United Together in the Likeness of His Resurrection

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of resurrection. (Romans 6:5) This fact requires that we apply our full measure of faith to this reality. For if the "mystery" spoken of by Paul concerning our being one with Christ and the Father is true and it most certainly is; then when Christ died (we died with Him) and when He was raised "by the glory of the Father" (we were also raised with Him).

We are told in scripture that because of this great truth that we should walk in the "newness of life." (Romans 6:4)  You and I as Christians have not only died to and for sin through our Savior Jesus Christ, but we are also raised again in the newness and glory of our Lord.  Walking in the newness of life is referring to our living our lives in such a way that the very life of our Lord Jesus Christ would be made real through our lives.  For not only are we in Christ-but Christ is in us! (Hallelujah)!  He is made real in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We have been born again and are new creatures in Christ Jesus.  The first-fruit of the new creation who now have the privilege of living our lives so that Christ's life might be lived through our lives. How then are we to "walk in this newness?" We do so by submitting to and obeying the Holy Spirit as we are instructed and taught by Him according to the written word of God (the Bible).  For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). This then is our duty as Christians; we are to commit to knowing our Lord through His word and revelation of the Holy Spirt. When once we know, we then are to do the will of our Father. Amen

Baptized into His Death

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Romans 6:3

In this glorious verse we are told how Christ has delivered us from sin. For if we have been baptized (or entered into oneness with Christ) then we have also been baptized (entered into oneness with His death).  So as Christ died for Sin as a sacrifice-so too we (who are made one with Christ through the Holy Spirit), have also died for and to sin as well.  This is the mystery of our salvation! As Christ died to sin in the spiritual realm; we also died with Him.  Therefore sin is no longer accounted to us by God.  We are made perfect in Christ.  This spiritual reality was purposed by Christ Himself in John 17:20-22. Let us take a moment to allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the great truth of our death to sin through Christ as a result of the spiritual miracle brought about by Jesus as described in the above mentioned verses.

" I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; (this is in reference to future believers-meaning us). that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.  And the glory which you gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one."(John 17:20-22).

By faith you and I are made one with Christ-thereby freeing us from the judgement of sin. Hallelujah!! and again I say Hallelujah!  Praise His wonderful name!  It is because of the miracle of our being made one with Him that we have been set free from the curse of sin.  Do you believe that today?

Spiritual Mysteries

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory (I Corinthians 2:7)

Scripture speaks about essentially two great mysteries and the apostle Paul alludes to them many times throughout the gospel.  These two great mysteries center around salvation and sanctification. More specifically the mysteries spoken of are descriptive of how both of these great spiritual accomplishments were made possible through the death of Jesus Christ.  We are told in the bible in John 14:20; Colossians 1:27; John 17:11 and John 17:21-23; that we are one with Christ and His Father. This then pertains to the great mystery.  Paul tells us that after Christ was resurrected that the mystery became a reality and that all of the gospels prior to Christ pointed to the fulfillment of God's purpose through Christ. However, the understanding of the significance of Christ's death, burial and resurrection in relation to the salvation and sanctification of mankind was not made known to man until the Holy Spirit made it known to Paul and the other disciples after Christ's resurrection. 

I will now use the illustration used by God's servant the late Watchmen Nee from his book "Ordinary Christianity"  He uses the following example to illustrate the great mystery of Christ in Us and Us in Christ.  "If one had a cup of tea and added sugar to that tea-the two would become one."  That is to say, that we would have a sweetened tea.  Once that we combined the two, (short of a chemical process perhaps of adding heat); we would find it impossible to separate them.  When we drink the tea we would not be able to distinguish the difference (individually) between the tea and the sugar.  The two (both the tea and the sugar), will have become one. From that point whenever you experienced the tea you would experience both elements (the tea and the sugar) which previously were one.  We are told in scripture that as "believers" that we are one in Christ and God and as such are inseparable.

This admittedly inadequate description of the mystery of our being one in Christ Jesus-leading to salvation and sanctification, will hopefully help our minds to grasp the reality of this immutable fact.  The fact being that Christ is in us through the Holy Spirit!  What a glorious reality which has profound implications!

You Have Jesus!

I was just meditating on the word and the Holy Spirit encouraged me with this thought and I want to pass it on to all of you. The world has coined a phrase for some people which is humorous and in some cases is definitely true. This popular phrase says "that you need Jesus!" indicating of course that the targeted person has problems or issues that require our Lord. Well this morning the Holy Spirit reminded me and I am reminding you-that you have Jesus! Hallelujah! ......Christ in you the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in you body and in your spirit, which are God's. I Corinthians 6:19-20

God was just reminding me of the awesome privilege that we all have knowing that the living God dwells in our body and therefore we have the opportunity to glorify Him in our body and spirit today. What a wonderful mission!

Christs' Buyback Program

Many of us are familiar with the efforts of law enforcement agencies to encourage criminals and others to turn in their weapons by purchasing them. Essentially there are no questions asked of the people who bring them in.  They simply have to come and bring their weapons.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is making a similar offer to all of mankind.  He is asking us to bring our sinful lives that He has already paid for through His death on the cross.  All we have to do is to trade in our lives for a new life (His life). Most Christians have the wrong notion about the program.  Somehow they think that Jesus wants to purchase their sinful lives and return it back to them-new and improved. That is not the deal however, He wants to exchange His life for our old life.  The Holy Spirit is in the business of negotiating an exchanged life for the life of Christ. He is not in the business of changing our lives. Will you bring your life to Christ today?  He is waiting-no questions asked!

The Reality of God's Presence

Does your daily life reflect the reality of God's presence in you? It is not in the great things that we are witnesses of "Christ in us," but rather it is in the everyday interactions with our co-workers, spouses, family members and friends, that it will become evident.  The opportunity to serve one another, love one another and submit to one another while on this earth is God's spiritual lab whereby you and I learn to "walk in the Spirit" (Romans 8:4).

Walking in the Spirit means first acknowledging that the Spirit of God lives in you. When the Paul spoke to the church of Corinth, he provided them with a solution to their unbalanced and immature spiritual lives; that solution was for them to know that their bodies were a temple of God.  Have you reflected on this fact in your life?  Have you meditated on the incredible fact that the living God resides in your heart.  This single reality should immediately lead us to a place of holy reverence towards God. Christ is not offering us a changed life through His death on the cross, but instead He makes available to you and I an exchanged life. It is His Holy life and His loving Spirit that we are to offer those whom we deal with on this earth.  Too often as Christians we try to offer our abilities, and our human kindness to the world and these are but counterfeit and temporary at best.  Christ died on the cross so that He would be made real in each and everyone of our lives and in turn that we would reflect His life to everyone whom we come in contact with.

Christ-realization vs Self-realization

Today as we seek to live our lives for Christ; let us do so with the right strategy in mind.  Let's approach our day to day tasks and situations with courage and the certainty that Christ resides in us.  Our responsibility is to realize the actuality of Christ in us. We are told in Philippians 2:12...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

This is not an instruction for you and I to go out and try to become good enough to get into heaven.  It is not an exhortation for us saints to become Holy through self effort or zeal.  Paul here is encouraging us to focus ourselves and our eternal life strategies on working out the reality of Christ within us, rather than focusing on "self."  It is in essence instructions for us to pursue a life of "Christ-realization" instead of a life of "self-realization."  We are not saved through or by "self," but through and by Christ.   Philippians 2:13 makes it very clear that our salvation is entirely of Christ and that He is the author of our desire to do what is right and holy as well as the means by which it will happen. "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for Hi good pleasure."

The hard work for us as Christians today is not in learning how to live a sin free or perfect life (for although we all confess that this is impossible-we spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to do just that), but in learning to allow the life of Christ to exhibit Himself through us. Our work is to know Him through His written word (Bible) and the revelation of the Holy Spirt. Hebrews 11:6.... for he who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  The secret to "Christ-realization" is for us to begin a life of diligently seeking Christ through His word.

You Shall Be Holy

It is our relationship with Christ which produces His life in us.  You and I must exercise our will to be obedient to God- "for it is God who works in you (us) both to will and to do for His good pleasure"Philippians 2:12. Meaning that God gives us the desire to do good and also the ability to do good for His "good pleasure." So we must be obedient to the desire that He places in us and then by His grace He honors the desire that He gave us by giving us the power to do it.

Our choices in life should revolve around ways to exhibit Christ in our lives, not ways to be holy.  We are told in Leviticus 11:44 "You shall be holy; for I am holy and in

I Peter 1:16 "Be holy, for I am holy."  It is the holy Christ in us who seeks to live His life through our sacrificed lives (See Romans 12:1).  Allow Him to live through you today and everyday.

The Crisis of Faith

I John 5:11  And this is the testimony; that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

There is much effort, time and energy expended in the church today regarding attempts to be holy.  It is an admirable and good thing that men would seek to live good and wholesome lives.  In fact we are encouraged to do so in the word of God.  However, our desired goal of holiness cannot and will not come as a result of our abilities to resist sin or temptation,  this is due to the simple fact that we are sinners.

My brothers and sisters, we are saved and sanctified through faith in Jesus Christ.  It is He who is justified and sanctified in the eyes of God.  Our saving grace is that He (Christ) is in us.  We must recognize this fact and grow in the power of it.  Faith opens the way for the Holy Spirit to come and live in us; thereby producing the living life of Christ in us.  It is Christ in us who is eternal life!  Our work is in not trying to become holy, but in increasing our faith so that we can accept the great truth of "....Christ in us, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27). The following is the answer provided by Jesus to His disciples when asked by them "what shall we do, that we may work the works of God? (John 1:28) His answer in John 1:29 is the great work that we as Christians should seek to do in our lives.  "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  It is on the basis on our belief (faith) that we accept the eternal life which lives in us.  Then we are to work out that which is within us. (See Philippians 2:12-13).

THE CRISIS OF FAITH

This is where we as believers encounter what my brother Watchman Nee refers to as the "Crisis of Faith."  Would you dare to believe what the word of God says about our salvation and holiness?

Ephesians 1:7  " In Him (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

Colossians 2:14  "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us."

Romans 8:2-3   "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh."

You and I are save (yes sanctified) because of the One (Christ) who has accomplished all that is required by God to provide eternal life to us His creation.  Our eternal life is based upon that immutable fact and nothing else.  Our great work as Christians today is in believing this truth!



Sitting together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

Once a person has received the revelation of salvation (meaning that the Holy Spirit has revealed and confirmed in them), the certainty that Jesus Christ has died on the cross for their sins; their natural inclination will be to accept this "gift" of eternal life made available to them "by grace, through faith."  This of course is the main focus of many Christians today and it's significance cannot be overstated. However there is still further revelation to complete the reality of this great act of love by God through His Son.  We have a clue to this further revelation  in the following verses from Ephesians 2:4-6:
 "But God who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses (sin), made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

In addition we have this verse from Colossians to further give us revelation in regards to our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:27 "To them (the saints) 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.

It is Christ in us which produces holiness to His glory.  "He is holy and therefore we are holy."  By what right might we make this claim?  It is by His sanctification that we are justified and reconciled back to God.  The fact that He lives in us is the only reason that you and I are saved and sanctified. As a result we "sit together in heavenly places (not with Jesus), but "in Christ Jesus." We dwell with God today at the right hand of the Father because of His life in us.  Hallelujah!! We are told that not only does Christ dwell in us, but that we dwell in Him.

John 14:20  "At that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you."

Why We Are Saved

Many of us know how we are saved as Christians. "By grace we have been saved through faith.. (Eph 2:8). We are further told in Eph 1:7 "In Him (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace." So then Jesus is the mechanism by which you and I are saved by grace, through faith. But I wonder how many of us has thought about why we are saved?

We are saved so that we would be restored individually and as a body of Christ back to our right standing with God.  Our salvation re-establishes the relationship with God that mankind had from the beginning of creation.  That relationship was temporarily altered by the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Now that we by grace through faith are restored-we can now be and do that for which we and all mankind were created. We can now through the Holy Spirit allow Christ to live out His life through us.  Christ did not die on the cross so that you and I could live a life of self effort, self righteousness, religious zealousness or judgemental attitudes.  He died so that we would become "many sons" through His Spirit.  We are simply to allow the Holy Spirit to produce the life of God in us. I want to share scripture which speaks to this Eternal Purpose that God has for you and I.

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Paul addresses this "Eternal Purpose" as a "mystery" in Ephesians. The following is Paul's brief description of this purpose in Ephesians 3:9-11.
"....and to make all see what is the fellowship of te mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He acomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:19-21  "For the earnest expectation of the creation (mankind) eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility (reference to Genesis 3:17-19), not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption (death through our mortal bodies) into the glorious liberty of the children  of God.

Romans 8:29 For whom He forknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might e the firstborn among many bretheren.

Summary:  We have been saved to become children (sons and daughters of the living God) so that He would live through us having fellowship and mutual love.  That is God's Eternal Purpose for mankind.  We are told in Ephesians 2:10 that we are to walk in His purpose for us.

Just Because You Sin

We are Not Sinners Because We Sin. We Sin Because We Are Sinners!

Sometimes we get it backwards in our approach to our Salvation. We beat ourselves up over the our sins and allow Satan to accuse us (the bretheren) daily in regards to the sins in our lives. However, we fail to realize that the fact that we sin is not the cause of our being a sinner. We sin because we have the disease of being a sinner. Jesus Christ came to cure us of the disease of being a sinner. His death on the cross provided the solution to our "sinner" problem.

Romans 5:19 For as by one man's (Adam) disobedience many were made siners, so also by one Man's (Christ) obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh.

Christ has erased the penalty of sin in the life of the believer. (For by grace you have been saved through grace and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God).

When we sin it should bring us to a place of recognizing that in our flesh that we are sinners, but more importantly that we serve a great and wonderful God who has paid the price for our being sinners; so that we can not only have eternal life, but the privilege of having Christ's life dwell in us. We don't deserve it nor could we ever earn it! It is with this realization that we can begin to live a life consistent with the eternal purpose of our Lord.

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth

The Bible accurately stated that the earth was a circle, approximately 420 years before scientist confirmed that the earth was a sphere. In the book of Isaiah 40:21 we are told that "It is He (God) who sits above the circle of the earth. The book of Isaiah was written somewhere between 701 and 681BC and the scientist/philosopher Eratosthenes confirmed the earth as being a circumference in 240BC. That is an astounding 4 centuries later than the Bible's mention of it. I wonder how long it will be before man catches up to the idea that God did indeed create the earth in 6 days as told in the Bible? The bottom line is that science has always been and will always be fallible, but the God of the Bible is infallible.

Of course God would know that the earth was a circle. He created it!
You can have confidence in the accuracy and the truth of the Bible, but you have to read it to know what it says.

Don't be a Bible dummy-study the word. lol

Please send other interesting facts about the bible to our blog. Or simply comment on this blog. PS-check out the video on God and Dinosaurs that we just posted this week. It looks distorted at first but when you click it on it will start and work correctly.

God and Dinosaurs Video

Start video at 51:03 and go to 1:51 to see video pertaining to dinosaurs and the Bible.

Are Dinosaurs still Alive?

I want to challenge anyone reading this blog today to take time this weekend to watch the video that I will be posting tonight. It involves Dr. Kent Hovind, one of the world's experts on creation science. He discusses dinosaurs and the Bible in this video in scientific and biblical terms. He is going to provide proof that Dinosaurs are still alive and that God created them.

WARNING: Dr. Hovind has a very "square" appearance and his jokes can be kind of stale, but his information is right on time and accurate. I guarantee you that you will learn more watching this video about creation and dinosaurs than you could have ever imagined. If you are the kind of person who cannot sit still for an hour and listen to a lecture-then I recommend watching 15 minutes at a time. Do whatever it takes to watch it. We need more educated and prepared Christians to spread the gospel. Get your kids off of the iphone, computer, myspace and facebook and make them spend time getting a real education.

ONE HOUR IS ALL THAT IT TAKES

The total video is over 2 hours long and so I would recommend that you start the video at the 51:03 mark and watch it to the 1:51 mark. Of course you can watch more if you like.

I pray that you enjoy and learn from it

Are Dinosaurs in the bible?

As a kid growing up I used to visit the Museum of Natural Man in San Diego. There I would see all of the great exhbits of dinosaurs and other pre-historic animals. Of course the center piece of all of these displays was Tyrannosaurus Rex. There it would stand above all of our heads with this sheepish; somewhat sinnister grin on it's face. Our classroom would leave the museum with our little minds full of fear mingled with fascination and mostly glad that we didn't have to live in pre-historic times with those great monsters we had just seen.

Later as I grew up and began to embrace Christianity, the images and thoughts of what I had witnessed at the museum, began to puzzle me and cause considerable doubt in my mind concerning the authenticity of the bible. I knew that dinosaurs must be real because I had seen them (or their representation-which is another point all it's own), with my own eyes and yet I had never heard a preacher or other Christians talk about them. Somewhere in the back of my mind was the nagging desire to know if God, dinosaurs and the bible could co-exist.

It wasn't until many years later while studying the bible that I discovered just where these great creatures (which we call dinosaurs today) are spoken of in the bible. The following verses are a few places where God Himself describes these massive creatures to His servant Job. In the book of Job chapter 40 verse 15 we hear God refer to these beasts as behemoths. This passage makes it clear that these animals were the "chief" or greatest of God's creations in terms of size, strength and scope. The Hippo and Elephant (which had other Hebrew names), don't qualify as the largest animal described by God at that time. Nor does their anatomy fit the clear language found in Job 40:17. In this verse these great creatures are described as having tails like "cedar trees." In Job chapter 41 we find a description of a terrible animal called a Leviathan by God. The Leviathan is said to have "sharp teeth, and was a scaled sea animal whose habitat was in deep waters.

These are just a couple of places in which dinosaurs can be found in the bible. I would encourage you to take the time to read the book of Job Chapters 40 and 41 for a little more detailed regarding these great animals.

Tomorrow's blog? did God create the Dinosaur or did they evolve over millions or billions of years ago?

What About Dinosaurs?

God and Dinosaurs is a blog dedicated to challenging misconceptions about the bible and to answer questions which may help strengthen the faith of believers and non-believers alike. I pray that it also challenges others to look for the truth in the bible for even the most absurd sounding questions and doubts that one might have. Some of the questions that we will look at and answer are as following:
1. Do dinosaurs exist in the bible and where are they found?
Did God create them or did they evolve millions of years ago?
2. Did Adam and Eve really eat from an apple in the Garden of Eden and if so
how could that cause everyone to go to hell?
3. Does the bible really say that "God helps those who help themselves?
4. Where in the bible does it mention that the earth is a circle (hundreds
of years before the telescope was invented by Galileo?
5. Where does the scientific term "element" appear in the bible (centuries
before the "atom" was discovered by Dalton?
6. In what scripture in the bible is Jesus Christ's crucifixtion described
in vivid detail (hundreds of year prior to it happening)?
7. Where does the bible offer legal proof that Christ rose from the dead?
8. What makes the bible a "miracle book?"
9. Where in the bible does it record that time stood still?
10. Where in the bible is Jesus birthplace predicted hundreds of years
before it happens?

My hope is that these and other interesting facts from the bible will help usus all to know how incredible and accurate the bible is, but also to
challenge all of us to read the bible more.

This is also an important forum for questions and comments. Please post yours and we will make every effort to research and address them.

Blessings
Coach