Tag Archives: material world

September 29, 2012 · 12:40 pm

Evidence of a New Creature

There are several facts that the ministry of Jesus has established and therefore our lives present evidence to the world of His truth. One of those facts has to do with the identity of those who have been born of the Spirit. The born again experience is the beginning of a spiritual journey on the path to understanding our new identity. While we are on our way to a full understanding we are still able to present evidence that may also help others to start or continue on their path.

 Since Jesus is the Master copy of our identity it is a form of idol worship or pride to focus on any other person other that Jesus as a role model of our identity. Scripture does give us permission to imitate followers of Christ but in that we are still looking at how Christlikeness is being reflected in our brothers and sisters.  A lot of people are on the journey to becoming like their earthly spiritual leaders and lot of leaders begin to enjoy the flattery and enter into pride.

 Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

 Our earthly body, after the spiritual awakening of the new birth, begins to experience the effects of life in this material world and becomes sensitive to the Presence of God’s Holy Spirit living within. Our response and cooperation with this new life inside our body is evidence that we present to others. The strengthening of our health and the immunity from sickness and the ability to demonstrate divine healing in the lives of those we come into contact with are some of the first pieces of evidence we present along our spiritual journey. Current religious interpretation of biblical scripture would move our focus on a future time when we will receive this divine health in our new body and overlook the potential of this earthly body to experience what happens once the Holy Spirit takes up residence.

 Jesus presented some fantastic evidence of what our flesh and blood bodies can do when the Spirit of God tabernacles with us and our bodies become the house of God. We must not pass over the opportunities to present evidence of the Kingdom of God within by looking forward to a future and better day. Right now we Sons and Daughters of God must learn to use spiritual disciplines to deny the lust of our flesh so we can completely (spirit, soul, body) operate as we were designed by our creator.

 Romans 8:18-19 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

 Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

 The world is a jury of our peers and they desperately need evidence to understand that they also can know Jesus the Master and live a life that worships God so they can love their neighbors. God calls and sends us into the world to demonstrate what we see our Friend and Master do. However a lot of today’s Christian religious interpretation tends to encourage us to use the tactics of the Old Testament and build walls of protection.  From behind these walls we can pull others out of the world to safety so they can hide in fear of those without until Jesus returns so we are not left behind.

 Another interpretation of spiritual reality is that we have been adopted by God and we can walk in the authority of Jesus presenting evidence and causing many people to also become disciples of Jesus. Becoming born again and then hiding out in fear of the evil in the world makes a waste of our Master’s ministry. Not only does Holy Spirit bear witness (Romans 8:16) of this interpretation but creation itself is waiting for us to understand our identity so we can exercise that authority and also free it from the bondage of sin. This will only happen when we begin to live in this earthly body like the heirs of God’s offspring that we truly are.

 My friends I encourage you to consciously focus your attention on Jesus our Master and Lord that we may partake in His understanding of our relationship with our Father in heaven. If we do this we can imitate Jesus and effectively fulfill the calling and demonstrate what it means to be Christian. A lot of us will need to enter a process  to humble ourselves, repent and let go of our personal will so the great I AM can have reign in this body thus bringing about God’s will on earth.  

 Once we are free from the use of earthly strategies we can begin to live a more spiritual life. This new life with God’s Spirit, which also quickened the dead body of Jesus, does not only restore our body but He grants us powers that can only be described as super-natural so we can help other see truth. This is the evidence that this world needs in order to cause it to look or relook at what God our Father is offering.

 The only fear we should have is in a belief that says “God has left our temple, which is our body”. Biblical scripture clearly states that He will never leave or forsake us.

 So we present this evidence, even while on our spiritual journey of becoming transformed. The Spirit of God is willing to tabernacle (take up residence inside) with all men and women thus making each a true body of Christ. We are new creatures, God in man, man in God. This is the way Adam was created and lived before he experienced separation, and this is the way Jesus (the second Adam) has come and restored to us.

 We must receive and take up the call and allow God to present evidence through us to everyone we meet. Freely His Spirit was given to us and freely we must give His Spirit to others making them disciples to all nations. This demonstration of our love for our Father is our reasonable service of worship, and it is evidence that we have become new creatures and disciples of Jesus.

 Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

 Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

 

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September 11, 2012 · 8:12 am

Reconciled by Spiritual Evidence

In our courts we use evidence to help us establish facts. As believers in Christ we understand that every person will one day face judgment concerning their life. Also as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom we try to help people everywhere avoid a judgment that will result in eternal separation from their true love. God’s love for all people is the fact of the evidence that we present.

 Hebrews 9:26-28 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

 There is a common delusion that blinds the hearts and minds of all the people in this material world and it says that God is angry with us, we do not measure up and unless we do something He will not love us. Through this delusion people look at the 6000 years of biblical history and come away with the interpretation that God has played favorites and chose Israel above all others nations to save and today He chooses Christians as the object of His favor.

 The belief in this deception causes more than half of the members of the human population to consider themselves enemies of God of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The delusion is so complete the religious members of these faiths tend to also view the people of the world as enemies of their God. This lack of revealed truth has caused the children of God to act like brothers and sisters living in a deeply contentious family feud.

 Only the light of truth, spiritual truth, from God’s point of view can heal this dysfunctional family. God’s equal love for all His children can also be clearly seen in the 6000 years of biblical history. His desire to be reconciled to all of His children can be clearly seen in the light of spiritual truth. Simply put, God loves us everyone.

 As members of the Kingdom of God learn to present evidence of spiritual truth from God’s point of view, a process of reconciliation will take place. The delusion of darkness in this material world will give way to the light of spiritual truth and the children of God in this world will know and understand the love of their Father in heaven. Reconciliation must be the heart of all that is presented as spiritual evidence in order to make all things new.

 Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

 2 Corinthians 5:18-19  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

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July 21, 2012 · 4:58 pm

Fruit Of A Spiritual Tree

This blog uses evidentiary law as a metaphor for spiritual evidence of Gods Kingdom. In this post I will use one of evidentiary law’s legal metaphors as my metaphor. The exclusionary rule is a part of Constitutional Law and is designed to exclude evidence obtained in violation of a criminal defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights.  This amendment guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.

 The metaphor I want to use is called Fruit of the poisonous tree which logically means that if the source of the evidence (the “tree”) is tainted, then anything gained from it (the “fruit”) is tainted as well. This rule and metaphor is all about the authenticity of the source of evidence and how it was obtained. This is particularity true when it comes to the spiritual evidence of God’s Kingdom.

 John 14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

 Matthew 21:33-35 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.

 Spiritual evidence does not originate in this material realm. Therefore the source of real spiritual evidence when gathered and presented says something about the relationship between the presenter and the source. In the material world there is always a question that must be satisfied, and it is, how was the evidence obtained? If it can be proven that during the gathering of evidence, the rights of the defendant were violated, the evidence is excluded.

 As joint heirs to the Kingdom of God, spiritual evidence reveals our relationship to the source of the Kingdom.  Since Jesus is the way, there is only one gate to this evidence and that is through Christ. The vinedressers in the parable got greedy and failed to recognize the owner of the vineyard and the ones he sent. Scripture reveals that the carnal mind or material mindset cannot understand spiritual relationships.

 Like Christ when we present spiritual evidence the jury in the material world naturally tends to view that evidence as having come from a physical source and does not understand the spiritual source. But we are children of God and sent ones and therefore the evidence belongs to the source and not the messengers. Our eyes have been opened to the Spirit of God and that was a work of God’s Spirit. We now understand that we humans are vessels and have the capacity to carry the Presence of God’s Spirit. We have become the “Dominion of God” Himself.

 As Disciples of Jesus we are learning to fill our vessels to overflowing and carry our Father’s Presence so that others might take, eat and become awaken, like we have become. But if we try to force that awakening we will have violated their rights and the spiritual evidence we carry will be dismissed or excluded and our reputations as vessels will discredited. Jesus stood at the door and knocked and we must do likewise.

1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

God is All in All, but each individual consciousness must freely open up in order to experience Father’s indwelling Presence. The Presence of God’s spirit that we carry is born out of intimacy and a trust that He will forgive us when we open ourselves to Him. People in the material world tend to resist opening up if they have experienced a violation of trust. Many religions and cults cross this line of sovereignty in their zealousness to help people experience the freedom that they have come to know.

 One of Jesus favorite sayings after He has carried in Father’s Presence, is that “your faith has made you whole”. A sign of spiritual maturity is the ability to enter into the intimate place and open up to our spiritual Father so He can fill us to overflowing with His Presence and then carefully and respectfully carry His Presence into the material world so people  can freely take from what has been freely given to us. If we manipulate people in to taking something they are not ready for the result is never good. Likewise if a prosecutor thinks someone is guilty and fixes the evidence to get a verdict, he performs a miscarriage of justice.

 Jesus operated from a place of Sabbath rest trusting that God’s Spirit would not return void but that our Father’s Spirit would accomplish His will. Jesus from a place of complete trust said “Not My will but Your will be done”. Our goal as Disciples is to become like our master by taking on His yoke (teachings, mind-set, and instructions). We must willingly become Disciples of Jesus if we expect others willingly chose to be Disciples. When Jesus laid His life down He did it trusting that our Father’s Spirit Words, left in the hearts of His disciples would get the job done.

 Intimacy leads to freedom, and forgiveness, trust, and rest leads to intimacy.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

 

 

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