Not long ago I looked at our being in agreement with GOD and by that we walk with Him as being One. This is in Amos 3:3 and Ephesians 4:1-7. Through this we fond out that we are restored to GOD and the Godhead is become One within us as is known by the Holy Spirit, there no longer being any division in this Oneness, as we live daily 24 / 7 / 365, the rest of our lives. With that being a fact and truth of Grace and our living by Grace. I want to look at what Pastor Hoekstra shares about this little known fact in our daily walk with the Lord Christ Jesus who is the LORD of both the old and New Covenants. Or put another way, HE is the Word always has been and will always be. By what Jeremiahs word or message states in 31:34.
"Walking with Jesus the Way We Received Him"
By Robert Hoekstra
"As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him . . . Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" (Colossians 2:6 and Galatians 3:3)
"In this vital matter of relating rightly to the LORD, one common mistake is attempting to develop our Christian walk in a different manner than we began it. Our present verse points us to the proper outlook, one of unity. We are to build our life with the LORD upon the very same terms that we began in Newness of His life. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." We are to walk with Jesus the same way we received Him. Not as a babe but as an adult, perfect, mature and ascended as the Spirit, HE has always has been. Keeping in mind that He went into the wilderness as spirit restored to man after His baptism by John in the wilderness in living (flowing) waters. Water being a symbol of all humanity as also seen in the phrase "seas."
We received the Lord and His great salvation as part of the gifts of Grace. "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! . . . For by Grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (2Corinthians 9:15 and Ephesians 2:8). We must, therefore, walk in Him with a "grace-receiving" mentality. "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for [upon] grace" (John 1:16). We must never attempt to treat the Christian life as something we can manufacture or earn. Sinful, earthly fathers were created with a desire to give beneficial gifts to their children. Even more so, our Holy, heavenly Father, the Father of spirits, has a heart to give all that is needed to those who are willing to ask and receive. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:11). By this statement alone Jesus placed all of humanity on a level playing field be they Jew or Gentile removing any doubt that His word is not one of separation as so many believe. Who profess distinction between the nations as having some things spoken to but a few selected people. Therefore leaving separation as division or a compartmentalization, the vary sin of the flesh and man corrupted thinking.
Galatians 3:3 reinforces the necessity of keeping our pattern for beginning a walk with GOD the same one we use for developing this walk: "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" These rhetorical questions warn of the deadly danger of having our approach to Christian growth differ from how we found spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit alone is able to bring us spiritual birth. The flesh (mans earthly worldly wisdom of continued separation) of man can avail nothing. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). The Holy Spirit must bring us spiritual progress and growth to maturity of perfection. The flesh can contribute nothing. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). Any change in approach from spiritual birth to growth is foolishness. It is doomed to failure.
We began by grace, so we must continue by grace. We began by the Spirit, so we must continue by the Spirit. Yes, we are to walk with Jesus the way we received Him. Any changes in approach are unacceptable, ineffective, impossible."
Tomorrow I will continue with this though.
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