Rick Rosamond's Blog, page 6

Revival is not in signs and wonders but in Gods life lived in us.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31)
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, (John 2:24)
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation (Luke 17:20)
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (Galatians 1: 10)
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Galatians 6: 7-8)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9)
 
The believers of Jesus day where looking for a messiah. Yet despite Him standing in front of them they, as a whole, did not accept Him. Why? Their perception of what Messiah would be and the things He would do where not in line with the actions and message of the rabbi from Galilee.
They expected a messiah who would overthrow the power of Rome and make them the head of all nations. Jesus instead gave a message of the reign of God in their heart. Instead of showing God’s power and wrath against the infidels this Jesus kept telling the people of God that if they repented God would accept them.
The modern church does no better. We pray for revival and for God to move in this present evil age. Yet we ourselves must let God alone reign in our heart.
We say we love God but we have forgotten the second commandment. As long as we accept psychology, sociology, and political correctness in our churches then we are guilty of showing respect to the power of man. We say God is our king then try to bend who He is to become acceptable to men’s approval.  We say we are separate from the world but we reap the same divorce rate, same depression rate, and same sins in our churches that are in the world.
We fear what men can do, but we claim we are not our own. If we are the body of Christ then let us consider did Christ bow to Pilot and the power of Rome, did He bow to the High priest who had corrupted his office for political and worldly gain, did He bow to the Pharisees and the traditions they upheld?  No; despite Him knowing they would torment and kill His body He bowed only to God alone.
If we desire revival we must come back to the simplest truth; that God is our maker. We must abandon completely Adam’s thought that we ourselves can make who we are. We must never again use our own labor, as Cain did, for an offering to God. Let it not be said among us that we have as Balaam made a crooked path to attempt to please God and men for our own gain. Do not fall into the madness of Kora who by swelling pride said that the spirit in him was sufficient without Gods chosen witness (of both Moses and the apostles for us).
Men are self-seeking without mercy, so let the church abandon all delusion of acceptance from them; and instead let us fall at the feet of our first love. If he strikes us it is only to remove the chaff of Adam from us. If he makes us pass through fire it is to make us pure silver reflecting the image of our Father.
 If we wish to save any in this present age from wickedness and the wrath to come then judgment must begin in the House of God whose house we are. We know that with our God there is mercy and compassion because of this let us no longer hide in our fig leaves. We are naked before our God, so if we are naked then let us not be ashamed. If we come before Him He will deal with our sin but also He will cover us with His promise.  

How the blood must be applied

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit. (PSALM 51: 5-12)
If I were to ask you to think with me of a glass you would have a picture in your mind. This picture would vary from person to person and could well be nothing similar to my own thoughts. If my description was a champagne glass not only would our picture become more alike but your mind also begins to fill in why I am asking you to think about this glass; coffee may mean I want you to wake up and see a certain thing but champagne is an indication I want you to celebrate something with me. This is the power of imagery and symbols in our communication.
God uses these two powerful tools to help us to understand His redemption and life in us. The symbolisms of the scripture are seen by some as a way of hiding the truth but in reality they are meant to be a way to better explain to us the things of God. Yet to understand them we must study the way in which they are used by the scripture and allow the scripture themselves to define them.
I set out to discuss our need for being purged of the thoughts and ways generated in us by the world, the flesh, and the devil in order to experience the fullness of the life of God shared with us. The Lord it seems has taken me into a different perspective of discussing the symbolism of hyssop in scripture.
Hyssop in scripture is used to symbolize the work of the Holy Spirit in our salvation. If we look at this symbol we can better see the way in which we trust in God as our master and maker and how we become what God has told us we are.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. EXODUS 12: 1-13
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two side post with the blood that is in the basin and none of you shall go out until the morning EXODUS 12: 22
It is the life blood poured out that saves us from the destruction, it is faith in God’s word that makes us to trust in the blood, but for the blood to be effective it must be applied. It cannot be applied by a man’s hand, for it is not by might (works) or by power (will) of man, that God’s salvation comes but by His Spirit. The blood must be applied by hyssop (the Spirit).
It is the blood of Jesus that gives us life but it is the Spirit that quickens our mortal bodies. The blood applied to our life is the only effective power we have part of. To make a comparison to the natural the scripture tells us that the life is in the blood. We know thanks to modern science that this is true because the blood transports the oxygen which is vital to all our bodily functions. What cannot be overlooked is how the oxygen gets to the blood. This is facilitated by the breath.
Now the Hebrew word for breath and Spirit are the same. In this carnal world the blood cannot be sustained and made effective without the breath and the breath is of no use without the blood. The same is true of our life in God; without the Spirit the power of the blood is not applied in our life and of course without the blood the Spirit can only serve witness to our death.
Jesus said that when the Spirit came He would show us all things and also that He would not speak of Himself but only those things of Messiah. So it is with great humbleness that the Spirit, which is the life of God and Jesus, that raised both Jesus and those who believe into a life that is shared of the Father, joins the pillars and post of our body soul and spirit with the blood of the sacrificial lamb of God to the end that we are kept of God.
Though it is important to understand the symbols of unleavened bread, and the lamb and the blood, the doorpost of our habitation are not joined with these things without hyssop.
In my next post we will look at Leviticus and cleansing of a leaper.
 

Our words, deeds, and heart must be one:pillars part 19

1 John 3:18-24
 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
 19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
 20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
 22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
 24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Multiple libraries could be filled with all the words men have wrote and said about love but a real love is not in description but in how we live.
 Furthermore if the deeds that we say come from love are not in accord with the witness of scripture then it is not Gods love through us. However deed and truth goes far beyond simply acting in accord with what the scripture tells us to do. For example if we see a person in need and though we don’t wish to be bothered we know it would be the “Christian thing” to help so we force ourselves to help this is not deed and truth.
We are being conformed to the life of Jesus and He was the truth. Jesus did not live in obedience to the Father because He knew He should but instead because it was who He was. In the same way His life in us is making us into His living word, living truth and living love.
YHWH is the truth and when He spoke all things into existence they took their true form; this is directly opposed to the teachings of the Greek thinkers who said the thought was the perfect form but the manifestation was always corrupt. Adam in His original created form was the perfect man until iniquity was found in Him. It is because of man’s fall and separation from God that though he may learn the righteous way of being; the manifestation in his living (deeds) is a corrupt version.
Jesus has redeemed us back to a oneness with God. When we by faith are joined to Messiah then the old man who was separated by the generating power of his own flesh ability is crucified in the crucifixion of our master. We die in Him but the breath (Spirit) of God is shared with us and in Jesus resurrection we become a new creation whose generating power for life is the shared life of our God.
It is by this that Paul declares in Him we move and breathe and have our being. So we see that our love of God and our neighbor is generated by the living truth abiding in our heart. God is one He is not fractured as Adam became. So while Adam may say one thing and do another God only speaks and does what He is.
The carnal man may comfort himself with the idea that he has a perfect understanding despite his actions needing to be tweaked and brought as close to perfection as possible. If a child of God adopts this same thinking about their faith or living then they frustrate the grace of Gods life in them. We as children of God must be as our Father is one in the word of our mouth, deeds of our life, and truth in our being.
When we live in this manner we know that it is our Fathers life in us and we are assured that we are His children. The natural question that comes to the mind is what does it mean if I see the truth in my heart but my deeds do not match what I know? John says it in this way “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.”
Remember in the first chapter John has said if we sin we have an advocate with the Father and that if we confess our sin He is booth faithful and just to forgive our sin. We must throw ourselves onto Jesus; for He is the author and finisher of our faith. If we strive to fix ourselves we become as Cain; offering a work of our own hands to please God and forgetting that He is our maker and redeemer. Paul said this I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.
We ask Him to both forgive us and show us those things which we must cast upon Him. We do this in full assurance and expectation that He is our maker, our Father, and that He is giving us His promise of His life and life more abundant.
When we are fully persuaded of His will and work in us all confidence in our flesh passes away and is replaced with an expectation of God to love through us and to live through us and to do through us. As we walk in this oneness with God we find His life becomes our life, His works become our works, and His love becomes our love.
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
 

Failing God: an excerpt from my book Understanding Paul: freedom in Galatians

Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me
If Gods life is living in us and we are His how do we still fail?
God’s gifts are without repentance. He gave Adam choice between life and living as he determined for himself and that choice is still Adams through us His progeny.
Two trees for Adam contain His choice. In one the self does not exist but instead a oneness with God’s shared life. In the other the self determines and makes its own life but is separated from God. We know which one Adam chose.
The death that Adam called life affected him to the core even his seed that would become every soul on the earth. As I write this there are more than seven billion selves living on this earth.
For these children of Adam there is still a choice; the self they have inherited from their father in the earth or a loosing of self and gaining a shared life with God by faith in the redemption of Jesus.
However what if we have chosen to give our life to Jesus but still see failure?  This is the result of strongholds in our mind. These strongholds are areas where we are still placing trust in ourselves and reaping a harvest of sin.
We are children of adoption. We have been adopted from a horrible darkness. Consider this as way of illustration.
A child raised in an abusive home will learn that abuse is normal and adjust their thinking and actions as best they are able to survive what they consider to be just life.
If this child were to be adopted into a kind and loving family they would experience great joy at the love and kindness. At the same time the ways they have learned about life would take time and experience to be dispelled.
They may horde food instead of sharing with their new siblings because of fear their new father may leave them without. When their new father corrects them they may fear he will punish them without mercy. They may mistrust instructions from their new father as being to take from them instead of to give to them. In all these things they will act in ways that are contrary to the new life their new father is trying to share with them.
Make no mistake; if you have desired to be adopted into His family your heavenly Father will not cast you out. If you act against His ways but desire His ways He says
 trust me,
I love you,
I will show you my ways,
 I will make you to become as I am,
 you need not fear anything,
I am with you and nothing can take you from me,
Rest from your worries and cares because I care for you
All who trust in me are made as I am; none of them are ashamed of trusting in me because I do not fail.
I know what you need; it will make you uncomfortable sometimes but you will see it is for your perfection.
When you see your fear dissolve help your adopted brothers to trust me too.
My love cast out fear and I am with you always even to the ends of the earth.
We fail because we fear to trust ourselves to Him completely. We fear because we do not believe He can love us completely without conditions. We set conditions because we cannot see that He is changing everything in our life.
He provides for us, He nurtures us, He teaches us, and He chastises us that we may mature. Not to make us a better child but that we would know we are His child.

Understanding the Old and New Covenant

2 Corinthians 3:7-9
 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
I have quoted the scripture from Corinthians but though this subject is important for our understanding of all Pauls epistles and Hebrews the book I have in mind as this is written is galatians.
The church at Galatia was under attack. While Paul was busy elsewhere wolves had snuck in order to use the brethren for their own desire of recognition, honor, and a following.
These false teachers were claiming that they were showing the Galatians how to have a proper relationship with God. They taught that the gentiles were not in true covenant with God until they were circumcised.
Coming from Jerusalem; they claimed that they spoke with the authority of the original apostles and James the Lords brother and head pastor of the Jerusalem church.
If these men knew that James had addressed this issue is not known but we do know that the authority they claimed for their teaching was a lie.
James and Paul do not oppose each other in the least; despite the misunderstanding of some which has persisted for two thousand years. Paul has no desire to discard the teachings of Moses. In truth his teachings to the gentile church could be considered as commentary on Moses writings. James does not wish to add any source to salvation other than faith in Messiah alone.
The scripture makes witness to the fact that Jesus came to Israel to establish Gods new covenant; as prophesied by Jeremiah and others. This covenant is made with Israel but others are not excluded in old or new.
Under the old a man was required to have his foreskin circumcised if he desired to be included in the covenant. Under the new covenant the token of circumcision given to Abraham is fulfilled in the true circumcision of the heart.
The new and old are in reality the same. To explain what I mean by this I offer the following example.
My wife and I were married almost twenty four years ago. We received a marriage license, went to a court official, said our vows and ta da we were married.
I promised my wife that we would have a better ceremony later. Now as my twenty fifth anniversary is approaching I intend to keep my promise.
Laying aside my slackness in keeping my promise a great many things will be different this time.
The ceremony will be performed by a minister instead of a governor.
My childish understanding of what marriage means to my everyday life has matured into an understanding that my wife and I are sharing one life.
Our vows are not an oath to live up to but are a witness of what is living in our hearts.
In the old our actions and thoughts where on what and how to be married in the new we focus on why we are married.
The marriage relationship itself has not changed. There still must be faithfulness, compassion, a trust and submission to one another, and a desire to walk out our time on earth together if our marriage is to be more than in name only.
This is a very accurate picture of the two covenants. The way of life described and thought of as a standard in the old has not changed but instead become the natural result of the life in us. Righteousness is still righteousness but it has gone from being an imitation of Gods life to an emanation of Gods life in us.

Love without compassion is dead: pillars 18

1 John 3: 13-17
13Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
14We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
16Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
Decades ago when I was a college student I heard a knock on my door one night. When I answered the door there stood a man with a jar wrapped in a printed paper. This man told me he was taking up a collection for a poor family whose daughter had recently passed away in order to help with burial expenses.
Although my weekly diet consisted of three different flavors of Raman noodles I gave a dollar toward His cause; after all that’s what good people do.
Four months later there was a knock again. When I opened my door it was the same man with the same jar and by some cruel twist of fate the exact same girl had managed to die once more. In this world there is always someone trying to take for themselves. When I lived by the flesh the answer was simple; I take care of me and leave it to you to do the same.
The world has no other source but the self so even when they do give in a charitable way the core motivation is along the lines of doing what they believe shows that they are a good person. Such giving is not acceptable if we are of the household of faith. Obedient giving to prove our love for God and man is also of no use.
Cain’s sacrifice was to God but only to prove He was acceptable and for this reason it showed he was not acceptable. The giving of a believer must start with a love that is in no way self-seeking for love seeks not its own. True love has no pride for it never lifts up its actions but by its actions lifts up others.
The book of acts tells us that the early church considered all they had to be the common property of all believers. Some have compared this to a communist thought but in truth it is very opposite. In communism no individual own anything and a government distributes to each their share. In the family of God there is no individual for we are one and all things belong to all. It is for this reason that if anything was held back for the self then the guilt was that one had lied and stolen from God. As a husband and wife would find if you place yourself as a self and then attempt to take from the family of God the results are deadly.
My point in this is not to speak to the economy of this situation but instead the necessity of the selfless love of placing all others as your only concern and the destructive result of the hatred for others witnessed by placing the self above all.
Acts tells us those who had little had no lack and those who had much had no excess. Paul said of the gift going to Jerusalem to give shows the sincere love for the brethren but also that it was not to be burdened that others would be eased. He instructs to give as we propose in our heart.
Our giving must not be done in order to receive but must be from a pure love that has no thought of itself. When our motive is tied to our own benefit John concludes we hate our brother. Why?
God declared all who place their faith in Him are made one with Him and each other. When one takes as for themselves they witness against themselves that they are not one with God. They steal from their brothers what God has given. And by their separating from trust in God they murder themselves.
This does not mean believers are to have nothing. However those things we have are for the purposes of our Father not our own. Consider the expensive perfume used on Christ; when one said it should have been used for the poor Jesus said it had been used for the propose it was intended for.
We are also told to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Men driven by the flesh will always try to take for themselves; we are to know the difference between the need of our brothers and the lust of Adam. When men wanted to take Jesus and make Him king it was not for the desire of having God’s messiah rule over them but instead for the benefit they would receive from being the head nation of the earth. The scripture says Jesus knew all men and so He slipped away from them.
Just as faith without works is dead so love without compassion is also dead. Love is a motive of the mind and heart driving us to act to the betterment of our brother. The action that we are driven to by love is called compassion. So John ask us if we have this worlds goods and see our brother in need and we have no act of compassion toward them how can we say we have the love of God alive in us?

John asks who is being formed in you?:pillars 17

1 John 3
 1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
 4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
 11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
How often do we stop to consider what God has done for us? If you are as I am it is not enough. God has chosen to give himself to us and make us to be as He is. The human mind with its fallen bent toward the self is always asking why. Why did God make me? What does He expect of me? What’s in it for Him?
The idea of giving by nature with only a desire for another to be full and complete is foreign. Even when we say He did all this for me in the back of our mind, in that place where questions are asked that are never spoken, we wonder what the catch is.
It is this comprehension problem in us that causes to not be able to reconcile Gods vengeance and wrath with His love and mercy. How many well-meaning believers have worked themselves to exhaustion to do the work of God only to feel slighted when they don’t receive the blessings they expect.
If we look for the wrong gifts we overlook the true and precious gift. God has made himself our Father. What does that mean? It means He has placed His seed in us. He has made us to be one with Him.
When Messiah said He was the son of God the Pharisees attempted to stone Him for making Himself equal to God. They would have been fine with Jesus teaching that all that God had was given to Him; for this is simply to make God a benefactor. However to say He was a son was to say that who He was down to his DNA was a replica of who God was. When we have a child they are a combination of our DNA and our spouses which while making them in our image it is not an exact image. If we were to give both the x and the y chromosomes the child would be our clone; an exact image.
If we take this natural scenario and place it in the spirit which is the essence of our being and life we may see some hint of this gift. God has formed a juxtaposition of life in us. As a seed goes into the ground and dies before God makes it to grow into a harvest, or as sperm and egg become a new creation in the womb maturing to the image of its father, so we are placed in Messiah and at the same time Messiah is placed in us, we are hidden in Him while He is being formed in us. As this new creation forms and matures it begins to appear the same as the Father from which it has come. On the day of our manifestation we will be as He is and we will know as He is known.
John says to think it not a strange thing when men cannot see this life being formed in you. They could not see the life of the Father living in Messiah and because they did not honor God in their heart they could not honor His son in the flesh.
Those who understand that their very life is now one with the Father and we are in His Son and Him as He is in use and have been filled with the expectancy of this change seek after this purification of heart.
Pure life has no sin for truly the law is a description of the life found in the Father. Those who attempt to live by obedience to the law will find only death in themselves; however those who expect the Father to live in them will find He does not sin.
Messiah is the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Bulls and goats blood covered it only but the blood of Jesus brings life.
Is John saying if I commit a sin I am not His child. No he is not. Sins plural is any transgression of the law; sin singular is the cause of all manifestations of sin. This core is the self-generated life that Adam sought to achieve.
In the believer as Christ is formed in Him the works of the devil are destroyed. If we attempt to live for God by our own effort we are not seeking to be born of His Spirit but of our flesh. Jesus concluded of those who would make their own way to God that they were children of their Father the devil and John gives us the same conclusion those who are not putting their trust in Messiah and the Spirit of God for the source of their every moment of life are children being formed of the devil.
Our righteousness is not generated by us but it does that which is righteous. Our righteousness is His righteousness and it is obvious to all in the same way His was.
So we must see that within us are both the flesh and the Spirit if we are believers. To which ever we place our trust our living is born; for this reason if we see transgression in our life we know that we have sown to our flesh and brought to birth death in us. If we find ourselves in the sin we must repent and place our expectation of having life in Him and John assures us if we confess our sin He is faithful and Just ( after all He has paid for them) to forgive us our sins.
Righteousness becomes evidenced in our lives by love. When we truly love God and men we do not sin. From Moses to John all that God has promised and given and desired in us is love. Not the false love of the world that only endures for the time it encourages the self of the lover making them either feel good or believe they are good by it.
True love has no thought of the self it does not attempt to endure but it expects.

John teaches believers what they know: pillars 16

1 John 2:20-29
 20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
 24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
 25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
 28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
 29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
The paradox of Christians who are called to the “fivefold ministry” is laid out in simplicity by the apostle. The new covenant that Jesus established with Israel was prophesied by Jeremiah many years before The Word was manifested in the flesh.
This prophet arguably had the hardest and most unaccepted ministry that we have record of in the scripture. Perhaps as way of consolation God gave to him the most beautiful sight of the result of promised Messiahs coming. This new covenant may have been understood and appreciated more by this prophet than it is by many of those who live in its benefits.
The paradox begins for us with this prophet when He tells us that in the new covenant “…they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest…” Jeremiah 31: 34. John affirms this in his listeners by saying they have an anointing and know all things and also He says they have no need that men teach them.
Yet our Lord who established this covenant told His disciples when you are converted strengthen your brethren, He told Peter if you love me feed my sheep, and His Spirit through Paul tells us that when the anointed one ascended He took us, who were the captives of the grave in the earth, as captives of the life in heaven with Him. He tells us we are hidden in Him and seated in His heavenly places. Also at His ascending He gave gifts unto us the so called fivefold ministry for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we are all brought to that perfect man and unity of the faith.
The word know, as in you know Him, is about being joined with Him not a scholarly knowledge. So if by faith I am joined to Him then when He died I died, when He was buried I was buried, when He was resurrected I was resurrected, and when He ascended I ascended.
 These things being true why is my body still living here? My body is not my own it is literally the body of Christ, the Spirit of God quickens my mortal body and both the Father and the Son and I abide here. God has made us one so now we are a package deal; if He is in heaven so is I, if He is in me so am I and not I alone but all who are of the household of faith.
These things being true why at times (many more than I wish) do I sin; how is it even possible after what we have just discussed?  The unity of faith is not about the outside of you and your brother, but instead about your fight of faith within. We all to some degree have a mixed trust reliance and expectation of Christ to live through us and ourselves to live through us.
The trials, temptations, chastisements, failures, victories, and blessings of our Christian life all serve to show us that we must let go of our old self and let ourselves be completely crucified in Christ in order that the oneness of God and us, sharing His life, may be manifested.
Now many who read this may have never heard such a thing stated but if you are Christ’s you know it is true. This is the purpose of a minister; not to teach you what you should know, but to stir up the gift that is in you. It is the anointed one working in us to encourage you to trust His working in you for it is in Him that we move and breathe and Have our being.
Any man that believes he can give you life by his teaching or work is at best deceived and at worst trying to make you into merchandise. You are anointed of God because you are made one with Him and it is The Holy Spirit that works in you to teach and to will and to do.
As much as your faith is in Jesus to live through you His glory rest on you. As much as your faith is not in Him you are in the flesh and He shares His glory with no flesh.
As a last point fear that you will fail is the exact opposite of faith that He is your maker and author and finisher of your faith. He is able to make you exactly what He desires…FEAR NOT ONLY BELIEVE!!

Our relationship with our Father and each other: pillars part 15

1 John 2: 12-19
12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
 13 I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
 14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
 18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
John gives to us three examples of Christian maturity little children, young men, and fathers. Each of these maturities has the results of our ever increasing faith becoming a living thing within our everyday experience.
If we think of these maturities as increasing the life, working, and power of Messiah in us we miss the reason for John using this symbolism. If we were to look at a man’s life when He was seven, twenty one, and sixty three there are certain foundational things that are unchanging. In all three examples of His life he is fully alive; he would not gain more life by living to maturity. We are either baptized into His death in Messiah and raised by the quickening of the Spirit or we are not Also unchanging is the way in which life is continued at each intersection he must eat (the true bread from God), drink (the blood of the covenant), have shelter (hidden in Messiah), rest (come unto me…I will give you rest), and expel that which is harmful(purge out the old leaven of man’s teaching by the renewing of your mind). What does change is our understanding of why we are alive, what living well consists of, and the very reason we are alive.
John has shared with us who Messiah is, what it is to have Him living in you, and what true fellowship with Him is to the end that we may see who we are as His. The language He uses fuses our relationship as a son of God with marriage language.  God is not only our maker but also He has joined himself to us making us and Him one.
little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake.
Even the youngest and least immature in the Kingdom of Heaven is betrothed to our creator. A bride takes her husband’s name signifying she has left the family of her father and has become one with her husband’s family.  We leave the father of our flesh Adam and the brotherhood of fallen men and join our self as one with the bridegroom. The bridegroom’s Father becomes our Father and His brethren become our brethren.
Jesus proved He had the power to forgive sins while ministering on the earth, and He showed why the Father had given Him this authority; for He paid the debt of every sin Himself. Therefore when we are joined with Him this same forgiveness is ours because He has given us His name.
, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning
Paul would say to the church you have many instructors in Christ but few Fathers. Instructors draw others to themselves and their teachings while a Father seeks to show a child how to have all life offers.
 An instructor is a hireling who sees students as a source of provision for himself and of course they should provide since he is instructing them from his great knowledge. A father instead has no gain from the child other than the joy of seeing him have a fullness of life; though he will teach the child to work beside him that the entire family may share in the provision of their labour.
Why is the father able to be so different? As the spouse of the bridegroom fathers have not only made an agreement to become one but has consummated their marriage. The two have become one. A fathers life is not his own in possession or source but it is the life of THE FATHER through him
, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
A young man has begun to understand the authority and place of his family and how that name means that he also has this authority and power available in his life. This is the place where he begins to walk in that authority. A young man sees himself as one that must bring honor to his Father and family through the manner and conduct of His life. Duty honor and love for his father is the life of a young man.
It is the nature of a child to speak of being grown. It is the nature of a young man to believe he has need of nothing more. It is the nature of a father to by love and caring show how to live where you are and help you to become what you will be.
The master builder of the church concluded the work of a spiritual father when he said “I determined to know nothing among you but Christ and Him crucified.”
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
The world, all that is in and of this world, is the family and possession of the father of sinful flesh Adam. Our Heavenly Father has no love for the things that the flesh seeks. Those things bring only death and destruction. Our Fathers love is men and to seek and save men must be our love also.
All the things men desire and strive for shall dissolve into nothing leaving behind only vexation and eternal death. The life our Father shares with whosoever will is His life and shall never fade away or have an end.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.The time of the patriarchs has been and passed, the time of the promise to come has been and passed, the teaching of the life God wishes to share with men has been and passed, the manifestation of that life and giving of redemption has been and passed, it is now the last days

when God calls to everyman to partake of His provision of life. Each of these times before has had a set time in the foreknowledge of the Father as does these last days.
Men from the beginning have sought to change the teachings of God to their own ways and they have not changed. God gave the witness of sacrifice and Cain made it a false way to elevate His own works; even refusing the grace to repent. It should surprise no one that when the living manifestation and true sacrifice has come men would once more pervert it to a means to elevate themselves. These are the anti-Christ teachers and doctrines. Jesus has warned us that in these days would arise many false Christ claiming to show the way to God while drawing men to themselves.
These teachers have left Moses witness of life and the apostle’s witness of that life manifested. They make our relationship with the maker a work of our own hands and a way to obtain the things that are passing away. Witnessing of themselves that they have not the life that abides beyond these things.