the new creation.  Our flesh and carnal minds will still oppose the Spirit, so long as we're here in these bodies.  We must use the weapons of the Spirit and bring the mind and flesh into subjection.

Lesson 9 The Church's Identity Crisis

     The enemy has blinded the minds of God's people, so that we no longer see ourselves through God's Word and through God's eyes.  We've been taught to see ourselves as the world and religion portrays us, leaving us without faith to walk in what the Father has now created us to be.  If you declare yourself to be "righteous," then it causes persecution and anger in the Church.  Righteousness was never given to God's people for pride or to exalt oneself, but so we would be able to come into the Father's Presence again.
     Most Christians recognize or can quote Romans 3:10 (Amplified) which says, "As it is written, None is righteous (just and Truthful and upright and conscientious), no, not one."  This scripture was True under the first covenant, but it's not True for those in the Last Covenant, according to Romans 3:21-22,26 (Amplified) which says, "But now the Righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually is attested by the Law and the prophets. Namely, the Righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and it is meant for all who believe, for there is no distinction."  Paul goes on in Verse 26, saying, "It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the new season), that He Himself is Righteous and that He justifies and accepts as Righteous him who has true faith in Jesus." 
     In Romans 4:13 (Amplified) God speaks about Abraham's righteousness and calls Abraham, the "father of our faith."  thus, it 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."  The purpose of Righteousness, is so the Father could be with His children and His children could come back into His Presence again.  Unrighteousness meant that mankind couldn't stand in the True Presence of a Holy God.  Those under the first covenant, weren't righteous, even after offering up a sacrifice.  They depended on the blood of bulls and goats, to cover their sins and so they could be heard by God.  They had no right standing or righteousness on their own, but depended on animal sacrifices and the blood of animals to cover them.
     Isaiah 54:13-14 (Amplified) says, "And all your Spiritual children shall be disciples taught by the Lord and obedient to His will, and great shall be the peace and undisturbed composure of your children. You shall establish yourself in Righteousness (rightness in conformity with God's will and order). You shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you."  This Righteousness that comes from the Father, by faith in Christ Jesus, will "establish" us in Jesus' Righteousness, so we will "have peace and undisturbed composure by His Righteousness."  We are to be "far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for we will not fear."
     Righteousness brings us back into a face-to-Face position with the Father, Who Loves us so very much.  What would son-ship be worth, if we didn't have Righteousness?  The Father wouldn't have pleasure in His children, because we would be shrinking, cowardly, and fearful beings, afraid and unable to come near Him.  We must "establish" ourselves in this Righteousness and dismiss the condemnation of the carnal minds, which will continually remind us of our past.  You can't have faith in God's Word, when you're under condemnation.
     "Righteousness" is not a "Bible word," but a Bible position we've inherited through Jesus.  No redemption would be complete, if it didn't include righteousness.  The new creation and son-ship would be worthless, if it didn't include righteousness.  God's heart brought about Redemption, right standing and even  more, it brought the right to stand in His Very Presence again and the right for God to come into His family's presence again, through Jesus' Sacrifice.
      The Righteousness God gave, isn't a matter of carnal pride, but a matter of understanding the Father's Great Love and Grace, which restored us, when there was no other way back to to Him.  I keep this at the front of my mind, when praising God.  I know that through Jesus, I'm no longer separated from God.  Jesus'  Sacrifice made me not just covenant, but family.
     Through Jesus, we can now stand in God's Presence without fear, condemnation, guilt or shame and when God looks upon us, He sees sons and daughters.  The Father's Love is ours again.  We've patterned ourselves after the old covenant people, instead of after Christ Jesus.  We keep expecting the Father to treat us like He did the old covenant people, when the Father wants to Love us as His Own children.
     Most believers have focused on salvation, as having our sins forgiven and going to Heaven when we die.  This would be more than enough to sing praises to God forever for, but He didn't stop there.  God wouldn't be satisfied, until He could live among His children once again and until His children could flourish and grow under His Mighty hand of Grace again.  This Righteousness is the bond that holds us in His Love for eternity.  If we didn't believe in this Gift of Righteousness, then we would have a clouded understanding about God's Love for us.  Only God's Love would do what He did to bring His children home to Him.  Only God's Love would never leave us in the outer court, like the old covenant, with the veil separating us from Him.  The veil has been torn down and the outer court is no longer there.  The Love God has for us, is so transparent that we can see into His Heart.  God can now live in us and we can boldly proclaim that we've become "the temple of the Holy Spirit."  Can you actually conceive the Truth that we've become the living, breathing, walking, talking and breathing Ark of the Covenant?  Can you actually conceive that God's Living Word and Spirit are housed in this temple of flesh, making us holy in God's eyes?
     I'm overwhelmed with thanks, when I think of the privilege we've inherited through Jesus.  I praise God that I'm welcomed to stand in the Presence of the One Who spoke everything into creation, as His son.  I praise God that He walks and talks with me, like He did with Jesus, during His earthly ministry.  I praise God that He can direct my very life, by His Presence.  Just prior to going to the Cross, Jesus prayed in John 17:22-23 (Amplified), saying, "I have given to them the Glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know (without any doubt) that You sent Me, and [that You] have Loved them, just as You have Loved Me."   Our mind couldn't conceive the Truth of Jesus' Words about God's Great Love for us, without having them renewed by God's Word and His Holy Spirit.

Lesson 8 The Church's Identity Crisis

     God's people haven't dared to believe what His Word says about us, allowing our carnal minds and reasoning to determine who we are in Christ Jesus.  The carnal mind cannot understand how the new creation people can be righteous, justified and acquitted of sin, while still living in our flesh and blood bodies.  We will must renew our minds with God's Word, so we can see ourselves after the Truth of our salvation, instead of seeing ourselves after the flesh and the senses.
     Paul speaks about the weakness of his flesh, which is in direct opposition to his born-again spirit in Romans 7:23-25,28 (Amplified).  Paul says that his flesh, carnal mind and his soulish parts want to continue observing the external rituals of the Law, which he had grown up under.  He tells us that the Law of Liberty of the Spirit expels the external rituals and things of his flesh, saying, "For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my innermost self. But I discern in my bodily members, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh, a different Law, rule of action at war against the Law of my mind; my reasons and making me a prisoner to the Law of Sin that dwells in my bodily organs in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh. O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from the shackles of this body of death? O thank God! He will through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but in the flesh the Law of Sin."  Paul goes on in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, there is now no condemnation, no adjudging of guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
     Many go onto to read Verse 28, which says, "All things work together for the Good to those in Christ Jesus."  Those who read it with a carnal mind will get this out of it, "Whatever comes must be God's will" or "God is doing all these things (no matter what they are) for my good."  The Holy Spirit is actually telling God's children, "The body is wanting to go one way and the Spirit the opposite way, but God has given us deliverance from this body of death and has raised us up to His Own standards of righteousness, by conferring son-ship rights on us, while we're still struggling with this body."
     Paul tells us in Romans 8:4-5,15,17 26,29-30 (Amplified), "So that the righteousness and just requirements of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh, but in the ways of the Spirit, our lives not governed by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by it's unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the spirit."
     Paul speaks about the things we've gained by the Spirit, saying in Verse 15, "The Spirit producing son-ship in the bliss of which we cry, Abba, Father" and in Verse 17 saying, "We are now His children and heirs and fellow heirs with Jesus."  In Verse 26, he says, "We have also the Holy Spirit Who bears us up in our weaknesses and prays for and through us even when we don't know how to pray for ourselves."  Verses 28-30 tell us, "We know that even in our weakness we have all these things working together in us  for our good, for those who love Him and are called to His Purpose are molded into the Image of His Son and share inwardly His Likeness. And those whom He has ordained, He also called, and those whom He called, He also justified, acquitted, made righteous and put in right standing with Himself, and those whom He justified, He also glorified, raising them into a Heavenly dignity and condition or state of being."
     We will have victory in the Spirit, when we're struggling in our flesh, because God will overturn the bad things, so that all things work together for our good, when we love Him and are called to His Purpose.  Romans 8:37 (Amplified) says, "Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who Loved us."
     The harder satan pushes, the more determined we are to stand on God's Word and His Spirit.  The more we stand on God's Word and His Spirit, the stronger we will become and the more trust we will put in Him.  If we've stood, then we will receive the Promises by faith and gain the victory, in Jesus.  The things satan meant to destroy us, become an exercise that built up our faith and trust, so we inherit God's Promises.  All things have now worked together for our good.  God didn't send the problem, but through the Holy Spirit, He sent the Answer for our good.
     Satan will test, try and push us, so long as we're on this planet, trying to steal God's Word, like Jesus taught in Mark 4, "The Parable of the Sower."  When we depend on God's Word and His Holy Spirit, we will bring forth 30,60 and 100 fold, despite the world and the enemy.  God doesn't have to test our faith, because it's His faith we're using and His faith created the heavens and the earth.  God knows what our faith can do.  Satan knows what faith in God can do.  He saw it operating through Jesus, Paul, Peter, James and other followers of Christ.  Satan saw it operate when Jesus rose from the dead.  This is why satan "Comes immediately to take away the Word from us, by force," like Jesus said in Mark 4.
     The Holy Spirit, the Power of God's Word, the force of Righteousness, the power of Redemption, the legal force of Justification, the perfect acquittal, the son-ship rights with God's inheritance, the sanctification, the reconciliation of us back to God, and the Power of Attorney to use the Name of Jesus Christ will all work together for the good of those who are in Christ Jesus and are called according to His Purpose!    
    
    

Lesson 7 The Church's Identity Crisis

     The Church stands as the children of the Most High God, but we've failed to see ourselves through the Father's eyes.  He sees us as, "holy and pure, righteous with His Own Righteousness, without blame, and justified in Jesus.  We've mostly seen ourselves after the world, with it's carnal nature.  We're not just forgiven sinners, but we're God's new creation family.  We've become new creations in our spirits, by the Holy Spirit and the Incorruptible Word of God.
     Just as surely as the Father created the heavens and earth, He has created a new species of being, the Church.  Our soulish man/woman has suppressed our seeing the True identity we've become in Christ Jesus.  Our emotions, mind, and will that come from our soulish man/woman, prevent our believing that our old selves are no longer relevant in God's eyes because He has made us new.  We've been taught that it's "prideful," to believe we've been made the righteousness of God, but the scripture says that we indeed have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus.
     Jesus didn't think it was proud or boastful, when declaring, "The Father and I are One" and that He "Only says and does what the Father says."   John 3:34 (Amplified), "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 (by measure), but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit."
     Jesus declares several times in the Gospels that, "The Father and I are One."  Is this boastful or is it Truth?  Many would answer, "Yes, but that was Jesus."  Is it Truth that we are sons and daughters of God and are the Temple of the Holy Spirit?  2Corinthians 6:16 (Amplified) says, "What agreement can there be between a Temple of God and idols? For we are the Temple of the Living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
     The above scripture doesn't remove the responsibility we have to deny sin in our bodies and live any way we desire to live, but if we're truly in Love with Jesus, then we won't be looking for ways to sin.  We are now bringing our body and soul into subjection to the new creation man/woman, by obedience to God's Word.  Before coming to earth, Jesus had never been flesh and needed to learn to walk in the flesh, while being led by the Spirit.  We though, had never known anything other than being led by the flesh and must now learn to walk in the Spirit.
     While Jesus walked as a Man on earth, His flesh was subjected to the same things we are.  Jesus had to bring His flesh into subjection to the Word and the Holy spirit, just like we must do.  You can bet your last dollar that satan didn't give Jesus a break, because He was Jesus.  If anything, then satan pressured Jesus, more than any other person before.  Jesus had to make a stand on Who He was, by the same Word that we are subject to.  Moreover, Jesus was born under the Law and was subject to the Law.  No man had ever completed the Law, but He did it perfectly for us, according to Matthew 5;17 (Amplified), where Jesus says, "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 fulfill them."  Jesus fulfilled the Law of Sin and of Death, which had the Curse attached to it.  Jesus Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law and in God's eyes, we have also fulfilled the Law.
     We must see ourselves the way God sees us, instead of the way the world and our carnal minds dictates.  Jesus was the Only Man Who has ever fulfilled the Law.  If we try walking by the Law, without fulfilling it, then we place ourselves back under the penalty for not completely fulfilling it.  James 2:11-12 (Amplified) says, "For whosoever keeps the Law as a whole, but stumbles and offends in one single instance, has become guilty of breaking it all. 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."  Galatians 5:4 (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 severed from Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing)."
     This is a serious indictment against our trying to perform works, in order to become what God has already made us to be.  It's not by works, but by God's Grace.  Grace is a Gift in Jesus, that qualifies us to receive by faith in His Sacrifice.  Trying to obtain God's Blessing, aside from Grace, is being subject to the Curse again.  Does this mean we can kills, steal, or commit adultery by Grace?  Of course not, but God's Grace will hold us  and keep us in righteousness, while we grow in our salvation.
     There is no person who has walked in these flesh and blood bodies, without sinning and deserving punishment for that sin.  God, by His Grace though, has made our spirit man without sin and has made us perfect in His eyes.  God looks on the heart or spirit, not the outer-man.  We're to take God's Word in our new creation spirit and bring the soul and body into subjection to God, by faith in His Word and His Holy Spirit.  Only God's Grace and faith in His Grace, can keep us above the Curse that still operates in this world.
     This is still a fallen planet and the world system is designed by the god of this world.  Only Grace and faith in God's Grace, can keep us in the place of righteousness in the Father's eyes.  The enemy can't hold us under the condemnation of our old sinful lives, once we understand and have faith in the Righteousness that Grace provided through Jesus' Sacrifice.  It's not that we didn't deserve punishment and the Curse of the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ activates the Grace that holds us in God's Blessing, as we grow from the milk of the Word to the meat of the Word.
     No baby, spirit or natural, came into existence fully grown.  Luke 2:51-52 (Amplified) tell us, "And [Jesus] went down with [Mary and Joseph] and came to Nazareth and was habitually obedient to them and His mother kept and closely and persistently guarded all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in Wisdom (in broad and fully understanding), and in stature and years and in favor with God and man."  Even Jesus had to learn and grow before God and man.  We are not to remain babes in Christ.  Things that were permissible when we were babes, aren't permissible when we become adults.  You can't expect someone else to feed you for the entirety of your Spiritual life, but you're expected to read God's Word, heed the Voice of God's Spirit and grow in the Father's Presence.
     Paul directed Timothy to "Rightly divide the Word of Truth" and not to eat everything that is placed on the table before him.  God's people aren't to consume everything that is said.  There are many things that sound "Good," out there, but they don't all come from God's Word.  There are so many voices in today's world that try to get out attention, so we must insure we know what we are hearing.  Jesus admonished His followers in Mark 4:24 (Amplified), "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."
     Jesus was giving, "The Parable of the Sower," in the above scripture and tells us that "All words are seeds and all seeds will produce, in they're received in good soil."  Your spirit, through the new creation, has become good soil and will produce whatever seed you allow to be sown in it.  We must know the True Seed and allow only that, to be sown into our hearts.  1Corinthians 3:2-3 (Amplified) says, "I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not yet strong enough to be ready for it; but even yet you are not strong enough to be ready for it. For you are still unspiritual, having the nature of the flesh, under the control of ordinary impulses. For as long as there are envyings and jealousy and wranglings and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh? (behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere unchanged men?)"   

Lesson 6 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Today's Church is like those who remained in the Wilderness after being freed from Egyptian bondage, instead of entering God's Promised Land, because we don't recognize who we are and where we belong.  The people in the Wilderness murmured and complained about their circumstances, even they they were already Blessed and had a covenant with God.  They couldn't enter into His Rest, because of their unbelief.  Through Jesus, we've already become the family of God and are heirs of everything He gave Jesus, because we are joint heirs with Christ.  This isn't something we "will" inherit, but is already our inheritance while we're here on earth.
     The Holy Spirit led Paul to write to God's children in 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) saying, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden manifesting itself as our Righteousness, Thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God; And our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
     We must look closely to what God is saying about who we've become in Jesus, in the above scripture.  Our relationship with Jesus has "bestowed God's Own Wisdom upon us, as well as the Revelation of God's Divine Plan of salvation that was previously hidden, manifesting itself as our righteousness."  The manifestation of the Plan of salvation, is righteous or right standing with God and being made right in God's sight.  We've been made able to and been restored the right to, stand in God's Presence.
     God's Divine Plan of salvation that's now revealed to us, is something the devil and the world thought could never happen.  Because Jesus bore all our sins and trespasses, mankind can now be made righteous and restored back into the fullness of son-ship rights again.  This is the manifestation of the Plan that was previously hidden.  Satan has lost his hold on those who were previously under his control, because Christ Jesus has restored mankind back to the Father.  Jesus has "set at liberty, those who were bound."
     Paul tells the Church that Jesus is not only our Righteousness, but through Him, we are consecrated, made pure and holy.  The Church though, has failed to realize this and has remained in the Wilderness for too long.  Who in the Church would dare to believe he/she is pure and holy and will enter into the Promise of God?
     Those persons would be labeled, "Prideful and puffed-up with pride."  The Truth is that when we deny what God says and continuing to believe our own things, is prideful.  Only by faith in Jesus, are we pure and holy.
     Paul goes on telling us about the Divine Plan of salvation, saying that Jesus is our Redemption and our Ransom from the penalties that befell mankind after Adam's transgression.  Paul tells us that God has revealed to us Wisdom from God in the Gift of Salvation, which was previously hidden until now.  Even though God has revealed all this to His family and has given us Wisdom, we still haven't understood what He said and did, in Jesus Christ.
     Proverbs 4:7-8 (Amplified) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is, get Wisdom, skillful and Godly Wisdom. For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing."  Now let's reread 1Corinthians 1:30 which says, "You have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom."  Jesus is our manifest Wisdom and "Wisdom is the principal thing."  The above Proverb continues, saying, "And with all you have gotten, get understanding, discernment, comprehension, and interpretation."
     When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, Wisdom from God, Righteousness, son-ship rights, Consecration, Liberty, and Redemption were imparted and revealed into our new creation spirits.  The Church hasn't understood this, causing us to accept what the world says about us, instead of what God's Word says about us.  You might say, "Well, I'm working on being pure and holy, but I haven't arrived yet."  You will never arrive, so long as you're "working on it."  It was imparted to you in Jesus and God already sees you as being pure and holy.  This is what was previously hidden and what we're to understand now.
     The Church's Identity Crisis has left God's people trying to be what He has already made us to be in Jesus.  This is Grace in it's purest form.  God placed all that we once were, on Jesus and has placed all that Jesus is, in us.  It's just as True that we have His Righteousness, as He took our sins.  We've believed that Jesus bore our sins and trespasses, but we haven't believed that we have become His Righteousness, Consecration, Redemption and His inheritance.
     1Corinthians 1:27-29,30 (Amplified) says, "And God also elected (deliberately chose), what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. And God also elected (deliberately chose), what in the world is low born and insignificant and branded and treated with contempt, even the things that are nothing, that He might depose and bring to nothing the things that are. So that no mortal man should have pretense for glorying and boasting in the Presence of God."
     Verse 30 says, "No mortal man could dare boast that on his own he is pure and holy, or that in himself he is righteous, Nor can he say that he has redeemed his own self, or even that he has the Wisdom of salvation without the understanding of the Wisdom of God."
     Proverbs 4:8-10 (Amplified) says, "Prize wisdom highly (Jesus, the Word), and exalt her; and she will exalt and promote you, she will bring you to honor when you embrace her. She will give to your head a wreath of gracefulness; a crown of beauty and glory will she deliver to you. Hear O my son, and receive My sayings, and the years of your life shall be many."
     We've been so careful not to lift ourselves up in pride and have failed to humble ourselves to receive what Jesus has done for and in us.  It takes mankind's own pride, to stand against God's Grace and Truth.  If God says that, "You are pure and holy in Jesus," then would you question Him?  Only a prideful person would dare tell God, "You are wrong."  Knowing what we do about ourselves, while still believing what God says about us, requires our humbling ourselves under His Mighty Hand.  He then will exalt us and make us pure, holy, righteous and call us His sons and daughters.
     God's Church hasn't dared to believe what God has done for us, through Jesus.  We've had a false humility and haven't dared to believe in the Truth of what God's Word says about us.  It sounds humble to call ourselves "unworthy, beggars, and worms" in the Church, but if the world calls us "unworthy,, beggars, and worms" then we are ready to stand and fight.
     The Father never calls you "a worm, or a beggar, or unworthy."  Only the world and religion would say this about you.  The Church can't yield to it in false humility.  Can we really receive who God says we are and come boldly before Him, if we believe we're unworthy worms and beggars?  We must do it in True and faithful Grace, accepting the honor He has lavished upon us, in Jesus.
     Jesus never denied that He was the Son of God and He never denied that only God was Good.  Jesus said that, "It is the Father in Me, Who does the Good works."  How do you balance Truth and pride, believing who we are, while giving all the praise to the Father?  You must believe that you are righteous, in order to have confidence the Father hears you.  The True understanding of God's Grace says, "Lord, I know I don't deserve all the things you've done for me, but I receive them as a Gift of Your Love and receive them in Thanksgiving, praise and faith through Jesus. By faith in Your Truth, I surrender my carnal pride that would stand against Truth and I rejoice in who you've made me to be, in Jesus and Truth. Amen."
     Paul writes to the Church concerning the personal convictions and personal faith that exists in all of us, in Romans 14:22 (Amplified).  Some Christians still observed certain days and rituals as being more holy than others, while the faith of some went beyond these things.  Paul didn't say whether having personal convictions was wrong or right.  He says, "Your personal convictions of such matters, exercise them as in God's Presence, keeping them to yourself, striving only to know the truth and obey is will. Blessed,happy, to be envied is he who has no reason to judge himself for what he approves, who does not convict himself by what he chooses to do."
     Saying we're pure and holy sounds foolish to some and boastful to others.  To God, it only means that we're acknowledging the Awesome Deliverance Jesus provided to us.  God sees that we're honoring and worshipping Him in Spirit and Truth for His Grace, which gives us a deeper understanding about the Glorious favor and mercy He shows us.
     Believing that the Father looks upon me as being pure and holy, is far above what the carnal mind can think.  Even the new creation believer might think it's prideful, when we receive a deeper knowledge of God's unconditional Love and see the depth of our salvation in Jesus.  Every time God reveals more of His Grace, it opens the door for me to praise and worship Him.  This makes me more sure of my ability to come before Him, in the assurance that I'm His son.
     Jesus is the Only Sacrifice that could so completely cleanse a vessel, to where the Holy Spirit could live in and declare that it's the Temple of God.  Believing that we're pure and holy enough to be temples of the Holy Spirit, shows us the depth of our salvation in Jesus.  Paul asks in 1Corinthians 7:19-20 (Amplified), "Do you not know that your body is the Temple (the very Sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received as a Gift from God. You are not your own. You were bought with a Price, purchased with a Preciousness and Paid for, made His Own. So then honor God and bring Glory to Him in your body."
     
    

Lesson 5 The Church's Identity Crisis

     The key to our having confidence in God, is understanding our righteousness or right standing with Him.  Many believers still don't understand that the Father has taken up creation again for the first time, since He rested from His work in Genesis 2:3 (Amplified) which says, "And God Blessed (spoke Good of), the seventh day, set it apart as His Own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done."
      I can't find any place in God's Word, where He created anything again, until 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 fresh and new has come."  We're not just forgiven sinners.  We are a new creation family of God.  We mostly still see ourselves through our own eyes, instead of through God's eyes.  We still see ourselves in our old sinful state, instead of as new creations in Christ.  Our sins and past lives haven't been just covered up, but God created new persons who have no sin or past lives.  He created us in righteousness, with His Own Righteousness.
     The disciples walked with Jesus throughout the Gospels, but they didn't know what was taking place when Jesus went to Calvary's cross.  Jesus had tried His best to explain it to them, without having satan prevent His crucifixion, but they still didn't understand.  We see why Jesus couldn't openly reveal the entire plan of salvation to them, at that time, in 1Corinthians 2:7-8 (Amplified) which says, "None of the rulers of this age or world perceived or recognized or understood this. But rather what we are setting forth is a Wisdom from God once hidden from the human understanding and now revealed to us by God, that Wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification to lift us into the Glory of His Presence. For if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory."
     Those who followed Him, witnessed Jesus' miracles and heard His teachings, but they didn't understand the new creation man/woman would be in their future.  They didn't understand that they would become righteous and be restored as sons and daughters of God and able to stand in His Presence.  Paul tells us that, "The old previous moral and Spiritual condition has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."  We weren't just made over, we are new creations altogether.  We're a species of being, that had never existed before. 
     This righteousness had been lost in Adam and couldn't be restored in man's present state.  God could cover the people with the blood of goats and bulls, but He couldn't make them new, because the Law of Sin and of Death was transferred into man from Adam.  This was a Spiritual death that separated mankind from God and sinful man had no right to come before God.  God could cover man's sins, but the sacrifice of bulls and goats couldn't remove them.  Only a sinless man could remove our sins.  Jesus' Blood removed the unrighteousness, sin and death from mankind and created a new man made in God's Own Image and Likeness again.
     God spoke about the new creation man in Isaiah 54:13-14 (Amplified) where Isaiah writes, "And all Thy children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of Thy children. In Righteousness shall they be established, they shall be far from oppression, for they shall not fear, and from terror for it shall not come near thee."  The greatest Blessing of the new creation, is our being established in Righteousness and acquiring a righteous conscience.  The most persistent and oldest enemy to our faith, has been the sin consciousness.
     We're not just forgiven sinners, like those in the old covenant, but we're new creations who are sinless in our new creation spirits.  1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "But it is from Him, God, that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of Salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, Thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal penalty for sin."
     The disciples had no idea of what was actually occurring when Jesus hung on the cross, was laid in the tomb and rose from the dead.  They didn't know what to expect when Jesus directed them to go to the Upper Room and wait there until they would be "empowered from on High."  These things were only made known through Paul's letters and his preaching the Revelation he received from Jesus.  No Plan of Redemption would be complete, without the restoration of Righteousness. 
     We have an invitation to "Come boldly to God's Throne of Grace," in Hebrews 4:16.  Only the new creation man/woman can do this, because our righteousness has been restored and we've been given the right to stand in God's Presence again, without fear, guilt, or condemnation.  We are established in righteousness and have been created new, by Jesus' Sacrifice.  We've sadly been taught that we still deserve punishment and rejection for our sinful lives and faults, but the Lord says that we "are established in righteousness and far from fear and oppression and destruction," in Isaiah 54:15 (Amplified) which says, "Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is NOT FROM Me. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you."
     Many (even those in the Church) have read the above scripture, but have never dared to put faith in them, because of things they were taught.  The old saying tells us that, Faith stops at the question mark."  When you begin questioning the Truth of our righteousness in Jesus, then your faith won't work like it should.  When you accept what God's Words says, instead of what man says, your confidence and faith will work for whatever God has Promised the new creation family.
     The Truth of Righteousness is one of the most important things you can have and will bring your faith to the place of having assurance and confidence in God's Promises.  If you still consider yourself an old sinner and unrighteous, then your faith can't work like God intended.  Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith if is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."
    

Lesson 4 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Ephesians 4:23-24 (Amplified) says, "And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind, having a fresh mental and Spiritual attitude. And put on the new nature, the regenerate self, created in God's Image, God like, in true Righteousness and holiness."  Ephesians 5:1 (Amplified) says, "Therefore be imitators of God, copy Him and follow His Example, as well-beloved children imitate their father."
     The Church has lost the Truth that we are actually well beloved children of God, because we've been taught that imitating our Heavenly Father is "prideful."  We were born of the Same Seed that Jesus was born of, the Word of God, according to 1Peter 1:23 (Amplified) which says, "You have been regenerated (born-again), not from natural origin (seed, sperm), but from One that is Immortal, by the Ever Living and Lasting Word of God."
     Religion has taught us over the years, that we are inferior, are less than God's Own children, and we're still outside God's idea of family.  It doesn't matter who we were or where we came from, because through faith in Christ Jesus, we've become God's Own children in Truth and reality.  We're no less sons and daughters of God, than the First and Last Adam and we are beloved.  Jesus prayed in John 17:23 (Amplified), "I in them, and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united; that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me and that You have Loved them EVEN AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME."
     The natural mind finds it difficult to understand Jesus' Words above and asks, "How can the Father Love me even as He Loves Jesus?"  We see Jesus in His Glory and Honor on earth and we see ourselves in our earthly bodies, leaving us to wonder how can Jesus' statement really be True.  Jesus was without sin or wrongdoing, in His earthly Form as God's Son.  We struggle with the Truth of God's Grace and Love, when He put our sin and our wrongdoing on Jesus, so that we can now come before Him in the Purity of Jesus Himself.
     We say we believe this, when we call upon Jesus and confess Him as our Lord and Savior, but we struggle with our past and present weaknesses.  We wonder, "How can God Love me, like He Loves Jesus?"  We still identify ourselves as being in the natural man/woman, even though we're new creation Spiritual sons and daughters who are born of God's Own Word and are without fault.  We are instructed to renew our minds by the Word of God, until we see ourselves as God has made us to be, in Jesus.
     Until we realize who we've been born-again to be in Christ, it will be difficult for us to have a Righteousness identity.  The enemy will hold us under the condemnation of our old past lives, before we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord.  The Holy Spirit inspires John to write in 1John 3:20 (Amplified), "Whenever our hearts in tormenting, self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us, For we are in God's hands. For He is Above and Greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows, perceives and understands everything, nothing is hidden from Him. And, Beloved, if our consciences do not accuse us, if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us, we have confidence, complete assurance and boldness before God."
     This condemnation is an attack the enemy uses, in order to make us question our new identity in Christ.  Satan will cause us to question the Truth that we've been transformed into the Image and Likeness of the Father again, through the new birth.  This is the same attack satan used against Adam and Eve, saying, "God knows if you eat this fruit, you'll be like Him."  Satan caused Eve to question who she was, when God had already made them in His Image and Likeness.  Satan tried making Jesus question Who He was, saying, "If You are the Son of God, then turn these stones into bread."
     We've allowed our consciences (hearts), which were under the influence of our old, unsaved condition, to hold us in the same conviction that led us to God, even after being born-again.  If we don't renew our minds and reasonings by God's Word, then we'll remain under the conviction of our old lives.  Our sins were removed and cleansed completely by the Precious Blood of Christ, but the enemy will do his best to keep us in shame and guilt, so we won't have any confidence that our Heavenly Father will hear us.
     Satan can't prevent our coming to the Lord and being born-again, but he'll try keeping us under condemnation and guilt, so that our new being isn't dangerous to him or his kingdom of darkness.  Jesus gave "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:15 (Amplified), where He said, "The ones along the paths are those who have the Word sown in their hearts, but when they hear, satan comes at once and by force takes away the Message which is sown in them."
     Satan came immediately after I was born-again, asking, "Do you really think it's that easy, to have everything you've done to be forgotten and that you're totally forgiven?"  Satan couldn't prevent me from receiving Jesus and my salvation, but he could keep me under the bondage of guilt and condemnation, so my right standing with God would never be a threat to the darkness.  There's an old saying that says, Faith stops at the question mark."  If you don't know that you're Righteous before God, then you'll never have the assurance that God hears us and will answer our prayers.  Man's ideas have taught us that, "You never know what God will do" or "It might not be God's will..."  These are by-products of the Church's identity crisis.  We don't really know who we are in Him.
     The moment we begin questioning what God's Word says about our new identity in Christ, our faith has "stopped where the question mark comes in."  James 1:22-25 (Amplified) directs us, saying, "But be doers of the Word (obey the Message), and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.  But he who looks carefully into the faultless Law, the Law of Liberty (the Word of God) and is faithful to it, and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active doers, who obeys, he shall be Blessed in his doing, his life of obedience."
     We've heard many teachings about "Being doers of the Word and not merely listeners of it" and much of these teachings had to do with giving, preaching, healing and walking in Love.  These things are True and part of who we are, but let's focus today on "Being a doer of the Word is seeing who we are in the Law of Liberty."  Let's let it set us free from the condemnation and guilt of our pasts.  Let's allow it to liberate us into the Truth of our new righteousness and pure lives with the Father, through Jesus.  Let's be doers and believers who see that we're now righteous in Christ's Righteousness and then receive the new life Christ has given to us.
     This Liberty is already yours through Jesus.  The only thing that can keep us from the Liberty to come boldly into the Father's Presence, is the enemy's lie.  When we look into the mirror or Law of Liberty, which is God's Word, we'll see who God's Word says we are.  We'll walk away from the mirror of our old, past lives, and forget what we once looked like.  We see what the Word says but then the flesh, the world, and the enemy clouds our consciences (our hearts), so we forget that we've been made righteous through the Righteousness of Jesus.  Let's continually renew our minds with God's Word and not allow satan to deceive us with his lies.
     We must believe and confess that we are "Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus," from Romans 8:16-17.  We must believe and confess that, "If we belong to Christ, are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed, then we are Abraham's offspring and Spiritual heirs according to Promise," Galatians 3:29.  Galatians 4:4-6 (Amplified) tells us, "But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the regulations of the Law, to purchase the freedom of (the Ransom, to Redeem, to Atone for), those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us and be recognized as God's sons. And because you really are His sons, God has sent the Holy Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant), but a son, and if a son, then it follows that you are an heir by the aid of God through Christ."
     This is what we should see in the reflection, when we look into the mirror of the perfect Law of Liberty, the Word of God.  We really are, what God's Word says about us.  It doesn't matter if others don't believe it or if someone believes something different.  The Truth of what God's Word says about us, WILL NEVER CHANGE!  We're not just forgiven, but we're new creation beings who never existed before.  We've been created anew in Christ Jesus and have been declared Righteous, by the Almighty God Himself.  Who can question the Truth of what God says?  

Lesson 3 The Church's Identity Crisis

     It's been difficult for God's people to understand that we are righteous before God, because of Jesus' Righteousness.  Paul quoted Psalm 14:3 in Romans 3:10 (Amplified) saying, "As it is written, None is Righteous (just, and truthful and upright and conscientious), no not one."  Many of us can easily recall this scripture.  Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel, a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith, disclosed through the way of faith, that arouses to more faith. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
     Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified) tells us, "Now faith, is the assurance, the confirmation, the Title deed, of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality, faith, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses."  Paul says that it's not works, not Law, not rituals, not religion, not anything that has to do with us becoming righteous, but it's by faith.
     Everything in God's Word requires faith to believe.  We weren't there when Jesus was crucified, raised from the dead, healed people and raised them from the dead.  We haven't seen Him with our natural eyes or natural man.  We desire to be Righteous in God's eyes, so that we can know we're right in His eyes.  If we could be sure that we're in right standing with Him, then we could have confidence in our prayers and in what He desires of us.  When we convince ourselves that we're "still old sinner and unrighteous," we're left without boldness and confidence in our prayers or anything else God has Promised us in His Word.
     Many oppose the so-called "Faith Message," in today's Church, but everything God has Promised is by faith.  Romans 3:22-24 (Amplified) says, "Namely, the Righteousness of God, which comes by believing with personal trust and confidence, reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and it is meant for all who believe, for there is no distinction. 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 righteous (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."
     This Righteousness comes by faith and contradicts everything our sense tell us.  We certainly know that we don't deserve it, we don't see it, see don't feel it, and our senses fight against it, but we must receive it as Truth in God's Word.  We receive this Truth, just like we accept forgiveness and salvation.  Romans 10:9-10 tells us that, "If we would believe God's Word and by faith accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we will be saved."  All of God's Promises come by faith.  Thus, Paul tells us, "Because if you acknowledge and confess (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) the Truth  that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Christ, and so is justified, declared Righteous, acceptable to God, and with the mouth he confesses, declares openly and speaks out freely his faith and confirms his salvation."
     2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) says, "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 (Jesus) in His Person and by His Agency to the Glory of God."  All of this is by faith.  Not believing that God has declared you to be "the Righteousness of God through Christ Jesus," is like your not believing you're saved by the same faith that you accepted Jesus as your Lord with.  The Word says that, "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, putting them into right standing with Himself, reign as kings in life through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     Your righteousness is a free Gift given by God's Grace, when you accepted Jesus and His Righteousness.  Many are being taught in church today that, "You're still only sinners and unworthy."  This holds God's children back from Him, even after He has died and bore our own sin in Himself, so that we could come back into His Presence.  Teachings that tell us, "You're still only sinners," comes from men/women who have no Spiritual insight into God's Word or God's will for His family.  It robs us of any confidence and expectations that God will help us in this life.  So, we device our own means of deliverance and help.
     In Jesus, God has finished everything we will ever need.  We must place our faith in the Finished Work of Christ, because it all comes by faith.  No one can save him/herself and we can't make ourselves righteous by works or by Law.  We must receive everything Jesus has done and provided, by faith.  We didn't see the Resurrection of Jesus, but by faith, we believe He did raise from the dead.  How is it that we can believe Jesus rose from the dead, but can't believe He has made us righteous in Himself?
     When we believe that we are righteous with His Righteousness, we can have faith to come into God's Presence and receive any of His Promises.  Righteousness simply means that, in Jesus, we have been able to come into God's Presence by faith.
     Satan tries deceiving God's people, using our own natural understanding of who we were before receiving Jesus.  He tries making us doubt our new identity in Christ Jesus.  If he can deceive us and cause us to see ourselves through our own eyes, instead of seeing ourselves through the Truth of God's Word, then he will defeat us in praying, fellow-shipping with the Father and seeing ourselves the way God has made us to be.  Jesus has restored us back to where we have a right to come directly into God's Presence again, just like Jesus does, because we are now righteous, with His Righteousness.
     When we understand this, then it will change our entire understanding of 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 fresh and new has come."  You're not the old sinner who came to the cross, but are a new creation, who is born in the Likeness and Image of God.  You have now become God's son or daughter.
     1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "But it is from Him that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from eternal penalty for sin."
       

Lesson 2 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Believers need a clear understanding of who we are, as new creations in Christ Jesus.  Are we still just old sinners saved by Grace or are we righteous in God's eyes?   We read about the Promise of Righteousness in Isaiah 53:11 (Amplified), which says, "He, Jesus, shall see the fruit of the travail of His Soul and be satisfied: by His knowledge of Himself, which He possesses and imparts to others shall My uncompromisingly Righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many Righteous, upright and in right standing with God, for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt with the consequences, says the Lord."
     The Lord speaks to the Church, after Jesus Paid the cost of our sins, in Isaiah 54:14-15 (Amplified).  God's not speaking here about a Promise of Righteousness, but as a Blood Bought Biblical fact.  Thus, He says, "You shall establish yourself in righteousness, rightness in conformity with God's will and order, you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, BUT IT IS NOT FROM ME. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you."
     There are many other scriptures about the Promises in the old covenant, but let's look at one from the new covenant.  Romans 3:22-24 (Amplified) says, "Namely, the Righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). And it is meant for all who believe, for there is no distinction. Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives. All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His Grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the Redemption which is provided in Christ Jesus."
     The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in Romans 4:22-23 (Amplified), saying, "That is why Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God). But they were written for our sakes 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 our Lord from the dead."  He goes on in Romans 5:17 (Amplified) saying, "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, putting them in right standing with Himself, reign as kings in life through the One Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
     Romans 10:2-3 (Amplified) says, "I bear them witness that they have a certain zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to correct and vital knowledge. For being ignorant of the Righteousness that God ascribes, which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought and deed, and seeking to establish a righteousness, a means of salvation of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's Righteousness."
     1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) tells us, "But it is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, Revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine Plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness, thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and Redemption, providing our Ransom from Eternal punishment for sin."
    God's Righteousness is by His Grace and is a free Gift for those who will believe in Jesus Christ.  Galatians 5:4 (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 Blesssing)."
     The Church has mostly listened to our feelings, more than we listen to what God's Word says about us.  Our feelings might tell us that we're unworthy and unrighteous, because we remember what we did and who we were before being born-again.  The Father has made us Righteous, with His Own Righteousness.  God's Word is more Truth, than our emotions and feelings are.  God has Promised that, "Your sin and iniquity I will remember no more."  This is Truth.  Feelings are not Truth.
     If we understanding the Truth of God's Word about righteousness, then it will change our entire concept of and faith in prayer and we will pray with confidence before God.  John writes about righteousness in 1John 5:14-15 (Amplified), saying, "And this is the confidence (assurance, the privilege of boldness), which we have in Him, we are sure, that if we ask anything, make any request according to His will, in agreement with His Own Plan, He listens to and hears us. 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."
     When we deny our righteousness that Jesus died and paid for, we're trying to receive from the Father by either human hope and this is "not according to His Plan or will."  We must have faith in our being made His Righteousness, instead of relying on how we feel at any given time.  You have been made righteous, in the new creation.  You were created in Righteousness.  If by faith, you have made Jesus Christ your Lord, then you've also made Him your Righteousness and have the right to come boldly before the Father.  You've been made clean, holy, pure and new, by the Lamb Who was slain for you.
     The Father speaks about the Church, which was to come, in Isaiah 54:17 (Amplified).  God speaks about those who would believe and receive the Truth and who would become family, because of Jesus' Sacrifice, Resurrection and His Ascension.  Thus, He says, "But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This peace, Righteousness, security, triumph over opposition is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, those in whom the Ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced; this is the Righteousness or vindication which they obtain from Me, this is that which I impart to them as their justification says the Lord."
     As believers in Christ Jesus, we've become those in whom the "Ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced."  The Truth of God's Word says that we've been made sons and daughters of God, by the new creation event.  Standing in opposition of this Truth, is believing the lie of satan, instead of God's Word.  Satan used this same lie to bring down Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Satan caused them to question their identity.  Jesus prayed for us in John 17:17,22 (Amplified) saying, "Sanctify them, purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy by the Truth. Your Word is Truth."  Jesus continued in Verse 22, saying, "I have given to them the Glory and Honor which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are One."
     Jesus tells us that God's Word is Truth and Jesus is the Word.  If we deny the Word as being Truth, then we're denying the things Jesus says about us.  God's Word says that we've been "made righteous, in His Righteousness and His Truth," and we need to believe this.  Righteousness is a Gift and He is our Righteousness.  We've not exalting ourselves when we say we're righteous, but we're honoring Jesus' Sacrifice and standing in His Glory and Honor that He's given us.  Our human pride will stand against the Truth and disguise itself as humility.  This false humility stands against the Truth of God's Word.
     It might seem strange to say that what we believed was humility, was actually pride.  This is the carnal mind's standing in opposition to the Spirit.  Remember Romans 8:1 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation, no adjudging guilty of wrong for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit."
     We know that we're not righteous in ourselves.  Let's believe what Jesus has done and believe the Truth of what God's Word says about us, instead of what our flesh says.  Let's stand in obedience and faith, joyfully accepting God's free Gift of Righteousness. 

Lesson 1 The Church's Identity Crisis

     Who are we?  What are we?  What is our real identity and what is our role in today's world?  As new creations in Christ Jesus, are we Super-natural or simply saved and still only flesh and blood beings?  Are we Super-natural and powerful?  Or, are we simply just "old sinners saved by Grace?"  Do we all have the Super-natural power and authority, that God's Word says we have or is it limited to only "certain" people?
     Dear Father, Who are we?
     Many in today's Church believe we're only human and limited, unless God should intervene in some mysterious way and by some arbitrary act of His will, does something miraculous.  The difference between most Christians and the world, is that we live a more moral life.  I know many people in the world though, who live a more moral life than those who are born-again.  Who are we really?  Is what God says about us, more true than what the religious leaders have said about us?  Or, are we still like the world, but moral and going to Heaven when we die?
     Are the Super-natural things God's Word says, still relevant today or did they pass away with the Apostles, like some believe?  Are we Super-natural in every realm, but still in a natural body?  Many Christians believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and the speaking of tongues have ceased and aren't available any longer.  The casting out of demons is looked upon as being foolishness, in many Church circles today.  Healing by the laying on of hands, is all but dismissed in most of church doctrines.  Many Christians don't believe that God still speaks to us, so they don't try to hear from Him at all.
     It's "blasphemous," to think of yourself as being righteous through the Righteousness of Christ Jesus.  Many Christians cannot see themselves as being sinless, in God's eyes.  If you consider yourself holy, then some denominations will not include you.  Many Christians don't expect God to answer their prayers, until they go to Heaven.
     Can we really "Come boldly before God's Throne of Grace" or are we still in the Outer Court with the veil separating us from God?  Can we really believe that Jesus bore our sickness and disease and that "By His stripes we are healed?"  Or does God allow or even place sickness upon us, in order to teach us something?  How much of God's Word do we dare put our trust in?  How much of what God's Word says, is for us today?  Do we really have authority over satan and spirit beings, or do they even exist today?
     Who are we now that we're born-again and made new creations in Christ Jesus?  Do we really have the right to come into the Very Presence of God, beyond the veil and face to face with Him?  Or, are we still like those under the Law, who must remain outside His Presence?  Do angels really encamp about us, to keep us?  Or, is that a fantasy?  Are we truly "Redeemed from the Curse of the Law?"  Or, is it still lying in wait for us, when we fail?
     Is the Father truly pleased with His new creation family?  Is He still angry over our past or has He truly chosen to "remember not" our former lives?  Is Jesus really the First Born of many brethren or are we something different than He is and from a different seed than Him?  What's the truth about the family of God?  Are we only "family," when we get home or are we His family now, while we're here on earth?  Jesus said in John 14:12 that we can "Do the things He did and even greater things than these."  Were these just words or Parables?  Or can we speak to a mountain and have it move?
     Who are we now that we've been born-again?  God's Word tells us that we're under a new covenant by the Blood of Jesus, but we continue teaching the Law, as though nothing has changed.  We keep trying to make restitution for our past lives, even after God says in His Word that, "Your sins and iniquities I remember no more."  Are we truly Super-natural beings or are we still in our weakness and frailty?  Who are we?
     We've misunderstood the natural and Super-natural things, resulting in our not belonging to either.  We repeat Jesus' Words from John 17, where He says, "You are in this world, but not of this world."  Many still don't know what God's will is for His Church or the world.  We say we know about God's Love, but we have a hard time believing in His Love when things go wrong.
     Who is bringing death, sickness, disease and hard times on us and what are we to do about it?  Can we even do anything about it?  Do we roll over or stand up?  If we stand up, then do we really have the authority to do so or are we only fooling ourselves?  Do we still walk and live by our emotions, or do we walk by faith and not be moved by what we feel?  Is is true that we should watch our words or is this something religion invented?
     Who are we?  Are we just another religion or is this reality and we actually are the children of the Almighty God, who were made in His Image and Likeness?  Was it God's Intention all along, that this planet and everyone on it, be in such a mess?  Is this the life that Jesus came to give us or the life we've chosen to believe?  Does God really Love us, like He Loves Jesus?  Jesus prayed in John 17:23 (Amplified), "I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and definitely recognize that You sent Me, and that You have Loved them even as You have Loved Me."  Do we believe that God's Love for us is this great?
     Is God's Love for us based on our behavior or is it a Father's Love, that Sacrifice His Son for us?  These aren't things we need to do, but they are things we need to know.  We can't be double-minded, like James writes about in James 1:8,7 (Amplified), saying, "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."  Is God our problem or is He our Answer?  Who are we?  Does our being double-minded, result in our not getting results from the Truth of God's Word?  James writes in Verse 7, "For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord." 

Lesson 100 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent

     Genesis 1:26-28 (Amplified) says, "God said, Let Us (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), make mankind in Our Image (after Our Likeness), and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the (tame) beasts of the field, and over all the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His Own Image, in the Image and Likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God Blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, using all its vast resources in the service of God and man, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth."
     God's mandate gave complete deliverance of the earth and everything on and in it, over to Adam.  We've missed what the Father had done, when giving this planet over to His son.  God no longer had authority on this planet, but had released the authority over to His son, Adam.  This wasn't a mandate that said, "If you don't do it right, then I'll take it back."  God no longer had the right to go into the earth, in order to rule it.  Man had the authority to do what God said, or to do what Genesis 3:6 tells us that Adam did.  It tells us that Adam partook of the deception that had come upon his wife, and transgressed against God, by eating of the Tree, after God explicitly told him not to eat of the Tree.  God had given Adam the authority over everything that creeps upon the earth, even the serpent.  We've believed this mandate was conditional, but it was not.
     God was shut out from the earth, after giving that authority to Adam.  Adam gave this authority over the an insane fallen angel and satan would now use man's own authority in and over the earth and over everything on it.  God began to speak a new Man back into the earth, in order to take back the authority and dominion over the earth and bring it all back to Kingdom rule again.  God said in Genesis 3:15 (Amplified), "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her Offspring. He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel."
     This was the beginning of what occurred in John 1:14 (Amplified) which tells us, "And the Word, Christ, became flesh (human, incarnate Man) and tabernacled, fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile among us; and we actually saw His Glory, His Honor, His Majesty, such Glory as an Only Begotten Son receives from his father, full of Grace, favor, Loving Kindness, and Truth."  God incrementally spoke Jesus, a Man, into this earth and when Jesus was perfectly formed by His Word, God spoke the complete Man into Mary's womb.  The Word became or took upon flesh, becoming a Man.  The Last Adam, Jesus restored God's Original Intent and gave the dominion and authority God gave the First Adam back to mankind, because He had become flesh or a Man.
     We haven't understood what God actually did when He restored this planet back to man's authority, through Jesus.  We've learned that Jesus could only do the things He did on earth, "because He was Jesus."  The Truth is that He did these things, because He was a Man.  Jesus was conceived without sin and wasn't under the Law of Sin and of Death, so He could walk in the authority God gave man in the beginning.  If satan could tempt the Last Adam Jesus, like he did with the First Adam, then he could have retained his control over earth and mankind.
     Jesus was led by the Spirit, into the wilderness, in order to be tempted of the devil.  Jesus underwent the temptation as a Man, Who was without sin and in the God-given authority of man, in order to overcome sin, instead of submitting to it.  Jesus' flesh wouldn't yield, so His authority remained over satan and over the earth and everything that creeps upon the earth.  Through Jesus and His Finished Work on Calvary, we could become new creation persons.  Through Jesus we could be born-again of the Spirit, born without sin and restored back as man into the mandate God gave to mankind.
     We've been taught for so long that we're "just old sinners, saved by Grace."  We were old sinners and were saved by Grace, but we're not old sinners anymore.  We've been made the righteousness of God Himself, by Grace.  Through Jesus, we've been made sons and daughters of God and given the authority again, over the earth and everything that creeps on it.
     This was and is God's Original Intent, when He made us in His Own Image and Likeness.  Satan has deceived God's Church about how Jesus restored us back to God's family and about our inheritance.  We've been afraid to accept what Jesus did, thinking we were being prideful if we believed what God's Word says about us.  It's prideful when we still refer to ourselves as being "old sinners, who are unrighteous and unworthy."  This is denying the Finished and Complete Works Jesus did for us.
     It's prideful to say, "Jesus wasn't enough to completely bring a new creation man/woman, who is perfect and righteous and without sin,  back to God."  It's the highest form of pride to stand in God's Face and tell Him that, "The things Jesus did, weren't enough to cleanse me and bring me back to God."  We think we're being humble, but we're really being wrong.
     Satan is a liar and has deceived God's family into thinking we're still in sin and in a fallen nature.  When we think that way, then we're vessels that won't yield to the Holy Spirit and there's very little the He can do in our lives.  We haven't seen the Truth of the new creation Man.  It wasn't all about going to Heaven, but bringing God back into the earth.  We've become the Temple of the Holy Spirit, because of Jesus, according to 1Corinthians 6:19 (Amplified), which says, "Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you? Whom you have received as a Gift from God? You are not your own."
     Ask yourself this question.  If you're still an old sinner, after receiving Jesus as your Savior, then could or would the Holy Spirit, Who is God, live in such a sin riddled temple?  God has considered your old natural, sinful  flesh, to be dead by Jesus' crucifixion and raised with Christ Jesus.  You're a new creation man/woman, without spot or wrinkle, perfect in Jesus and called the Body of Christ.  This is why Paul told us to "Renew our minds by the Word of God and His Holy Spirit."
     Do we still mess up and do dumb things, while growing up in Jesus?  Of course we do, but the Father now sees us through the Blood the the Lamb of God.  Jesus' Sacrifice doesn't cover sin, but eradicated it in our lives.  God only see the new man/woman, who has come back into His family.
     We've practiced training the flesh, so it won't perform like it did before being born-again.  This is good and necessary to do, but we've failed to train our new creation spirit man/woman how to live and grow in the way of the Spirit of God and in God's way of doing and being right.  We've tried establishing our righteousness through works, instead of receiving His Righteousness and walking after the Spirit.
     Most Christians will tell you that, "God doesn't speak to me" or "I don't recognize His Voice."  We train our new creation person, by listening to Him and not yielding to the voice of the flesh, according to Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), which says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation, no adjudging guilty of wrong, for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit."  We can't allow our flesh to dictate who we are, but we must let the Holy Spirit dictate or tell us, who we really are now in Christ Jesus.  Verse 2 continues, saying, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life, which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
     This doesn't mean an we're to continue sinning, but means the lies of the flesh can no longer keep us from being what Jesus has now made us to be.  I listen to the Holy Spirit saying to me, "You are the righteousness of God" and "You're not an old sinner anymore."  This gives me the strength of God in my life, instead of the condemnation of my past.
     We must settle who we really are in our lives and accept what Jesus did to redeem us, realizing it's not through anything we do, but what He did for us.  We can't allow the enemy to hold us in bondage and condemnation, like he did before we became new creatures in Christ Jesus.  When satan can make us question our identity, then he'll hold us in bondage.  And, even though we're not living in sin, he'll bring up our past, in order to keep us under condemnation of who we once were.  Satan tried making Jesus question His Identity, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Luke 4.  Satan said, "If You are the Son of God."  Satan knew Who Jesus was, but he wanted to see if Jesus really belived in Who He was.
     The devil knows who you are when you got born-again, but he wants to see if you know who you are.  If you live by the dictates of the flesh, then you won't know your own identity in Christ.  If you live by the dictates of the Spirit, then you'll be able to answer the devil with the Truth and "The Truth will set you free."  The only hold satan has over you, is your past.  As a new creation in Christ Jesus, you have not past.  If you do, then you're not a new creation, but one that's just reworked and still under the stain of our past.   

Lesson 99 THE YEAR OF UNDERSTANDING - Original Intent

     We discover the Father's Intent for His family in the beginning, by reading Genesis 1;26-28.  God made sure that His family would never lack anything, when He created the earth.  After completing and approving that provision, God formed the earthly body for the earthly realm and placed Adam and Eve in it.  God pronounced a Blessing on Adam and Eve, in order to empower them and enable them to have complete authority over all that He had created for them. 
     We've mostly thought that God created Adam and that Adam transgressed the very next day.  The Truth is that the earth is much older than what we've believed.  God and His son Adam, walked together for an unknown amount of years, prior to Adam's transgression.  They walked together as Father and son.  God taught Adam how to ruled and reign, as headman over the earth and everything in it.  Adam was first created a spirit and had been given a physical body, so he could operate in the physical realm.
     We too are spirit beings, but we also must be aware of our natural abilities.  You don't just drive your car by faith, but also by your senses.  We've lost our contact with the Spirit of God and have only learned to function by our senses, which resulted in our not receiving instructions through our spirit any longer.  We need both, in order to reign and operate like the Father created us to.  We need balance.  We need to  hear and be led by the Spirit, in order to keep the senses from overruling our spirit.
     Jesus had natural senses, but He only allowed them to do what the Spirit of God directed Him to do.  Jesus still got hungry and He still got tired.  He needed clothing and other things that natural men need, but Jesus didn't allow His natural Man to rule over His Spirit.  God's family is required to provide care, clothing, food, and shelter for our children, but we're not to look at this natural realm for all our provisions, while forgetting the Father.
     Jesus spoke about the natural things men need in Matthew 6:23-33 (Amplified), saying in Verse 33, "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 never intended for His family to depend only on themselves, for their lives and provision, but as our Father, He will provided for us, like He did for Adam.  Remember why God created the earth and everything in and on it.  He still knows how to produce and provide.  This doesn't mean we're to just sit on the sidelines and do nothing, but it does mean that there's more than just "making ends meet by the sweat of our brow."
     It wasn't until after Adam transgressed, that God told him that the "sweat of his brow was required to provide."  The Father was teaching Adam how to make the earth produce and perpetually provide his needs.  The Last Adam, Jesus, provided bread and fish for the multitude, with only a small boy's lunch.  Jesus directed Adam to catch a fish and take the money from the fish's mouth, in order to pay their taxes.  Jesus provided enough fish to sink the disciple's fishing boats and we know that Jesus had a treasurer, who was always giving to the poor.  Just prior to His Ascension, Jesus said in John 14:12 (Amplified), "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he himself will be able to do the things that I do, and he will do even greater things that I do, and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father."
     We may not have seen these things come to pass in our lives yet, but if Jesus said it, then it's possible for us to do them.  Many have heard Jesus say, "Seek ye first God's Kingdom and His way of doing and being right," but found their own way instead.  Our own way of doing and being right, isn't how the Kingdom works.  God's way of doing and being right, isn't by works and religions, but by faith in the Righteousness He provided for us, in Jesus Christ.  No person can become righteous by our own efforts, it's a Gift from God, given by Grace.  Romans 3:27,26 (Amplified) says, "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."  Verse 26 says, "It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in this now season), that He Himself is Righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus."
     The Kingdom of God is governed by Spiritual Laws.  That's why Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 (Amplified), "Seek, aim at and strive after first of all, His Kingdom and His Righteousness (His way of doing and being right)."  The legal laws that govern the Kingdom, operate on the principles of justice and righteousness.  The Church hasn't understood the legalities of God's justice, that He provided in Jesus.
     Adam gave his God-given authority and dominion, over to satan's hands, so God needed a way to legally put it back into the hands of men.  This is why Jesus declared Himself to be, "The Son of Man and the Son of God."  God gave the earth to man and Jesus gave it back to us.  It was a legal transaction, resulting in satan's not having man's authority any longer.  We became new creation people, when we were born-again.  God transferred that authority and dominion back into the authority of His new creation people.  God had the legal right, by the Laws of His Kingdom, to transfer the Blessing and mandate He gave the First Adam, back into the authority of this new creation man/woman, by the Last Adam.  We are back where God intended mankind to be, through the Last Adam, Jesus.
     This might seem difficult to understand, but once we do understand it, it's much easier for us to be and do what Jesus said.  The authority in the Name of Jesus, is the badge of authority that has been restored to the hands of God's family again.  Jesus was and still is, a Man and through Him, the Ada-mic covenant and mandate are back in place.  Jesus proved it as a Man, Who was without sin and was Righteous.  Through Him, we're also without sin and righteous, because we are in Him. We are created in righteousness and His authority now, in His Name, His character, and His Righteousness.  We are once again, God's Own family.  Jesus was the First Born of many brethren and in Him, we were born of the Same Incorruptible Seed, Who is the Word of God, Who is Jesus.