The Spot light is now on Jesus

 

The  law was given to Jews not Gentiles. The law never gave life or made anyone righteous. Romans 3:20 says no flesh has ever been justified by deeds of the law. Gal 2:16 says a man is not justified by the law but through faith  in Christ . Now Let’s look in the book of Colossians and see what we are now encouraged to do  Colossians 2:6-17  6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:    7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.  8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:  11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:  12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.  13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;  14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;  15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.  16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holiday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:  17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.   You see that as we first received Christ we are to continue to walk in him. Religion often wants to complicate Christianity by pulling us back under laws and rules and lists and judgments but true Christianity is a simple love walk with Jesus. God simply wants us to continue to realize his great unconditional love for us and that he has once and for all completely cleansed us from all trespasses and unrighteousness through the body of his son Jesus so that we now have full access in to his presence day or night without hesitation or reservation.  God also disarmed the devil by taking away all the ordinances that worked against us and nailed them to the cross as we’ll. so not only was Christ nailed to the cross but the law was taken away and nailed to the cross as we’ll.   So  Colossians is saying don’t allow any mans philosophy or rules or judgments to ever pull you away from your simple walk and devotion with Christ.our sins have been judged and paid for in the body of Christ and we are now free to  enjoy God forever.    We must understand that the  law was a shadow of things to come.. The body of  Christ was the thing to come and has come. Hebrews : 10:1 the sacrifices in the old covenant could never make anyone perfect why ? Because the sacrifices and offerings were imperfect . When man fell all of creation fell with man which also included every plant and animal but God prepared a body for his son that would be a body created perfect by God and void of any sin a perfect sinless body to be offered up once and for all mankind. That’s why when John saw Jesus he said behold the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. The body of Jesus was the one and only sacrifice that was perfect  without sin.  Hebrews 10:4-6  4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.  5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:  6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.  God never did find pleasure in the Old Testament sacrifices that were offered up year after year because they could never take away sins. The only thing that these sacrifices could do was to temporarily cover sins for the following year. The old sacrifices were only a temporary solution and a shadow of what or who was to come which was Christ .  The law only brought condemnation and death not cleansing or life. 2 Corinthians 3: 7  says the Ten Commandments were called the ministry of death and condemnation. So the question is then what was the law used for?  The law is not for the righteous man or those who have been made righteous through faith.         1 Timothy1:8-9 says the law is be used as an instrument for the lawless and unbelievers to tutor them and  to point them to Christ . Romans 3:19  says the law was used to stop every mouth. What does this mean to shut every mouth? It means the law proves that all are guilty of sin and all need Christ to justify them before God. In Gal 3:10  it says that the law is an all or nothing proposition that’s why it was a curse because no one could ever keep all the law.  There is only one who kept all the law and that was Jesus and He died for us! The Law said if we owe offend in one point than we are guilty of all. The law was given by God to us to increase sin to give strength to sin. Romans 6 says if you are under the law then you are still under the Dominion of sin because the law gives strength to sin. The key to being released from the dominion of sin is to die to the law and to see yourself in grace and alive to Christ    Today we are to be dead to the law and alive to Christ which means the spot light is now to be on Jesus and not the law.  We are not to be focused on the law, on sin,or on the tree of good and evil but all our attention is to now be on Christ who is the tree of life.  We bring forth fruit as we turn all of our attention away from the law and sin to Christ. Today I do not judge myself or others with am I doing good or evil or are others doing good or evil my full attention is now on Christ who is my life. My full attention is  now on Christ and the Holy Spirit who leads and guides me into all truth.  Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.  The way we bring forth fruit  is to be dead to the law and see ourselves married to Christ .

 

The Greatest Gift is Love

Mark 10:21

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²¹ And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and He said to him, You lack one thing; go and sell all you have and give [the money] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come [and] accompany Me [walking the same road that I walk]

What did Jesus first offer the rich young ruler? The answer is love. The Bible says that Jesus looked at him and loved him. I believe at this point that God was offering the one vital thing that this rich young ruler lacked and that was knowing God’s love for Him. If the rich young ruler could have seen and received the love Jesus had for him then he could have easily given up all his other possessions and followed Him. The one thing that the rich young ruler lacked was not giving up his possessions but he lacked seeing, knowing and believing the love that God had for him.

The song what the world needs now is love sweet love is an incredible truth and all real true love in its purest form always begins with knowing God’s great love for us.

Love is defined in 1 John 4:10

This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The bible does not say that we first loved God but that God first loved us and gave His only Son so that we could in turn come to know and experience the great love that God has for us.

Now the other thing that the bible does not say is that God has love, it says that God is love! Love is who God is, it is His very essence, nature and character and all the God will ever do He does out of love.

Have you ever stepped in to either correct or protect your child and then they said “You don’t love me!” but you know that’s not true , for the very reason you did step in was because you do love them and only want what is best for them.  Likewise often times God has stepped in and the world has screamed God does not love me! If God loved me then He would have done this or that for me, when the reality is the reason He did not grant your request is because He does love you and God really does know what is best for you .

The main reason that Jesus told the young rich ruler to sell all he had was because He loved him! Jesus knew that the young rich ruler did not have things but that the things really had him and those things were keeping him from Gods great love.

The Bible does not say that money is the root of all evil but that the love of money is the root of all evil.

When Jesus told the church at Ephesus to repent and return to their first love He was telling them that they had become distracted by other things and left the truth of knowing and walking in Gods great love for them.

God wants us to continue to know, believe and receive His great love for us because without His love all else is vain.

 

Ephesians 3:19

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,^{[c] 15} from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶ that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— ¹⁹ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God

The way we are filled with all the fullness of God is to know the Love that Christ has for us. As we know His love then everything else will follow.

You are not in Darkness

1 John 1:4-7

⁴ And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

⁵ This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.

What does it really mean to walk in darkness or walk in the light?

Now this may shock many who read this to know that the above scripture has little to do with your behavior and more to do with your new position in Christ. If you have believed the gospel and have been born of the Spirit then the Bible says you are no longer in darkness but in the light! Being in the light is your new spiritual place, address or position. To be in the light also means that you now have continuous unbroken fellowship with God and that you are also now every moment of every day continuously being cleansed from all sin and all unrighteousness. Many say how can this be? It’s called Grace!

Now once again contrary to most popular preaching as a born again believer in Christ it is impossible for you to be saved lost saved lost, saved, and lost every other week! You are either saved and in the light or you are lost and still walking in darkness, you cannot be in darkness and then in the light every other month or every other day. You are either in the light and a child of the light or you are in darkness and a child of darkness and I can prove this with scripture. To  imply that Christians can be saved one minute and lost the next or in darkness one day and in the light next depending on their own walk, attitudes or behavior  is a way of thinking that  will only produce a type of introspective torment for the Christian. This kind of performance way of thinking will only generate confusion, condemnation and fear that will only cause the Christian to become mentally unstable in their relationship with God and strips away any confidence for the Christian to ever draw near to God in full faith and assurance, why? Because in the Christians mind their relationship is based more on their own ability to walk right and on their perfect right behavior more then on the blood of Jesus and let me say that satan has a hey day with Christians who are in a self performance driven way gospel because he  can obviously then  always find some area that the Christian is falling short in to keep them bound in condemnation and away from Gods presence.

Now let’s see what the scripture  really has to say about our present position with light and darkness

2 Corinthians 6:14

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness                                  

Ephesians 5:8  for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

Colossians 1:13-14

¹³ Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

¹⁴ In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins

1 Thessalonians 5:4                                                                                                                       But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

1 Peter 2:9

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Do you see now that if you are a born again Christian that you are not in darkness but in the light! You were in darkness and walked in darkness but you are now delivered from darkness and you are now in the light. Light is now your new spiritual position and address. This is where you live now and because we are in the light we are encouraged to walk in the light where we live. But let me say this before you can really walk in the light you must first see yourself in the light and children of light

So many might say well what happens if I sin? Does that then change where I live? No. again the Bible says that you are in the light and if you sin then the blood of Jesus is there to continuously cleanse you from all sin and to keep you in unbroken fellowship with the Lord.

You have been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light!

 

 

Put off the Old and Put on The New

Have you ever put on an old pair of pants that use to fit but now to your shock they no longer fit? I mean they are sooo tightttttt ! and you think what’s happened to these pants ? have they shrunk? and in spit of how tight the pants are you still make every effort to get them on because after all they were your favorite pants , so  finally you somehow manage to get them on and ( ugh ) buttoned but they are still so tight and you are so very very uncomfortable . This is  a pi…cture of how it is after we give our lives to Christ  and are born again. What use to fit and was actually comfortable at one time is no comfortable and no longer seems to fit! and even when we at times make every effort to make our old life (pants)  fit  on to our new life in Christ we are so uncomfortable and miserable. The most miserable people in this world are those who have been born again but are still trying to hang on to the old pants ( life) but let me encourage it will never work because you have been made new 2 Corinthians 5:17  your old life will never fit  so the best thing that you can do to save yourself a lot of misery is to put off the old and put on the new… This is who you are now and God wants you to enjoy the new you.. Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. The main reason that God instructs us to put off the old and to put on the new is because He loves us and wants to save us from a lot of misery and hardship and only wants heavens best for us. He is saying what use to fit no longer will fit because you have been made brand new.

so He goes on to say in Ephesians 4:25-the end (AMP)

²⁵ Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another.

²⁶ When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down.

²⁷ Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].

²⁸ Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need.

²⁹ Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).

³¹ Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind).

³² And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

As we put off the old and put on the new we will find ourselves a lot less miserable and a whole lot more joyous because we are now walking in the new person that God has created us in Christ  to be .

 

Are you giving out of Love or Paying out of Fear?

Corinthians 9:7 Let every man according as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver…

Are you giving out of love or paying out of fear ?

God is our Father , He is not the God-Father from the mafia. He does not send His hinch men over to break our legs, break our windows or tare our car up if we don’t pay Him His part.. Yes God loves it when we give and give abundantly because He knows the great fruit of Joy that will be released into our lives as a result of our free will cheerful giving (2 Corinthians 9:10). In fact when we give the right way we can actually become addicted to giving because of the great Joy that we receive from giving… Did you know that God could only use a free will offering to build the tabernacle in the wilderness? But as people began to give as each one purposed in his own heart to give something strange happened! God’s people became addicted to giving and they gave so much that Moses had to actually restrain them from giving! Now wouldn’t this be a good problem to have in the church today? How much church’s today have had to restrain their people from giving because they were giving way to much? Free will giving is always Gods way to bless His people. God does not want us to give out of fear but out of faith and love.. Exodus 35:5 and Exodus 36:5-6 2, Corinthians 9:6-11.

What about Malachi 3:8-9? Is Old Testament giving, its law giving and it is not to be preached as a new covenant way for giving. We are no longer under the law but under grace and grace giving and free will offering is the way we are to give. In fact Gods way has always been free will offering and not payment giving like you would pay a bill. Preachers who preach tithe payment do it because they are either ignorant of Gods new covenant way of giving or they do it out of fear, fear that the church bills will not be paid if they leave giving up to the people to decide how much they want to give.

So the argument from the tithe payment preachers is well Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek before the law so that means that God still demands we pay tithe today! Well first of the Bible does not say that Abraham paid tithe but that He gave tithe. Abraham gave a tenth out of an act of gratitude and worship but let’s not thing that Melchizedek ran over to Abraham with his hand out demanding payment or he was going to curse him if he didn’t.. There is nothing wrong with giving 10,20,30 0r 100 percent just know that God loves it when you do it as a free will offering with a cheerful heart for this is the acceptable  way to give.

Your New You

Your new true Identify is in Christ and that’s the new you. Our Spirit man is already heaven ready right now!  The Bible says as He is so are we in this world. Now one of the main reasons most Christians have a hard time accepting the present reality of who they are now in Christ is because they are looking into the wrong mirror. They are still looking at that part of them that is still being renewed, and full of flaws and they often allow the flaws they see  to tell them who they are when in fact it is not who they are , the real you is perfect in Christ in spite of the flaws you see. We are not to allow any behavior tell us who we are or to talk against our true new identity.  We should never go to our soul to find truth or receive council but we are to go to the Spirit and the word. We must always accept who and what the word tells us we are and never allow our behavior to tell us who we are. If we behave wrongly that is not who we really are. It may be the old residue of who we were but that is no longer who we are and as we accept who we really according to the word of truth then our behavior will line up with who we really are.

if your born again It’s ok to say as He is so am I in this world.. It’s ok to say I am just like Jesus because that’s what the bible says. It s ok to say I am new creation, I am one with God, I am Holy, Sanctified, Justified, I Am righteous, all this is ok to say because this is the real you and in fact God wants us to embrace who we are now in Christ because this is the way to real change from the inside out. As we embrace who we really are on the inside then the outside will change.

Its ok to say I am no longer a sinner I am a saint.. In fact I will always be a saint.. So what if I fail? , will that change who I am? No! We are made into His image and we are new creations once and for all time. We are not born again every other week we are born again and sealed once and for all time never to be separated for God ever again.. Now listen we don’t need more behavior modification programs or sin management accountability   programs we need to start believing right !  or who we are in Christ and as we embrace who we are then what’s on the inside will reflect who we are on the outside,

1 Corinthians 15:22 As in Adam all died so in Christ all made alive. I was in Adam now I am in Christ.. Christ is my new home and my new Identity.

1 Corinthians 1:30 He has made unto us wisdom, sanctification, righteousness, holiness, redemption.. All that Christ is I am because I am in Him. All of Christ’s experiences became my experience because God put me in Christ. The Bible says I died with Him, I was buried with Him and I rose with Him and I am also seated with Him. This is all present tense reality!  And because I am in Him I am righteous, holy, sanctified, redeemed. His experience became my new experience. This is my new Identity this is who I am now in Christ. God wants us to completely receive this truth by faith. I say by faith because you can’t always go by how you feel or how you act. God put us in Christ so it is impossible for us to mess it up! We have been trying to change our flesh by our flesh and that will not work!  It is only as we embrace the truth about our new Identity in Christ that will change will ever come

Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and God has translated me into His kingdom. This is a right now present reality but it’s only by faith that we can see this or enter in to it. We now live in a new kingdom and we are to live by this kingdom. We are in this world but we are not of this world.. We are the just and the righteous and we are called to live by faith and not by sight.

When we were in Adam we died because Adam died, we were made sinners because Adam became a sinner, and we were separated from God because Adam was separated from God. In fact all of Adams experiences became our experiences and there was nothing we had to do to inherit all of the first Adams experiences because we were all born into it and for some reason we have no problem with accepting this but now something new has happened now  that we are in Christ all of Christ’s ( the last Adam)experiences become our  new experiences and the Bible confirms this! When Christ died we died, when Christ was buried we were buried when Christ rose we rose with Him and now we are seated with Him and we are just like Him… this is now our present reality.. When people ask me how I’m doing I can say  I’m doing just as good as Jesus is doing.. Why? Because I am in Christ and He is in me

I was once was in Adam and that was my spiritual condition but  I am no longer in Adam I am now in Christ and this is my new condition. This is my newness of life that I am called to embrace and to walk in.

I am a new creation in Christ as He is so am I. We didn’t do anything to make ourselves new He did it to us by the Spirit. Yes we believed but He did the creative new work. And this process of renewal is being done by the Holy Spirit from the inside out.

I am just like Jesus right now!  God took out the old me and made me a brand new creation

2 Peter 1:4  says the great promises of God help us to become partakers of His divine nature. Listen we must  learn to embrace His promises  as true for us if we want to experience the reality of these promises.

2 Corinthians 5:21 I Am the righteousness of God in Him. This is a promise that we must always embrace. We must embrace this promise when we are doing good and not doing well because this promise does not change with our behavior. It is who we are.

People ask me do you believe in the rapture.  And I say sure I do! In fact sometimes I get rapture several times a day, When I begin to think I’m down here and Gods way up there somewhere or I’m still the old me and nothing has changed.. I adjust my mind and set it up there where Christ sits because the Bible says I am seated with Him right now and as He is so am I in this life.

The key to transformation is to believe who you are now in Christ and your behavior will line up with what you believe. As a man thinks in His heart so is He. However if you think your just an old sinner saved by grace and you set out trying to change your behavior like most church’s teach then you will engage in an endless battle that you will never win. Your flesh cannot change your flesh. We are transformed through right believing. Believe right and you will begin to live right.

As we behold in a mirror the glory of the Lord we will be changed.

Stop going to the bookstore buying books on how you can change yourself. This is Christian Humanism and Christian Humanism does not work.. We are changed by believing and by beholding what God has made us to be and by the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

How do we change? We believe who we are in Christ and rest in the Holy Spirit to work what is on the inside out! It’s His work..  God wants us to realize that He is in us working in us to will and to do His good pleasure

Much of  our church theology today has come from the soul and the soul is never the place you want to go to get truth from… all truth comes by revelation from the father and through the Spirit.. Jesus told Peter , Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but m father who is in heaven and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.