Bible Study - Through the Looking Glass 3

Hi Everyone

We are continuing on this series, Through the Looking Glass.  This is part 3.  I would encourage you to download the audio for the other 2 earlier parts so this part makes more sense.

Meantime, here is this week's audio.  Enjoy and be blessed.  And share the blessing!

Chris

Hosea 4:6a My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (NKJV)

Truly Born Again, Truly a New Creation

I AM a New Creation.  All the Old, what I see in my five senses, is no longer the reality.  A higher reality of who I am has taken over.  This reality must sink in to us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

I am not the person you know me to be anymore.  In the spirit, I am like Christ and as I focus on this, I am on my way to being renewed into the likeness of Him.

2 Corinthians 5:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. (NKJV)

Therefore do not see me as who I am in the flesh any longer.  See in me what Christ has accomplished, even if you don’t see it naturally.  Life could have dealt me a raw deal but that doesn't matter anymore.  That is not who I am.  Who I am has been made new.  My identity is now in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.

More importantly, don’t regard yourself according to the flesh.  Don’t put yourself down.  You are worthy of the blood of Christ, so don’t call yourself anything less than what He died to make you become.

King, priest, son, daughter, one with Him for all of eternity.

Really Like Christ

You are like Christ on earth.  He is ONE with you.  Live out your life from who you are as a child of God, not who you think you ought to be.   

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (NKJV)

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. (NKJV)

The day the devil saw that happen after killing Jesus and watching Him resurrect, he went on to plan B.  He started to deceive the Christians telling them they are not who they really are in the spirit, by telling them they are who they are in the flesh.  Christians then fall prey to that and start regarding one another in the flesh.

Really Have All Things

We are like Christ - we have all things in Him.  

We are blessed with every spiritual blessing.

All the blessings are in the realm of the spirit, the heavenly places.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (NKJV)

Really Can Do All Things

We can do all things. 

Philippians 4:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV)

A big part of doing all things in this context is being able to tough out all things.  When we are dead to ourselves, the things of the world just don’t matter much to us anymore.

Can Expect to Do Better Than Christ

We can expect to do greater things than even Jesus.

John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (NKJV)

This is in God’s Word and we cannot ignore it.

The spirit realm is the real realm.  The realm of the seen is not the real realm.  Going back to the blind man analogy, some things are best discerned by hearing, like music or sounds, but most things in life need our sight to discern.

In like manner, most things in life can be accomplished by the five senses, but things of eternal value can only come from walking in the spirit.

Live in the Spirit = Walk by Faith

We walk by faith and not by sight.  Sight and your five senses complement your faith, not the other way around.

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV)

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  Entry into the Spiritual realm is by the Word of God.

The more we know God in His Word, the more we can walk by faith and are walking in the spirit.

Recall that the spirit and the flesh are in a battle for the mind.  What we feed the mind is very important.  The more we feed it fleshly stuff, the more carnal minded we become.  The more we feed it spiritual stuff, the more spirit-minded we are.

Only One Way to Do This

There is only one kind of spiritual food that you can feed your mind.

Matthew 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (NKJV)

God is not found in a diet of Christian posters and sayings alone.  This is like eating only processed food all the time.

God is not found in looking at the experiences in life alone.  All can have their benefits, but it is like eating a meal made up only of condiments and sauces.  There is no staple and you cannot live on that.

Live IN the Word

The Word is the Bread.  Jesus is the bread of life.  He is the sustenance of our lives and He is found best in the Word.  Trying to find Him anywhere else is a lot tougher, for He has revealed Himself clearly in the Word already. We saw this last week.  

John 8:31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. (NKJV)

We are not His disciples if we do not abide in His Word. Abiding means living.  We can’t say we live in a certain home if we don’t know what it looks like or where it is.  We need to know the Word like we know our homes!  We need to live in the Word.  We can’t live outside of it until it rains when we come in.  We live in it all the time and we go out to work and play, but home is where we live.  The Word should be our home.  Without this, we are not truly His disciples, if we don't know the Word.

John 8:32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (NKJV)

We will never know the truth and will always be in bondage.

We cannot replace getting into a relationship with God in His Word with any other Christian activity.  No amount of fellowship, no amount of prayer meetings, no amount of church attendance, no outreach will ever replace your need for a relationship with God in His Word.

When we get into the Word, we get washed by the water of the Word and are purified.  Our minds start to see what the Spirit is really all about (glory to glory) and we want to seek to do that which we were created for.  Like a child growing up, we want to take on more responsibilities in the Kingdom of God.  We will want to be with other like-minded (kingdom minded) people (fellowship).  We will want to enforce the victory of the kingdom here on earth, telling the problems about God (prayer), we will want to gather corporately to worship and encourage (church attendance), we will want to see more people set free like we have (outreach).

The more we get into the Word and realise who we are in Jesus, the more start to grow.  If we can stay in church for 5, 10, 20 years and still face the same issues, it is clear that all the religious exercises we are going through aren't helping.  We are not bearing fruit.  And no amount of pushing, cajoling, pressure, guilt trips, behaviour modification etc will make a tree bear fruit.  It simply needs to start with a seed that fell on the right ground.  Once it grows, it bears fruit.