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| Rossbondreturns Registered user Username: Rossbondreturns Post Number: 12 Registered: 10-2009 |
The Call to Be Committed 1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4 (KJV) People Say the Strangest Things If you’re a Christian, if you’ve become a new creation, and are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, I’m quite positive that you’ve probably been told the following on at least one occasion. You’re so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good. However in this text it is quite clear than whenever possible our thoughts are to be centered in Heaven. In the morning when we wake up we should be thinking of Heaven simply because one of the most important things to do in the morning is communicate with God through prayer. When you keep in mind that each day you’re given on this earth, as a Christian is a day to work in the local mission field you’ll begin to understand why we’re supposed to keep our focus heavenly. If you fail to ask God to fill you anew with the Holy Spirit you can hardly expect to witness to others effectively and odds are your outlook on the day will be affected for the worse. Keep a Heavenly Focus Another reason to keep a more heavenly spiritual focus is because by praying and feeding on The Word your Spirit is enlarged by the Holy Spirit. It is one thing to be mildly interested by reading the Bible it is a whole other level to be so filled with the Spirit that you can’t help but praise the Lord as you walk down the street. Being this full used to cause me no end of embarrassment, I was far too different for my own good and I was nervous around people. Now the Lord has given me so much, has caused such joy in my life that I’m at peace when I stand out from the crowd. Christians in fact are called out of the world, we are to be separate, to be devoted to the one who saved us and paid our price for disobedience and sin. God incarnate, Jesus Christ, was sacrificed on the Cross of Calvary as a perfect substitute for each and every person who’s been born. And since all of us are sinners we cannot ever save ourselves, keeping the Ten Commandments won’t save you (since we cannot keep them for five minutes) and good works won’t save you (they are simply evidence of being saved). Only repenting and making a U-Turn towards Heaven will save you, and the sad truth is that many people I’ve been to church with see no reason to make that U-Turn because they believe they’re already saved. Some Adventist preachers are now preaching that you’re born saved! To which I respond so what are we then little Christ’s. Such a teaching is Heretical. You can’t be born saved any more than I can be born a dolphin. Only one person was born Saved if you will and that was Jesus Christ because He was born of the Holy Spirit and the seed of Woman instead of man. That’s why Christ died on the Cross to take away our sins because He was the perfect sacrifice. You are born lost; you are dead and spiritually buried because you inherited Adams willful sin. You aren’t born saved, you’re conceived a sinner. The Cross isn’t some mythical symbol of God’s Grace, you aren’t standing on top of Sin if you will saying “I Believe” to the symbol of the Lords sacrifice. Before you find Christ you are buried dead in sin, the Cross at Calvary was placed into the ground and upon it was our Savior. He took on Himself the sins and punishments of everyone who would ever live, and paid the ultimate price. He died our death and God raised Him again on the third day. The blood He shed on that Cross is what cleanses us of our sins, it percolates down into the darkness of our sin until we finally wake up and realize the awful truth. Repentance is realizing that we’re full of sin and turning to the perfect sacrifice on the cross and casting that sin upon Christ and letting it go. Believing that Christ paid that price for me, and at that point the Father GIVES us eternal life. It is a free gift that we positively don’t deserve, but it is given to us because we have wholeheartedly seeked restoration. We have strived for the relationship between God and Adam and Eve before the fall, it’s what we were designed for, and it’s what God eagerly waits for each of us to accept. And we are sent the Holy Spirit to indwell in us, to Seal us for Heaven, we are an entirely new creation. He takes our heart and transplants it with one that is tuned to do what we once could not do. His Spirit gets ours off life support and infuses it with vigor and energy, now if our mortal life ended our Spiritual life would begin. Jesus sits at the right hand of God in Heaven, He is Glorified, and He constantly intercedes for those who have chosen Him. That is why our heart should be in Heaven. Earthly things Loose their Appeal I don’t watch very much television anymore simply because it is for the most part putrid junk to my Spirit. I will watch the news to keep up with what’s going on globally, I will watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition because it’s about reaching out and helping those who need it and I will watch Nightline because it generally includes something of importance to watch. Mostly however I find myself either watching the Daystar Network because it’s the one Christian channel I get or being in the Word. The same at the magazine rack or bookstore, what appealed to me as a writer and reader generally no longer appeals to me. No longer will I look at computer gaming magazines, rarely will I look at entertainment magazines, because they simply hold no real appeal to me anymore. Now the Lord directs me to science magazines, and Time and Newsweek that I previously had no real interest in. All this because the Holy Spirit is in me and has change my heart; there is no other explanation. I am dead to this world and my life is hidden in Christ with God. The Revealing In the last verse Paul is actually speaking of the Glorious Appearing of Christ and all of the believers as they come out of Heaven to set up eternity on the Earth. To explain that I need to bring to light something from an earlier post on the blog: When the work was done, at the end of the period of separation the groom would come to take the bride to live with him. This usually took place at night and would involve the groom, best man and other male escorts who would leave the father’s house and form a torch light procession to the bride’s home. Although the bride expected her groom to come for her she did not know the exact time he would arrive, therefore the groom’s arrival would be preceded by a shout. This would warn the bride to get ready because the groom was coming. After the groom received to him the bride and all of her female attendants with her the entire wedding party would return home to the groom’s fathers house. Once they arrive they’d find that wedding guests were already assembled. Not long after their arrival other members of the bridal party would escort the bride and groom to the bridal chamber (huppah). Prior to entering the chamber the bride remained veiled so that no one could see her face. In case you were wondering this is a picture of the Rapture of the Church from Jewish Marriage Customs. Look at the last sentence there we’re taken so quickly and hidden in Heaven so that we cannot be identified as Christians. Twinkling of an eye is not an exaggeration, it’s 1/6,000th of a second, we’ll be out and changed and hidden in Heaven. We’ll stay hidden in Heaven for Seven years and then just like the Jewish Marriage Customs: When the seven days concluded the groom would bring the bride out of the bridal chamber, this time with the veil removed so that all could see just who the bride was. Or as Paul so wonderfully puts it: 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Christ on His white horse will lead the way down out of Heaven to the Earth and we will follow in glory, and we’ll ride with our King and Savior as He reclaims the Earth and establishes His unending Kingdom. 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Rev 19:5-16 (KJV) (Emphasis Mine) The Christians are the Bride of Christ and we are most welcome at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb…after which we will follow the Lord as the massive army of perfected Saints. Clothed in the majesty and purity of the Lamb who was slain! We are taken out of the veil of Heaven and shown as not only Justified but also Purified wholly Perfected by our God and King. When He is finally revealed to the world in all His Glory make no mistake that we will be returning with Him, and we will be revealed to be just as He is. In Conclusion Repent for you are full of sin, no one is born saved, repent to Jesus Christ and accept His free gift of eternal life. Then you can maintain a daily walk with God, allow the Holy Spirit to lead in your walk and studies. Seek the throne of Heaven daily whenever you have need, God would love to hear from you, after all you are adopted into His family. Be confident that the transformation that God has started in you through the Holy Spirit will eventually be completed before the Bema Seat of Christ. In Christ, Ross |
