Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

Grace - Grace Defined Introduction

Grace Defined 
What is the Grace of God and how do we define it?  Strong’s defines grace as "Graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act (abstract or concrete; literal, figurative or spiritual; especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude)".  Some may like this definition some may not.  I do as it deals with the divine influence on the heart and the reflection of that influence in the life.  I believe that is a good definition as far as a book definition.  However, let’s look at what the scripture says regarding grace and what it is.
 
Ephesians 2:4-9  “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” 
 
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Grace is the gift of God.  Where do we find God’s gift in the scripture.  There are actually two places that comes to mind as I write this.  John 3:16 and Galatians 3:14.  I am going to concentrate on John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  What I want us to see here is that God gave.  Here is the gift of God, packaged in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is where Grace is found and defined.  It is defined in Truth.  Any other grace outside of Christ is not grace at all but just rubbish.
 
There are many declaring that Jesus just came from heaven to show you how God thought of you.  In this statement there may be a truth, but to understand this truth it is only comprehend by Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  If I see myself without the cross, I am a man undone with unclean lips and in an unholy land.  I am as David declared, “conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity.”  Many are declaring a grace that approves the natural man.  This I believe is not grace at all but deception. 
 
God loved and He gave His Son.  In this statement the fullness of Grace may be seen.  In the giving of His Son, you have the death of the cross which is attributed to us.  You also have the resurrection of the dead, which also is attributed to us.  The death side releases us where we were held in bondage and sin in the old man.  The resurrection side brings us into New Life, the New Man who is Christ Jesus the Lord.  By Grace we are saved.  We are saved by His Life in us.  Christ in you is your salvation.  Now He is the divine influence that is upon the heart, literally.  Hallelujah!  This is Grace, Christ in you and you in Christ.
 

The Revelation Series - Two-Edged Sword V

Two-Edged Sword V
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
 
For the last few months we have been looking at the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks, declared of John in the Book of Revelation.  Out of His mouth issues a sharp two-edges sword.  The Book of Hebrews declares the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and Spirit.  This is where we have been concerning ourselves.
 
In the Book of Colossians 2:11, Paul writes, “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.  Does this actually mean our physical flesh body has been removed from us?  We know the answer to that, as we are all moving around in a flesh body in the earth.  So, what does Paul mean in the operation of circumcision here described?
 
To understand this, I suggest we look at the Book of Romans.  In Chapter 6, Paul writes do we not know that we have been baptized into the death of Jesus Christ?  He says we are buried with Christ in Baptism to walk in newness of life.  Paul writes, our old man has been crucified with Christ that we should not serve sin.  Here in the Book of Romans is the description of the removal of the body of flesh.  This is the work of the cross which you and as believers are partakers of.  This is the work of the Sword of the Spirit, removing the old man that the NEW MAN would come forth.  This is the work the Holy Spirit is revealing in our hearts. 
 
You and I all were born in sin and shaped in iniquity through the natural birth, as the Psalmist cries in Psalm 51.  Every man born of woman comes forth in this order.  Every seed brings forth of its own kind.  The seed of man brings forth after Adam.  Through one man’s disobedience sin and death came upon all men.  We all lived in this man and were the embodiment of Him.  As the embodiment of Adam, or the natural man, we did not know God.  We did not know life.  We were filled with the soul or natural life.  Our minds and hearts were filled with that which is of the flesh.  That was all we really knew.  The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 2, that the spirit of man knows the things of man.  He did not know God.  This is the soulish life, the things of man. 
 
The cross of Jesus Christ is our solution to know not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  It is our solution to come to the knowledge of the Lord.  Through His cross we are circumcised.  The circumcision is the removal of the flesh, or embodiment of the man of sin that was upon our heart.  In the place of this man, the man of flesh and death, we are NOW being filled with the man of Spirit and Life.  This is the circumcision, the removal of the old man from our hearts and minds and being filled with the New Man who is Christ. 
 
In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul writes that the first man was made a living soul and is of the earth, earthy.  He is the embodiment of the earth and that pertains to that realm.  He writes the second man is the Lord from heaven and is a life-giving Spirit.  This life-giving Spirit is the destination of you and me.  We embodied the earth man in ourselves.  We are to embody the Heavenly Man, who is Christ.  This embodiment is right here right now as we know Him.  As we have known the man of the flesh, we manifested Him, because we embodied Him.  Now that man has been removed through the work of Jesus Christ that we may bear forth the fruit of another man. 
 
Our soul, mind, and inner man must come to the awareness of this New Man.  Christ must be revealed in our hearts that we bear Him.  We are made knew to be the embodiment of Jesus Christ.  “Now you are the Body of Christ and members in particular.”  These words that Paul wrote are not just to be ink on a page, but words written in our hearts, our core, to bear about in our bodies the reality of Jesus Christ who we contain within.  Glory to God in the Highest.  Our salvation has come, the crucifixion of the first and the life of the second! Glory to God!

The Revelation Series - Two-Edged Sword IV

Two-Edged Sword IV
Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 
Out of His mouth proceeds the sharp two-edged sword which is the Word of God.  In the Book of Hebrews, the writer says that the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.  This has caught my attention.  Why is this placed in Hebrews 4:12?   It does not seem to go with the scriptures before it.  Rather it appears to be just put in here.  However, we should now that nothing that has come through the Spirit of God is perchance. 
Hebrews 4:11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the hear. 
In Chapters 3 and 4 leading up to this statement, “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit,” the writer is dealing with the rest promised to Israel and today if we hear His voice we can enter into rest by hearing and receiving His Voice.   In the days of Israel’s’ disobedience, they refused to hear and receive what God had said, so they did not enter the rest God had promised them.  Instead they wondered 40 years in the wilderness.  That generation passed and Joshua rose up to lead the new generation into the promises of God. 
When I go back and read of this story, I find it in the first five books of Joshua.  This is the account of the Israelites crossing the Jordan and coming in the promise land.  There are several pictures to get a hold of in this story that are speaking of the reality we have in Christ.  I want to draw our minds to the fact that they did not just come up to the Jordan and cross over they crossed over a VERY SPECIFIC WAY.  They crossed in view of the Priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant of JEHOVAH (Joshua 2:3).   
Above this ark was the place where God met with the Israelites (Exodus 25:22).  This ark contained the Word of the Covenant, the Word of God, and was the place where God’s presence abided in the Tabernacle of Moses.  It was the place of atonement for the sins of Israel.  The place of God’s rest.  What picture does it declare other than the Lord Jesus Christ, himself?   He came filled with God’s word.  God’s presence abided upon Him. He was the atonement for our sins.  This is the view we must have to cross over from the wilderness into the rest of God.  We must view the Lord Jesus Christ, our ark of the Covenant of the LORD, and cross over into God’s glorious life. 
Now the second picture I want to bring to our minds is after they crossed the Jordan they came to Gilgal.  This is in Joshua Chapter 5.  Here they were circumcised. This circumcision in the flesh speaks of the sharp two-edged sword diving soul and spirit.  Why did God give a covenant of circumcision to Abraham?  This was circumcision of the flesh to the male child.  Circumcision was to the most intimate part of the natural man.  Why was that?  It was speaking of the heart.  The heart, core, mind, and center of man had to be circumcised.  This was fulfilled through the living two-edged sword, the WORD of GOD, Jesus Christ Himself.
Colossians 2:10-13 “10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.”
Here the body or covering of the flesh is removed, the flesh that is upon our hearts.  This is the first man.  The Adamic man is removed in the circumcision of Christ, and the New Man who is a life-giving Spirit comes forth (I Corinthians 15:35-49).  We come forth in Him, the life-giving Spirit, who is the Lord from heaven.  Our hearts are moved from the covering of flesh, the soul man, to being covered of Spirit, the heavenly man.  Paul writes that this heavenly man is the Lord from heaven.  Here is where our change comes, in the twinkle of an eye.  We are quickened, raised, and made alive in this New Man, who is Christ Jesus our Lord.  Glory to God in the Highest!

The Revelation Series - Two-Edged Sword III

Two-Edged Sword III
John 6:53-63 “It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life.”
Out of His mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword, John writes in Revelation 1:16.  This two-edged sword is the Word of God.  This two-edged sword is Spirit and Life.  When we say it is the Word of God, does it simply mean it is the written word?  Does it mean it is the words of the Law of Moses?  What do we actually mean?  Maybe all the above but fulfilled and brought to life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
What I mean by this is He makes the Word alive.  For example the prophet Joel writes, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered:”  While this was written in Joel’s time it was not in force until after Jesus raised from the dead.  He made it alive.  What was in the Book become personalized in the Person of Jesus Christ, and through His resurrection from the dead is made alive in the Spirit.
Jesus made the comment many times that Whosoever believes in me shall be saved, not perish, shall have the Spirit coming from their inner being, etc.  Jesus said these things, and they are recorded in John’s Gospel.  Now through the Spirit they are made alive.  We can receive them, experience them, and even give them.  We can go to our neighbor next door and declare that Whosoever calls on the name of Jesus Christ shall be saved.  Our neighbor can receive this word, believer and take it into their heart, and it is so.  Why is that, because it is Spirit and Life.  The Word we declare from the truth of Christ, as He is made real in us, is filled with His Spirit and Life. 
I believe that is what John saw in Revelation Chapter 1; the Son of Man in the Church, with the two-edged sword coming out of His Mouth declaring the Word of God in the Church.  I believe this is the first order by the Spirit of God, the Word revealed in us by the Holy Spirit.  “Hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches.”  Then as He is revealed, He is declared through the Church.  “The Spirit and the Bride say come.” 
This is exciting!  We can hear and know the Word of God, Christ Jesus the Lord, through the Spirit.  Then we can declare Him.  We can declare Him from a position of knowing, of having seen and experienced this Living Word in our hearts.  This is ongoing in our walk in the Lord.  We hear and see Him in our hearts by the Spirit.  We handle the Word of God as John says in His Epistle and we make known this Word of Life that we are handling.  Glory to God.
 
 

The Revelation Series - Two-Edged Sword II

In the appearance of the Son of Man the Apostle John writes.  Revelations 1:16  “And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”  To bring this into context the two-edged sword coming out of His mouth was in the seven golden candlesticks.   In other words, the word of God that is sharper than any two-edged sword was and is in the church.  John saw the Son of Man IN the candlesticks, the seven churches. 
 
Here in the church is where the Word of God is taking affect.  Here is where the Word of God is being spoken and ministered.  First from Him who is in us, and then from Him through us.  We are to sit at His feet and hear Him speak, as Mary did in the gospels when her sister Martha was busy with everything around (Luke 10:39).  I believe we can find a picture of the Church in Mary and Martha.  Both, we could say loved Jesus, but Mary chose that important thing.  She SAT and HEARD His Word.  We need to sit and Hear His word.  Be still, be silent and HEAR HIM!
 
In John’s gospel, it is declared that Jesus said to the Jews that they had not God’s word abiding in them because whom he had sent, they did not believe.  Read John 5:37-47.   God had said through Moses in the Books of Moses, particularly in Deuteronomy that Israel was to cherish His word.  Read Deuteronomy Chapter 6:1-10. They were to take it wear it, put it on their doorposts.  It was to be forever in their mind and if so, God would lavishly bless them.
 
The picture of Jerusalem when Jesus came froth was one of captivity not lavish blessings from God.  The Jews were in Roman captivity.  They were not following the teaching of Moses.  As Jesus said if they believed Moses, they would believe Him.  He declared Moses wrote of Him.  I believe the entirety of Moses speaks of Christ.  The work God did in bringing Israel from the slavery and bondage of Egypt to their entrance into Canaan flowing with milk and honey speaks of Christ.  Jesus has brought us from the Old Man, Adam, to dwelling in the presence of God, where out of us flows rivers of living water.  We are lavishly blessed as we abide in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
With that said, Moses declared God would raise up a prophet and Him they would be required the hear or hearken to (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).  The word hearken here means to hear intelligently with implication of attention, obedience.  Israel was required to hear and act on the WORDS of Jesus.  His words are the WORDS OF LIFE.  “The words I speak to you are Spirit and they are life.”  Jesus declared that “Now is the time when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live.” 
 
This word hear in John 5:25 carries the same weight as hearken. They and we are to hear and receive His word to come to life.  In the definition of this word is comprehension.  It is not simply hearing what is said in a passive way.  It is dealing with those that hear and comprehend, attend to what He said.  This attend to is acting upon the word.  Eating it, receiving it in your heart and you come to life.  This is the very action of our salvation, we EAT HIS WORD, and come to HIS LIFE.  Glory to God.
The Jews were to eat this word.  It was required of them.  It is required of us. HIS WORDS ARE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.  No other will suffice.  Glory to God!
 

Beware that you be not spoiled of man

Beware that you be not spoiled of man
Colossians 2:6-10 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:” 
 
This teaching is from one of our Tuesday night meetings.  Here we are looking at Colossians 2.  The Apostle Paul is declaring to the Colossians that all fullness is in Christ.  As you have received Him, walk in Him.  Rooted, built, abounding in Christ Jesus.  In Him is the fullness of the Godhead bodily.  In Him is your completion.  This is such a beautiful set of scripture.  In Him is the fullness and in His fullness we are complete. 
 
I believe the vision of the Son of Man in the Book of Revelation Chapter 1 is a picture of the fullness of Christ Jesus in the Church.  Here is where we are to abound.  Here is where we are to grow, in the knowledge of Christ. In Him we have come to God’s fullness.  In Him we have come to our perfection and completion.  Let us abound in Him.
 
In the midst of Paul’s presentation to the Colossians of the believer being in Christ’s fullness he puts out a warning.  “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”  Here I am concerned is where many believer’s walk, after the traditions of man and not after Christ.  I believe this is evident even in much of our speech, as we typically declare to one another I am a Pentecostal, or a Baptist, or a Kingdom preacher.  We have, without meaning to, divided the Body of Christ.  Paul told the Corinthians they were carnal and walked as men because of this very thing. (I Corinthians 3:3)
 
In Galatians 1, the Apostle Paul writes and tells the believers he is astonished with them.  His astonishment is that they have moved away from Christ to finding perfection and completion in the law.  This I am afraid is one of the strongest bonds that is upon Christians today.  They come and receive Christ who frees us from the law, and then are immediately preached back up under its bonds. 
 
Anything but Christ spoils us.  The word spoil in Colossians 2 is defined as to carry off as booty or prey.  I can see in my mind a pirate coming in and gaining booty from his conquest.  We become the spoil anytime we are moved from the truth that is in Christ.  We need to be vigilant in the Word of the Lord to understand the truth that He, Jesus Christ, is.  Our hearts must always be turned to abound in Him.  Set our minds to His Revelation.  Set our thoughts to His course.  Let Him be Master, Savior and King.  Glory to God!
 

The Revelation Series - Two-Edged Sword

Two-Edged Sword 
Revelation 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 
 
Most Christians would believe that the description of the sword coming out of the mouth of the Lord is the word of God. As recorded in Matthew 4, Jesus said “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” We live through God’s word, which is in us. As we have made note of many times in our fellowship, Christ is in us. His indwelling presence is to be the reality in the hearts of the believer. We must hear the Word of the Living Christ of God, who dwells within us and be transformed by His power.
 
Speaking in regards to hearing His Word as recorded in John 14:10 Jesus said, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” Examining His words closely should cause us to consider common Christian belief. Many believe Jesus was down on the earth while the Father was far away in heaven. Jesus words bring a stark contrast to that belief. He said the Father in me does His works. He said to His disciples that they were to believe that He was in the Father as He was speaking to them and that His Father was working out of Him. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”
 
Now seeing that God was in Christ as Jesus said in verse 10. Let’s look at verse 3. Here Jesus says, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” In verse 10 Jesus tells us where He is. He is in the Father.  This is the place we must see that Jesus is declaring. Many have believed that Jesus was talking of some place far away that He must take us away too. I want to be clear He takes us away, but in an entirely different fashion. He does it through the cross.
 
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. He was speaking of a place in the Father’s house. His preparation for us was made at the cross. At the cross Jesus made a way for us in the Father’s House. He took the old man in His flesh and put him away, and brought us forth in a new creation to dwell IN the very presence of God. In John 14:20 Jesus said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Jesus is speaking of the day the Holy Spirit comes.  When the Spirit comes, we are to know that Jesus is IN the Father and we are IN Him and He is in us. This is the place He was coming to receive us unto, IN Christ!
 
“Now we are no more strangers, but we are of the household of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians 2. Paul goes on to say that we are here in God’s household and are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. This foundation is Christ in us. Here we are built for a habitation of God by His Spirit. This is where Jesus brought us to. This is the way He made, and this is what His WORD declares. Glory to God!
 
 
 

The Revelation Series - Hair White as Wool II

Hair White as Wool II 
In our continual pursuit of Christ Jesus our Lord, we are looking at His Hair White as Wool, as John describes in Revelation 1.  Proverbs 20:29 “The glory of young men is their strength; and the splendor of elders is their gray hair.”  The grey or white hair is said to be the splendor of the elder man.  This word splendor speaks of beauty and majesty.  Throughout scripture, God’s majesty and splendor is declared.  Here in Revelation 1 we see Christ Jesus in the majesty of God, or we see the majesty of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Him dwells all fullness.  When we turn to see Him, we are turning toward the fullness of God.  Paul writes that it pleased the Father that in Christ would all fullness dwell, or all His divine essence, Colossians 1:19.  In Colossians 2:9 Paul writes that the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in Christ.   In Christ we find all the glory, splendor and majesty of God that has been declared throughout scripture.  Here in Christ this glory and majesty we read about becomes real to us.  We are in Christ. 
In the Old Covenant God’s glory, honor and majesty was on display outwardly.  He showed His deliverance and power as the Egyptians (horse and riders) were cast into the sea.  He showed His brilliance as Mount Sinai burned with fire and smoke.  His Glory filled the Tabernacle and Temple in a Cloud and a Fire.  The Israelites could physically see what God did, but could not touch it, or know it.  They could not partake of His essence, His substance.  They could just look at it outwardly and try to live in accordance to His law.    
We have come to a new Mountain (Hebrews 12) that can be touched.  We have come to the heavenly Jerusalem, Mount Zion.  We have come to a place where his work can be touched.  Not only is the Old Man crucified, horse and rider cast into the sea, but the old man can be put out of our hearts as we know Christ.  Our consciousness is in a process of change as Christ is revealed.  This mountain can be touched in our inner most being.  We can be filled to the fullness of Him.
Consider that our conscience or sense of being can come to the awareness of Christ as our life.  We can come to this.  We can comprehend this.  People say to me, but we can’t because we are in the flesh, and the answer is yes, we can.  It is not through our ability to come to the awareness of Christ.  It is through Him that lives within us.  It is not by our might, nor by our power, but by His Spirit.  It is through the Spirit of God revealing the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in me, in my heart.  May we see the splendor and fullness of our Life, who is Christ Jesus our Lord!