Christian Fellowship
“That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving...” Psalm 26:7
Vol. 24 No. 5 May 2015
Heb 2:1 (NLT) “So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it.”
Today we live with an attitude of instant gratification and acquiring more stuff. But what does your credit bills show you? Are the blessings of God turning into curses because you can’t keep up? Materialism doesn’t satisfy because it is oppressive. We don’t own anything. Even our homes own us because of all the upkeep and expenses. We have become slaves to gadgets and garments. We have a fleeting moment of pleasure and then we are off for the next thing. Things dictate our time, and they dominate our desires. We spend most of our years working for things until there is no time left with which to pursue God and His plans for our life. There is little time left to do good deeds, see places of creation, or visit people who give us great inner joy.
Paul says, 1Ti 6:6 (KJV) “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
In order to experience that contentment, you need to count your blessings every day and thank the One who made all things possible for what you have been given.
The objective to Col 3:2 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” is so that we can understand and experience the measure of God’s greatness to us. Become an eternal person living in the unseen realm, and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
In Christ,
Pr. Steve
Fullness of God
Eph 3:14-21 (KJV) “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, (16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; (17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (18) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. (20) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (21) Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Paul was praying for people who were already saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, yet he is pointing out a further work to be done. The Bible teaches there are three works of redemption, and we are entering that third work in our day This third work of God comes after Pentecost,
These Ephesians probably thought they had come to maturity and had received everything that they needed, until Paul shows up.
Paul says, “I am praying, I kneel before the Father, where the whole family in heaven and earth derive their name.” He is talking about God’s elect. He is talking about what God will do, not what we do. But you have to know that with the Lord it is always an invitation. He wants people in His Kingdom who want to be there. So it is never a case where He says, “You do this, and you do that.” It is the same way with giving. God loves a cheerful giver. Therefore, you are not to give out of compulsion but because it is what you want to do. God wants you to want to give because you love Him with all your heart. First, He invites us to give, and then He invites us to receive.
Out of God’s glorious riches, He promises to give to everyone who answers His invitation. As intensified temptations confront us, we will experience an increased need for His enabling through a power greater than our own. In response to our calling out and placing our dependence on Him, God promises to strengthen us in our inner being.
Sadly, Barna reports that 55% do not believe in the devil. Unprepared, unaware and lacking the inner power to overcome, those who refuse to believe the Word of God and who live their lives void of a growing relationship with Jesus will be taken captive.
Paul tells the Christians at Ephesus that he is praying for them to be strengthened with power through the Spirit of God in their inner being. How many today need more inner strength? You will need that empowerment to resist temptation. “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” doesn’t mean that faith is an alternative. How do you keep the Presence of the Lord with you? By talking to Him all the time! If you never want to be lonely, then learn to talk to Him all the time about everything. Try it. It is not hard because Christ is very present and He loves to converse with you. That is how you have Christ dwell in your heart. The faith part means you can’t see Him, so you are communicating with Him by faith.
“That you be rooted and grounded in love.” The love referred to here is God’s love, not humanistic love, not superficial love, but supernatural love that comes through the Spirit of God as we converse constantly with Christ.
Eph 3:18 (NIV) “…may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…”
The issue of righteousness is always a question of power. If you had your way, you would live a perfectly godly life, so why don’t you? Because you don’t have the power. You think if you had the power, you wouldn’t sin and you would stop others from sinning. Don’t we just want righteousness to rule? But it is always a battle. You are battling against the world, your own sinful nature, and against Satan – it is a constant fight to do what is right.
What marks the passage from child to adult? A major sign occurs when a person does what he believes to be right, no matter how difficult or painful. Those who will do only what is pleasant are children. Doing what is right is evidence of maturity into adulthood.
The problem here is that while there are actually four dimensions, most of the time we live in only three. The fourth dimension that we need the life of Christ dwelling and working in us. Think about it – is Christ real to you? If not, it is because He is in a fourth dimension that you have yet to discover.
“And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge.” When God touches you with His love, it changes you forever. It is so overpowering you can’t handle the intensity for very long. It will mess with your emotions; causing you to cry at the least prompting. People today are not touched by the things that happen because they have been hardened in their hearts. (Pray that your conscience is not seared during these days because you need to be able to be moved by the Spirit of God.) Your degree of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit can affect your ability to respond properly to difficulty.
God’s love will put within you such a compassion for the people of the world it will change you forever. This love goes beyond your knowledge. In fact, it has nothing to do with knowledge.
“THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD! ”
That fullness is spoken of in another place concerning the Lord Himself. “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col 2:9)
Therefore, this passage is inviting us to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God today. [a Profound truth!]
How can a human being like Jesus be filled with the fullness of the Godhead? If God can dwell in a human being in His fullness, then we are much larger than we understand. We can’t see what really is true of us. All we can see is the physical form, but there is much more going on than we understand.
God wants people who are so in love with Him that they will persevere by faith in this valley of the shadow. Even though they can’t see, they just believe. As Daniel says, they will be as stars that shine forever. So there is much more at stake here than we understand. We have the Bible and you can go by that; so when it says you can be filled with all the fullness of God, that is what it means, and nothing less. Therefore, our attitude needs to be – “I want it, Lord.”
Vrs.20 says “abundantly” = more than can be measured (Remember, this is coming from His glorious riches.) You have to want this abundance! It isn’t going to be handed out, like food in a soup kitchen. If you desire something else, which is always something less, you can be like Esau who traded his inheritance for a bowl of soup. Are you one who trades spiritual riches for worldly pleasures?
This fullness of God is the third great platform of redemption. It comes after the baptism.
John 14:23 describes the fullness of God. In Jn.14:15-16 Jesus says He will give you another Comforter – that is the Holy Spirit. But in verse 23, He is no longer talking about the Comforter: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him.” Not “I”, but “we” (more than one). He is talking about the fullness of God.
The condition is that you have to obey the Word. “My Father” (not the Holy Spirit; they are not the same) The Holy Spirit is a person, that is why it says, if you speak against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven you, not if you speak against the Father. And in water baptism we are baptized in the name of three people: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They work together and are one, and we are being invited into that oneness –the enlargement of God.
The thing that identifies us as unique more than anything else (not our fingerprints) is our will. Your will is essentially you. Jesus said in Gethsemane, “Not my will but yours be done…” That is two people. They are not the same person.
“We will come and make our abode with him.” If you have the Spirit with you forever, and you have the Father with you forever, and you have the Son with you forever, are you filled with all the fullness of God? There is nothing left out. That is fullness of God. That is what we have to look forward to.
Isaiah 12 is what the Jews chanted at the Feast of Tabernacles. They had an instinct for God. This will be your testimony when you have the fullness of God. (Vrs.1 – you will go through a time when you feel like God is mad at you; but your pain is not a grave, it is a tunnel.)
Vrs.2 – “God is my salvation”. We are used to hearing, “God will save me.” There is a transition that occurs in our life, one that is difficult and confusing as you pass from holding God’s hand to His holding your hand. “God is my salvation,” not that He gave (past tense) me or will give (future tense) me, He is (present tense) my salvation. That is the fullness of God.
“I will trust and not be afraid.” He will bring us through situations that we cannot understand. We will trust Him no matter what. God cares about our wellbeing, so we can trust Him and not be afraid.
“The Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song and is become my salvation.” You need more than the average church member has today. You need this strength. You need to trade your life for His life.
Gal 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
When you have to live by His life, you are not holding His hand; instead, He is holding yours. To make it, you have to live by the life of Jesus. Lay your life down, find out what Jesus wants, and grow in His salvation. Today is the day of salvation in which God wants to fill you with the fullness of Himself so that you will have not mere religious strength, but you will let Him become your strength.
-Pr. Steve
I am going to be sharing with you thoughts from my journal over the past few years. This is to show you how the Lord has brought about His Word in my life to minister to you and to show you how real this walk can be. Please read and understand by the Spirit about ...
. . . My calling as a pastor
Pastor’s Journal 2014
May 05: Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly; for it is He that shall tread down our enemies. (Psm.108:12-13)
May 10: But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him and his righteousness unto children’s children. (Psm.103:17)
May 15: If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures (Job 36:11)
May 16: Have faith in God. Say to this mountain be removed. Believe and it shall be done. Forgive when you pray that your Father in heaven may forgive you. Let no attack of Satan keep you from the fullness of God that is being created in you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you!
May 17: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed be the man that trusteth in him. Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
May 19: I will be your defender and shield. Remain quiet and deliverance will come.
May 22: The blood cleanses your conscience that condemns you. The blood lifts you into a heavenly realm that you may experience His Presence and love. You do not have to live with an evil conscience by the blood of the Lamb.
May 26: A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Pro.20:24)
May 27: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word (Psm.119:67)
May 31: You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You! (Isa.26:3)
Bloom Where You Are Planted
Sometimes, even as good Christian church-going people, we can get the feeling that we are just warming a church chair, or filling a spot on a pew, when all the while the truth is that we are being seasoned. As we are taking in the Word of God, our roots are growing, and we are being strengthened in the faith. And because that Word is the living Word of God we are being transformed! Our minds are being renewed; that we would no longer be conformed to this world; but instead we are becoming living proof of that which is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect, will of God. Most of the time during this season of setting the roots, people tend to get restless; and the temptation to uproot and move can be overwhelming; but rest assured, God does not change. Unless we jump ship and completely refuse to abide in Him, He will soon have us going through the seasoning process as planned once again Ecc 3:1 (KJV) “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”
Just as it is in nature, some seasons of our spiritual growth in the Lord are more desired than others; but whether it be in the natural or in the spiritual context; following God’s procedure is the only way that will bring forth Life. However, when we get out of sync with God, we cease to progress; lose potential growth; miss our blooming season. As Christians, it is greatly important that we stick with the process and bloom where we are planted; for that is the only way that we can bear new fruit.
Joh 15:4-6 (KJV) “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
These days it seems that people want everything to be easy, but the Lord never said that abiding in Him and His Word was going to be easy. In fact, as one of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew, quoted Jesus as saying:
Mat 11:12 (KJV) “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
There will be inward and outward, spiritual and fleshly battles; but the whole plan is that we stay the course! Don’t Give Up! The apostle Paul wrote in: 2Ti 4:7 (MSG), “This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way.”
The Apostle Paul did not just run the race so that he could say that he had made it! In fact, he was constantly getting information from God and sharing it with the believers in all of the churches. And though we may or may not have a title in front of our names, if we stay in the growth process, we also will have inspirations from the Lord when we bloom that will bless and strengthen others in their Christian walk. Don’t let discouragement rule you and thus rob others.
Psalm 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
-Pr. Kurt Thurston
Quotes:
"This much is sure in all churches... the smallest meeting numerically is the prayer-meeting. If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere."
-Leonard Ravenhill
"A true revival means nothing less than a revolution, casting out the spirit of worldliness and selfishness, and making God and His love triumph in the heart and life."
-Andrew Murray
"A revival does two things. First, it returns the Church from her backsliding and second, it causes the conversion of men and women; and it always includes the conviction of sin on the part of the Church."
-Billy Sunday
Next course from Christian Life Educators Network - Richmond Center:
Summer Break! Classes resume in August
