Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Church which is His Body VI - Son of Man

The Church which is His Body – Son of Man
“Matthew 16:13-18 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 
Jesus wasn’t just any Son of Man.  He was the Son of Man the scriptures declared.  To understand this, we must go back to the Old Testament and read.  For example, Daniel declares the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days and receiving of the Kingdom of God.  This is one of the obvious examples of the Son of Man.  However, if we search there may be many instances referencing the Son of Man.  
In Isiah 7, the Bible declares that a virgin was going to bring forth a Son.  Here we go, Son of Man.  Jesus was the Son of Man that Isaiah 7 is declaring.  This is a sign to the land of Judah.  Go back and read closely what Isaiah declares of this child who is born, and what is coming upon Judah.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Son of Man and the Son of God according to the scriptures.  Glory to God.

The Church which is His Body V- The Christ

The Church which is His Body V – THE CHRIST
“Matthew 16:13-18 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 
“Thou art THE CHRIST, the Son of the Living God.”  Let us hear this.  We are the Church which is His Body.  Jesus called Peter Petra or a stone.  Peter said in one of his epistles that we are lively stones built up for a spiritual habitation of God.  The Apostle Paul said we are built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ for a habitation of God by the Spirit.  He says we are built up in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As we know Him, we are built for God to inhabit our hearts.  In other words, the more knowledge, not brain knowledge, but knowing Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, the more of the reality of God that is within us.  
Notice, I did not say the more of God that is in us.  I said the reality of God.  The reality of the one that dwells within.  We are built in Him for God to inhabit us.  As I see Jesus Christ by the Spirit, God fills my heart in that seeing of Christ.  It is this building I yearn for, to be built up in Him!  Glory to God!
Now Jesus was THE CHIRST for a purpose.  Christ means the anointed one.  If I search the scriptures, I will find in the Old Covenant that they were anointed for purpose.  The Priest was anointed to offer the offerings unto the LORD.  They did not just offer them.  Moses didn’t simply say to Aaron you are a Priest.  Aaron was anointed with an extremely specific oil to operate in the Priests office, Leviticus 8:12.  This symbolized the anointing of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.  He was anointed for the purpose of offering Himself unto God by the Spirit.
Jesus is our Great High Priest.  As the Priest of God, He was anointed to offer Himself.  He is the Anointed of God, The Christ.  As our High Priest, He offered Himself.  Therefore, He is highly exalted and given a name above every name.  He was also anointed King.  Jesus is the King Priest, and He reigns over death and hell.  He conquered them, and He redeemed us to Himself.  We live in His dominion.  Glory to God!

The Church with is His Body IV - Son of God, Son of Man

The Church which is His Body IV – Son of God, Son of Man
“Matthew 16:13-18 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 
 
In simplistic form, Son of God refers to Jesus being born of God.  While Son of Man indicates He is born of man, or in man.  In John’s Gospel Jesus said that He came forth of God and came into the world, and that He was leaving the world and going back to the Father.  I believe He is speaking of His birth.  The way He came into the world was as the Son of Man.  He was born of Man, “a virgin shall conceive.”  That which was born of Her was of God.    
 
The reason Jesus was born of man goes back to the beginning of the creation of man.  God gave dominion to man in the earth.  Through man came sin, and death by sin, which passed upon every man.  All mankind was bound to that which was in man.  Jesus had to be made in the man to redeem us from the state of being of man, Galatians 4.  Without His redemptive act, we would have no escape from the man that we were born into.  
 
David illustrates this in Psalms 51.  He cries that he was born in sin and shapen in iniquity.  This was the state of being in the first man.  He was a man of sin.  As Son of Man, Jesus put this man to death.  He took Him to the cross and crucified the first man.  We were baptized into His death, that we may live in His Life. His death was to the Man of Sin.  His Life is as Son of God, the Life out from God.  Our salvation is in Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God.  We die with Him in His death, and we Live as One of with Him in His Life. 
 
Jesus as Son of Man paid the penalty for man.  Sins and iniquities were placed upon Him.  “He that knew no sin became sin for us, that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him.”  We are made righteous in Him, who was raised out from the dead.  In Acts 13:33, the writer quotes Psalms 2. “ 32And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, 33 that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.”  Notice this closely.  Jesus is proclaimed the Son of God in the resurrection from the dead.  Here is where we are made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, in that He raised Jesus from the dead, and we share in His eternal and incorruptible Life.  Glory to God!

The Church which is His Body III

The Church Which is His Body III
God has a building program.  Now, we get really excited when we begin to build a new building for the Church.  Many of us call the building’s we build the church.  However, as great of a building we may build it lacks expression of the Lord Jesus.  Now, it may be built to express those who congregate in the building, but the building can never express the Lord.  In fact, you can take that same building that is built for a congregation of believers, then sell it and use it for auto repair.  The building is simply a building, and not the church of the Lord Jesus.  God doesn’t dwell in buildings made with hands.  We need to hear this folks. 
With that said, GOD HAS a building program.  In Exodus when Moses ascended into the Mount and received the pattern.  Moses was told to build the Tabernacle according to the pattern shown in the Mount.  The Tabernacle was not just thrown together by Moses and Aaron, and a bunch of Israelites.  God revealed the pattern in explicit detail.  Everything was in detail, and everything had to be according to what GOD SHOWED OR REVEALED to Moses.  There could be no deviation, or it would be corrupted.    
Peter declared of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 16, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”  Jesus said The Father in Heaven revealed or showed this to Peter.  Flesh and blood did not reveal it.  Peter’s own intellect did not come to it.  Even Jesus standing there in the flesh did not reveal it to Peter, but The Father revealed it unto Him.  Jesus said, “Upon this rock (He is the Rock) I will build my Church.”  Here is God’s BUILDING PROGRAM. Christ Jesus revealed in you and me.  This is how we are the Church and as the Church how we express Him, Whose body we are.  “When the Holy Spirit shall come, He will take of mine and shew it to You.  The Holy Spirit takes Jesus Christ and reveals Him in our hearts in His death, burial, and resurrection.  Glory to God.  

The Church which is His Body II

This is the second sharing in the series of the Church which is His Body.  In Exodus God delivered Israel to Bring them out of bondage to a land flowing with milk and honey.  He brought them to himself.  Over and over again He said He was bringing this people to himself.
Exodus 19:4-6 “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.
In John's Gospel Jesus said,  "I will come again and receive you unto myself."  Later in the same Chapter He said "At that day you will know I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you."  Through His death, burial, and resurrection Jesus has brought a people out of Egypt and to Himself.  He is our promised land.  Glory to God.

The Church which is His Body

The Kingdom of God has Come Unto You II

The Kingdom of God Has Come Unto You II
How often do we associate the Kingdom of God with our own minds?  Our own wills?  Our own thoughts? Our own state of being? In the story of the demon possessed man in Matthew 12, who was blind and mute, the Kingdom of God coming to Him released him from the bondages of darkness, being possessed of the demon and being blind and mute.  The scriptures declares the man spoke and saw when Jesus healed him.   The man came to an entirely different state of being.  The Kingdom of God had come unto him, and changed his being!
Matthew 12:22-31 “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. 25 And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 31 Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”
Do we consider that the Kingdom of God is personal to us, as well as corporate?  Jesus reigns over His Kingdom!  The reality is His Kingdom is not just a piece of real estate in the Middle East, but a people who are gathered unto Him.  In Colossians 1:13 the Bible declares that God has translated us from the kingdom of darkness (where the blind and mute man was held), to the Kingdom of God’s dear Son.  This is not a futuristic Kingdom, but one in which God’s Life and purposes reign inside of a people.  It is a Kingdom where the motivation of the hearts is from God rather than from man.  God has dominion in your person.  
In the Book of Romans 5:17 the Word declares, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”  Hear what is being said!  These are Kingdom words.  You shall reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.  This is a reigning over darkness in His Life, to be experienced in our hearts and minds, and to be manifested through our flesh or earthly bodies.  
We have been released like the bound man in Matthew 12, and translated into God’s Kingdom.  Now for Christ Jesus to rule within us!  No longer darkness, but we have the Light of His Life.  Yes, His Life rules in us!  That is the Life we reign in, His Life.  Glory to God in the Highest!

The Kingdom of God has Come Unto You

The Kingdom Has Come Unto You
For some weeks we have been looking at As it is in Heaven.  “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”  In Matthew 12, Jesus makes a statement that if He cast out devils by the Spirit of God then the Kingdom of God has come unto you.  Here the Jews were accusing Him of casting out devils through Beelzebub.  Jesus declares a Kingdom divided cannot stand.  
Matthew 12:22-31 “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon, blind and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the dumb man spake and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this be the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. 25 And knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 and if Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. 28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. 31 Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”
Now look at this closely.  Unless the strong man is bound, his house cannot be spoiled.  Jesus bound the strong man!  How did He do it?  He entered into His house.  “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”  Jesus became man.  He entered the strong man’s house, and bound Him at the cross, crucified him, and put him away.    He utterly spoiled the strong man’s goods.  
You and I are no longer bound by Satan.  We are no longer bound in Adam.  Christ is our life.  We live in Him.  The strong man who bound us from God has been destroyed and put under the feet of Christ.  We are in Him.  His finished work has been applied to us and is being revealed in our hearts that we live in His fullness.  Glory to God!