Our Position in Christ

Your Position In Christ
 

Our Position In Christ – Heavenly Places

Today as we consider the word of God, we read in Isaiah 55:8 & 9,

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways My ways’, declares the LORD. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'”

Not only are God’s thoughts and words at a higher standard than mans, but the Word of God is set forth as, and speaks of, a special goal or aspiration for the believer. But, it’s not just the goal that we seek as it states in Colossians 3:1 & 2:

“Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth.”

That is, there are Positional Truths that are being alluded to in these verses. When Paul says, by the Holy Spirit, that there are “Things above where Christ is”, he’s speaking of higher-heavenly realities of truth that He wants the Christian to grasp, believe, fellowship around, and meditate on.He’s speaking of our “New, real-life (that is) hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3 Amplified Bible). How can we be on the earth and seated together with Christ in heavenly places??

L.S. Chafer says the words “Heavenly Places” mean this:

“These divine blessings are identified as belonging to the ‘heavenly’.

They are “the deepest reality in the unchanging sphere of identity with Christ.”

“This is the sphere of the believer’s present relation to Christ. This sphere of relationship is far-reaching and all-inclusive. It includes the sharing of the divine nature; the possession of life which is none other than “Christ begotten in you the hope of glory”; the common purpose with Christ in service indicated by the words, “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world”; the relation between Christ and the believer as forming the New Creation; in suffering, for we suffer together with Him; in inheritance, for it is said that we are “joint-heirs with Christ”; and in a yet future glory, when we shall be “glorified together with Him.” Such a sphere of blessing is not limited to favored places; but is ever and always the deepest reality in the unchanging sphere of identity with Christ, a reality which can shed its radiant glories in the human heart even in the dungeon at midnight as much as in the blazing glory of celestial realms.”

Ephesians 2:6 states that God “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The ultimate goal is Christ. And the way to get to the goal of being like and manifesting Christ, is having that life which is “in Him” transmitted to me by the Holy Spirit (Jn.16:13-16 disclose:anaggello-to announce in detail that which is heavenly in character). As I reckon (Greek-logizomai: count, consider, render, credit to my account; e.g. “imputed righteousness”) on what the Word of God says about me positionally, because of Christ’s Finished Work, then the Holy Spirit reveals, transmits, discloses, manifests to and through my soul, the specific truth on which I am reckoning. He makes it experiential as I mix faith with what I hear (Rm. 10:17, Heb. 4:12), and God the Father works His perfect plan (Deut. 32:4, Phil. 2:13) into my life using the Spirit to bring life out of death (Rm. 8:13&14, Col. 3:5, 2 Cor.4:10 & 11), which ultimately glorifies the Father!

As we shared above, the Holy Spirit is the divine Messenger that transmits to my soul through my human spirit daily benefits, that are located in Christ, in the Heavenlies! This is my position* in Christ:

“He daily loads me with benefits” (Psalm 68:19)

*See article by L.S. Chafer: The Riches of Grace in Christ Jesus (33 Divine Accomplishments in and for the Sinner upon Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ) Including 5 Unchanging Principles of Positional Truth –
http://www.wholesomewords.org/etexts/chafer/saved.html

God tells me not to forget those benefits (Ps.103:2).
But, to “think on these things” (Phil.4:8 Whatever is true, right, lovely and excellent), the “all things that are new” the “all things are for your sake” and the “all things” that are “from God” (2Cor.5:17, 2Cor.4:15, 2Cor.5:18).

Finally, this glorious place of position, blessing, and authority, is that “Highway of Holiness”! (Is. 35:8-10) This “High-way” of God produces true trans-formative holiness in our experiential-walk as we continue to have a mind-set on “things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:6).

In Jesus Name,

Pastor Wayne


Holding the Ropes

Holding the Ropes   

The year was 1792. William Carey had challenged his Baptist brethren to obey their responsibility to take the Gospel to unreached lands. Baptists of mid-England formed the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen. They appointed Carey and John Thomas to go to India as missionaries. In 1793 Carey said a tearful farewell to his church in Leicester, England. On a Wednesday the Society came together for a farewell service as Carey and his son prepared to leave. Sometime during that all-day meeting, Carey met with the four leaders of the Society. These men promised Carey “that, as he went forth in the Society’s name and their Master’s, they should never cease till death to stand by him.” Andrew Fuller, one of those men, later described the occasion with an illustration.

Fuller said that the mission to India seemed like a few men who considered going into a deep, unexplored mine. It was as if Carey said, “Well, I will go down, if you will hold the rope.” The meeting, in Fuller’s mind, was as if he and the other brethren gave their word that “whilst we lived, we should never let go the rope.”

The four leaders of the Baptist Society kept their word to Carey. They served the Society, prayed for Carey, and raised needed funds. History records that each man “held the rope” until he died.

More than 200 years have passed since Carey first volunteered to go.  Times have changed, and Carey would not recognize our modern world.  Godly missionaries labor for Christ around the world today. The work on which Carey embarked and the work missionaries do today is the same.

Will you “take hold of the rope” with us and support our General Fund so we can more efficiently and effectively serve these faithful, modern-day servants of Christ?

Missionaries today continue to go “down into the mine” seeking to win lost men to Christ, baptize and disciple them, and plant New Testament churches. Some go to places that are dangerous. Some go into locales where exotic illnesses threaten. Others go to countries where poverty makes life difficult. All of them go to lands where people by the thousands need our Savior. These missionaries, like William Carey, need someone to “hold the rope” as they embark on their Great Commission task.  

Selection taken from BWM website.  http://www.baptistworldmission.org/get-involved/pray/1000-holding-the-ropes.html



The True Spirit and Heart of Jesus for Missions

“12 And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return andthat will be your repayment. 13 the poor, the crippled,the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  Luke 14:12-14
 

After a discourse of not having special guests to sit in prominent seats, but to love everyone equally and the same; Jesus then paints a more real and deeper heart issue:

He begins to describe that when you have a feast, don’t just invite the wealthy, your friends, your relatives, or those close to you.  But, invite strangers!!  And, invite people who can never pay you back!!

This is a heart of love; and a true missionary heart, and heart for missions: which Jesus mentioned that we all need to have.  (Matthew 28:18-20 & Mark 16:15) We’re to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to everyone!!

“For God so loved the world…..”(John 3:16)

Oh, that our heart would be filled with God’s love for all people groups, all nations; for every precious person on the planet.

We live in a world that is filled with hearts that are self-centered and self-pleasing, proud, and egotistic.  But, when we’re filled with God’s love (Romans 5:5), He places a lost world in the center of our hearts.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

“We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you.” 2 Corinthians 6:11

Only God can give us a true heart for the world!  

Please, Living Hope Church, pray for your mission teams going out: to summer camp, to Peru, and to Poland and The Ukraine!  Oh, God!!  Put a love in our hearts for all people!!

In Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Wayne

 

 

 



God’s Promises are Bigger than Our Circumstances

“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” 2 Corinthians 1:20
 

We live in a world where there are many difficulties and changing demographics.  But, God’s promises are greater than any of these! Whatever impossibilities we are facing, God and His Word are greater!!  

“With man this is impossible. With God, all things are possible!”   Matthew 19:26

And, “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.”  1 John 4:4

These are powerfully, crystal-clear statements about God’s power, and faithfulness to carry to completion His will and purpose for our lives!!

 

Think of His promises that are so very personal for you today:

1.)  The Bible is Inspired in 2 Timothy 3:16.  It’s not just a ‘Good Book”, nor is it the thoughts of man.  It’s entirely, and eternally inspired by God, Himself!  Actually, the Bible is Yahweh’s or Jehovah’s personal love letter to His child.
2.)  In Isaiah 40:29-31, God promises to give power to the weak; and strength to the powerless. It says that even the youth and young men will get tired and weary.  But, if we wait on Him, and believe His promise, He will bring it to pass.
 

3.)  In Romans 8:37-39, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, describes a long list of adversaries that can plague the Christian. The conclusion?  Not only does He give us the Victory over all these things (see list), but, none of those things shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus!!

In Closing, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 and Philippians 1:6 kind of give the same principle:

God is faithful to perform and complete, by His power, the work that he started in our lives; and individually fulfill every promise that concerns the building, and forming of Christ’s character within me.  It just means He’s going to do it because He’s a good God, and He loves us for Christ’s sake!  This is how we should view every one of the almost 8000 promises in the Bible!!
In Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Wayne