Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Revelation Series - Clothed with a Garment Down to His Feet III

Clothed with a Garment down to His Feet III
As we look into the Book of Revelation let us turn our hearts to the encounter of the Person of the Book, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Often, I believe we want to simply understand what the Book means and not come to the encounter of Him.  This is so impressed in my heart that we encounter Christ.  This is what John saw when He TURNED to SEE the VOICE, He saw the encounter of ONE in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.  In the seven golden candlesticks, the seven churches of Asia, is the Son of Man clothed with a garment down to His feet, with a golden girdle around His chest.  His hair is white as wool.  His feet as burning brass.  His eyes as a flaming fire.  A countenance bright as the sun, and a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. 
I believe every aspect of His description is to be encountered by the Church.  This was not only for the seven churches that was in Asia, but for the church as a whole.  This is an ongoing encounter of Him that we have as His body.  And it is this encounter that we become the Minister’s of.  We are not minister’s simply of the written word, but of the Person of the Word, who we encounter in our walk with God. This is my heart as a Minister of the Gospel, to bring a people to the encounter of Jesus Christ.  Yes, I want to understand the Bible, every word of it, but not just be a great teacher or theologian, I want to be a minister of the Encounter of Him!
The Apostle Peter writes we are built up a spiritual house, a Holy Priesthood.  This word holy means sacred, consecrated, or pure.  Notice the church is called a priesthood.  As we explore this, we have to explore Him.  In Hebrews 7, the Bible declares that Jesus is a Priest after the order of Melchizedek, or the order of an endless life.  This Chapter declares this Priesthood has been changed from the order of Aaron or the Old Covenant Priesthood.  It also declares that if the Priesthood was changed it was necessary for the law to have been changed as well.  Now as we are called a Holy Priesthood, the Holy Priesthood is after the order of Christ.
This Priesthood ministers a better hope where we come into the presence of God and live.  Hebrews 7:19 “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.”  In this Hope that is ministered by our High Priest we find perfection or wholeness.  The law could never bring us there, but this better hope in Christ does.  “You are complete in Him.”  Hebrews 10 declares one sacrifice perfected those who are sanctified.  We are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Christ.
We as a Holy Priesthood come to an understanding of His work and are clothed upon of His work to minister the completion of His work to His Body the church.  We offer up spiritual sacrifices through the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, through the understanding of His finished work and not through the Old Covenant.  In Christ the Priesthood has changed and we are ministering from an understanding that brings His people into perfection and wholeness.  The Law never could do this.  It could only point to the presence of God, where the perfection or completing is at, but could never allow entrance.
Through the law and the Levitical Priesthood was continual remembrance of sins.  This I am afraid is sounded in Christian gatherings every week, the continual remembrance of sins.  There is a persistent declaration of a people who have not yet come to completion.  However, this is not true.  The Priesthood of Christ brings many sons to glory, and is declaring perfection, the perfection He brought forth through His death, burial, and resurrection.  “You are a holy nation, a royal priesthood.”  A Priesthood of Him that is holy and sacred through the work He did!  Let us go out from the gate of the Old Covenant and Minister the work of Christ who was offered outside of the gate of the Law, who brought perfection and everlasting life to light!  Glory to God!

The Sower and the Seed - Brother Del Grimm

Mystery of the Kingdom
Brother Del Grimm is sharing in this teaching out of Mark 4 and the message of the Seed and the Kingdom.  There are major questions and answers given in Mark 4.  First, how does the Kingdom come?  How does this Kingdom increase?  Finally, how does the Kingdom fill the whole earth?  As we get into these questions and answers I want us to look closely at what Jesus says in verse 13.
Mar 4:13&14  “And he saith unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know all the parables? 14 The sower soweth the word.” 
Jesus says if you do not understand the parable of the Sower and the Seed how would you know all parables?  Considering this, we may say without understanding the SEED we cannot understand any of His parables. We cannot understand the Kingdom of God, or its increase.  Everything revolves around the SEED.  This is the issue in the parable, THE SEED that is sown!
The sower comes to sow a SEED.  While the idea of natural planting is in view, Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The SEED being sown is the WORD of God Himself.  “Unless a corn (seed) of wheat falls in the ground and dies it abides alone,” Jesus says in John.  In the parable of the sower Jesus is speaking of Himself.  The mystery of the Seed is Christ Jesus Himself. 
The Kingdom of God comes through the Seed (Christ) being sown in the hearts of man.   The increase of the 30, 60 and 100-fold is the increase of the Seed that is sown.  The mustard seed increasing to fill and become greater than all seeds in the earth is also speaking of Christ Himself.  Paul writes of Jesus in the Letter to the Ephesians that He ascended above all heavens to fill all things.  The end of all things that we have to deal with and come to is the fullness of the SEED that is sown. 
To consider the fullness of the SEED is beyond human comprehension.  The Seed is revealed only by the Spirit of God.  The Seed is planted by the Spirit, watered by the Spirit, and increased through being revealed by the Spirit.  It is the Seed who is Christ increasing in us.  He increases as He is revealed to fill us, His Kingdom, up with Himself.  This is the mystery that we have come to!  Glory to God.  May Christ Jesus be revealed and seen in every heart in which He dwells!
 

The Revelation Series - Clothed with a Garment dow to His Feet II

Clothed with a Garment down to His Feet
Last week I recommended a close look at John’s description of the Son of Man in Revelation Chapter 1, focusing on His garment down to His feet. Considering John’s vision of the Son of Man, the Old Testament Tabernacle comes into view. I believe the garment and golden girdle that Jesus is clothed with speaks of the High Priest Ministry. This is being shown in the seven golden candlesticks. We need to get a hold on this. We need to comprehend this. The Ministry of our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, is revealed in the candlesticks. I believe we could spend months looking at the Revelation of the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks. I believe this is overlooked often in the teaching of the Book of Revelation.
John sees Jesus Christ IN the seven golden candlesticks, being present in the Church. He is declared to be He that IS and was and is to come. In the churches John sees our Great High Priest. How we that are the church needs to see our Great High Priest and understand His Ministry. I am concerned that much of the time we still view the Ministry of the Old Covenant in our hearts. We still look at the type where there was a continual remembrance of sins made day by day and year by year. We do not see the greatness of our High Priest, and the salvation He Ministers.
The writer of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 8:1 “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”  This word such stood out to me as I read this text this past weekend. The word means truly this or of this sort and it denotes the character of the individual. We have SUCH a High Priest. In other words, our High Priest is of a different character and nature than that high priest of the Old Covenant. Our High Priest has a greater ministry and is the minister of a greater Tabernacle. Everything about our High Priest supersedes the old.
His Ministry does take away sins. His ministry does take away the conscious of sins. His Ministry does bring many Sons unto Glory.   The old priesthood could not. The old had a continual remembrance of the participants falling short of God’s glory. In fact, they could approach the Temple and have their offerings made before the LORD but never enter into the Glory that was veiled away just a short distance from them. What is sad is that many believers do not understand even now that the Glory of God is in them.   God doesn’t dwell in buildings made with hands. He dwells in the church which is His Body.
Christ is the Minister of this Tabernacle, the Church of the Living God. He is the Minister of this abode of God. This is where God has brought us through Christ, and this is the Ministry of Christ. He is the Minister of the true tabernacle made not of human hands. He is not the Minister of the types and shadows, but of the reality. Our hearts should cry, God reveal this Ministry and reality of Christ in me! Blessed by the name of the Living God!

The Revelation Series - Clothed with a Garment Down to His Feet

Clothed with a Garment down to His Feet
In John’s description of the Son of Man in Revelation Chapter 1, John declared that Jesus had on a garment down to the foot.  We should pay particular attention to every detail of John’s encounter of the Lord Jesus Christ?   I believe if we look closely, the High Priest shall come into view.  Just as we have seen in His feet of brass, the garment down to the foot is speaking from the Old Covenant Temple worship.  The priesthood and high priest of the Old Covenant wore specific garments for Ministry.  It is no coincidence that our High Priest should be clothed as well, but with a greater garment than them.
In Genesis 3, we read of Adam’s fall.  After the fall, God clothes Adam and Eve with garments of flesh.  I believe there is at a minimum a two-fold understanding coming from these garments.  First and foremost, the garments were a foreshadowing of the clothing of the offering of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We must be clothed upon with His offering to come into the presence of the Almighty.  However, viewing what happened to Adam in this encounter, after his clothing of flesh, he was banished from the garden of Eden.  He could not enter back in.  From Adam to Jesus, man could not enter into the presence of God.
Through Moses, God gave the law and set forth a requirement for a continual sacrifice that could never take away sin.  What does that mean, never take away sin?  Does that mean, man will never commit sins or bad acts?  This is something to delve into and consider before our God and Father.  What I want to suggest to you is that these sacrifices could never take away a conscious or awareness of sins.  Day after day, offerings were made.  Year after year the Day of Atonement came and went.  Still there remained for those who came a conscious of sins, and an inability to enter into the presence of the Almighty who was in their midst, but still hid from their view. 
What we have come to in the New Covenant, and the clothing Christ is clothed in is MUCH BETTER.  It far EXCEEDS the offerings of the Old.  His sacrifice takes away from our hearts and minds the conscious of sins.  “Thy sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”  They have been cast upon Jesus and are ever forgiven.  Now rather than having a conscious of the Law of Moses that can never take away sin we need to come to a consciousness or awareness of Christ and be clothed upon with Him. 
Wow, CLOTHED IN CHRIST JESUS!    This is an awareness of His work.  This is a consciousness of Him.  He took us from sin in Adam which produced death and brought us into Life in Himself.  We are raised from the dead (Adamic man), and brought into the spiritual man.  This is an internal comprehension of His work.  Notice this.  He brought us from the awareness of Adam and the sin that led to death to the awareness of Christ and the obedience that leads to life.  Believe me, this is a better Covenant.  This is a BETTER COVERING, covered in Him!
 

Eden - The Garden of God

Eden - The Garden of God
Genesis 2:7-9  And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward in Eden. And there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food. The tree of life also was in the middle of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became four heads. 
Notice above that the LORD God planted a garden in Eden.  He placed the man in the garden His hands had made.  He gave the man orders to keep what He, God had done.  This is what I want us to see.  God planted the garden, and God placed the man into His work that He had finished, and he commanded the man to keep God’s work.  Of course, we know in this story that Adam did not keep it, and that sin came through Adam and passed upon all of mankind. 
Many people have asked where death, sickness and disease come from.  God cursed the earth.  Adam’s body was formed of the earth.  Adam was robed in the cursed earth.  Not only did the physical earth bring forth thorns and thistles, but the cursed earth that was wrapped around man as his body was bringing forth of the realm of death.  In fact, God told the serpent that he would eat of the dust of the earth.  We conclude here that the earth, which included the bodies of mankind was cursed.
Now to move forward.  Adam is removed from this garden and cast out into the earth.  In the nation of Israel God again brings a people into a garden.  He calls Israel His garden, His vineyard.  In Exodus it is recorded that He said he would bring them in and plant them in the land He had made to dwell in (Exodus 15:17).  In Isaiah God calls Israel His vineyard.  A vineyard is a planting or a garden.  Of course, this vineyard gets in trouble for not bringing forth the expected fruit.  In Joel the prophet writes that the land before the devourer is like Eden (Garden of God) and behind is like a desolate wilderness, again speaking of Israel. 
God had taken this people to himself.  He had gathered them out of Egypt by His own strength.  He had led them, fed them, and clothed them.  In fact, He had told the to just be obedient to His word, and they would be blessed coming and going.  If you take a close look at the Jehovah names in scripture you will see that God is revealing himself as all aspects of a Provider.  He is a Shepherd, a healer, a banner and so forth.  Israel was surrounded with God’s goodness and was again told to keep it.  Just like Adam in the beginning they did not and were banished from their land where God was the complete source.
Now as we look at this what does it all mean?  Jesus said to the Jews (John 5) that they search the scripture and think they have life through them.  However, the scripture was a testimony of Christ himself.  Could it be that the great Garden of God, Eden, where the man was placed in the beginning was a testimony of Christ?  I would say yes.  He is the SEED that had to be planted into the earth to bring forth life (John 12:24).  He is the SEED that had to die, and be formed in the earth, and bring forth the true fruit of God.
IN John 15 Jesus declares that He is the True Vine.  Jesus Christ is the true planting of God.  All other plantings were a testimony of Him.  We that are His are planted into Him, into His death, in order that through us His life would come forth.  Just like the picture in the Garden of Eden all of the source is through God.  We simply have to keep or abide in what God has done.  As God reveals this glorious WORD in us, we receive it and we abide in it.  We keep it.  As Jesus is revealed as our redeemer, we keep it.  We couldn’t redeem ourselves.  As He is revealed as our provider, we keep it, because we couldn’t provide the necessary garments to abide in the presence of God.  We keep all things that are revealed and shown to us in Christ.
The Apostle Paul declared to the believers in Corinth that they were God’s husbandry or farm.  Here is where the true planting of the LORD is done.  Christ is planted in man’s hearts to bring forth in man the fruit of God.  In His planting the Old carnal man is done away, and what springs forth comes from God.  In this garden again is a river.  However, this is the most powerful and glorious river there is.  It is the River of the Water of life. Jesus said, out of your belly’s or innermost being shall flow rivers of life.  Flowing through this garden is the Spirt of Life and the glorious river is bringing forth life wherever it goes.  In Genesis the river was parted into 4 heads.  I believe if we study the scripture, we will see that 4 signifies the whole.  Israel was in 4 groups, there are 4 winds (N,S,E,W).  The scripture speaks of 4 corners.  The brazen altar had 4 horns.  This water of life flows out to the 4 corners or to the entire earth from this garden, who are the people of God, that have been planted in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I hope you enjoy this sharing.  It is short and was taken from one of our Saturday meetings where we gather and sit around a table.  This atmosphere allows us to freely share the water, the bread, and the substance of Christ Jesus with one another.  Pastor Henry Stanley began this many years ago in his home.  It is a glorious time of breaking bread and strengthening the brethren.  Praise God!
 

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass V

The Revelation Series – The Feet of Brass V
 In the Book of Revelation Chapter 1 the appearing of the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks must capture our minds.  I am concerned that as many have approached this Book this passed right over their heads.  John saw the Son of Man in the golden candlesticks.  Many approaches the Book with a pre-conceived idea of what the Book is about.  The start of the Book should be the greatest hint, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.”  This is what must capture our hearts.  The heart of the Book is the revealing of Him.  Maybe we should consider it as the removal of the Old Covenant that came forth through Moses and the establishment of the new that was sealed in the Blood of Jesus Christ Himself. Maybe this is what John is seeing unfold in his day, an Old Covenant being removed and a new glorious day coming forth.
When John sees Him, John falls at His feet as dead.  This is significant.  John describes His feet as if they were bass burning in a fire.  As I have shared in the prior messages on His brass feet, the brass of the Old Testament Tabernacle was speaking of Him and His death.  It was the altar with the fire that never goes out speaking of His eternal offering of Christ.  In fact, all of the perpetual or continual offerings and works of the Levitical Priesthood were speaking of the eternal work of Christ.  The Old Covenant was the picture and the type of what is real in Christ Jesus.   In Him, this fire of understanding never goes out.  What His feet speak of is eternal with no end.  Here at the altar of the sacrifice sin was put to death.
Jesus died to sin.  Unlike Adam, JESUS did not die in sin. This makes Paul’s statements take on grandiose meaning.  Paul declares to the Romans as one man died and sin came through one man, MUCH MORE grace has surpassed what sin did to mankind.  In Romans 5:20 of the Kings James Version, the scripture reads, “Moreover the law entered that the offence might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  This word much more means to abound beyond measure, super exceed.  To understand this, I must understand Christ.  He supersedes all that happened in Adam.  He supersedes sin.  He reigns over sin.  When He died, we that have received Him died with Him (Romans Chapter 6). Glory to God!
The statemen by grace we are saved takes on a new meaning when we see His death.  Through His death, my prison of death was annulled.  Through His death, me being bound to sin was no more.  Through His death the chains of sin cannot abound.  As Paul declares to the Romans, when Jesus died our old man died, that we would be married to another, who is Christ.  This is so POWERFUL, and goes back to Adam and Even in the garden.  When sin abounded and he curse came, Eve was told by God that the man would rule over the woman.  Hear this by the Spirit.  The man is to rule over the woman.  Christ is our Head.  We have been married to another.  He rules over us. 
In this union we are joined to Him.  His victory is our victory.   His dominion is our dominion.  “As He is so are we.”  We have been married to another.  He has rule over us, not sin, nor the devil!  Glory to God!  Hallelujah!  He is our victory!  He is our Life!

The Revelation Series - His Feet of Brass IV

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass IV
 This is the fourth teaching I have done on the feet of Brass of the Son of Man in the seven golden candlesticks.  Again, I want to point out that John sees Him IN the seven golden candlesticks or the seven churches of Asia.  I also want to point out that the churches are the believers that are gathered in the seven cities.  The appearing of Christ in these churches is very specific. 
To understand the feet of bass as if they burned in a fire, we need to search the scripture to see Him.  Our focus in the written Word of God should be to see Jesus.  He is the answer period.  As we have seen before, brass is seen throughout the Old Testament Tabernacle and Temple.  Brass is specifically related to the Altar of Sacrifice and the Laver of Washing.  Here in this altar we see God’s judgement of sin.  Here at the altar sin was laid upon the sacrifice.  As an Israelite approached the house, he would bring the burnt offering to the Lord and lay his hands upon it, signifying the transference of his sins to the sacrifice.
We who have received Christ Jesus as our sacrifice have also laid our hands on the sacrifice, transferring our sin to His power over sin.  He took our sin and He paid for all of its penalties.  He is the answer for sin.  Your sin, my sin, and all sin. 
In John 3 Jesus says as the Moses lifted up a serpent on a pole the Son of Man must be lifted up that whoever believes on Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  In Numbers 21 there is a story of the Israelites travels where they had begun to complain of God and walk in unbelief.  The consequence was serpents in the midst.  These serpents begin to bite them, and the Israelites began to die.  As they turned and cried to the Lord, Moses was instructed of God to put a brass serpent on a pole.  Whoever looked upon this serpent would live from the serpent’s bite.  You could say that by looking at the brass serpent lifted up from the ground, there was no power in the bite of poisonous snakes on the ground. 
In Paul’s writings He presents Jesus as who the Brass Serpent on the pole symbolized.  Jesus, who took the sting and power of sin away.  As we turn to Him, we see His judgement of Sin.  In this judgement, Jesus, did not sin, but died for sin.  Jesus, who did not know the nature of sin, being tempted as we are, died to sin.  Here was the defeat of sin. Jesus overcame sins power in the body of His flesh, and judged sin on the cross by taking the man of sin in the body of His flesh to death.  Yes, He judged sin dead or inoperative.  It has no power on us who turn to Jesus.  In fact, Paul writes that we are made dead to sin in Christ’s death.  I don’t know that any have fully heard this. 
“He that is dead is freed from sin.”  Sin’s power, none effect.  Sin’s strength, no ability.  Sin’s death, never again.  Through Jesus we are made free from all of its bite.  We are made free to live unto God in the Heavenly Kingdom He has provided, shielding us from all the works of the devil.  Never again do we have to be subject to sin, but can walk in the power of God, who overcame all things through the death of the cross!!  Glory to God!

The Revelation Series - The Feet of Brass III

The Book of Revelation - His Feet of Brass III
The Brazen Altar was the first piece of furniture in the Israelites approach as they entered the gate into the Temple courts. If you consider Psalms 100:4 in relationship to the altar it may be eye opening.  “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my mouth.”  I will enter His courts with praise.”  As an Israelite in the Old Covenant, once you entered the gate you would be face to face with the Priesthood and the Brazen Altar.  Here at this altar would be as far as you could go.  God would remain hidden within the Temple that you could see but not enter into.  You could see His mighty works.  You could see the cloud of His presence, but you could not access it.  There was a continual remembrance of sin.  There was a continual remembrance that you did not stack up or meet the requirement. 
 Now through our Lord Jesus Christ, we have access.  This alone should cause believers to shout for joy.  We have access into the divine presence of God through the offering of the body of our Lord Jesus and His resurrection from the dead.  Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by me.”  For just a moment think of this in relationship to the Temple.  The offering the Israelite's came to could not give them access to the Temple of God and the presence of the Lord.  They could see the building that Housed the presence of God, but they could not access it.
I am certain they may have imagined what His presence was like.  Maybe they even asked a friend who was a priest what it was like serving in the Temple.  However, even the priests could not access the Person and Glory behind the veil.  Consider closely what Jesus says.  I am the way.  I am the access to the Father.  Through the power of my offering you can enter all the way into that which was veiled away and access the very presence of God.  Not only do we now access the building, the Apostle Paul writes we are the building built upon the foundation stone of Jesus Christ.
Now this glorious offering removed stains of guilt, sin, and shame that we can reside in the presence of God.  Our very conscious of sin is taken away.  Isaiah says he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.  Jesus was described as a man of grief and sorrow.  The sorrow and sin and decay of mankind was what He carried in the Body of His Flesh, and He crucified it, freeing us from its bondages.  We are now free to enter into the presence of God.  We are now free to live and abide in Christ Jesus our Lord.  We are now free to be called Sons of God.  What an access this ONE OFFERING has made.
We should set our hearts to understand this ONE OFFERING for sin.  We should set our hearts to know Him in His fullness.  We should know Him from the glory of creation to His humanity and to His exaltation.  We should know His depths, His heights, His Glory.  I pray you enjoy!