Yes it has been one week since school started, and everything is just getting better and better!
The first class today was on the Heart of the Gospel, the essence of it. And the very first thing that you must realize is this, the Gospel is not the whole Bible, the Bible is the word of God, the Gospel is the Good News IN the Word of God. This is so important because so many "believers" have a huge lack of understanding concerning the Heart or Essence of the Gospel. This is shown by the fact that such a great percentage of them live in constant torment, turmoil, condemnation, guilt and fear. Some might say, "but what would we do without guilt and fear to motivate us to do good?" this seems to be a fairly large idea among believers. So questions we should ask ourselves are these, How come so many believers live in a constant sense of guilt, condemnation and fear? Where does this guilt, condemnation and fear come from? The answer is this, guilt, condemnation and fear among believers has been past down from generation to generation. Believers have been ignorant of the Heart of "Essence" of the Gospel, and for generations people have struggled to believe the truth of the "Almost to good to be true Gospel" This is the inward nature and true substance, or condition and constitution of a thing!
Lets look at the "Almost to good to be true Gospel" that Jesus preaches about Eternal life, He says that, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" The life that is being referenced is literally "living water" or "shining water" the life of God in us. That is far more than going to heaven! That is living a life filled with the Kingdom of God right here on earth! Did you know that in Roman times an apostle was someone who went after the army to change the culture of the conquered nation to the culture of Rome? So when Paul says that he was "called to be an apostle" he is saying that he was called to bring the culture of the Kingdom of God to earth. If we are to be an apostle, which is literally a "special messenger" then we not only need to learn what the culture of the Kingdom is like, and that by getting to truly know God, we need to start changing the environment around us! Change the way people think, the way people act, the way people talk, and the way they believe. And all this is done by showing them the better way-the better culture that is the Kingdom of God.
The next class is called "Finally, My Brethren.." and comes from the book of Ephesians. Chapter 6 verse 11. And the first thing we realize here is that "Finally" is the END, not the beginning! This is telling you to put on the armor of God! But what about the padding underneath? You just try putting on a steel suit of armor without the wool underwear underneath, its gonna get you back! So this class is about preparing us to put on the armor, to make a sure foundation and padding under the armor so that when we go into battle we aren't wondering why there are little pinches and blisters all over us. And of course, the first point is Faithfulness. In Revelation it says that the army of saints that battles against the devil in that final battle are those who are Called, Chosen and Faithful. Being called and chosen is not something that you do a whole lot about, either you are or at not. But being faithful is a big deal! You aren't going to make the final draft in that army if you are not faithful.
Yeah thats about all that I have to say about that class so far, I do have the teachers book "Finally, My Brethren, Rethinking Spiritual Warfare." the teacher is Delron Shirley.
Third class was the fourth lesson on the Holy Spirit. By Wendell Parr.
Most of us will admit that the church as a whole is not doing the "works of Jesus" let alone the "greater works" The idea in this class is to look into three things that will help us begin to do the "works of Jesus and the greater works"
This one is all about what Jesus did, He came, He died, He conquered the grave and rose again, and because He has gone to the Father, He has now sent us the Holy Spirit and we have His power living in us. Its like we are a suit and Jesus just climbs in and works through us, we have all of His authority living in us and working in us and through us. Those that we touch are being touched by Jesus and those that are healed are healed because Jesus is in us to heal them. We do what He tells us, and He does the real work... what a deal huh?
Thats the thought I want to leave you with,
Goodnight,
Sweet Dreams,
blog more tomorrow,
Ben Heath
No comments:
Post a Comment