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All of creation is a story of God creating spaces and then filling them. He crafted a space called the Garden of Eden where mankind could receive and live from God's 'natural' world. In that space, God could enjoy an evening strolling with an expectant heart to fellowship with His best handiwork.
Jumping ahead and forgetting all the mess in the middle, He then created you in your mother's womb. Why? So once again He could stroll through life enjoying His best creation to date...YOU. Now He has space to walk in, with, and between His 'talking plants' whereby through them He can share His love one to the other. In Christ, Father was right-sized in you. Because of this, we can enjoy God within, God without, and the space between that defines our meeting place. Now that is rather creative of Him and deserves not only a thank you but a hug. Here it is! How would you like to know, like really, really know, that someone has purchased you a better way of living? Like, way better than someone knocking on your door gifting you a billion dollars? Or gifting a deed to the greatest home and land you could imagine for yourself? Add to this a promise to see God and recognize, 'this is the one who gave all this to me.' Yes even in the flesh full of yearning. Then this message is for you.
Behold the hand of the LORD is upon you directing your every step. Your self-judgments are not necessary, you can put them aside. Like an old garment, retire those self condemnations in for His singing over you. Yes, His delighting in your person. Reaching into His heart and gifting you His saving love that has no cause, beginning nor end, leaving you with a joy that has no reason other than you are. Rest in this, He has you, so has you, you cannot escape. He dresses His life with both joy and pain for it is HIS LIFE to live even as you. Yes, somewhere, sometime you said, "LORD you can have me..." He replied, "I do." A woman comes over a sand dune after weeks without food or water and discovers a McDonald's. She stumbles to the counter to order and discovers a single hamburger costs $4,000 with a drink included. Knowing she can get more money, but not more life, she pays the price and almost with worship consumes the meal. Within minutes her thirst and hunger are satiated, but just in case it's a week to the next meal, she saunters up to the counter and asks for a repeat of the first order to discover it costs $1.00.
So it is with a life run aground. It will pay anything to get off the reef, but once free, it will dive back into the debauchery that lead it aground in the first place. When one's coming to Christ is nothing more than a plea to escape an enemy of life, Christ becomes a vending machine at best. There is a better way. Go to the counter and order a new life. Pay for it by abandoning all that you have, which you 'think' sustains you. Then, broke as well as broken, discover this new Life loves to live fulled to the brim with possibilities, eager to empty itself so others can be filled. Being born from above is not only a one time event, but an introduction to a life that stands behind the counter of life and pays the $4,000 for each person who comes to the counter. Now that is Christianity! Great chatting with you guys this morning. The Zoom calls are a little short, but still a huge blessing. I wanted to mention one more thing about the passages we read this morning. In John 17:4, Jesus says, "I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." Jesus was fully man, and fully God.
As a man, it is remarkable that he was able to do what he did here on earth. He could have stopped the suffering of the cross at any time, but he finished the work that God had given him. Of course, the Father was with him the whole time. Let this be a word of encouragement to you as well. If you believe in Christ, then the Holy Spirit lives in you, and you are never alone or without him. Run the race that God has set before you, and live the life that he wants for you. Be the best father, husband, and friend that you can be, loving everyone that you encounter. This is not always easy, but it is the life that we are called to live. Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as your self. It's that simple, and that challenging at the same time. Go for it! Today, and every day!! The Bible says in Psalm 27:1" The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"
Today, the Lord will shine His light on your path, divert your feet from dangers and calamities. He will chase away every situation that causes you to fear and cause your adversaries to flee before you in Jesus' name. Every opposition against you from the pit of hell shall fail, all attempts to destroy you and turn all your feats to fears or turn your joy to sorrow shall fail in Jesus Mighty name. Amen. Good morning, God bless you. Jesus is the Answer... All valid worship comes forth from the essence of God. Any union or communion comes from and through the Spirit of the Creator. Worship in itself is a creation conceived through faith, wrapped in love and trust, and empowered by the Word. Worship without these essential Elements, without God in it, through it, moving out from it and right back to it, is powerless, unexpressed, and impotent. From our perspective, true worship is the outgrowing of God taking His place in and living out through His creation, He the All in All.
Where and when did this worship begin and to where does it travel? It began in the beginning where the unknown sprang into the known and abides in the very expression of expressing. That breath wrapped into the Word builds the cathedral in which it resonates and appeases savage souls who hear it, they falling face down worship discovering two immense unmovable truths. God is good and His lovingkindness is everlasting. And so it is as each temple of God is dedicated as His Royal entrance. Those whose bodies become His temple cry out Holy, Holy, Holy is our God, and His loving-kindness lasts forever. Overcome with Truth, the Word finds again breath pressed against lips and utterances that proclaimed that which cannot be wrapped in words alone. Worship in bodies creates a place where God resides on the wings of captured lips. Yes, even bound to His goodness and everlasting kindness. Our common beginning is having been born in the flesh. As we grew, we became aware that we could distinguish between this or that thought, thing or event and expect an outcome by attaching 'ourselves' to one thing over another. We would then choose the preferred outcome, and make adjustments along the way. In our Christian tradition this is called, 'To be carnally minded,' which is re-defined as 'Death'.
Is there a second way? Yes. It is where we are born of the Spirit of God. It is called Life. We used to identify with the flesh. But now we identify with the Spirit of Christ in us and the flesh with its desires grows dim. In our Christian tradition this is called, 'being Spiritually minded' or 'Partakers of the Divine Nature', by which we are made Children of God, and Heirs of God; joint Heirs with Christ. Our end is this enduring Union, living one with the Spirit of Christ. Reduced from William Law's teaching by Dean Chicquette
There is only one real difference between the religion of the Faithful before, and after Christ. Before Christ, the faith and hope, was in a Messiah to come in some wonderful, but unknown way with power and victory over deprivation. This faith waited on the seed of the woman. Once the seed arrived, the true Covenant of Grace, of Life, of Love and Union with God, through the Cross of Christ has become the Faith and Glory of Christians. The Scriptures likewise say that you cannot join light (Holy Spirit) with darkness (old man). The Word further says that a believer (live-spirit child of God) must never join himself in marriage to an unbeliever (dead-spirit child of Satan). We know He would never violate His own admonition by joining into union the old man and the new man inside your earth-suit. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Now I ask you, would God who taught all the foregoing truths deliberately “set up” the Christian by giving him two conflicting identities, one loyal to God, the other equally loyal to Satan? No! Lost people have one master (Satan), not two. Christians also have one master (God), not two.
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August 2021
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