Life in Christ Jesus Podcast

The Kingdom of God X - No Condemnation

Jesus destroyed him that had the power of death, the devil.
Hebrews 2:14-15  “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” 
Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming the curse for us.
Galatians 3:10-14  “For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them. 11 Now that no man is justified by the law before God, is evident: for, The righteous shall live by faith; 12 and the law is not of faith; but, He that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 that upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” 
Reading these two passages of scriptures alone would suggest that the believers should take a long look at the work of the cross and their Victory they already have in Jesus!  Jesus is victorious over death, hell, and the grave.  What applies to Jesus already applies to the believer as we are made one with Him in His death and raised with Him in His resurrection.  This is the absolute key to spiritual life, being made one – a sharer of what Jesus has already done!  This is what GRACE really is – the unearned favor of what Jesus has done applied to you and me and the results that Grace brings forth in the believers’ lives!
How do we get this unmerited favor?  We believe unto Him and gain access into this Grace through faith in Christ Jesus!  We access His work, not our own works.  His work is our GREAT SALVATION that is being revealed in this last time.  This last time is HIS TIME.  We have come to His Time, or His Day!  Glory to God!  What we see here is through Him, seeing His work as it is revealed in our hearts and minds by His Holy Spirit!  Glory to God!
NOW here in the Spirit there is no condemnation to the believers!!!  God has taken what He completed in Christ and brought it into the Spirit and He applies that to you and me through the Revealing of Jesus Christ within us!
Romans 8:1-9  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 
6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Think on this.  No condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.  Why then do we so often think we are condemned or not justified by God?  Why? Because we walk by the flesh or the carnal mind.  Romans 5 says death passed upon all men, speaking of when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Romans 8 says death is the carnal mind, or the mind of the flesh.  So, the carnal mind passed upon all mankind!
 Jesus already condemned or judged our sin in the flesh.  He took our sins and brought them to death, the death of His cross.  Glory to God.  He then was raised for our justification, raised out from the dead in sin.  However, we do not see this most of the time.  We look toward our flesh or walk toward the flesh, and not toward the Spirit!  Paul said to the Galatia believers Do you think you can be perfected by the flesh, having begun in the Spirit?  What was he talking about in Galatians 3?  He was dealing with a people who had gone back to the law of Moses to find their perfection.  They were walking after the flesh, or the carnal mind, looking at the good and evil of themselves, and not toward the cross and perfection in Christ Jesus.
This is flesh walking.  It is not simply the bad but also the good that we find in ourselves.  Salvation is nothing of us, but of Christ.  We are made righteous in Him.  We are made holy in Him.  These descriptions of salvation are made real to us as we find our salvation in Him.  They will never be realized looking unto ourselves.  See this is the carnal mind, our selves, good and evil. The escape from it is the divine favor upon our heart, which is what we call Grace – The Work God did in Christ Jesus!  Walking toward this work is walking in the Spirit.  Glory to God!

The Kingdom of God IX - The King Firstborn

Continuing in our study of the King and His Kingdom, we are continually looking at Psalms 2, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten you." and Acts 13 regarding Psalms 2.  In Acts 13 it shows Jesus to be begotten from the dead.  This statement, "this day have I begotten you," is speaking directly of His Resurrection.  This is a prominent statement in scripture, and is also found in Hebrews 1.
Hebrews 1:5-8  "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten thee? and again, I will be to him a Father, And he shall be to me a Son? 6 And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame of fire: 8 but of the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom."
  Here the Son is Set as King, and brought forth to be worshiped.  Here the idea of firstborn is brought into view.  
What is mean by firstborn?  This in and of itself should be a study.  Jesus is the firstborn from among the dead.  This is what our salvation is wrapped up in, Him being raised out from among the dead.  Now, as we consider this, yes it speaks of Jesus' physical resurrection.  His physical body was raised up to not see corruption.  However, this is speaking of more than being physically dead.
Ephesians 2:1-8 "And you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, 2 wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; 3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest:-- 4 but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:" 
We were dead in trespass and sin.  Although we were breathing air we were dead to God in our sin.  Jesus was born out from this realm.  He became the firstborn from the dead, not only dead bodies, but dead in trespass and sin.  Our salvation is here out from the dead.  When we are born again our sins roll away, and we experience a surge of new glorious life.  This in itself is an experience of the work done in Christ.  Our sins were laid on him and taken away.  He came out from the dead in newness of life.  This is our born again experience.  
Here in this new man is where our life starts, out from the dead.  We see and comprehend this in seeing and comprehending Him.  This is great salvation to be laid a hold of. 
Colossians 1:18-22  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in him should all the fulness dwell; 20 and through him to reconcile all things unto himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things upon the earth, or things in the heavens. 21 And you, being in time past alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works, 22 yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreproveable before him: 
Blessings to All!
 

The Kingdom of God VIII - The King and His Dominion II

A Common thought among many believers is Jesus is a soon coming King, and the view is what will happen when He comes.  The question I have is if He is not King RIGHT NOW, then who's authority are you under? 
Colossians 1:11-14  May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  
The scripture in Colossians sets forth a kingdom of darkness and a Kingdom of Light.  Remember Jesus said His Kingdom is not of this world.  With that said, what is His Kingdom?  What does He reign over?  Colossians gives us good insight into God's Kingdom.  It is a Kingdom of Light.  This Kingdom is set forth through the resurrection from the dead.  It it reigns over all the works of darkness.  This is the Kingdom that you and I as believers come to, "the Kingdom of God's dear Son."
Act 13:32-39 "And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, "'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.' 34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, "'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.' 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, "'You will not let your Holy One see corruption.' 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses." 
In Acts 13 the writer brings into view Psalms 2 is brought into view concerning Jesus.  It is declared that the promise made to the Father's of Israel is fulfilled in Jesus Christ being raised from the dead.  God's King is set on God's Holy Hill.  My suggestion is this is through the resurrection from the dead.  Look closely at Acts 13 below.  It is declared, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you," is speaking of Christ Jesus being raised from the dead. 
If I think on this thought with the natural mind, I will most likely simply see Jesus as the begotten Son in his natural birth.  However, through the scripture and divine influence of the Holy Spirit I see this in relation to Him being birthed from the dead.  In fact Jesus is the first born from the dead, or out from the dead.  What I mean by this is He came out from the dead. 
All in Adam are dead, Paul writes.  Jesus was born into Adam, but when He was raised from the dead, He not only was raised out physically from the dead, but He was raised out from all that was in Adam.  This raising was all through the Spirit.  Nothing in man was on display, simply God.  This my friends is our new birth.  We are birthed IN HIS Resurrection.  We are birthed through the power of God out from the dead.
In this sharing we are looking at what JESUS overcome. He overcome death, hell, and the grave.  We are beginning to explore hell, death, and the grave, and Jesus dominion over the works of darkness.  Please enjoy and share with other believers. 
Blessings to you in Jesus name!

The Kingdom of God VII - The King and His Dominion

In this sharing we are looking at the dominion of the King.  What is the King's Dominion?  What does Jesus reign over? Have you ever considered it?  He reigns over sin.  He reigns over death, hell, and the grave.  He declared as recorded in Matthew 28 that all authority is given to Him in heaven and earth.  
In the beginning when God created man He gave man dominion over the earth.  However, when Jesus raised from the dead He declared that all authority in both heaven and earth.  Matthew 28:18 "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  Have you really considered this?  Why did He say both?  Could it be that the heaven is to invade the earth?  "Thy Kingdom Come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
Much of our mind is set upon the conditions of the earth, which we see with the natural eyes and understand with the natural mind.  We must rather set our mind upon Him and what He has done, and manifest it in the earth.  Look unto Jesus.  Look unto the work that He has completed.  In Acts 13:33 the Bible declares "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."
Have you thought on this?  The scripture says that it speaking of the resurrection from the dead.  In other words Jesus is begotten from among the dead.  Death has no more sting on Him.  Death could not hold him.  The strength of sin was broken through His death and resurrection.  Now we declare His resurrection, and ourselves being raised together with Him.  Our life is now bound up in what He has done.  When He was made alive - We were quickened.  When He was raised we were raised.  When He was seated, the Apostle Paul writes we are seated in Heavenly places with Him.  
The question is where is He seated?  Would it not be the Right Hand of God or the throne on high?  Would this then be our seating with Him.  In the Psalms 132 the Bible declares       "11 Jehovah hath sworn unto David in truth; He will not turn from it: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. 12 If thy children will keep my covenant And my testimony that I shall teach them, Their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore."  Notice it is the desire of the LORD to sit upon David's throne, and He declared the children would sit upon the throne.  This is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus is seated with all power and dominion, and He has brought us victoriously into His dominion.  We are seated with Him, to manifest His dominion in the earth, and declare his victory of death, hell, and the grave.
Blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord!
 

The Kingdom of God VI - The King and His Mountain

Psalms 2:6 "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." 
When I look at this what comes to my heart is God's King and God's Mountain.  This naturally speaking of King David, of who the Lord said was after His own heart.  Spiritually it is speaking of Christ Jesus our Lord and King.  David as God's King had a heart after God.  His story is quite significant for us to understand God's work in Christ, and how it applies to us.  David was God's King, and through obedience David cut off many of the enemies of Israel, speaking of Jesus cutting off the enemies of our soul. 
David taking the fortress of Zion and placing the Ark of the Covenant there has tremendous implications to what Jesus says in John 4 in regards to God's place of Worship.  
John 4:21-24 "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 
"You shall worship the Father in spirit and truth."  This is the embodiment of Zion, the High Place of God!  Zion is a place of the Spirit, and where we come to know Him in spirit and truth.  Here we move from our mind to God's mind.  We come in abandonment to ourselves which is clearly seen in David.  David's dancing unashamed before the Ark speaks of self-abandonment.  He being King of Israel was lowering himself in humility before the Lord.  How this speaks of Jesus, who being the Lord of Glory and lowered himself to buy our salvation.  
Ultimately, David's heart was to build a house for God, which naturally came through Solomon.  This has tremendous spiritual significance.  "Christ as a Son over His own House, whose House you are."  God desired Zion as His rest forevermore.  The writer of Hebrews said we have come to Mt. Zion.  God's rest is forever settled in Christ Jesus where we now dwell.  We are stones of the building, built up in Christ for a Holy Habitation of the LORD!  This is why Zion is the joy of the whole earth.  God is there!  God's presence is in Zion.  Brethren let us comprehend this great truth and reality in Christ Jesus our Lord!
 

Worship in Spirit and Truth - Mt. Zion 2

Jesus said in John 4 that the "true worshipers shall worship the Father in Spirit and truth."  He goes on to say that God seeks such worship.  God is Spirit and is seeking a people to worship Him in spirit and truth.  Jesus says in John 14 that He is the truth.  The word truth, Strong's 225, comes from a word Strong's 227 words that mean the reality of something revealed. According to Thayer's Lexicon this word means not hidden, unconcealed.  This word comes from two other words, one being Strong's 1 Alpha and the other being Strong's 2990, which means someting hidden.  Jesus was hidden in the Old Testament.  He said all scripture speaks of Him recorded in John 5.
I have a strong thought  that even the words used for truth show this.  God hid what he was planning to do in Christ in throughout the scripture.  From the beginning of the creation, of man, to the faith of Abraham, the deliverance of Moses, the establishment of the Kingdom with David, and the building of the Temple in Solomon, God was speaking in types in shadows or through symbolism of what He was going to do through Jesus  Christ.  All of these spoke of Him.   I am afraid this truth escapes many believers.  For example, many still want to worship God in an Old Testament understanding.  When they look at the scripture pertaining to God building a House of Worship, and establishing His people they still regard this according to the natural and flesh, and do not see it after the Spirit.  According to the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter, God has laid the stone for His House, Ephesians 2:13-22 and 1 Peter 2:4-10, which He prophesied of through Isaiah, Isaiah 28:16.
The believer is now the dwelling place of God.  He dwells in you as Jesus said would happen in John 14.  Read that Chapter carefully, "my Father and I shall make our abode with you." "I in you."  Jesus  is in the Father, you are in Him, and He is in you if in fact He has come to dwell in you.  This was the heart of God throughout the Old Covenant, shown through the types.  For example God lived in the tabernacle.  God lived in the  Temple.  Now He has taken up residence in the House He built through Christ Jesus.  Christ is the Son of His own house who we are, according to Hebrews 3.  This is truth, which is in Christ.  Instead of comprehending by the Spirit this truth, and worshiping God from this understanding, many still walk in the types and shadows. This is what Jesus said the Father was after to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.   
Consider, how much of your Bible is given to the Temple of God.  Coming to the reality of the Temple must be of great significance if we see how much in the Old and New Testament are given to it.  This reality can only be found in Christ Jesus.  Let us see through Him this great House God has built, and declare it to the earth.

Worship in Spirit and Truth - Mt. Zion

In this podcast we are looking at text in John 4 - John 4:2-24 "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." 
Much of the teaching we may hear today speaks of a new House of Worship or Temple in the Middle East.  Jesus said "Believe ME!"  not in Jerusalem or in Samaria will be the place of worship.  God is a Spirit and is looking for a people to worship through the knowledge and understanding of the Spirit of God.  The Apostle Paul write that we the believers are the House of God, or His place of worship.  The writer of Hebrews writes that We have come to Mount Zion the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem.  This is in fact what I believe Jesus is referring to in John 4.  This high Heavenly place in Christ where we come to a spiritual understand of our Father's House,, and worship out of the understanding of God.
Isaiah 2 speaks of the House of God being established in the top of the hills and the mountains, and the law coming from Zion, and the word from Jerusalem.  This great Mt. Zion is where it is established.  The rock it is built upon is Christ.  The word that is given is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It moved from Him to His disciples that were with, and from His disciples into the Church, and this word is still moving through the earth today, enlightening minds and hearts to the knowledge of the Lord and our King.
 
Blessings!

The Kingdom of God V - Vision of One

In John 18 it is recorded that Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this World."  The rule and transforming power of Jesus is not simply him telling us to do things, and we go and do them.  It is the Holy Spirit bringing us, the believer, into the Vision of Christ, and us living out of that Vision in the earth.  In John 17, Jesus declared concerning the church "that they may be one, I in them thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one."  This is a very significant statement in regards to the Church - One Body. 
While we all have an individual relationship with the Lord Jesus, it is His heart that we see His Body as One, as Himself.  When Saul of Tarsus had the encounter with Jesus on the way to Damascus.  Jesus said to Paul, "Why do you persecute me?"  Saul was persecuting the Church.  Jesus' regards for the Church is ONE - HIS BODY, or Himself as is shown here (Acts 9).  When we rail and have dissensions with other believers, we are effecting the Church. 
Our minds and hearts must be transformed.  We must see the Body of Christ as One.  Too long we have allowed man to keep us bound into Baptist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, and many other denominational names.  We must come to a Vision of the Lord and His Body, regardless of any name we are labeled with.  We must begin to minister our Oneness with Him throughout the Body of Christ.  If I am one with the Lord, and you are one with the Lord, we must see we are One with each other. 
In the Book of Acts, we see the power and the move of the Spirit in great might.  I believe there are some keys to why this great move was upon the land.  It is recorded in the Book of Acts that they had all things in common.  It is recorded that they had one mind.  This is more significant than at first glance.  They were regarding the Body as ONE!  The Body of  CHRIST JESUS our LORD!