Tag Archives: Son of God

August 5, 2013 · 9:58 am

God Authenticates His Evidence

Water DropsAs vessels of God’s Presence we carry what is known as self authenticating evidence. This type of evidence is defined as evidence that “ is so trustworthy that it doesn’t require a witness. These forms of evidence are inherently reliable, and are deemed to be “self-authenticating.” Healing, miracles, walking on water, quieting storms multiplying food and raising the dead are evidence that would fall into this category. 

As we learn to move in this realm we must be very careful because these events can make us and the people around us react in unpredictable ways. From the perspective of the believer being used of God, the production of such evidence is all about the condition of ones heart as it relates to God. Will that heart remain humble and give thanks for the opportunity to witness such evidence or will it become prideful and take credit as the source or channel for God’s evidence. I have come to define humility as having the correct understanding of who God can be in and through us.  Jesus said:

 

John 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. …

 

John 14:10 …but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

 

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

 

The best that is humanly possible is to live like Jesus by becoming a vessel or a channel in this earth realm that allows God’s Spirit to freely operate. Since God is infinite, that means He can manifest in 8 billion different ways which is a way through each and every human on this planet. Inside each of us is the reality of God’s Kingdom. But not until we have been awakened and remain conscious of this reality can we exercise our free will to allow God to freely work through us. This is the difference between the spiritually minded and the materially minded.

Jesus was credited with restoring sight to a person who was blind from birth. That is simply self (God) authentication in action. The same Spirit that is in Jesus also resides in us. If only we can catch this vision and let go of our training as sons of and daughters of Adam, we could begin to operate like Jesus as children of God.

 

The first step is for us to believe that what Luke 6:40 is implying is possible in our life. Then the next step is to become immersed in the red letters of the bible. My suggestion is to take a year or two and read only those verses over and over again. Then begin to contemplate and imagine yourself in the role of Jesus walking in the earth realm. Set you religion aside and begin to view your relationship with God and the people of earth just as if you were Jesus.

 

It is my encouragement that we are able to contact God who lives inside of us and then develop the relationship to a point where God is literally revealing Himself as us. Even though I am not there yet one day I want to be able to say like Jesus “if you see me you see the Father”. I hope people become confused and they say “isn’t that the IT geek that is in the cube down the hall? How did he heal you?  Where is he?”

 

We humans were born for so much more that we understand or can imagine. So let us, let go and let God live through us.

 

John 9:1-12 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

 

3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. 7 And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

 

 

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July 29, 2012 · 6:07 pm

Case: Vineyard Owner vs. Vineyard Keepers

In this post I want to return to a type of evidence I have covered before. Demonstrative Evidence is also known as Illustrative Evidence. This type of evidence is used to assist the jury in understanding what has happened in a case. So if we present spiritual evidence that is illustrative it should show what is happening in the King’s dominion an also provide prophetic insight as to what will happen in the future.

 John 5:19-20 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

 Matthew 21:33-39 “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. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 In my last post Fruit of a Spiritual Tree I used a parable of Jesus about an owner of a vineyard, his expectations and his encounters with those taking care of his vineyard. One way to look at this parable is like a landmark court case (Vineyard Owner v. Vinedressers). By using this approach it could give us some insight as to how a judge might rule today and in the future. Better yet is should give us some insight and strategy as to the way we might present and expect God to present evidence of His Kingdom through us to a jury of our peers.

 The basic outline of the case is presented in Mathew 21:33-35 where the vineyard owner created a vineyard and placed in it everything needed to make it successful. The vineyard was within the hedge and the tools make wine and a tower from which to communicate and protect the vineyard was also provided with the vineyard. Verse 34 states that the fruit was for “they”. Is the “they” the servants on behalf of the owner or the vinedressers?

 As we read and listen to this parable we not only see what the owner provided to make the vineyard successful we can see a story being told as an example of illustrative evidence. If Jesus tried to explain spiritual truth of how the spiritual Kingdom of God (KoG) operates to those who have not been spiritually awaken they would miss the point. But by using this parable as illustrative evidence Jesus can assist any member in the jury of our peers to understand why God’s spiritual work will be successful as it is activated within the hedge or material flesh of mankind.

 This vineyard or garden living on the inside of us is totally spiritual but it has characteristics like those illustrated in the picture of this vineyard. If we understand the purpose of a hedge, a tower and a winepress we can begin to understand how this internal and spiritual Kingdom operates. We see that carnal or material mindset of the vinedressers sees value in the flesh of the fruit (grapes) but because they miss the spiritual and universal understanding of their relationship to the owner they kill and steal hoping to keep a harvest that they perceive they do not own. This too is illustrative of a spiritual truth. See the final judgment of this case below (Mat 21:43) and notice who really owned the fruit

Matthew 21:43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.

Matthew 11:12-15 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. 14 And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

A consistent point that Jesus makes during His ministry is that the material or carnal mind-set operates from a place of separation from God. This is a result of sin that subjected mankind to a mind-set that has at its foundation a knowledge of good and evil. The whole of Jesus ministry is to reconcile man back to God. The carnal mind-set fails to receive the free work of forgiveness of sin and receive by grace the right standing as child of God. The key to all spiritual evidence presented through us goes to the point, that we have been reconciled and are now one with God.

Christ mission and now our mission of bringing heaven to earth serves this purpose. It destroys the disbelief that we have to remain separated or fearful that our destiny is eternal separation from God our Father. If the opposite of heaven is hell then we could hold a working definition that regardless of our location if one is separated from God they are in hell. Likewise we can consider regardless of location that any place in the presence of God is heaven. And so the very moment we enter into the Presence of God here on earth that prayer has been answered by our Father.  

Galatians 4:1-5 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Romans 8:19-21 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The ministry of Jesus, who was also known as the last Adam, was and is all about bringing the reality of our heavenly Father’s dominion to earth and to ensure that we have an eternal place in our Father’s Kingdom. In order for a person to willingly agree to be reconciled, their understanding of our Father’s willingness to forgive, love and heal them must become a part of their mind-set. The purpose of the illustrative evidence that we present is simply to change understanding.

God loves us and empowers us to share that understanding to all who will listen. Jesus is the Master example of how to present evidence of the truth concerning our Father and His Kingdom. Jesus has been authorized and He has given that authority to us so we can, like Him, share with those who have not been awakened to the truth of all matter. Spiritual transformation and understanding is a process that may take a lifetime but when it is complete our Father will be clearly seen in us and our ability to present spiritual evidence will at least be equal to that of Jesus our Teacher.

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 

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May 5, 2012 · 9:32 pm

Seeing Christ in the Mirror

Now that we have looked at 3 types of evidence (exculpatory, testimonial, real ) let us take a look at the aspects of gathering and using this evidence to obtain a favorable judgment from a jury of our peers. In the earth realm evidentiary law requires we maintain a well-documented chain of custody for all evidence so that we know that it is true. The purpose of evidence is to establish a fact and if the evidence is truthful it can be used to authenticate the fact being established.

John 5:31  “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.

John 8:14  Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.

The fact we are establishing is the spiritual Kingdom of God (KoG) and we accomplish this by gathering and presenting spiritual evidence with chain of custody that could only have come from the spiritual realm. If human hands have no part in the creation, gathering and presentation of spiritual evidence then there is a high probably that a jury of our peers will come to that same conclusion we have and thereby join the KoG. As you look at the two scriptures above,  one reason that testimonial evidence appears to be in contradiction is because the judge of the evidence lacks a spiritual perspective to evaluate the evidence.

All humans have been given a door to the realm of spiritual understanding through Jesus Christ. So to remain materially bound to our five senses is not the fault of our God who loves us and has removed every obstacle to reconciliation with Him. Spiritually speaking there is one word we will all hear on our journey and that word is transformation. The process of becoming consciously awake to the spiritual realities that are available to us as children of God or Disciples of Christ.

James 1:22-25  But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

There is a common tool available to aid us in this transformation. This is a mirror and it is a metaphor for the Word of God which is synonymous with Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life for all humans.  If one could grasp an understanding of how a mirror works then one could use it to transform their life spiritually.

That revelation is the first of four steps I have personally called “The Theology of the Mirror”. In a nutshell, understanding how a mirror works is step one. Step 2 is looking for Christ in the mirror. Step 3 is becoming a mirror for others and step 4 is allowing oneself to be changed by the image in the new mirror. Christian discipleship is all about becoming transformed in order to transform others and then in turn help them to likewise transform others.

Exodus 38:8  He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

Exodus 30:17-21  Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 18 “You shall also make a laver of bronze, with its base also of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. And you shall put water in it, 19 for Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. 20 When they go into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water, lest they die. 21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them—to him and his descendants throughout their generations.”

In order for us to enter in to the presence of God we must wash ourselves in the laver or with a mirror or with the word of God. We have often heard the phrase God does not see us, He sees Christ. This needs to be our perspective as we look into the mirror. Over time as we move closer and closer to God we must see more and more of the image of Christ forming in us.

The reason a lot of us cannot see Christ in others especially non-Christians is because we cannot see Christ in ourselves. By His grace we are being transformed into the image of God until we can become consciously one with the presence of He who is in the midst of us.

On the quantum level photons leave a light source to be exchanged with other photons and they are captured in the layers of the mirror and again exchanged and finally captured by our eye where an image is projected on our conscious. It takes about 8 minutes for light to travel from the sun to earth. So when we look at the sun we see and image that is 8 minutes old. The same is true with our image in the mirror but scripture say when we see Him fact to face we shall be like Him.

Romans 8:19-25  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

As we gaze into the mirror of the Word of God we begin to see that we are more than just humans or sons of Adam. We begin to understand with spiritual senses that we are children of God constructed uniquely to host the very presence of God our Father. But it takes Jesus the Christ and Jesus the Master to open the way of truth and transformation. Not only is He the example of what we can become but He is the Grace and forgiveness that allows us to look past the errors of our past so we can be reconciled and live as our Father intended.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

The main reason for not making a false image is because we are being transformed into the image of God. So as we become true sons and daughters of God our children will emulate what they see. If the generations are moving away for the Master’s image is because we are modeling ourselves after a false image.

We are joint heirs with the King of the Kingdom and if the world is turned off toward Kingdom it is not the fault of our King. As we live out truth and demonstrate truth it should appear to be so valuable that people will violently want the KoG. All of this starts with step number one, which is simply acquiring an understanding how a mirror works. Here is a hint. A mirror is a device that captures and reflects light to display forth a clear image. The Kingdom is not rocket science and it can be understood by all. Jesus was sent to this earth realm by our Father to make the spirit plainly visible. We like Christ are the ancient gates to the revelation of His spiritual Kingdom.

John 3:12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

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