I am interrupting this study in order to share the following dealing with how we are to rightly walk as a Christ one. The whole message of this web site is to disclose the person of Christ , which is about to take place in our course of studies.
Walking with Christ is the Way We Received Him.
"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 God, one common mistake is attempting to develop our spiritual walk in a different manner than we began it. Our present verse point us to the proper outlook. We are to allow the Spirit which is GOD to build His life within us as HE did the Lord Jesus upon the very same terms that He and we began that life. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." We are to walk with Christ the way we received Him. The way Jesus received and revealed the Spirit and magnified Him throughout His earthly ministry or mission of purpose.
We received the LORD God and His great salvation as gift and fruit of grace. "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! . . . For by grace you have been saved (made whole) 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 agreement with 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 Spirit 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 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).
Galatians 3:3 reinforces the necessity of keeping our pattern for beginning a walk with GOD by the same one we use for allowing Him in developing that 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 our Spiritual growth to differ from how we found spiritual birth. The Holy Spirit alone was able to bring us to spiritual birth. The flesh of man could 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 development and progress. The flesh can contribute nothing. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). Any change in approach from birth to growth is foolishness and the source of all evil. 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 Christ the way we received Him. Any changes in approach are unacceptable, ineffective, impossible.
Okay we have already looked at Christ the Divine messenger and now I will look at His Divine Origin.
Christ's Heavenly Origin,
John 3:30-36 (John the baptist is speaking and his words should be ours as well) "He (the Christ, he just saw light upon Jesus as a dove) must increase, but I must decrease."
"He (the Spirit, the anointing) Who comes from above is above (before all things, relating to Genesis 1:26, 2:6-8) all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He Who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what He has seen and heard, yet no one receives His testimony. Whoever receives His testimony sets His seal (agreement) to this, that GOD is true. For He Whom God has sent (Deuteronomy 18:15-22 [18-20]) utters the words of God, for HE gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Whoever believes in the Son has Eternal Life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains in him."
John 6:35-40 "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes Me shall never thirst. For I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven (speaking the Spirit in Him which like us made Him Spirit), not to do My own will but the will (plan and purpose) of Him Who sent Me. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that HE has given Me, but raise it (them) up on the last day. For this is the will (plan and purpose) of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have Eternal Life, and I will raise him up on the last day.'"
John 8:21-30, 39-47 (42) "So Jesus said to them again, 'I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.' So the Jews said, "Will he kill himself, since he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?" He said to them, 'You are from below; I am (Spirit) from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am HE (Deuteronomy 18:18-20) you will die in your sins.' So they said to Him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, 'Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but HE Who sent Me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from Him.' They did not understand that He had been speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said to them, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am HE, and that I do nothing on My own authority, but speak just as the Father taught Me. And HE Who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.' As He was saying these things, many believed Him..... They answered Him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.' They said to Him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God." To this Jesus said to them, 'If GOD were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from GOD and I am here. I came not of My own accord, but HE sent Me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? Whoever is of GOD hears the words of GOD. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of GOD.'"
John 16:29-33 "His disciples said, "Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that You know all things and do not need anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came from GOD." Jesus answered them, 'Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is within Me. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; (by My faith) I have overcome the world.'"
1Corinthians 15:42-49 (47) "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:6-7) Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam (John 5:21, 6:57f) became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven (the little known secret of GOD in man). As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we [shall] also bear the image of the man of heaven."
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