Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

John Saw a Lamb - As it is in Heaven IV

As it is in Heaven IV – John saw a Lamb
On Earth as it is in Heaven.  We have been looking at Jesus telling the disciples to pray “thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” for the last few weeks.   In the Book of Revelation 4 and 5, the Apostle John was caught up in the Spirit and he saw in heaven.  John saw a throne and One on the throne.  And He saw in the hand of the One on the throne a book sealed with seven seals.   John wept that no man could open the Book.  For us all to seek an answer from the Lord, why did John weep? Was it for redemption?  For shortly, John is seeing twenty-four elders falling down before the Lamb and declaring the that the Lamb had redeemed them to God.  The Lamb had opened the seals of the Book.
 
In this setting, in the midst of the throne, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.  I believe this is the key to this entire setting.  The resurrected Lamb, who was slain for the sins of the world, ruling in Heaven.  This is where redemption comes from.  The Lamb that was slain, raised into the Heavens, appearing in the presence of God for us.  Now everything in Heaven is according to the Lamb.
 
The Kingdom coming from Heaven into the earth is according to the Lamb.  Ruling and reigning is according to the Lamb.  Even to consider the words to rule or to reign speaks of the Kingdom.  “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be done.”  Let us hear that.  All in accordance with the Lamb.  There is no way to understand God’s Kingdom or Will without seeing the Lamb.  It is impossible.  He is where God’s will is made known, in the Lamb, in Christ Jesus.
 
Paul wrote to the Ephesians that God had made known the mystery of His will.  In this mystery, God would gather both Jew and Gentile together into One Body.  In fact, in Chapter 1 it is written that God would gather all in the heavens and all on the earth in Christ Jesus.  Here is where the fullness of God meets man, in Christ Jesus.  Here is where judgement meets man.  Here is where Life meets man.  Here is where One New Man comes forth.  All in Christ Jesus.  The Kingdom coming in earth as it is in heaven, flowing from the Lamb!  Glory to God! 

AS it is in Heaven III

As it is in Heaven III
In the Book of Acts there is a record of the encounter of Saul of Tarsus with the Lord from Heaven.  Here was where Paul lost his sight.  He physically lost his sight, and later his eyes were opened.  To me this is speaking of Saul losing his earthly sight and seeing from the Lord from Heaven.  He saw a Light from Heaven who was brighter than the sun.  This speaks volumes to me.
From here Saul would change his name to Paul, speaking of a new creation.  This is what Paul saw in the Light from Heaven, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He saw a New Creation.  Jesus said to Paul, “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me?”  Who art thou LORD.  I am Jesus whom thou persecutes.”  Saul was carrying orders regarding the Church.  He was persecuting the Church.  He was persecuting the Lord’s Body.
The Lord’s Body, the Church is a Heavenly Vision.  That is seeing from Heaven.  Seeing that the Church is not an institution, not simply a gathering, a building or meeting, but the divine Body of the Lord Jesus Himself is seeing from Heaven.  If we saw this, we would nourish one another in the knowledge of the Lord.  There would be great unity, because we see through Him.  We would not see Baptist and Pentecostal, Lutheran or Episcopal.  We would see the Body of the Lord.
Hear this.  The Church, His Body is a Heavenly position.   You were not the Body of Christ by natural birth.  You are His Body by the Spirit.  Everything of the Spirit is Heavenly.  Through Christ Jesus you and I who are His are living in the Heavenly Realm, above principalities and powers.  We are living through Christ.  We are to be the exhibiting of Christ in the earth.  We are His Body.  Glory to God! 

As it is in Heaven II

As it is in Heaven II
We are considering scripture out of Matthew 6.  Jesus said to His disciples to not be as the hypocrites when they pray, but when they pray to address God as their Father.  “Our Father in Heaven.  Hallowed be they name.  Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  If I analyze this prayer, I can see Jesus relates to His Father as in Heaven.  He then sets forth the coming of the Kingdom of God and the doing of the will of God.  He sets these forth as coming on or in the earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.  
I believe we see the picture of this in the children of Israel.  When they moved from Egypt to Canaan.  In their move was a whole different reality.  In Deuteronomy 11 this picture is set forth.
Deuteronomy 11:10  “For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs; 11 but the land, whither ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven, 12 a land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”
God set forth that the land the Israelites was going to possess was not like Egypt.  It was not a land where they were going to toil their own labors.   The land they were coming in to possess was a land that was drinking the water of Heaven.  It was a land flowing with milk and honey, and the LORD’s eyes were upon it.  They had come from a land that was full of work and effort.  It was grueling to a land that was flowing with resources.  They were coming to a life of abundance from a life of despair.  They were coming to the place where the LORD would Himself dwell.  In the natural this is a picture of Heaven on Earth. 
Now this is a picture of the natural Israel.  A people that God had taken to Himself to be His people that He would dwell among them.  The picture of Canaan had to be of abundance.  It had to flow of resources and fullness because it was a picture of where God is.  Anytime God is there we will find abundance. 
This picture comes to a reality in Christ.  Jesus Himself is the place that God chose to dwell.  He is where abundance dwells.  He is where the flow of God is at.  We find what Canaan was a picture of in Christ Jesus the Lord.  God moved us from the problem, Adam or the natural man, to the solution who is Christ Jesus.  If we could hear and view what Paul writes to the Corinthians and Romans.  “In Adam all die.”  Here is the picture of the Adamic man death.  Now the greater picture.  “In Christ all are made alive.” 
 Here is how Heaven comes to the earth.  Here is where God’s will is done.  Heaven comes in a man.  God’s will is in a man.  Ephesians 1:9&10 “making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say.”  Thy will be done.  Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.  All things in the Heavens summed up in Christ.  All things on the earth summed up in Heaven.  Here is how Matthew 6 is fulfilled.  Glory to God. 

As IT is in Heaven

As it is in Heaven
We as believers make statements like, I wonder what Heaven will be like?  Or I am sure they are having a good time in Heaven, speaking of a loved one who has passed on.  But have we really stopped and considered what Jesus said in the prayer that we call the Lord’s prayer?
Matthew 6:9 "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth."
Thy will be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.   If we do not know how it is in heaven, as we usually declare to one another, then how can His will be done on earth as it is in heaven?  How would it be possible?  Included in God’s will is that His Kingdom would come on earth or in the earth according to the translation you may read, as it is in heaven.   Let’s look at God’s will by the scripture.
Ephesians 1:9 “making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him 10 unto a dispensation of the fulness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,”
The mystery of God’s will is to sum up all things in Christ.  ALL THINGS!  That says it all, correct?  We can spend eternity knowing this but let us consider it right now.  All things in Heaven and in Earth even in Him.  Now when we say this, consider first that Paul wrote this to the church.  He makes a point of it in the first verse that this is written to the Church, the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.  With that said, all things according to the Church are to be as it is in Christ Jesus.  This is how it is in Heaven upon the earth.
Let me be plain.  How it is in Heaven is how it is in Christ Jesus.  Heavenly places are defined by Him, not by our imaginations or how we think they are.   I’m not talking about fruit trees here.  I’m talking about the divine nature of the Lamb.  There could be fruit trees.  There could be green grass.  You could have a body, but none of that would be as it is in Heaven. I’ve made a statement for years.  If we live forever, but don’t have our minds and hearts changed is that Heaven?  I would say it is not.  If I do not take on the mind of Christ, if I do not take on His divine nature, it would not be as it is in Heaven.  
So, as we know Him, we know what is Heavenly.  When we live in Him in this present earth, we manifest that which is in Heaven in the earth.  Our earthen vessels are given that we who are His may manifest Him in the earth.  This is the Kingdom coming from Heaven upon Earth.  This is it.  Christ revealed and seen in you and me, and then that of Him which is revealed and seen made real that we live out of Him.   This is God’s will coming on earth.  Christ, the Heavenly One revealed, and manifest in the earth by the Church.  Glory to God!

Greater Works V - Living out of the Abundance of His Supply

Living out of the Abundance of His Supply
In the beginning God made the man Adam and placed Him in the garden of Eden.  God made the earth and rested.  He placed man in His finished work, in His rest.   The provision of God was before the man.  The trees of the garden were for fruit to the man.  A river ran through the Garden.   A mist came up and watered the land.  Adam was in God’s work.   Adam was to care for God’s work.  Of course, we know the rest of the story.  
 
The picture of God’s provision is painted again with the children of Israel.  Israel is brought out of Egypt.  Through God’s mighty hand they are brought into Canaan. Israel did not earn or come to Canaan by their own strength.  Israel did not leave Egypt by their own strength.  They came out of Egypt by God, and when they entered Canaan it was though the LORD.  God’s supply was before them.  Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey.  A land that God was blessing.  Israel was entering into God’s provision, and like Adam they were to keep it.
 
These two pictures that God painted are pictures of God’s supply.  Isn’t grace living out of what God has provided?  The Strong’s definition of grace is the divine influence on the heart and its reflection in the life.  The Apostle John writes of Christ Jesus that of His fullness have we received and grace for grace.  We receive of God and we walk in what He has supplied.  His supply to us is that in Christ.  He is what we live out of.
 
Colossians 2 says “As you have received Christ Jesus walk in Him.”  Our promise, our Canaan is Christ Jesus the LORD.  He is the land we have been planted in.  We are to dwell in Him.  I have considered this for years and feel that God has just begun to make it real.  How do I dwell in Christ?  How do I walk in Him?  These are not religious statements that the Apostle Paul made but the reality He was captured in.  His cry was to find Himself in Christ.  That is the land we are planted in by the Spirit of the Lord.
 
We are baptized into His Death.  All His death speaks and declares is to be real in yours and my heart.  Everything declared in His burial is to be made known in us, and all that is in His resurrection is to be realized.  Here in this land we live as dead to sin.  We live as crucified to the world.  This is part of our life, and we live unto God in Christ.  All things of Christ are to be known, experienced and expressed.  He is a flowing fountain, a river of life, manna from heaven, and a healing ointment to name a few.  
 
This supply we have come to will never run dry.  It will never become old.  We are like the land that God said in Deuteronomy 11 that His eyes are on.  We are the land that the rain of heaven is flowing unto to produce the crop of the Lord.  To bring forth that of Christ Jesus.  What a glorious place we have now come to.  Let us turn our soul and realize all that is in Him!  Glory to God.

The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ - Introduction

The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ
What is the Book of Revelation really about?  Many suggest it is a book of end time events that we are now living in, with impending catastrophes coming upon the earth.  Many who approach this book do so with that mind set already established.  So, they are looking in these scriptures for the impending doom that we must surely face.  The question, I want the Lord Jesus to answer is that the truth of the Book? 
 
Notice where, I want us to go for the answer, to the truth Himself!  “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith.”  I am afraid if we look anywhere else for understanding in the scripture we will be void.  He alone is understanding and the voice of reasoning.  Everything that I look at must be embodied in Him. 
 
The first verse of Revelation should kind of gives it away. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;”  It is the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.  Now if we start from this understanding that the Book is Revealing Him, Jesus Christ, and the things that were to shortly come to pass in John’s day we can began to see what is at hand.
 
The Apostle Paul declared in Galatians 1 that he was separated from his mother’s womb and called by God’s grace to reveal Jesus Christ in him.  Within Paul’s writing he is declaring the mystery that was hid, but now made manifest to the saints, Christ in you the hope of glory.  He was declaring that the Jews and Gentiles were to be of one body, and to have access unto God through one Spirit.  This was through the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Paul.  Through Paul seeing Jesus Christ, and the work He had completed at Calvary this declaration was being made. 
 
The Apostle John turned to see the VOICE that spoke with Him and saw seven golden candlesticks.  In the midst of the candlesticks was one like the Son of Man with seven stars in His hand.  Here in Revelation 1 imagery and symbolism take off.  The candlesticks are seven churches, the stars are seven angels to the churches.  Jesus is in the midst of the church and the stars are in His hand.  The stars or ministers are declaring out of Jesus’ power.  There is an impending crisis at hand.
 
The crisis was both external and internal.  The crisis that had come was Jesus.  He had fulfilled the law of Moses and had set forth the New Covenant in the earth.  All the Old Covenant types, and shadows were coming to their end, and the reality of truth or the substance they had declared were at hand.  Jesus was anointed as Isiah said to declare the favor of God and to declare God’s vengeance. 
Isaiah 61:1  “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of Jehovah's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;” 
 
This book of Revelation is just that.  Revelations 1:3 “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.”  God’s favor is at hand to those who read and understand.  Christ in you is at hand.  The Kingdom of God has come.  But also at hand is a day of clouds and gloom.   God’s vengeance as declared by Isaiah is coming upon the land, the land of Israel.  The Old Covenant that had been fulfilled in Christ and done away was going to be taken off the land.  As Jesus declared, not one stone was going to be left on that Old Temple.  The new had come through Jesus Christ. 
 
When we encounter Jesus in the way of Revelation a crisis is at hand to us today.  It is both internal and external. It will affect the entire man.  Our old things will be taken away, and the new life of Him set forth.  He brings a shaking with Him, shaking away understanding, and bringing about truth and reality.  He is the crisis we all need to face.  Let us turn and see Him, Jesus the Christ in the midst of the church, and let us live out of an encounter with the Lord of Lords!  Glory to God!

Greater Works V - Christ in You, Our Perfection

Greater Works V – Christ in You, Our perfection.
The Apostle Paul’s heart was to present to the believers the work that God has done in Christ. His heart was that there would be an effectual working of the Holy Spirit to show every man perfect in Christ.
Colossians 1:24-29 “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”
Let us carefully read the verses of scripture above. Paul is saying he is laboring for the Church. As I said, look closely. He is laboring according to the working of the Holy Spirit that is going on mightily in Paul. He is not just working in some religious way to get every man in a church. He is working that He may show every member of the Body of Christ their perfection in Christ Jesus. This word perfect means complete. We are complete in Christ. He is our completion.
Paul’s heart is that every man would see Christ by the Holy Spirit. That Christ would be revealed in them to see the full work that He did in the cross. This is Paul’s heart. This is his labor. This is why he would be shipwrecked. This is why he would be in wanting’s, in fasting’s, and do without. That all might see their perfection!
Much of the idea of perfection is simply that we would come to a place where we just did not sin. Even if we come there, we are still in need of perfection. Our perfection is in Christ Jesus. To be perfect is to have Christ living in me., and me living out of the reality of His life that is in me. He is my completion, and He is what I lacked. I am concerned that many in the Body of Christ do not see this. I am concerned that many, if not most, teachers do not declare this.
There is this idea in Christianity that hangs over us that we must become perfect. This may very well be designed of God that we would have this thought and idea before us. However, the tragedy is we usually try and find this of ourselves. Or we put it off to some other day. I used to make the statement over in glory land. I didn’t even know what that meant. I had grown up hearing it said, over in glory land, over there, when we all get to heaven. It was all about getting somewhere else, and somehow by getting there we would obtain perfection. God would give us a perfect body that does not die, and we would not sin.
What we miss in this idea is the truth that is in Christ. This other day. This perfection we are looking for is found in the person of Christ. In John’s Gospel in Chapter 16 Jesus tells His disciples that He has much to say to them, but they cannot bear what He would declare. Hear what He says! The Spirit of truth is going to come and take of that of Jesus Christ and show it to you. This is inwardly. The Spirit of truth inwardly shows us Christ Jesus. This is how we bear that of Him. Christ must be shown in our hearts and we then are transformed by HIM that is in us to bear HIM in the earth.
This is our perfection. Christ in you the Hope of Glory. That He may be revealed that we would see the Glory! We come by the Holy Spirit to know as Jesus said in John 14:20, “At that day you shall know I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.” We come to know that He is in us by the Holy Spirit. We come to the Revealing of HIM that is in us by the Spirit. He must be revealed that He may appear that we see His Glory. This is how we are perfected. We see Him by the Spirit and come to understand that our life is Christ. Glory to God.
 

Greater Works IV – Living out of the Greater Work of God in Christ

Greater Works IV – Living out of the Greater Work of God in Christ
As said in last weeks teaching, there is no greater picture of the deliverance and salvation of God than Israel. Israel was redeemed of Jehovah and brought to Him by His own right hand. His own power brought salvation unto Israel. Israel was then to live out of God’s provision and be a people unto God. God would be their God and they would be His people (Exodus 6:7).
With a stretched-out hand and mighty signs and wonders Israel came from Egypt into the wilderness. God had brought them out and was leading the way into the promise land. He was among them as Cloud by day and a Fire by night. However, with all God was doing among them, and all that He had done, Israel would not enter the land of Canaan. Twelve spies went into the land of Canaan. Ten came out and reported that the land was to hard to take. They saw through their own sight (Numbers 13).
Think on this. This was a people who saw God roll back the waters of the Red Sea. They saw the pestilence and plagues of Egypt. They heard God’s voice on Mount Sinai and saw the mountain shake with his presence and power. They were fed manna and quail in the wilderness and drank water from a rock. However, they would not enter the land that Jehovah had promised. Rather than proclaim the greatness of the LORD, who was among them. They looked through their own sight and declared there were giants in the land, and that they themselves were as grasshoppers.
In Numbers there is a stern warning for us all. Israel stayed in doubt, and God gave them what was in their OWN HEART. Numbers 14:28 “Say unto them, As I live, saith Jehovah, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, that have murmured against me, 30 surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.”
As you have spoken so will I do to you. Rather than believe God’s word, Israel proclaimed OF THEMSELVES, it would be better to go back to Egypt. It would be better to die in the wilderness. They were seeing with their own sight. They would not believe the hand of the LORD. They would not believe the power of His might or the declaration of His Word. God had told them He would bring them unto Himself as a people He would plant them in the land of Canaan. In Canaan, they were to flourish and live in the supply of the LORD and be a people unto their God. However, they would not believe and enter in. They did not KNOW this God who was in their very midst.
I am concerned that we the Church are much like this picture. God has said we are His. We are a new creation. The old has passed away and all is new in Christ. He has told us of His fullness we have received. In Colossians 2, the Apostle Paul writes we are complete in Christ. Rather than hearing a voice of completion in the land much of the teaching and preaching is about some future day. Rather than seeing the work of God that has been done in Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, we hear of a future work that must be done. We hear we are not there yet. It will be better after a while.
The message of God must shift. The provision of God, who is Christ, must be declared. We must hear and see by the Spirit of God and enter that which God has given. This land of Christ Jesus is flowing with milk and honey through the richness of Christ Himself. This land is full of His provision and power. Through Him we are more than able to live in the promised land and declare His fullness. “At that day you SHALL KNOW, I am in my Father, you are in me and I AM IN YOU.” This must become the declaration of our lips. This must become our sight, all the fullness of God in Christ Jesus, and we in this land. Glory to God!