Grace your servant. Grace a servant of the gospel Part 1

Sermon delivered at Kingdom night at TFI Ministries on 9th March 2012

It’s a greeting you find in Paul’s letters to the churches he had founded by the administration given him by God. You would often hear Paul term himself as a servant of Christ for the sake of the church. His greetings would often go like this.

“Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil 1:3

“To Timothy, a true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ” 1^st Tim 1:2

“Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. “1^st thes 1:2

Most of the time we take the words of Paul as his own words exclusively and we categorize Paul as the preacher of grace and while we are mesmerized by his wisdom and diligence in dispensing the gospel to almost the uttermost areas of his world, many are the times we fail to capture the energy and the passion behind him.

Paul’s words are not merely his words but words from God. He tells us grace and peace to us from God. Grace and peace has been commended to us from God and Paul has become its servant by the administration of God.

Perhaps the first thing we need to establish is that grace is not another woiye (pity party) feeling. Grace is not just any other ability that gets us by through a tough situation.

Grace is the ability and the influence of God coming from him to us. It’s an unmerited favor working for us. Grace and peace that comes from God is for us. Grace and peace serves us to unleash to us the heart of God.  Grace is the ability of God realized in the kainos creation. Its the energy of God that influences Godliness in a believer which as overwhelmingly revealed by the gospel .                                                                       

Paul in his epistle to Philippians tells them that he thanks God every time he remembers them. How is this possible? How can a single man like Paul remember all the believers in Philippi? Perhaps Paul is speaking in the sphere of a reality that is bigger than him. Remember he in Galatians he testifies that it’s no longer him who lives but its Christ who lives in him. Gal 2:20.

How is grace a servant to you?

You remember when they asked who among us is the greatest? The famous apostles were in contention as to who is the greatest among them, what did Jesus tell them? The greatest of you shall be your servant. (Mat 20:26)

He who was the greatest became our servant, for the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Wait a minute; the greatest of all shall become your servant! Who is the greatest of all? It’s Jesus. He is the one by whom all things were created. He was the word who was from the beginning now manifested in the flesh. He came to his own and his own couldn’t bear him but rejected him, nevertheless he is the greatest of all and he became the servant of all.

This is how grace becomes our servant. By cleansing us and washing us. Jesus was so full of grace and truth. He knew he had the possession of the fullness of heaven and yet he girded up his towel and washed the disciple’s feet.

Grace serves you by cleansing you from all your sins. The greatest of all has become the servant of all. All are invited to come to the person of grace to buy wine and milk without a price. Grace is your servant. Grace is Jesus personified. If you have seen him, you have seen the father.

Such was the persuasion in Paul’s heart that wherever he went he proclaimed the grace and peace that is from God towards men.

Paul preached in such a manner that many believed. How is this possible? It’s because of the life and the testimony of Christ in Him, he fully identified with the death and the resurrection of Christ.

We may therefore say that Paul’s words are words of Christ after his resurrection. There is something phenomenal when we discover Christ who has become our servant. We humbly rest and allow to be served.

The gospel serves you with the life of God. When Jesus was about to be crucified he talked of the holy spirit that when he comes , he will take what is Of God and declare it to you.(John 16:14)

That word declares there in Greek is annagelo which means to disclose, to rehearse repeatedly, to show, to speak, to tell.

Friends the gospel is the servant that daily declares rehearses to us repeatedly the benefits of salvation. The Holy Spirit testifies to us about Christ. The Holy Spirit serves you with the life of God. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Probably you have never heard such a manner of good news. We for a long time have thought that servant; serving is simply a tireless efforting procedure of proving our allegiance to God. The term servant of God has been misappropriated and abused today? What is true servant hood?

Grace as a servant; true servant hood, the greatest of all shall become the servant of all

Jesus says that whosoever desires to be greatest among you shall be your servant. Is that what we have known servant hood to be? On the contrary servant hood has been esteemed lowly. True servant hood as exuded by Christ is towards all men. It’s serving us with life and life in abundance.

Paul says that he has become a servant of this gospel according to the administration of God himself. He defines his apostleship not as one conferred upon by men but by God himself.

He says that of this gospel he has been made a minister/ servant according to the stewardship from God for the benefit of believers. (Col 1:25)

True servant hood therefore is inspired by the stewardship from God through the gospel. Do you want to become a true servant of God? Succumb therefore to the stewardship of God which is manifested through the gospel. If you are busy condemning people and adding burden to people and intimidating and instilling fear on the people of God and you call yourself a servant of God then you are not a true servant?

We need to go back to the definition Jesus expressed of true servant hood which was to give his life as a ransom for many.

What kind of a gospel are you dispensing to people as a servant of God? Is it a gospel that adheres and draws inspiration from the finished work of the cross or it’s a gospel that points people to the law (Moses)?

Do you feel you have served God when you place demands on people to follow in order to be accepted by God? Does your satisfaction come when you see people around you try to prove themselves before you as a minister/ servant?

Do you give people a list of to do’s in order for them to be blessed by God? Check these out. These are all signs of Old covenant servant hood where the servant, Men of God were sent to give people instructions on what they should do in order for God to bless them more, to receive the favor of God or even to relate with God. They did so because according to the Old covenant there seemed to be distance between God and his people. People were required to do things outwardly for them to be blessed, accepted and to receive favor from God.

However we have been made competent ministers of a new covenant. We are pointing people to Christ and his finished works of the cross.  What do I mean? The distance that existed between God and his people have been eliminated by Christ in his physical appearance, By the body of his flesh. Col 1:21-22.

Paul said it clearly

2^nd Cor 3:6-7He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.

The Law of Moses brought only the promise of death, even though it was carved on stones and given in a wonderful way. Still the Law made Moses' face shine so brightly that the people of Israel could not look at it, even though it was a fading glory. CEV

Friends we have been made worthy servants of this new covenant not the letter/ the law for the law kills but the spirit gives life. We are ministers of this new order which has come from God and by his stewardship through the gospel.

What an opportunity to serve God through this administration which is of the spirit? What a joy to become a servant of the gospel to the nations? If we would grasp the bliss of this new covenant then we would run to the ends of the earth and flow the love of God to all men.

True servant hood, true apostleship, derives its inspiration from the gospel. This is a charge to you; that you have been made competent by the administration of God to be a competent minister/servant of the gospel.

 No more serving two covenants

It’s time to stop serving another gospel and serve the gospel which we have been entrusted with. You may ask that if it would suffice to mix the Old and the new. After the entire bible is made up the Old Testament and the New Testament right? Wrong!

The Old Testament is a servant of the New. It serves the purpose of bringing us to Christ as Paul teaches us that the Law was a school master to bring us to Christ (Gal 3:15-23).

The Law which represented the Old covenant/ the old way of God relating to his people kept us captive until the revelation of faith, until the seed Christ should come.

The Law therefore has served the purpose of tutoring us to Christ. Gal 3:24. The law served us simply in revealing transgressions of men. It served the purpose of locking us up until Christ is revealed. In fact the Law was not given to gentiles but to the Jews to serve them that purpose.

The Law / the old covenant served us the purpose of bringing us to Christ. How do we view the Old Testament scriptures as a kainos creation?, Do we do away with those old Pages no? We view those scriptures with absolute awe of God in revealing us how those scriptures serve to reveal Christ for the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Christ is the one who has been from the beginning.

The law and the prophets testify of Christ (luke24:27) There the Bible now serves you with the revelation of the knowledge of Christ.

This is the summary of the bible, the gospel. The gospel in the garden of Eden, the gospel preached to Abraham, to the children of Israel, through the prophets and now the word has become flesh and is dwelling in us. You are a kainos creation in christ. The life you live in the flesh you live by the faith of the son of God who died for you. Amen Let him serve you and behold the manner of of a being you are, he serves you so that you can serve him in the nations, amen.

the true vine, Part 2

part 2

 Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. 

Just as a branch cannot produce fruit 

unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot

 produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.

The beauty of inclusion lies with Christ 

and in him do we find life; 

with him and in him is the fountain of life. 

When Jesus says that we should stay 

joined in him, He is not telling the disciples ways or process of finding their position or their connection in Christ. He simply says stay joined in me.

The truth is that we have never been separated from God apart from the alienation in our minds that we became enemies with God. Sin corrupted us to live our lives independent of God and we therefore withered and died. The truth though is that the earth is the Lord and its fullness thereof.

God did not create humanity for doom. We are his offspring.

Paul knew this as he toured Athens.

Acts 17:28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Therefore we draw various conclusions from these portions of scripture. We all began from God apart from him we are nothing. We were once alienated in our minds and became enemies with God. The consequence of our separation was sin and death. The law of sin and death is still in operation to this day as is manifested in the sons of disobedience.

However Christ has triumphed in redeeming man. He has single handedly dealt with the magnitude of our separation from God which brought us death. Apart from him we can do nothing.

 Col 1:22 But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.(CEV)

We are joined to Christ by grace through faith. We in Christ have been engrafted into Christ. We who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13).

We have been engrafted into the vine called Christ and as long as we are in him we will bear fruit .

I have seen believers being inundated by the prospect of bearing fruit. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit that we forget where our nutrients come from. The question you may probably hear being aired out in church every Sunday is something like this. You must do this and that you must prove your love for God, you must pray harder, PUSH pray until something happens eh?

I have heard enough pastors tell their congregation that the reason why God cannot bless them is because they are not productive enough; they are not showing enough obedience points for God to bless them. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit for a lack of a better word. We have accredited faith as a requirement for bearing fruit and have forgotten that faith and fruit have got nothing to do with us. Its God who causes us to be fruitful, faith comes by hearing the word and the word of God.

If I may ask you, who’s responsibility is it to bear fruit? Is it the branch or the vine? When we see that a tree has no fruit do we go ahead and squeeze the branch and demand that it produces fruit, yea? NO. It’s the prerogative of the vine to transfer nutrients to the branches and all parts of the tree. The same nutrients that are transmitted from the roots through the stems is the same nutrient that reaches to the branches.

If I may ask you again have you ever seen a banana tree struggle to bear bananas. Or a mango tree wondering whether it should produce Mangoes or oranges? I bet not. Then why are we as believers struggling to bear fruit which God our father wants to produce through us?

Its therefore action of dead works to demand fruit from believers. When we are fed with the correct gospel fruit happens. Jesus did not appoint you to bear your fruit but his. The way you bear fruit is because you are joined with him.

While it’s important to be fruitful in life and to be productive after how God has created us. We must be aware that we are not manufacturing fruit by ourselves. If you manufacture any fruit that comes from your effort then we will liken that to adultery. Its as a father who comes home and the wife runs towards him hugs him and delivers the news.” Honey we have a bouncing baby boy four months old” knowing very well that the man and his wife did not engage in any intercourse. That is ashaming and disgusting right!

God does not want you to bear any fruit that is apart from him, that’s why Jesus reveals to us that apart from him we can bear no fruit. What conclusions can we draw from these truths.

·         You cannot bear any fruit! Shock! God bears his fruit in you and through you. Apart from Christ you can do nothing.

·         No branch can attach itself to the stem. All the teachings that tell us that we have to position ourselves, locate ourselves and more that focus you on yourself is therefore of dead works. The branch does not locate itself in the vine, it is simply there. Your responsibility as a branch is to realize you are already in Christ.

·         You don’t position yourself, locate yourself in Christ, Christ locates you in himself, open your eyes and behold your position and identity which is in Christ Jesus. Pursue actively the consequences of your co inclusion in Christ, you are in him.

·         Christianity is not a quest of vainly trying to bear fruit. God seeks to bear his fruit in you and through you. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are fruit empowered by the spirit not your improvement program or your positional ability. Open your eyes and get mesmerized by the energy of God energizing itself in you. This the power behind your functioning and ability.

·         Good fruits are not realized by focusing on the fruit but in the nutrients, what kind of a gospel are you hearing? Is it a gospel that directs you to yourself? Are you hearing a message that leaves you with questions like , what must I do? What is my part in this? Check out that is a gospel that leads you to works(relying on your own strength)

    The gospel , the good news takes you back to the activity of God in you. If its about commitment, the gospel takes you back to Christ who has been commended to you, then what you must do is drawn from his power within you.

The disciples asked Jesus what we must do to continue to do the works of God. Jesus drew them back to himself. Believe in me who he has sent. John 6:28-29. The gospel communicates supply not demand. What God requires of you he has supplied to you. Stay blessed as you enjoy your union wth Christ. You are in Him as a branch go therefore and bear fruit of his kind

The true vine; part 1

    part 1

John 15:1-5” Jesus said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit.

You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.

I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me” (Contemporary English version)

Jesus announces a great report of great Joy to the disciples. He is in the summit of his ministries and the events are rolling on quickly as he nears his crucifixion which is the apex of his mission and the passion of his heart.

In order to appreciate the vine we must know some few things. First the vine is the whole plant plus the branches. When Jesus makes this statement therefore he refers himself as the true plant. “I am the whole picture in here” That is his announcement. I am the real picture guys! I have brought you new Kainos way of perceiving things. Jesus makes that statement which is so profound.

Jesus does not only define who he is and who is father is, but he also defines us. He says you are the branches. A branch is found in the vine and does not survive apart from the vine.

Who is this vine? He is Jesus, the one in whom all things hold together. He is all and in all. He is God and by him and through him all things were created. He is the firstborn of all creation. He is the second and the last Adam. He is the perfect man of Genesis 1. He is the word which was from the beginning and now made flesh and the disciples saw him face to face and Jesus opened their eyes to see the reality of who he is.

Who are the branches? It’s you and i? This verse has been misunderstood for many years and the proponents of religion have used these portions of scripture to place a hedge between themselves and the world. Those who ‘know God ’ and those who don’t. Those who have made themselves to be branches and those who have not branchified themselves for a lack of a better word.

The reality though is that Jesus reveals the identity of man. Man started in God. Jesus is the vine and mankind is his branches. If that was not so he couldn’t have said the branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit he casts away. The earth is the Lord and its fullness thereof (Psalm 24:3).

This is the reality that Jesus brought and unveiled before a bunch of unregenerate people. Iam the reality and you are the branches in me, part of the vine. Every branch in him that does not bear fruit Jesus says that he casts away. What is that branch? I believe it’s the branch of separation. It’s the branch of hostility brought about by the law of sin and death which was in operation since the fall of Adam. It’s the branch of the law and the code of conduct that man could not keep to please and attain Godliness.

Col 1:21-22” You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things.

But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.

” C E V

That’s the statement of our past as declared by the scriptures above, our thoughts made us severed from the vine. We fell out of the divine perfection of God in the fall. As the result of this separation we withered and died But Jesus came and died for us and us who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

The branch in him that does not bear fruit he casts away and that was what he came to do. Cast away that which severed us from the vine.The gospel now reveals your identity. You are the branch existing in the vine. Your faith does not improve that but it confirms it.

Jesus presented you before God as one holy and faultless and innocent before God. You are already clean through the words spoken to you by Jesus and received by you through faith and trust and reliance in the working of God.

This is the glad announcement of the gospel that you are also included in Christ. People have accused the preaching of grace as a preaching that encourages universalism. Whatever universalism is, that thought is a concept of being severed from the vine who is Jesus. When we grasp the integrity of the gospel, the project of God, the success story of the cross that makes us kainos creation in Christ Jesus , then we as Paul declared therefore do not regard any man according to the flesh(2^nd cor 5:14). We calculate that humanity is equally represented in Christ Jesus. The knowledge of this inclusion saves people .

We draw a fair and a just inclusion therefore that Jesus is the true vine and father is the true vine dresser and you are the branch. You existed in God before the creation . Of God do you take the origin f image and likeness.

In God In christ: a Kainos creation

Christ in us the hope of glory is the glory of the gospel of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The face value of the gospel therefore is the face of Jesus Christ reflected in us to the hope and glory of God.

Christ in us therefore is a consequence of the gospel and God and Jesus making his place of abode in us.(John 14:21-23). The revelation of a kainos(New creation) is the revelation of christ in us.

 John 16:14-15 He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you  All things that the Father has are mine; on account of this I have said that he receives of mine and shall announce it to you(Darby)

The gospel is the declaration that tells us in a glad announcement that all of God is realized in us. The holy spirit takes what is of God and announces it to us. He declares that what is of God is also ours in Christ. God has not withheld anything from man. God has bequeathed us with himself.

“Don’t you know that you are the temple of the holy spirit?” That was the question of Paul to the Corinthians that they should not view themselves any way lesser that of the opinion of God for God will not unite what belongs to him with a prostitute. God is the chief indweller of our bodies.

Jesus’ prayer before he was crucified was that he may be in us and we may be in the father, a perfect union that surpasses any kind of human definition.

This union is found only n the person of Christ. In Christ is the reality that every wall of hostility that has ever existed is torn down in him.
         
                            he tore the wall of hostility: everything is now kainos (new)

Eph 2:13-15and now, in Christ Jesus, ye being once afar off became nigh in the blood of the Christ, 14 for he is our peace, who did make both one, and the middle wall of the enclosure did break down, 15 the enmity in his flesh, the law of the commands in ordinances having done away, that the two he might create in himself into one new man, making peace,(YLT)

We who were far are brought near and into himself. Now we calculate thta there is a new man out of the two that existed. We who were far and God who was always near; we who were fallen and the original perfect man, Jesus. He came to create one new man and we thus judge that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone and behold all has become new.

The old fallen distant, enemy filled man is gone and behold we enjoy a (Kainos)new existence in Christ. He is our whole new world. We see him with unveiled face and we behold how true we are in him, what is true of him is also true in us, because we are in him and he is in us.

We therefore know that God is light and in him there is no darkness. Where God is so are we, we are sited with Christ at the right hand of the father high and above the notion of darkness. We are the ones who have been brought to God we have peace with God and this peace is so meaningful that grace and peace is multiplied in us through the knowledge of God. God knows that we are his sons and he knows that he is our father. This knowledge is an intense union ginosko that bears forth fruit.

Christ is therefore our receipt guaranteeing us that the life of God will be realized in us. If we are living its unto Christ and not unto ourselves. We were not designed to live by ourselves but by the life of God in us . Man is by design the effortless recipient of the life of God. The intergrity of the image and likeness of God in Man is therefore maintained by God himself.

It’s from God that we take our origin. The person of Christ reveals how righteous sanctified and holy we are. God made a declaration that we must be holy. This declaration is a conclusive one and not a conditional one. Apostle Peter tells us how this is possible.

God himself has made a life of holiness possible in us. Through God we hope in God.

1^st peter1:20-21He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

He is our claim to fame. God is the enabler and the enablement living in us. He is so thrilled by being in us. He has found great joy in being realized in us. The gospel then announces these glad tidings.

Its news because it has happened. God has reconciled us to himself. We are received into God and if this is so then we are really blessed.

This is what John saw in his vision that God has been pleased to dwell in man.

Rev 21:3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

This is the climax of man’s destiny in God, he dwells among us and we dwell in him. This reaity as Jesus said is within our midst. This is the reality of a kainos creation Jesus came to proclaim to us that that which we thought was far and out of reach is now at hand.

The kngdom of God; its reign and influence is in us , the word is near us, its in our mouth and in our hearts. What is our confession? It’s the expression of how united  we are in him. God himself has eliminated distance. He dwells in us we therefore do not contextualize God in distance he is closer than our next expression.

The glory of the gospel is Christ in us; not a Christ who will be coming, not an eschatological Christ but Christ who is already in us. We know in his second coming as he appears it will be plain that as he is so are we. Meanwhile we ought to be comfortable with Jesus who has come; for if we are not convinced that we are in him and he is in us, then there will be no other event to convince us so, no other greater event than of the cross to convince us so.

The reality is that we are united with Christ at the moment; this union is not something we improve on. Its not a reality that is threatened by our response or our faithfulness, its already established in the heavens and this inspiration actively persuades us to have faith in the gospel.

We calculate that we are in a constant union; we have inherited a perfect fellowship, the fellowship of the father and of the son

filled with the fullness of God

The greatest miracle is that God would indeed live in man. The greatest innovation of the existence of universe is the image and likeness of God.

When God had created man, he said that he is very Good. He saw his very likeness in him. There is therefore no problem with man because there is no problem with his image and likeness.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
Eph 3:15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
Eph 3:16  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
Eph 3:17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18  may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
Eph 3:19  and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Eph 3:20  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
Eph 3:21  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In the sublime of Paul’s heart lay this passion, that all may come to the knowledge of God. The saints together may come to full knowledge that surpasses all knowledge. This knowledge is the fullness of God employed in us. This knowledge is ingrained in your new(Kainos) spirit. In your spirit is a perfect knowledge.

There is a super human reservoir employed in our fabric and the psalmist knew it well when he said that surely we have been wonderfully and fearfully created. Paul prays again for the Ephesians that they may know the hope of their calling, their inheritance among the saints.

We inherit God, He is our portion. He is our lot an indeed we are fallen in pleasant places. God would rather employ everything in us; he chose to be God with us, he is not God without us.

What was lost in Adam is therefore restored to us in Christ. We can never compare what we lost in Adam with what we have gained in Christ. It cannot fit our measuring stick. In Christ is much more, he made us alive and then he lived in us. There is a new (Kainos)existence when we calculate ourselves in God’s eyes; God lives in us, the old is gone and behold all has become new.

Paul again reveals the mystery to the church at Colossae whose reputation of the supremacy of Christ was being tested. .

Rom 5:15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

How much will we who have received the abundance of the free gift by grace reign in this life? We therefore calculate that we who once were lost we who had fallen short of the glory of God now stand justified. The glory is restored to us. This glory is the image and likeness of God. It’s the life of God in us, His spirit which dwells in us and by this abundance we reign in this life.

We are the recipients of the fullness of God we are filled of Christ who is the fullness of God.

Colossians 2:9-10For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

because in him doth tabernacle all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, 10 and ye are in him made full, who is the head of all principality and authority, YLT

this is the dealings of Christ that of his fullness we are complete. His completeness finds its right address in us. We are complete in him who is the head of the body.

We now engage in the word of God realizing that it’s a mirror reflecting who we are. The word is the perfect law of liberty engaging our faculties to plug in the reality of God as expressed in the person of Christ in us..

James says that he who is the doer of the word looks intently at the perfect law of liberty ad upon hearing, does what he has heard(James 1:25)

Christ lives pours out of us effortlessly when we engage in the perfect law that gives liberty. This law that lives liberty is the law of spirit of life in  operation in us(Rom 8:2)

We therefore consider that the life of God is in us working in us to will and to act according to the good purpose God has for us.

Man’s destiny is therefore found in God and God is found in man having made his place of abode in him; John 14:21-23, Rev 21:3

The fellowship we have is with God our father and the son, 1^st John 1:3, its an assimilation into the fullness of God, That which the father and the son enjoy is also ours.

The wonderful price for us to pay now is attention. Attention to the glad announcement of the gospel and as Paul puts it, that we may grasp, grab attentively and make it ours the manner of width, height breadth and depth of the love of God. These measurements are known as being filled with all the fullness of God.

These wonderful truths are not learnt , carefully calculated but they are revealed . Christ in us the hope of glory.

 

His Knowledge; your knowledge

2^nd Peter 1:2-3” May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  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”

There is nothing more fathomable than perfect knowledge. To know is the security of existence and the flavor of life. To know the reason for existence is the pursuit of every human being and when this knowledge is known and apprehended, such a joy fills one’s soul.

There is something that God knows; he is the all knowing God and he perfectly knows that he created the whole universe. God knows that he created you in his image and likeness and having been convinced he is settled in that knowledge and he looked at humanity and saw that man is very Good.(Gen 1:27)

Grace and peace is now multiplied in us through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace the divine influence of God and the peace that is derived from The God of grace is multiplied in us through the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God (Epignosis) multiplies his influence I us. That is what we call grace an unmerited favor experienced in us through his divine knowledge of us. God knows that he has created us in his own image and is convinced of that. He knows that he gave up his only son for you and is convinced of that.

All the knowledge that is in God is vested in Jesus and in Jesus we have been made complete in God, Col 2:9.

It’s from Christ that we take our origin from God.

1^st Cor 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

It’s because of God that we are in Christ Jesus who for us is the perfection of God. The evidence of how righteous sanctified and redeemed we are in him.

If you think that you know yourself; if you have defined yourself any way less than How God has defined you, then you are missing out on the knowledge God has of you.

God knows that he has given up Christ for your redemption , sanctification redemption and holiness. If you think of yourself as a heap of corruption and a mass of unworthiness, then here comes good news. God knows you differently. God knows you to be in Christ Jesus. Your believe and faith that comes from the communication of the gospel attests to this.

His knowledge now becomes your knowledge; according to his divine power he has given you all things that pertain to Godliness and life through now your knowledge of him who has called you by his glory and goodness.

His knowledge now is your knowledge. God knows that he is your father and by you knowing this, grace and peace is multiplied in your life. God knows that you are the righteousness created in Christ Jesus. God knows you as a master plan of his created unto good works and your knowledge of this makes you realize that you have everything that pertains to Godliness and life.

If you think that you have to remind God of your sins and how bad you are, then realize that God has a higher knowledge, his says are higher than your ways and his thoughts higher than your thoughts.

God wants you to operate by his thoughts, his desires his ways. The knowledge of all these is Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth (reality) and the life. God wants you to be Christ conscious and to be cross conscious or in the cross the wisdom and the strength of God is displayed.

God wants you to operate in his knowledge and then his knowledge becomes your knowledge. His thoughts becomes your thoughts

If you have been raised with Christ therefore engage your thoughts in throne room realities Col 3:1. In other words set your affections on the things above from where your definition comes from.

You are in this world but you are not of it. You cannot afford to define yourself by what you know with your peanut brain (carnal mind) your carnal mind gets blown off and perplexed by heavenly realities that are why you have the mind of Christ to comprehend the thoughts and the authentic knowledge of God, of his wonderful sum of thoughts towards you, you can behold him in righteousness.

Do not Fear: the love of God eliminates the fear of evil

part 1

1st John 4:16-18” So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

 

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God, God abides in him. To abide is to have a permanent place of residence and so whoever confesses Christ as Lord God has a place of permanent place of residence in him. To confess is to acknowledge something as true after carefully analyzing and being convinced by the fact itself.

to confess in the original greek means Homologeo. to say the same thing as the other party,to concede to the other party. to submit under the convincing of the other party.

I find this to be a profound statement, this verse doesn’t say that whoever repeats a sinner’s prayer or whoever confesses all his sins but it does say whoever confesses that Jesus is the son of God is born of God.

when we confess Christ then we say the same thing as he, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, this many agree with but we also say the same thing with him that we have been freely justified by his grace.(Romans 3:3-24).

   if we confess our sins then he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1st John 1:9. many christian read this verse and leave at that point and go on crying and reminding God how bad they have sinned against him, some preachers will go on and press on the flock that they have to confess all their sins to God that God can at least unleash an ounce of mercy and blessing unto them.

what a schizophrenic Christianity? God forgives you at the same time requires of you to confess all sins to him. The truth is this; that God forgave you all sins before you confessed even one.

God demonstrates his love in this that while we were still yet sinners christ died for us rom 5:8,

God promised that in this new covenant , he will be merciful to our unrighteousness and our sins and lawless deeds he will remember no more(Jer 31:31-34).

beloved God is not holding any confessed sin if there is any against you. Before you think that you have to do something extra for God to forgive you, Good forgave you more than 2,000 Years ago, God is always smart and previous,isnt he a good God?

when we confess Christ i believe in the deepest sublime of my heart-

. we have confessed all our sins; for God who made him who knew no sin to be sin to be sin for us in order that we may become the righteousness of God in him 2nd cor 5:21

. we also confess our right standing before God; for since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through christ JESUS ROMANS 5:1

David sees this kind of blessedness right from the old testament as he forsees a great salvation.

Psalm 32:1-2 1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.

the reason why God will not impute sin in you is because if you are in christ Jesus then he has presented you before God as one holy and blameless before him;(Col 1:21-23), what  salvation!

Confession comes after believing for it s with the heart that one believes and with the mouth that one confesses. To believe is to have faith and think as true whatever facts is brought to you. To have faith in Jesus therefore is to believe it as true that he is the son of God and that he was manifested in the flesh to bear all our sins.

1st John 5:18” We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

We are born of the seed of God, the same seed which begets us has the capability to keeps us safe from sin.. If its God who abides in us then its of his seed that we are born of . and he keeps us safe from sin.

But we have a responsibility to keep ourselves from sin! You may ask

John says that we know….. Isn’t it pretty obvious? Can’t you see this is how it is! A banana tree does not struggle to bear Bananas.  A son of the president is automatically royal because royal blood flows through him. A banana tree wont struggle to bear banana fruit neither will a president’s son struggle to be a president’s son due to the magnitude of his royal status. The same way we were not meant to struggle with sin because we have come from God, we have been born out of him through the seed of Christ. We don’t struggle with sin because God’s seed abides in us and not because we are too much able to do anything with our strength. I know that maybe this statement may be too sweet for your ears to ear but this is the absolute truth as expressed by the scriptures. The truth is that the seed of God has its own inherent capability to bring a believer to fruition. The only participation of a believer is to believe, in the working of God in his life.

We know or rather we have to know that whosoever has been born of God cannot continue  in sin Because God’s seed  abides in him. Infact God dwells in him as a seed with all inherent power to bring  a believer to maturity.

            The seed of God keeps you safe so that the evil one cannot touch you.

 part 2

But there I so much evil around and even evil in the church;

Paul again alludes to this issue: Galatians 5:18-19” But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,”(Nkjv)

The works of the flesh ie the sinful nature are evident, they are obvious , you expect so much despair and evil when you look into the world and its system, when you focus on the world you will definitely succumb to its pristine.

John adds on to say that in this world you will expect lust of the eyes , lust of the flesh and the pride of life(1st John 2:16). His sounds like what led the first couple to fall in the garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:6”when he woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh, pleasing to the eye(lust of the eye) and desirable to make one wise(pride of life) she took some and ate it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

When you look into the world and get to succumb to its ways you will partake of its ways but you are not of the world , you are from God.

Adam brought Disobedience ; Christ brought Justification!

When one man disobeyed sin entered the world and death spread to the entire human race. Adam and eve did something graciously (on the negative) by ushering he entire world to an entity of sin. However The second Adam Christ obeyed God fully and thereafter was given a name above every other befitting to become the author of our salvation.(ROMANS 5:12-17)

One act of disobedience led to condemnation to all men because one sinned and therefore all sinned. What does this mean? One act of sin brought about sin and death to entire humanity. Sin, its entity, consequences and death. But this second Adam, the perfect Adam is compared to the first Adam; however what he brings with him cannot and will never be compared with what The first Adam brought. This second Adam brought with him, justification and life to all men. He brought life together with its full implications.

This one act of righteousness is not wht man could do but entirely what God did by sending his son into the world in the likeness of the sinful flesh in which he condemned sin in the flesh(Romans 8:2)

what shall i do when i fall short in some sinful acts

what shall you do if you place your hands on a hot stove! you quickly remove your hand out of the stove because it will hurt and disfigure your hand but it wont chanege your indentity; likewise sin destroys you, your body and your soul but never your spirit, ren\move your hand from s\the stove and move on, you are the righteousness of God in christ Jesus.

    beloved the knowledge of the love of God in redeeming you removes the fear of evil, stay put , put your head up, you are a son, if you are not a believer , you are just a lost son, not a worthless stranger, believe in this great salvation and see how beautiful your life turns out to be. To those who intimidate others by focusing on sin to make people change , the gospel is not even about trying to make people change, the gospel is the good news that christ commisioned us to preach, its the good news with self energizing ability to make people's lives turn around radically, preach the radical authentic gospel and see people's lives radically changed.