Holiness - Shaken But Not Stirred

“Give careful thought to your ways”.
You have seen My power, but you only see what you comprehend and so place Me in the confines of your understanding and those traditions and structures you feel safe in, which limits My Spirit within you. My ways are not your ways, your thoughts not My thoughts. You have seen little, but look outside, and see the vastness of the vision I have given you. It has barely begun. There are those crying out for help. There are those who have been driven away from Me through those under the banner of My Church, hurt and rejected because of attitudes and teachings not of Me.

I call My Church to Me not to their own understanding. Many forget that I come first. Come close in Me, allowing My Spirit to guide you.

So easily the words, “So What!” is said and felt. So What, there is false teaching taught that cause grief to people. So What, that there are people hurting amongst My people. So What, that situations left to grow out of proportion are causing bitterness, resentment, and division in the body of Christ.

So I say, “So What!” So What to your ministries. So What, to what you want to do. First sort out your relationships with Me and each other, then as these things come right, under the Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ then your ministries will flow from you in Love, Power and Truth.

So rather, So What! Make it, So What?

So What are you going to do about it? There is much more to be done. I use My people to reveal My Glory. I wait to pour out My Spirit, Truth and Power on this land. I wait for your uncompromising submission to Me.

Wrong motives, losing sight of who Jesus really is:
Triumphal Entry – John 12:12-19

God in heaven looks on, He is happy to see the people honouring Jesus on arrival into Jerusalem and yet He was sad because He knew beyond that moment many of those people would also call for His death.

They recognised Him as King of Israel (John 12:13), they even saw a great Healer, a man of miracles (John 12:17-18) especially after raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11:38-44) but could not accept Him as the Messiah, the one who would save the world from sin. His ministry shook and yet the people were not stirred.

Jesus taught Holiness through Salvation in Him. Too often we can play at church and forget the reality of Him and His Kingship and Headship of His Church.

The enemy can distract our minds onto anything even those things that seem right so as to prevent us from entering into fullness in Christ and obedience to Him. The enemy would fill our time with anything, for when we come into obedience in Christ the enemy knows that everything we do will be even more powerful and successful. We hear the call to Holiness but are not stirred; we remain complacent in our busyness. We are shaken but not stirred.

Positional and Progressive Sanctification
(Purify from sin, make Holy)
God’s Work for Us, God’s Work in Us
Both are essential. Neglect the first, we grow fearful. Neglect the second we grow lazy.

Repent:
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Revelation 2:4-5

The Day of the Lord:
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
2 Peter 3:8-13

Armour of Light:
The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Romans 13:12

Identity In Christ - *Who Do They Say I AM?"

I am no-one. I am only what God makes me. I am only what I allow Him to make me, which isn’t what He wants me to be.

To begin with, a foundational truth:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Genesis 1:26-28

Image and Likeness, Dominion:
Identity and Authority are linked together. Authority comes out of our identity. A lot of our insecurity is due to a lack of identity. The ploy of the enemy is to prevent us knowing our identity; the enemy undermines us in our identity.

A policeman has authority, has an identity. His identity is through the uniform he wears. When he puts on the uniform he is immediately recognised as a man of authority and in that he knows that authority. His authority is given by the rulers of this country and he is under authority.

We have an Identity, we have an Authority only found in Jesus Christ.

Jesus – The Way, The Truth, The Life – John 14:6
Jesus knew His Identity, and He knew His God given authority. He was secure in that He knew who He was and is. He knew the strength of the Word of God, He is the Living Word.

Jesus tempted (Matthew 4:3-4) Son of God.
The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread." Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Building Blocks for Identity (Matthew 7:24-27) Revelation of Christ
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Could This Be Said Of Us? Fall of Man:

Sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-16) Secure in who you are.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. (One day) the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Fundamental Error:
If you will do, you will be. (Fall of Man – Genesis 3:9 – “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”)

Identity through – Function, Success, Groups, etc.

Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts, which are the leadings of God. Resist not His strivings within you. It is His light that shows us our darkness and leads to true repentance. The love of God draws us to Him, a redemptive love shown forth by Jesus Christ in His life and on the cross. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. As His disciples, we are called to live in the life and power of the Holy Spirit.

For Christianity is not a matter of conformity to doctrine and the observance of forms, but an overwhelming sense of the nearness of God, through the indwelling Spirit of Christ. It’s the rediscovery of primitive Christianity, proclaiming that ‘Christ had come to teach His people Himself.’ It’s having that direct communion with God without the mediation of church or priests, relying on the inward authority of the Spirit rather than on the outward authority of the church and tradition. It’s knowing and loving the Bible but also getting behind the written word to the sources of its inspiration.

John the Baptist new that in himself he was no-one and that his priority was to prepare for the one to come as to why he said in John 3:30, He must become greater; I must become less.

Foundation of Identity:
Jesus asked the question (Matthew 16:13-18) “Who do they say that I am?”

Our foundation is that, “He is the Christ.” Our foundation is on Christ.

Who you are is who you are in Christ. Who you are will never be found outside of Christ.

(Ephesians 1:1-20) Identity In Christ. (In Christ, In Him):

Word and Spirit need to come together.

V4 Chosen before foundations of the world. God had the whole plan in mind before it began.God knew me. Who I was going to be, all of me before the foundation of the world. We are not accidents. (Psalm 139:13-16)

V5 Predestined to be adopted as sons.We cannot say we were not wanted.
1. Birth (Born Again), New Creation by the Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
2. Adoption. A decision to make someone part of your family.God’s initiative, not ours. A chosen identity. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

V6 It’s an unearned identity. It was freely given to us. God does not look at failure but at what we are to come and who we are in Christ.It is not an excuse for laziness, but if we did nothing else for Christ, He would still love us.

V7 If we don’t deal with sin, we will not deal with identity. Our problems is sin. We have the same value to the Father as Jesus Christ did. The King has paid the price for us. We are not called for success but to be faithful.

V10-12 The identity we have is eternal. No-one can take it away. It is an eternal security of our identity. An identity with a future hope that we shall be with Him, throughout all eternity.

V13-14 We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. Access is by the Holy Spirit giving us revelation, imparted, dynamic truth.

Who you are is in Christ alone. Do you know your Identity?