God said, part 1

Gen 1:3-4 and God said” let there be light and there was light”. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated light from darkness

The word of God is the logic of God. “In the beginning there was the word nd the word was with God and the word was God.” John testifies.

The word of God created the universe e and everything that was not was called into existence by his word which is his logos, logic.

In order to understand the weight of this logos the psalmist says that The lord has placed his word above his name. The basis of the greatness of God is not merely in his name but in his logic. The logic of God is calling things from nothingness to existence.

And so God said let there be light and light came and God saw that the light was good, so good that it was separated from darkness.

It’s as if light spewed from the mouth of the almighty father of creation, there was no distance, delay or any effort, the word, logos has its power to execute its divine command yet the word is not less than God neither does it result in something that is less than God.

The amazing mouth gazing events continued to unfold in genesis 1 as things were called from nothing to existence and God saw that the results of his logos was good. This makes us appreciate prophet who said that the Word of the Lord doesn’t come back to him void, it resounds back with fullness.

The climax of these events is when God formed man out of dust and breathed his spirit inside of him. God was so enthralled to see his image and likeness reflected in man. His dream was that his image and likeness would be realized in a glorious creation known as man and that man and God would become active partakers of this divine nature.

2^nd peter 1:3”his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

The dream of God was that man would come face to face with deity and co dominate with God. By this association man is to draw his essence of living from God. We were created and were God enabled.

Why is it important that God said?

Many believers believe that we ought to believe in the report of the Lord. While we are quick to affirm that we are not what the world says we are what our situations say we are what our past says we are? Many believers are not acquainted with the divine logic of God, we are unstable in life because we have over time formed a contrary opinion of God. What God has said of us has been usurped by religion to be a means of earning ourselves back to God.

Many of us quote what the bible says but we are not acquainted with what God is saying and has said to us. The truth of the matter is that what God has said

Will remain sure forever. It cannot be improved by man’s performance neither is it activated by man’s spiritual prowess. The word, the logos, the ‘has said ‘is as sure as it has ever been.

We have to realize that as sure as the word of God is in eternity, its alive and active in us.In Christ is the realization of the same God who said let there be,,, and today he has said that let there be life in you, let there be righteousness in you,, let there be peace in you,

2^nd cor 4:6 For God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Stay put for the second part, how can we know what God says? What he has said

judgement true and complete

John 8:15-16”you judge according to the flesh: I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for its not I alone who judge but I and the father who sent me.”

Jesus addressed the Pharisees after he had released the woman caught in adultery. Notice the bible does not address the woman as adulterous. Jesus said that he is the light of the world a testimony to which the Pharisees did not auger well with. He had just revealed to them that whoever walks in him will have the light of life.

The Pharisees judged according o the flesh yet he judged no one. It’s a thing that we see in the church today. Men judging fellow men yet the son Of God did not come to the world to condemn it but by him the word may be reconciled to God. At least the Pharisees could have discerned from the scriptures that the Messiah was not coming to condemn the world but to save the world.

Jesus said though that if he happens to judge, then his judgment is true. The one with the full rights to judge did not judge humanity but humanity through him has been saved. He did not judge you and me he is not judging you and I but he is giving us his gift of no condemnation.

 my judgment is true, for its not I alone who judge but I and the father who sent me.”

Jesus says that his judgment is true because his judgment is not done by him alone but with his father. That term to judge from the Webster dictionary it means to form an opinion after carefully weighing of evidence and testing of premises.

the word judge in Webster dictionary means to form an opinion after carefully assessing the available evidences.

God saw the world and in its sin weighed and saw that the world deserved to be punished after weighing of the intensity of man’s sins in spurning the authority of God.

the evidences before him declared that sins deserved to be punished by death 

Christ Judgment is true because he weighed and saw man in his wickedness, he came and dwelt among us and became like us. His love for mankind fostered him to die for us at the cross and at the cross God the father executed his righteousness by judging Christ for us, the wages of sin is death and therefore Christ gave up his life and took the penalty of sin for us so that whosoever believes in him will not have to bear the penalty of sin.

His judgment is true because its not him who judges alone but he and the father, for the scriptures tell us for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.(2^nd Cor 5:19)

God views and weigh his opinion on you and he sees you in Christ, if you have believed in him he sees you judged in Christ Jesus. He sees you forgiven in Christ Jesus. If you are not born again, he wants and yearns to see you receive forgiveness which is yours in Christ Jesus

 His judgement is complete because Jesus was judged entirely on our behalf

indeed he bore our sins on the tree, 1st peter 2:24, even if sins are to be searched for none has remained that was not cleansed by his blood.

he has come to perfect us , to sanctify us by a once and for all sacrifice

Heb 10:10-14God's way - by which we are made fit for God by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. 11 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. 12 As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God 13 and waited for his enemies to cave in. 14 It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process (the message)

partakers of the bread

1st Cor 11:23-24”For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me.”

Isn’t it amazing to know that we are part of the body of Christ? Yes this is true that we are the body, the church and Christ is the head of the body.

That is why we partake of the table of bread (Holy Communion) at the last supper Jesus said   “this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19

Jesus was introducing us to a new family where he is the head and we are the body. He says that I am the bread which came from heaven. Now Jesus has been distributed to us and when we partake of the Holy Communion we appropriate unto ourselves that we are members of this body, the body of Christ.

I want to tell you that if you are a believer you are part of the body of Christ and scripture has qualified you to partake of the table of bread. It’s your right since Jesus has been commended to you by the virtue of his death on a cross and so today you and I are partakers of the bread.

As you partake of the holy Communion its just a remembrance of Jesus and what he went though in order that we are now the partakers of his body. Holy Communion is therefore a lightener to that which is yours for the taking, Christ Himself. He is your daily bread and so daily you should be partaking of him. It’s his pleasure that everyday you partake of him. He says “he who eats of me will never hunger and he who drinks of me will never thirst.”

taking the bread and the cup in unworthy manner.

Controversy has brewed up over the years over this issue. When is one qualified or disqualified of partaking of the Holy Communion. We have over time build walls around people and whenever its time to take holy Communion we have gone forth in a condemnation spree and requiring people to examine themselves to check whether hey have any sins before they can partake of the holy Communion. Today we want to establish some truths.

“Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks of the cup of the lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and the blood of the lord. Let a person examine himself, then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” 1^st Cor 11:28-29

Paul establishes the seriousness of the practice of the Lord’s Supper. The church in Corinth were faced with diverse controversies among which concerned the issue of the the lords supper. When this congregation convened, they convened to eat a normal meal a normal feast and so unethical that the weak could miss out on the meal.

Paul is calling the Corinthians to examine themselves as to why they re partaking of the meal. They are brought to attention that they are partaking of the body of Christ.

The Lord supper is not just any other meal as the Corinthians had inculcated in them. They were fellow shipping in the body of Christ. Jesus has been given for us as our means of redemption and salvation. When we partake of the holy communion we should discern that it’s for our being made whole, it’s for our healing and restoration. Not partaking the Holy Communion in a worthy manner does not meaning partaking of the elements with sin in you. The elements are a symbol that by the virtue of Jesus’ death on the cross we got our redemption forgiveness and restoration. It’s for your being made whole.

partaking of the elements in an unworthy manner is therefore not discerning the body of Christ    and whoever does so invites judgment unto himself . Scholars have written numerous views concerning this text to insinuate that Paul is urging people to confess their sins before partaking of the holy communion.

the truth however is that this text has nothing to do with confessing their sins. Paul is urging the Corinthians to discern the body of Christ in a worthy manner, failure to which they incur a judgment, perception. The word judgement here implies forming an opinion after assessing the evidence available to ones sight.

Paul therefore says that failure to discern the body of chriist in a worthy manner makes them have an unfair opinion about what Christ has accomplished for them. They fail to discern that Christ has fully represented them.He then directs them to what they experience at the moment , some of them are sick, weak and dying. This is because they dont discern that the body of Christ was offered for their healing and restoration.

with this truth firmly established in our faculties its high time we discern christ and his body. Its high time we discern that he was offered up that we may be made whole.

Christ's body was offered for you, Do not disqualify yourself from this table prepared for you.Do you have some sin that you think should keep you far from this table, recognize that his sacrifice was to cleanse even you the worst of sinners to become clean(1st John 2:2)

CONSCIOUSNESS PART 2

Romans 8: 6-10 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. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

We have heard that such a breathtaking recovery has taken place for us in Christ. What a salvation! What redemption! Man is brought to the place that he can be conscious of God all the time.

The bone of contention is why are we not experiencing the fullness of God and yet we are in Christ.

Paul sheds some light to us by telling us that too set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

Why? Many believers are not aware of their co inclusion in Christ; they are not aware they are new creation in Christ Jesus. Many believe that they were forgiven only up to the point of salvation and then it depends n their effort to live a pure and upright life and if possible make it to heaven one day.

To be carnally minded is death; to set your mind on the flesh, what you can do with your own strength is death. The scripture did not say to set the mind on sin is death as many will like to interpret this verse; It said to set your mind on the flesh is death and its not a process to death but its death.

O set your mind on the flesh is to focus on what you can do with your own strength. Its living your Christianity from what people say or what you say, what you can do to please God and your efforts to succeed in your spirituality.

The major cause of sin consciousness is living the life of the flesh instead of living by the spirit. The flesh has its demands and this is where the law takes full charge.

Rom 7:11 Sin took the advantage of the law and employed the commandment to seduce and murder me( mirror)

What empowers sin is the Law, it’s the desire to fulfill any form of requirements which stimulates the flesh to produce every kind of covetousness.

When I speak of the law I do not only speak of the laws and commandments but also many other laws that we have put in place to live our lives.

THE Law multiplies sin. Rom 5:19-20, Rom 7:11.

What this simply means that if you set any expectations in whichever level, expectation to obey God’s commands, expectation to be a better person, expectations to get the best out out of life, most are times you will discover you cannot attain the levels you set for your self.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. What this means is that any mind that is set on your own effort is hostile towards God, why? Because God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s ways are usually what his spirit does freely to us and in us.

Romans 8:7 Those who are in the flesh will never please God

If you try to live your life independent of God, you will never please God and you will find yourself often failing.

It’s the desire to do something more that made Adam and eve fall in the garden of Eden, it was not even the desire to sin but it was if they could just do something then they would become like God knowing good and evil.

What causes the awareness of sin, what causes many people not to believe in the righteousness of God and prevents them from living the redeemed life in Christ is to try to live from the flesh, living by the requirements of the law and all this serves to prove the futility man is in.

Paul however has a remedy to give us

Romans 8:9You, 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.

That is the glorious conclusion enjoyed by those who are in Christ. We are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit. If this is so then we are living above the consciousness of sin.

We have been purged clean from a evil consciousness.

Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

You are not a sinner saved by grace. No you are a new creation created in Christ Jesus. The spirit of the sovereign God lives In you, you are a victorious child of God. Your Body is dead because of sin and your spirit alive because of righteousness, a mathematics that we cannot explain but here is what we have to do

ROM 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.