First Corinthians 2:1-16
Second Timothy 3: 1-7
How we develop “Spiritual” understanding
Spiritual understanding does not come with being born again anymore than understanding life comes with natural birth. The POTENTIAL to learn is there but it takes growth and training. A natural child learns to talk and understand language as He/she grows and is in the presence of others using the same skills. Spiritual understanding comes from spending time in the PRESENCE of God, being led by the Spirit of God and spending time around others expressing (manifesting) what God has revealed to us in order to FUNCTION EFFECTIVELY in the Kingdom of God, we must CHANGE the way we think and look at things. Natural or “CARNAL” thinking (self-centered + desire = a selfish desire to do everything MY WAY) is enmity against God. And if we ever hope to understand HIM, we must learn to think like He thinks. A good example showing the difference between the way God thinks versus the way man thinks is found in Matthew 16: 20-26.
When we are born again, we become “new creatures” with the POTENTIAL to understand spiritual things, however, unless we EXERCISE God’s way of thinking, we will never believe it (John 1: 12). And this is the major challenge among the Saints today. We say we love God, and we say we believe what He says in HIS Word, when we are faced with “doing” HIS Word versus “doing” what I’ve always done. Generally, we choose what’s “familiar”, “comfortable”, and “easy”. That’s why God said… “You honor me with your lips, but your Heart is far from Me”. That’s why Paul told Timothy… “They are EVER LEARNING, but never able (because they won’t do it), To come to the knowledge OF THE TRUTH (truth never becomes their makeup/ we are not conformed into HIS LIKENESS). James said “Those who Hear, Hear, Hear, but never do are DECEIVING THEMSELVES, in other in other words sitting there wasting their time.
The problem is that the religious person will only respond to God and obedience if they can perceive Him with their five senses, which reduces God down to “ONLY” what they think and feel whereas, the Spiritual person understands “Spiritual things” and believes God without requiring him to check in with their feelings. Religion will never bring you into Spiritual maturity. The difference between “baby” Christians and “mature sons of God” is their thinking. Babies think ONLY about themselves and HOW THEY FEEL. If anything happens to a baby that promotes “discomfort” they will cry until it’s fixed. If anything happens to a mature Saint that is “uncomfortable” they will rejoice until “they are changed”.
“THE REAL REASON BEHIND PAIN & PRESSURE IS CHANGE”
Revelations 1:1-6
Jeremiah 9:23-25
Mark 10:13-32
Whatever calling, profession, or occupation a person chooses, they should expect to go through a specialized process consisting of STUDY, DISCIPLINE, AND TRAINING to prepare them for their position… this preparatory process is not only absolutely necessary for the position, but it also actually comes with the calling. So it is with our “high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.
The process that God is using as of this very moment, to prepare U.S. “to take dominion” on this earth as “kings and priests” representing the Kingdom of God… is just part of Our Calling (think it’s strange). No one not one of us can enter into the Kingdom of God without this preparatory process. I know Jesus said in Luke that the Kingdom of God is “in us”, but while that’s true, some of us are not entering in. Some of us have yet to experience what the Kingdom of God is all about. My beloved, there is just one process, only one training program that’s absolutely necessary for (kings and priests)…
First Peter 4: 12-19
“If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him,” as a result we become Heirs with God and joint Heirs with Jesus Christ… IF WE SUFFER WITH HIM. And it is only to the degree WE KNOW HIM in the mixed of “HIS SUFFERINGS”, to that same degree we will be able to experience the power of “HIS RESURRECTION”. Suffering was not a strange thing to the Saints who were processed during the birth of the church. Suffering for Christ sake was an expectation and a joy because they knew Jesus and they knew that in order to understand HIS perspective (seated in the Heavenlies), they would have to be processed the way He was processed the watered down gospel we preach and teach today has refused to address the subject of, first becoming a mature son/daughter of God, and second, that they the requirement meant to do so will involve PRESSURE, PERSECUTION, AND SUFFERING. In fact, Here in America there is very little pressure and suffering involved in being a Christian because there’s actually NO NOTICEABLE DIFFERENCE between the lifestyles of the Christians and unbelievers.
SUFFERING AND PRESSURE is not unique to Christians. Everybody experiences suffering and pressure to one degree or another (Romans 2:9), but the reason and results are always going to be different. Life on earth was designed by God to put all of us under pressure. Tribulation is the sense of being “CRUSHED OR PRESSURE” (Acts 14:22). Suffering and pressure are designed by God and tailor made for each of us, to drive us into “a deeper relationship” with Him. God trains us to deal with pressure and suffering primarily through our close relationships (marriages/ family/friends), and the things that involve survival, i.e., situations pertaining to living that everyone has in common, saved, or unsaved.
SUFFERING AND PRESSURE provides resistance in our lives. Resistance make us struggle and struggling makes us strong-which represents the principle of “ENDURANCE.” Now this leads to life (the narrow road). Just knowing that God is the orchestrator, and designer of EVERYTHING that happens in our lives, and that pressure and suffering are preparatory for purpose, we are to always rejoice. Joy gives us strength (while complaining defeats us). We are not joyful for SUFFERING; we are joyful through suffering. PRESSURE AND SUFFERING MAKES US OVERCOMERS.
Being placed in suffering and put under pressure is God’s way of forcing us to make a choice. Do we choose to PLEASE HIM and respond by thinking, saying, and doing like Him. Or do we take the easy way out and do what we’ve always done under pressure?
THE WAY WE RESPOND IN SUFFERING, WILL DETERMINE WHETHER WE TAKE ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD OR NOT OR WHETHER WE EXPERIENCE THE KINGDOM OF GOD, OR WHETHER WE BECOME MATURE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD OR NOT.
If we are pressing into God and making choices that please him, we’re taking on HIS CHARACTER. But, wHen we make “selfish” choices accompanied with BAD ATTITUDES, then God will put us under more SUFFERING AND PRESSURE until we make the right choice. God wants us to make righteous choices under pressure. WHY? Because making right choices under PAIN AND PRESSURE prepares us to rule in the Kingdom of God.
COVENANT
Genesis 15: 1-21
Hebrews 6: 13-19
It is Heartbreaking to realize that when God offers mankind a covenantal promise, we have by our sinful nature become so unbelieving of anyone’s integrity that it is difficult for us to believe even what God has said. Even though God has never lied and has never broken covenant He finds himself in the position of trying to guarantee to us that He will be faithful on HIS side of the bargain. THIS is particularly surprising when we realize that God is the source of truth and faithfulness. He has nowhere to go to prove HIS faithfulness since He is the creator and originator of it. We see Here the paradox of trying to have dialogue between one person Who’s always told the truth and another person who’s always lied. How will a liar ever be convinced within himself that He can trust the words of THE TRUTHFUL ONE? How CAN THE TRUTHFUL ONE contrast or compare Himself to anything in the context of the liar’s life when the liar does not know what truthfulness is?
This is the case that God presents in Hebrews chapter 6:13-19. Verse 13 is saying that Abraham is not the parallel of a man who always lied. He was the most covenant-keeping person of HIS time period but even in God’s dialogue with Abraham we can sense God struggle to reassure Abraham of the absolute infallibility of HIS PROMISES to Abraham.
In verse 17, God is making a determined effort to demonstrate to us, the Hearers of HIS WORD, that He will not break that which He has said. What He has spoken to us is confirmed by a guarantee. He is trying to demonstrate that He is not double-
minded, that HIS words will not be changed in the future.
Verse 18 states… “that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation”.
The consolation Here is in our own assurance that the things God has promised will come to pass. The consolation is our being brought to the point through GODS TWOFOLD GUARANTEE where we see that GOD’S end of the bargain will actually come to pass.
What are the two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie? These two things or the promise itself and then the oath of confirmation following it. These two things are similar to a contract and a money-back guarantee. The contract is reinforced by the guarantee; the contract and the guarantee are the two immutable things. In this case, God’s promise is completely valid and trustworthy. He then adds an oath; He swears to Himself that the promise that He originally made is true. The oath becomes the second of two things, following the initial promise. The promise and the oath guarantee us of the Truth of HIS Word. God has no where else to turn to guarantee HIS own integrity all He can do is really-promise or swear to Himself of that which He has already said.
We ought to be ashamed of the depth of our own unbelief which has forced God to this extreme. God has offered us a covenant. He has promised us to keep that covenant.
He has made an oath over and against Himself to confirm to us that we can trust the covenant He is offered. Had it not been for sin, our response to any statement of God’s would have been much more simple and filled with faith. The death and resurrection of Jesus as God’s son is the ultimate measure that God has undergone to guarantee HIS willingness to restore us to a trusting relationship with himself. God is trying to rescue us out of our own distrust through a process in which our souls become more and more reassured and our thought-patterns are renewed to trust. It is through practicing keeping the covenant of HIS WORD that our spirits rise out of unbelief into intimacy with God
TRUSTWORTHINESS AND PEACE ARE THE PURPOSE OF COVENANT-MAKING AND COVENANT-KEEPING
What exactly is the covenant? Covenant guarantees a given relationship. The covenant itself is actually a set of words that are spoken to define the nature of that relationship and set forth the principles of commitment to it. A covenant can be seen as an oath that seals the relationship between two people.
For example: in the case of marriage, a man and a woman have a certain relationship together. The covenant of marriage is when the terms of their relationship are set forth verbally and clearly so that both may be committed to it. The marital covenant is making clear in Word form what their marriage is. The marriage is actually the type of relationship between them, the covenant of marriage are the words of oath-commitment that passed between them before God, before witnesses, and before each other, at the marriage ceremony. The covenant then are “the words” that pass between them. We covenant with each other by the “words” we speak to one another. Either we operate in covenants of “truth or falsehoods”. That is why the word of God says in Matthew 12: 37, “that by thy words thy shall be justified and by thy words thy shall be condemned”. And again in proverbs 18: 21, “that death and life are in the power of the tongue.”
In First chronicles 16: 15 there is a description of God’s covenant with us-
“Remember HIS covenant always; the word which He commanded for 1000 years”. The covenant refers to the word that God spoke. THIS is why we refer to the Bible as a testament or covenant. We have a relationship with God. The words which He spoke are the scriptures on which we base our relationship.
A covenant is something to be remembered. The purpose of the covenant is to continue to reiterate the set terms by which the relationship between the two people operates. The covenant is permanent and steady, and therefore Helps maintain a permanence and steadiness in the relationship between the two people. The people may be subject to change, but the word of the covenant maintains its ability.
Another aspect of the word of the covenant is that it will last on into time. Here it says that this work would be effective for a thousand generations. A covenant may endure beyond the first two parties who originally started it.
Amos 8:3… “all of God’s actions upon earth are done through the mechanism of covenant
THIS concept, of a mere man establishing a cooperative alliance with an all-powerful God is one that shatters the former impression of man as a passive creature at the hands of a dictatorial Creator. God’s offering of a two-sided covenant is one that should stir any one of us into determined action. The Bible does not portray man as a “puppet” of Gods. There must be a human being prophetically coming into agreement with God. To this joint authority, the intervention of God takes place. Without this joint authority, God will not intervene”. Heretofore, we have been spoiled, delinquent children. We are now beginning to understand that we are under the demand (THE MIGHTY HAND) of a Father, Who is calling us to begin to act in “maturity and integrity”. As covenantal partners with God, He expects us to take our places as the stewards of HIS “creation”. We are the “rulers” over the works of HIS hands. THIS is the plan that God originally attended for Adam; And through Adam this is the plan we originally fell away from.
THIS is a plan that we are now being “restored” to through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the episode in which Jesus rebukes the wind and waves during the storm, the disciples react to him in fear at all. We might see this as a proper religious humility towards Jesus. But this reaction completely missed the point that Jesus was conveying in Mark 4:40… “why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? Jesus was not asking them to Revere Him. He was surprised at their lack of understanding of their covenant relationship with God. He expected them by that time to have understood that they had enough authority to give a command to the wind and the waves. God is challenging us to begin to “call things that be not as though they were”. First Corinthians 11: 27-30 shows us that to enter into a blood covenant with Jesus the Messiah is no light, superficial matter. As we take the Blood and the Bread of communion, we are passing through the pieces into a blood covenant with Jesus. He is completely bound to loyalty with us, and we are completely bound to loyalty with him. Should we betray that loyalty that was so lovingly offered and proven at such a horrible experience, we would find ourselves facing fearful judgment of blood-guilt. Hebrews 10: 26 through 31, “to drink of HIS Blood is to become one with him in a life-for- life, soul-for-soul partnership.
Jesus said that in order to enter the new covenant, we must all drink of HIS Blood and eat of HIS Flesh. He has indicated here that we must all join our lives into complete covenant unity with Him, our lives for HIS Life and HIS Life for our life.
A blood covenant demands full life and death loyalty. In revelation 12 there is a vision of certain men who have given their lives for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Verse 11 describes the fullness of their covenant commitment:
“And they overcame him (the accuser) by the Blood of The Lamb and by the Word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death”.
The blood of the lamb is referring to Jesus’ part of the covenant. The word of their testimony is agreeing with him by living and speaking the covenant WORD OF GOD That they were willing to give their own lives for the sake of the covenant is displaying their own loyalty for the covenant. The covenant always has two sides of cooperative commitment. This absolute blood liability and loyalty are the principles that stand behind a biblical view of human relationships. Our own viewpoint on how we treat one another should be radically changed by this teaching.
God’s New Testament covenant-(Romans 8: 38-29)
God is faithful to HIS promise to you and me to HIS own WORD. Since He cannot lie, He will never change HIS dealings with us even if I act differently then I promised him. That makes HIS covenant incredibly stable it does not fluctuate according to the foolish things that I do. It does not even consider my actions because it is based on HIS PROMISES. THIS is the meaning of “grace”- undeserved favor and kindness towards us. It is done not by our works, but by God’s word.
Hosea chapter 2: 19-20 ends with this promise: “then you will know the Lord”. Casual relationships do not offer this kind of “knowing”. Full and complete disclosure between people comes only in covenant. God’s commitment to us ultimately is a promise to reveal himself to us, and He ends up saying “THIS IS WHO I REALLY AM”. THROUGH MY CONSISTENCY, YOU WILL COME TO KNOW ME AND TRUST ME. THIS IS WHAT I WANT IN THIS RELATIONSHIP, IS TO FULLY SHARE MYSELF WITH YOU”!
Since righteousness sustains covenant, the only power strong enough to break covenant is unrighteousness- sin. When we live with integrity, the Holy Spirit convicts us of wrong and directs us to acknowledge that wrong before it can destroy the covenant. A key promise of God’s covenant is “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. The more we and the family of God acknowledge our wrong attitudes and behaviors to one another, the stronger our church family becomes.
IT IS A COVENANT-MAKER, NOT THE OTHER PARTY, WHO DETERMINES WHETHER THE COVENANT WILL BE KEPT
Relationships surrounded by covenant have as much destructive life-threatening stuff thrown at them as do non covenant relationships. The difference is that the covering of the covenant burns off and deflects a lot of what might hurt the relationship “no matter what” is the language of the covenant. And that promise nullifies most of the impact other attacks might have. Over and over again we see the promises of God given to HIS people. Mostly they refer to what we will experience. He promises to take care of us, to provide for us, to lead us, to protect us, and to see us through to the end. But covenants do not have boundaries. As surely as they map out a place of abundance wherein, we will be fulfilled and enriched beyond anything we can ever imagine, so to do they indicate a place beyond and outside of those boundaries. Once He draws lines and borders, He separates the place of the covenant from those places outside of it.
COVENANT IS LIKE A SANCTUARY.
WITHIN COVENANT WE ARE SAFE, AND WE CAN REST AND CONTINUED RELATIONSHIP.
OUTSIDE THE BOUNDARIES OF A COVENANT WE ARE NOT COVERED BY GOD’S PROMISES, BUT UNCERTAINTY.