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Uncommon wisdom from Christ, the heart of God. To read the entire, just click on the link. (4 or 5 studies).
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Grace is favor, generosity with intent to please. The providing of what cannot be gotten in any other way. You might say intentional generosity.
First of all, in order to understand grace, you’ve got to get your understanding out of the realm of religion. Let’s understand what grace is in normal, everyday life. Then, when we see it in the Bible, it will mean something to our normal, everyday life. Grace exists all around us, and comes not only from God, but from others also.
Let’s say I have a son, who is going away to college. He will need to be able to get there to school (and back), as well as to move around while at school. But he has no car, or the money with which to buy one. Out of my generosity, and in order to meet this need, I give him a car. That is grace. Intentional generosity….doing for my son what he could not do for himself.
Jesus also grew in favor with God and man. The older my own children get, the more I’m able to do for them because the more they’re able to receive.
We can never, ever be justified of our sin apart from Christ. And in Christ (who is a gift of God’s generosity), there is never ever any punishment for sin.
We believe on Jesus Christ (actively, now) and his faith gives us access into God’s intentional generosity and it’s in this grace that we stand (mentally, emotionally, in our belief of who we are and what we deserve)
Go ahead, the next time you meet a self-professed Christian. Ask him/her, “So, do you keep the 10 commandments?” My answer? No. Because I’m not under them. I’m all about exploring, discovering and living in God’s superabundant generosity toward me.
Our restored value, which happened when the debt of our sin was discharged in Christ, came totally by God’s overabundant generous intention to please us.
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IN CHRIST – what does it mean?
What God gave us when we first believed unto Jesus Christ……the spirit of His Son, Jesus Christ, also known as Holy Spirit…….this is Christ in us.
As God, by the revelation of that Christ within, reveals to our understanding, different aspects, truths, realities of that Christ within, and as we think, believe and walk in the understanding of this revelation, we are in Christ.
Walking in Christ is a growth. It’s a journey…not an arrival point. (Well, it is an arrival point, in that we’ve arrived, when we’re on the journey).
What is God’s part.
Teach, reveal, strengthen, impart, energize, direct, cause to triumph.
What is our part.
Want it. Walk in what has been revealed to us. Desire more. What that will look like remains to be seen, as each person makes Godly spiritual choices concerning his/her life.
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If you have 2 glasses of water, one pure and one polluted with toxins and dirt, and you take those 2 glasses and mix them together, what are you going to have? You’re going to have polluted water.
Almost every Christian I meet has some of the truth of the greatness of the glorified Christ, living in their being; but almost no one has the pure truth of the gospel of the glorified Christ only. Rather, they have aspects of a polluted gospel mixed in with the good stuff, thereby resulting in a watered down faith, that lacks too much of the power and purity of God.
The gospel of the grace of Christ indicates that everything is received from God due to His generosity (grace), and that our behavior or performance or deeds do absolutely nothing to enhance or facilitate that generosity. We are on a journey to learn how to walk in it……not how to earn it.
God has made us His children. Already! Now…..learn to walk as such.
We who have “arrived” have but arrived on a magnificent voyage of discovery! To arrive is to know you are on the everlasting journey of a lifetime. Guilt has no place. Shame does not belong. Condemnation is not a part of the package of Christ.
Peter allowed the truth of the gospel to get polluted.
Grow rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ and nothing else! God will give you as much as you are willing to receive.
I’ve seen this happen in congregations. In order to appeal to the greatest number of people (so that revenue will grow), a watered-down version of the Word of God is presented. A “nice” gospel.
Why, some preachers could be very good motivational speakers!!! Yet they speak nothing of Jesus Christ, or of how to freely receive the things of the grace of God. They just want to motivate you…..to give give give! The spirit of the living Christ within you will motivate you! God doesn’t need or want man to do His job. He wants men to make Christ known.
Many ministers in the church do not proclaim Jesus Christ. They resort to trickery, sensationalism, entertainment, motivational techniques and the like, in order to gain influence and prestige. This is to their shame, for they are nothing more than self-promoters, using the word of God for their own gain. Their teaching is not to make Christ known, but to make men dependent on them.
It is so important that you discover what is the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is so important that you stay in the truth of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Many people have this idea of the antichrist, that it is a person who will come and rule the world in the last days.
Let’s see what God’s Word has to say.
In this day and age (as in that day and age) there is not one antichrist….there are many antichrists. Antichrist is a spirit, and there are many of them. They infect, afflict many people. And it appears that the people afflicted by this spirit of antichrist had been involved in the fellowship of the saints.
They were a part of those who joined together in the fellowship of Jesus Christ our Lord. But they separated themselves…….because simply believing on, trusting in, Jesus Christ was just too simple. They used Jesus as a starting point, but then moved away from him.
There is no ego in Christ….no confusion, no complicated theology. No need for any other head than Jesus Christ himself (verse 27). But those afflicted by the spirit of antichrist separated themselves from this powerful simplicity in order to have prideful influence and sway over those they deceived by their devious preaching and teaching…..which was other than (anti) Christ.
It was complicated, dark, “can’t be explained”, has to be “accepted by faith”. And so many were perverted from the simple truth of Christ into dark, deceitful doctrines and practices, requiring self-appointed spiritual advisors to rule over them, to interpret for them that which were lies and half-truths.
“This doesn’t make sense,” they would say, and those with antichrist would say, “Yes, it is not easy….we will help you understand…. just follow me.”
These “in-the-place-of-Christ” leaders don’t walk in the anointing of Christ.
Having imparted to us his spirit…..we ourselves have been anointed (christ-ified) by the spirit of the Christ, Jesus). We have been made into (taken on the nature of) Christ by Jesus Christ himself!!! How he did this was by anointing us with his holy spirit, which came from out of his Father, God.
Antichrist….is the Greek word antichristos. Here’s what Bullinger has to say………………
Anti governs only one case (the Genitive), and denotes over against, or opposite. Hence it is used as “instead of” or “in the place of”; and denotes equivalence.
Antichrist means “taking the place of Christ” or “instead of (and equivalent to) Christ.”
Here’s a challenge. The next time you go to church, or hear anyone preach. Listen…..how many times is Jesus Christ mentioned? Then….how directed is the teaching toward Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ himself proclaimed? Taught? Sought? Magnified? Preached?
There’s no money in proclaiming something so simple as Jesus Christ.
A true minister of Christ always preaches, teaches, proclaims and otherwise magnifies Jesus the Christ. That is the job of a minister of Christ.
Read the writings of the apostle Paul………see how often he mentions Jesus Christ.
There is nothing you can do without Christ that can in any possible remote way please God even a little tiny bit. So stop trying !!!!
To proclaim anyone or anything besides the Christ, Jesus (as a way to the true God)……..well, that would be anti (in the place of) Christ, wouldn’t it?
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