Hallelujah! How wonderful it is to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Let’s open our hearts to receive God’s word; for the flesh is unprofitable but the words that He speaks to us are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).
By His grace, here I am 54 years in His service; and I have interacted with Christians of all denominations. I have seen some of them find ‘good success’ while some others are up one day, down another, and up again, and down again… and wonder how this can be! Of course, you can always blame the circumstances and situations, your parents and siblings, maybe your pastors and people in the church, too; and there is always the devil to blame!
Do you want to know the secret to success? Paul found it during his 40y of ministry, after he met the Lord Jesus on that road to Damascus; he says: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20). How many of you can say that with Paul? If not, then the question is, why?
Are you mired in religion or are you living by revelation? You see, revelation comes by faith when you hear God’s word; when you meditate on God’s word, and assimilate God's word and put your trust on God’s word… There is the battle of the flesh you must fight-flesh against the spirit, and the spirit against flesh as long as you are alive on this planet earth. But note that when you meditate and trust on God’s word, you are feeding your spirit and starving your flesh! Man is, first of all, a spiritual being-and we ought to feed the spirit. Without this spiritual ‘being’, there will be no value to our spiritual ‘doing’. Acts 1:1 says about Jesus: …Jesus began both to do and teach.
Youths today are so caught up in the ‘activities’ of the church, without growing in a relationship with God. My advice to them is this: ‘Get in touch with God and His revelation’- because this leads to righteousness. Then you will be able to think rightly, walk rightly, do rightly… try it! Righteousness will lead you to peace, and the result of that peace will be joy.
Don’t wait for some evangelist to come and lead you in the right way! Acts 1:8 says: “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Do you know that the original word for ‘witnesses’ means ‘martyrs’? Now think of Acts 1:8 again. We are not here to measure ourselves with ourselves; or ourselves with others… but, here we are on an exciting journey-being witnesses; and along the way, we are also called to encourage others to walk through the narrow gate.
Don’t wait for some evangelist to come and lead you in the right way! Acts 1:8 says: “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Do you know that the original word for ‘witnesses’ means ‘martyrs’? Now think of Acts 1:8 again. We are not here to measure ourselves with ourselves; or ourselves with others… but, here we are on an exciting journey-being witnesses; and along the way, we are also called to encourage others to walk through the narrow gate.
Today, I want to talk with you about the revelation of the mystery of His will. Deut. 29:29 says: The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Imagine that! We are in this ‘natural’ realm-of flesh and blood, while beyond what we can see with our naked eyes lie the realm of the supernatural-as real as it can be. Someone called this supernatural realm as the 4th dimension; and from this supernatural realm, we receive secrets that are revealed to us as God’s children. And the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children… why? To do all the words of this law (God’s commandments).
And so we realize the secret of being called as ‘children of God’; being fellow heirs together with Christ; and mysteries revealed about the kingdom of God; of sitting in the heavenlies along with Christ Jesus… And so can pray the Lord’s Prayer: Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven…
Someone said that it is possible to create a whole new world of your own, and live in that 4th dimension, apart from the world that we live in the flesh! Just as God created everything new from nothing, and from chaos and darkness… to all that was good, in order and in light! We follow His footsteps; first realize He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Secondly, we speak…just as God spoke ‘Let there be light’… and life and …anything. Thirdly, we see the result! Because God too, after His creation, saw that it was good. So we too will see those things that were not, but now is-good! By faith we see the substance of things hoped for… and the evidence (title-deeds) of things that are not seen (Heb. 11:1). Seek Him first; speak your hope and see by faith and see it come to pass… we are in this world, but we are not of this world!
Ephesians 1: 3-10 – Redemption in Christ
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him.
We are gathering together unto Him-Jesus Christ. Because God has revealed to St. Paul, the mystery of His will; a mystery hidden for ages, but was revealed to Paul and now through the Scriptures is also given to us-His children: The secret of the gift-of-salvation through Jesus Christ.
We worship the triune God; One God in three Persons-the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is seen right from the book of Genesis (Gen. 1: 1, 2) and throughout the Scriptures; but revealed through the coming of Jesus the Christ and of the Helper-the Holy Spirit. There are a few other mysteries revealed in God’s word. Can I share them with you… maybe I will share a few of them today, and the rest when I come here again sometime soon-God willing.
- Mystery of Christ’s Incarnation: the Word became flesh!
1 Timothy 3:16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.
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| Gerard (Gerrit) van Honthorst (1590–1656), Adoration |
Firstly, the redemption work of God (Word became flesh); and secondly, the revealing work of God (and we beheld His glory). Then there is the receiving work of God: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh , nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12, 13)
You are born again because of God’s work; no human influence, inducements or interference… but according to the will of God. Now once you become sons and daughters of God (children of God), God’s DNA and genes has been injected into you! The Son of God became Son of man (divinity of Jesus, clothed in humanity) in order that sons of men may become sons of God (the vacuum in your humanity is now filled with divinity).
- Mystery of Christ’s Indwelling: the hope of glory!
Colossians 1: 26, 27
The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in you, the hope of glory! I remember when I was small, in a remote village in Karnataka; a village named Mariapura (Town of Mary), where I don’t remember even a single family of non-Christians. My parents were very religious and took me regularly to the local church, although I was often sick. But whenever I was there in the church, I was made the altar-boy carrying the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper. It was also a practice in that village that whenever a person is sick, they would call for the priest to give Communion. When the priest, in his fine robes pass by, (and I go along with a bell, the scene is still graphic in my mind), the entire street would come to a standstill as if God Himself is passing by…
It was all religion. But tell me now, when people see you and me pass by, will they say that God is passing by? Because Christ is in you-the hope of glory! This is the revelation – God in us. And He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).
Knowing this hope of glory, we must boldly speak. Philip and I had gone to meet an IT official regarding some social work cause. It was a spiritual battle and the people had warned me before that this particular IT officer was the most corrupt of all. But when I began to speak, he became subdued like a lamb! Christ in us is greater than he who is in the world. Hallelujah!
- Mystery of Christ’s Intimacy: with the church –His body and bride!
Ephesians 5: 30-32
For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5 is a favorite passage from the Scriptures for pastors solemnizing a marriage. I remember that I met my wife-Florence, in a Bible study class in 1958 (now that is 53y back); when I was just into the ministry. For us, there was a waiting period of 4 years, before we could marry! And next year, God willing and if the Lord tarries, we will complete 50 years of married life. And I can say that everyday with Florence is better than the day before… But in the initial waiting period of 4 years, it was quite painful.
In marriage, there must be a leaving (leave his father and mother) and there must be a cleaving (joined to the wife). Someday I will talk all about marriage.
Jesus is preparing His holy bride-a church without spot or wrinkle or blemish. He is cleansed the church by His word. Jesus is gone to His Father to prepare a mansion for us-and He will come again and receive us to Himself (John 14: 2, 3). Jesus is coming soon to take His bride; yes, the Bridegroom is coming!
In this mystery, lies our fellowship with one another in the body of Christ-the Church. There must be fellowship (unity, as members in the body), and flowing (life, as the blood flows to different parts of the body) and functioning (each with a specific purpose).
Beloved, each person-each member of the church is a master-piece and special in the sight of God. Each part of the body has got their unique function; there are no spare-parts and there are no dispensable members! You see, God has blessed me with 10 fingers; and here even the little finger has its function and growth. Now don’t ask me what its function is; see for yourself when your ears gets itchy inside. ;) Also, how can a bowler spin the (cricket) ball without his little finger? I don’t know…
Here is what I am saying: Do not think you are a-nobody. You ARE someone special. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus (Phi. 2:5). Also, Paul says to the Corinthians ‘But we have the mind of Christ’ (1 Cor. 2:16). Renew your mind according to Romans 12:1 and be transformed into the person God has called you to be. God bless you. Amen.
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