INNER TRANSFORMATION: Living by Faith, Living to Love

We've moved past the 'controversial' stuff, into more accepted theology, and I feel comfortable releasing our lessons now.  I just want to make sure that everyone understands I'm not ashamed, or even uneasy about what we believe, but some things within the Christian faith can become battlegrounds simply because 'someone' has to defend their theology.  'Sword Fights' don't bring glory to anyone, especially Christ.  

Our reason for being filled with the Holy Spirit is so that we can be like our Father.  When Christians say this, it always rankles someone's hide, because it sounds like we're saying we can be God.  NOOOOOOOO!  We can be like our God.  The reason this bothers people is because we have a world view of ourselves.  We haven't been transformed by the renewing of our minds.  We look around us and see people who are in various stages of transformation and wonder how they can call themselves Christians.  This didn't bother the Lord as much as it does us.  Christ walked, and lived with twelve 'men' for three years, enduring their petty fights, glory hogging, and typical need to exert their way on one another.  He didn't cut them off, nor did He give up on them.  He knew the Holy Spirit would complete what He'd begun in them. That is why we must never give up on one another. The Holy Spirit is doing a work in all of us. NOW, to the lesson.

We are finally back on the subject of the Kingdom of God after a brief foray into the Apostolic. As we’ve already determined, the Kingdom of God is a spiritual Kingdom which envelopes, permeates, and affects everything in the physical Universe.  When God created the universe, HE spoke it into existence.  The spiritual Kingdom already existed, making us a physical expression of the spiritual.  While this may wrack the nerves of the scientific minded, everything we see, touch, feel, taste, and hear, exists within the Spiritual. Our very existence is because we bring the Creator pleasure.  It is ironic that as we become more ‘scientific,’ physicists must confront the knowledge that our physical universe is not as easily explained as we’d imagined.  Science is discovering infinite dimensional possibilities which confront long held ideas of time, and space.  Suddenly, the idea of a universe within a universe doesn’t seem the stuff of science fiction any more.  We ‘humans’ while flawed, and infinitely young in a spiritual sense, are chosen to be a physical expression of an infinite and flawless God. 

I like to imagine this physical universe as being like a plastic bag suspended within the spiritual universe.  As Christians move through this physical vale, we expose the physical (this world) to the Spiritual Kingdom outside of it. I envision it as something akin to letting air into a vacuum.  When Spiritual truth touches physical reality, the physical will respond to the Kingdom as either an attraction or repulsion.  The revelation of Spiritual truth is seen as miracles, healing, deliverance, and rebirth in the physical, while in the Spiritual it is simply the physical aligning to the truth. The Spiritual Kingdom will always transform the physical universe. Your growth, and ability to affect the physical universe around you, is directly proportionate to the degree to which you seek the Kingdom of God. It is important to note that I’m not talking about ‘bending spoons,’ or other cheap parlor tricks. These are cheap imitations of the limitless power of God to affect something deeper than this physical world. Jesus decried these kinds of ‘signs’ as the desires of a perverse people.  When prodded for proof of His spirituality, He gave it by offering himself as the propitiation for everyone’s sins. Then He returned to the Spiritual state He’d vacated to accomplish His task.

Those who choose to seek the Kingdom of God are really accepting their spiritual heritage. Once we begin down this path, we soon realize that our understanding of the Spiritual, is in direct proportion to the amount of time we spend in the Presence of God. The more time we give to abiding in the Presence of God, the greater our growth will be. This growth is a transformation of the way you see, hear, and understand things. (1^st  Peter 2:2) In Jesus' terms, this is the command to seek first the Kingdom, which in turn will allow everything else to follow. Seeking, and living in the Presence of God is what brings about the inner transformation of limitless love, and abounding faith. However, inner transformation isn't an intellectual process, it is an act of pure faith.  One of my favorite axioms is; Knowing something doesn’t always result in action, understanding something demands action. Understanding the Kingdom of God is an act of faith.  The Kingdom is never expressed in cheap meaningless parlor tricks, but in love blasting holes into the darkness of this physical vale.  Now, let’s get back on track by revisiting some old territory.

• To even see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again
• Spiritual rebirth opens your eyes to the Kingdom of God
• The unregenerated body and mind can't see the Spirit of God, it can only feel it’s affects.  (Blessings, healing, and miracles can come to the lost)
• Rebirth allows you to see the Holy Spirit's leading (Romans 8:14)
• Being born again is the result of pure faith in action
• Spiritual rebirth moves you into a position to be transformed
• The spiritual exerts control over the physical
• Your physical world will bend to whatever faith you are trusting in
• if your faith is in God, you will reveal love
• if you faith is in anything else, it will be seen as fear
• Inner Transformation begins with submission (Romans 12:1-2)NLT
• GIVE your bodies to God through giving time, possessions, and effort
• To give yourself to someone is to submit (Ephesians 5:17-21)
• Submission places the needs of others over your own needs
• Submission means making yourself available to another
• The body is the vessel or container for your mind
• The mind controls the body (Ephesians 4:20-25)
• It is the mind that needs to be renewed
• so the body can be transformed
• so we can be a new person
• The renewed mind knows God's will (Ephesians 5:15-17)
• Devotion and Consecration are revealed as service and worship
• Service is submission to the body of Christ
• Spiritual Worship is submission to the Spirit of Christ.

The act of presenting yourself as a consecrated (holy) vessel for the Lord is a continuing sacrifice (gift.) Our scriptural example is the Old Testament tabernacle, our living example is Jesus Christ. Both examples make it clear that the consecration of our lives is a living act of faith that is more than bowing once before the Lord and declaring him as your savior. Once an article, person, or people have been consecrated to the Lord, they become Holy, and any other use is unfruitful because they are given to, and for the Lord.

• Transformation begins in the Spirit
• Be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18)
• Be led by the Spirit (Gal 5:18)
• HEAR what is being said
• The Holy Spirit does have a voice
• Our flesh can work against our desire to hear the voice of the Spirit
• Entertainment (excessive)
• Fear  (unreasonable)        
• Pride (independence and denial of Spiritual truth)
• We can discern the voice of the Holy Spirit by knowing His character
• Love  (the ultimate expression of spirituality)
• Peace (quiet acceptance of the Lord’s will)
• Joy     (inner assurance of the Lord’s presence)
• Faith   (greater intrusion of the Spiritual into the physical)
• Hope  (greater desire for the Spiritual revelation to come)
• The renewing of our minds will always result in doing the will of the Father
• Renewal is not avoidance of sin, but the embracing of the Spiritual
• The renewed mind wants to do all the Father reveals, no matter the cost
• Doing requires faith
• Faith inspires Doing
• The cycle repeats itself to infinity (Which we are experiencing NOW!)

The life of faith, the Christian walk, The Way, the Path, and every other definition of being a Christian, is simply a process of shedding the rags of our past, and embracing the glorious that exists in this moment. The inner transformation will make THE PRESENT MOMENT more real than the past, and more exhilarating than the future. HIS presence will cause life and love to abound without fear for the past, and without regard for the future.  Anything beyond this moment not revealed to you by the presence of the Holy Spirit, is your own hopes, schemes, and desires. Let me state clearly, that there is nothing wrong with your own desires, except for the fact they are finite, and limited. I’ve wished and prayed for things in my life that were good, but they weren’t as good as what God had for me. Living in the moment is crucial to abandoning our limited view of the Kingdom of God. The renewed (transformed) mind wants only what the Father wants. We can even know a dire future (as shown by Paul,) and move toward it without fear when we know that the Kingdom is being advanced.  Living a life free of the fear of the future is proof that the renewal is happening within you.

Christ Our Apostle

In building the Church, Christ is described as the first Apostle.  Did that mean He was the only Apostle?  No, he even named the twelve as Apostles.  Does that mean the Twelve disciples were the only Apostles?  No, because the Lord called, and sent another, named Paul.  When Paul was describing the GIFTS Christ gave to the church, he listed five ministries, of which we are somehow eager to throw away one, possibly two, but we’re willing to keep the three that we can fulfill in our own strength.  So, here we are in this modern church age, dealing with the issue of whether the Apostolic is needed today.  So, to keep this blog safe for children, we’ll talk about Jesus being our Apostle.  At least, that’s what we talked about this morning. 

Let’s begin with how Jesus is the first Apostle.  In Hebrews 3:1, the author asks us to consider the Apostle, and High Priest of our faith. (Dave’s paraphrase)  We look at him for a reason; to discover the power of being a faithful servant.

It is in the position of Apostle, that our Lord is able to bless us.  He brings the Kingdom to us. It is in His authority as a messenger from the heavenly Kingdom that we are able to lay hold of the promises of the sovereign God.  It is because of His faithfulness, that we are able to lay hold of faithfulness.  It is because of His victory over sin, that we have victory over sin.  It is because he is the author of life, and light, that we are given the same to shed abroad.  Because He is righteous, we are righteous.  Because He is alive, we are alive.  Our Apostle, the one who appointed Apostles, has, and still is giving Apostles to the Church today so that we can be faithful servants (mature.) 

“So what?” you might ask. 

HERE’S WHAT!  We live in the favor of God.  In submission to Christ, our greatest strength is in what we gain from Him.  I can go to the finest Christian University, take all the theological courses, and graduate with highest honors, but it is all useless if I rely on what is in me.  John chapter 15 makes that abundantly clear.  Christ chose the most uneducated, most cantankerous, ornery, and stubborn men he could find, infused them with the power of the Holy Spirit, and set them as examples for us to emulate.  Even as he spoke to them that night before his death, they were still arguing over who would be the greatest.  Yet, in the midst of their ‘human’ nature, He revealed to them their need for what he could give them.  He pointed them to another source of strength that would empower them to be LIKE Him.  You see, this ‘vine’ of John 15, is the source of the branches, but the branches give life to the vine.  The fruit of the vine, is what nourishes others.  The vine doesn’t eat it’s own fruit.  The fruit is for others.  The Apostolic anointing will always be about others.  What was God’s business for Christ, is our business today. Healing, deliverance, compassion, love, justice, hope, life, truth, goodness, patience, words of life, words of joy, words of peace, these are all fruit that we should be producing.  These things haven’t changed from the beginning. So, what is the big deal about the Apostolic?  Why do those who claim to live within its anointing make an issue of it?   Aren’t we simply talking about living as Christ lived?   What is so important about the Apostolic?  This are questions we are going to answer, but for right now, I don’t want to limit ANY expression of the divine nature that is at work in me.  The infilling, or baptism in the Holy Spirit doesn’t make us perfect.  If it did, the Apostle Paul wouldn’t have had run ins with James, and Peter.  If the Apostolic anointing meant that the Apostle was perfect, then Paul wouldn’t have had a set to with John Mark.  To bring this into our present day, the Apostolic doesn’t guarantee the Apostle will behave any better or worse. 

The other day, I stumbled upon a website that was trying to use moral failures as proof that the modern apostles were fakes.  As I read through their laundry list, I wondered where the list of fallen preachers from old world denominations was.  Then I was slapped by the Holy Spirit and brought back to reality.  It is ‘MEN’ who lift men up, and make them into something they are not.  While I am no longer a sinner, I am saved by grace.  My eyes are ever fixed on the Christ of my salvation, and while “I” may stumble and fall, He who lives within me, the Apostle of my faith, the messenger of my salvation, the one who said I would do greater things than He, the one who left me with HIS Spirit to live inside me, the one who calls me to live for Him, has assured me that he will keep me to the day when I would be given a room in His house. 

Till then, LOVE rules in every expression of the divine nature, even the Apostolic.