Bible Study: I am Intimately One with God in Christ 3

Hi Everyone

This is “I am Intimately One with God in Christ Part 3 – He Has Great Plans for Me”.

Do have a listen to the audio as these notes were meant to augment that.

And please share this as you are blessed!

Chris

Has Great Plans for Me! 

God wants to work together with each of us.  He has great plans to do this.  He has come in to renovate our lives.

Before discuss about being led by God, we need to know without a doubt that God HAS a will for our lives, a specific one for each of us.

We were Bought for a Price

Each of us was bought at a great price.

Matthew 13:45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. (NKJV)

He did not buy us to sit and wait till we go to Heaven or till He comes back for us.  Eternal life already began for each of us (John 17:3).

1 Corinthians 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (NKJV)

We glorify God best when we reflect Him as He truly is.  On the contrary, we don’t when we misrepresent Him to others.  We glorify Him best when we are in His will.  

God Has a Will for Your Life

God sees great value in us, not for what we can do for Him, but for what He can make us to be.  He sees us for what we already are in the Spirit and what we can be in Him.  He washes the Church with the water of the Word to do this.

Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

There is a will for the Church and how we each fit into it!  This is being kingdom-minded!  Each of us has a HOPE OF CALLING

Ephesians 1:18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, (NKJV)

2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, (NKJV)

Each of us is part of the Royal Priesthood in the Kingdom

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; (NKJV)

You are a part of the kingdom.  You have an important role in the Kingdom!  There are things in the Kingdom that only YOU can do!

His Will is GOOD

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (NKJV)

His thoughts toward us are of peace, to give us hope for the future.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV)

His will is good, acceptable (well pleasing) and perfect – we will reign in life through this, walking as one with Him.

It does not mean there will not be hardship/persecution – there will be more but Jesus promised us that He has overcome (John 16:33).

This is why Paul, in spite of all the hardship he went through, called it a “light affliction” that lasted “but for a moment” in the light of eternity and what God has in store for us (2 Cor 4:17).

We Can (and Ought to Know) His Will

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. (NIV)

We need to live carefully.  A big part of living carefully is in understanding the Lord’s will.  Not knowing His will is considered to be foolishness.

Matthew 13:11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (NKJV)

Our Part – Be Faithful in Seeking

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (NKJV)

A big part of faith is seeking and being faithful in doing so – we need to seek Him and trust Him on His Word above our experience.

You will be Rewarded

It pleases God that we know His will

Colossians 1:9 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;  (NKJV)

Matthew 25:21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (NKJV)

We must be faithful to steward what we have been given.  The most powerful “thing” we have been given is the Holy Spirit!  If we don’t find out what is available in our New Creation to steward for the Lord, it is not being faithful!

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJV)

God rewards faithfulness and He will reward us according to the talents imbued in us.  

The Take-away

• It cost Heaven’s best to rescue us
• There are good reasons why we are saved and still here
• God has a specific will, a hope of calling, for each of us here
• We need to proactively seek to be in this will
• It starts with seeking God in His Word, to find out what we have and steward it
• This is what pleases God and He rewards it!

Bible Study: I am Intimately One with God in Christ 2

Hi Everyone

Here’s last Friday’s notes and link to audio.

As we had mentioned last Friday, do have a listen to the audio again and ponder over the gravity of this thought – that God has chosen to be with us, to be One with us for all of eternity.  Meditate on that and think about how this would impact our lives today as the Word becomes reality in our lives.

Blessings.

Chris

One with God Through Jesus Christ 

Jesus and the Father are One

John 14:8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 

The Father is like the Son.  Jesus loves us and so does the Father.  Whatever we see of Jesus, we see the Father.

10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 

Jesus operated only as He saw the Father do.  He told us in John 20:21 that as the Father sent Him, He was sending us.  We need to do what He did in seeing what the Father is doing, His will, and do likewise.

We can do this, because like Jesus, we operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.  This increasingly becomes true as we learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 

Jesus exhortation to the disciples was that we should believe in His words that He is in the Father and the Father in Him.  This is a very significant thing, which is why we need to believe this.  If we don’t believe this, then Jesus is just another man.  

Jesus said that in lieu of our lack of belief in this truth, we should believe the works that He did.  His works, the power of the things He did as a man, speaks for this fact clearly.  

We Can Do as He Did (And More!)

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. 

In a similar vein, we need to believe that the Father is today in us, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  We are His temple.  If we believe otherwise, we too shall see ourselves only as being regular humans, “mere men” (1 Cor 3:3).  We are powered by His Holy Spirit and Jesus makes it clear here that we the Church should expect to do greater things than what He did, because of this.  There was one Jesus here on earth, but when the Holy Spirit had come, everyone who believes in Jesus is enabled, a “Christ”-ian.

13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 

If we believe in Him, the works He does and the works He has enabled us to do, we can ask in His name, for the glory of the Father in the Son.

We Can Because…

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 

Those who love the Lord will keep His commandments.  We will receive the Helper, the encourager who will be our life-coach.  We need to be in the Word first, for His Words are Spirit and Truth (John 6:63) and then we are open to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that the World would have no knowledge of the Spirit, but we would for He dwells in us (post- Pentecost).

…We Are One

20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (NKJV)

We will be in a deep, intimate relationship when the Holy Spirit comes to be in us.  Those who love the Lord will keep His commandments and we will be loved by the Father and Jesus will manifest Himself to us!

Unprofitable Things

1 Corinthians 6:12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 

Not everything we do is profitable to us.  The key here is the Lordship of Jesus – we will not be brought under the power of any.

We are supposed to work in unison with the Lord, one with Him powering us

One With the Lord

14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 

We are one spirit with the Lord, not two.  God sees us in Christ as one!

We are Temples

18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (NKJV)

We were bought at a price.  What we need to realize is what has been purchased for us (1 Cor 2:12, Philemon 6, Ps 103:2).  We glorify God when we live according to what has been purchased, reigning in life (Rom 5:17) in accepting His gifts of grace and righteousness, living out our kinghood and priesthood (1 Peter 2:9).  When we deny this and revert our thinking to being “mere men” (1 Cor 3:3), we sell ourselves short of what we were purchased for.

Christ Sanctifies the Church

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

Christ loves the Church.  He gave Himself for her.  He wants to sanctify us, the Church, and He does this by washing of the water by the Word.  There will come a day when the Church will be glorious, no spot, wrinkle and without blemish.

Christ Loves the Church As…

28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 

Jesus loves us the same way a man loves his own body.  He nourishes and cherishes the Church!

We are Members of His Body

30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (NKJV)

We are all members of His body.  Christ and His Church are one.  This is the concept represented to tell us how a man and his wife ought to be.  If we don’t understand this part, it will be of little wonder if we cannot figure out this marriage thing.  

Love Shows His Presence

1 John 4:12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 

The evidence of God abiding in us is love.  This is how we can know that we abide in Him and He in us.  As we walk with Him in the Word, we become more and more like Him (2 Cor 3:18) and we manifest the fruit of the Spirit, loving those around us.

Abide in His Love

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (NKJV)

When we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, immediately God abides in us and we in God.  Experientially, it takes place when we know and believe the love that God has for us.  God’s love for us is manifested in His Word - what we don’t know, we cannot believe.  And when we know it, we must believe it for the effect of God’s love to be full in our lives.  This ties up with Eph 3:19, when we become filled with the fullness of God.

What Difference Does It Make?

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (NKJV)

The power that Paul lives from now is the life of Christ.  Christ is never defeated, depressed, sick or poor.  Christ loves unconditionally.  Paul lived his life by faith in Christ, in the Word, because he knew that Christ loved him and died for him and was worthy of his trust, his faith.  The more we know His love, the more we will trust His words and live walking by faith in them.

“Faith explores what revelation provides.”

- Bill Johnson

The Take Away

• Jesus and the Father are one – He did as He saw the Father do
• Jesus and us are one – We can do as He did (and more) because of the Holy Spirit
• Holy Spirit dwells in us – we are God’s Temple
• We are the Bride of Christ – Christ and us are one
• What difference does that make?