5. Lovely- The Greek word is prosphiles: meaning; friendly towards and always acceptable
to God with His approval which is a completed relationship that we have with God the Father that does not have to be earned
because; we know that we are righteous in His sight and know what our righteous condition is in our own sight.
With true friendship at work in a person's life; there is no condemnation and judgment going on between God and His
children. True friendship doesn't judge; it just looks out for a person so they will not get mislead and back slide from
the grace of God. I did not say back slide and go to hell after having a born again experience for that is impossible however;
if we do not stay alert we can get mislead and not let God's favor that we do not have to earn be thrown to the side causing
us to carry burdens that God never intended for us. It is us experiencing God's
grace that carries true Godly wisdom to our heart and mind which is the power that gives us a higher wisdom that most people
do not have due to them being under submission to leaders who have watered down the good news gospel to Jesus saves and we
mature in our Christian walk through personal works. It ‘s that old adage; " Get them saved and active so they
won't back slide and go to hell" in stead of getting them; saved and descipled as a true saint of God; who knows
their weapons of warfare and how to operate in their gifts under the direction of the Holy Ghost.
6. Good report-The Greek word is euphemos meaning; God making His thoughts alive and meaningful to our life.
Webster's Dictionary describes good as a person of high quality or standard in relationship to others. It also means;
some one who shows an upright and virtuous character and is obedient, well behaved and well mannered.
Depending on the culture and the ethic moral standard you were taught and brought up in; it will
determine what good values you put as a standard for your life. Mankind in his attempt to make God into his own image has
a built in value system that changes as the circumstances of life change. Without God at the helm; there is no such thing
as Godly integrity. The good news gospel of God is this and only this. We are as righteous as Jesus is because; we have Christ
living in us as he lived in Jesus and God the Father looks at us in spite of our growing pains and faults in our maturing
process as pure and perfect in His sight. If that is not the core and perfected vision you have in your life with spiritual
understanding; you are not being taught the good news gospel of Christ Jesus.
Jesus
had an encounter with a man in Mark 10:17-27 who asked and said to Him. "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" Jesus answered; why do you call me good? No one is good-except God alone. Jesus then said; do you know the commandments:
You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not
defraud, honor your father and mother.
"Teacher, he declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy. Jesus
looked at him and loved him and said; one thing you lack, Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
At this the man's face
fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for
the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" Now the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children,
how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who
is rich to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can
be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible
with God."
What we have here is Jesus as he had done many times before;
trying to communicate to His disciples that; only Christ Jesus through having a born a inexperience could cause them to stop
leaning towards their own understanding of thinking that caused them to go through personal efforts and what they consider
to be maturity is in storing up treasures on earth rather then storing them up in heaven. They were still in bondage to earth
bound thinking and didn't not know how or have any understanding of what Jesus was talking about as to them being able
to walk in heavenly place right now while in their fleshly bodies.
God doesn't
have a problem with His creation trying to prosper them self through education and entrepreneurship ideas to get wealth and
prosper. He gifted us with all the ability at birth to supply our daily needs and wants in our short dispensation of time
on this earth. He has abundantly given good gifts to his children who have not been trained of how to use them in the first
place and the majority are toiling daily because; they are living in fear of being forsaken by God and man. God is trying
to deliver us from toiling by us trusting His loving nature and understanding Him intimately and letting go and letting Him
be a true Father to us.
Our focus must be on God's main goals of our relationship
with Him and having a great hunger for his friendship and his purposes of what life is to mean to us. There is no problem
with us trying to be obedient in following the Ten Commandments however; that is only the starting point of our maturity in
God. We are to bring up our children in the admonition of the Lord by giving those commandments to obey and love them by disciplining
them through their growing pains and undisciplined nature when they violate our parental commands. We have to be a school
masters for a while until they get a inner hunger to walk with free will choices in obedience because of the pure pleasure
of experiencing God's friendship which meets the true needs of our life and gives it purposeful meaning. This is the good
news gospel of Christ Jesus.
This man that Jesus talked to started out with working
at being obedient to follow rules which was good and proper however; he never when on to discover that good was not enough
but that he had to take the next step and let the one who is good take over His life and live as a eternity person with eternity
eyes on eternity precepts and goals.
He never went on to become a mature God
love driven person because; he got side tracked into making his goals earth bound driven and these goals have nothing to do
with eternity purposes of the people God wants us to be as His children.
7. Virtue
- Webster's defines virtue as a quality that is good or admirable, but not necessarily in terms of morality. Now the Greek
word for virtue is arete: meaning; manliness in it self and it does not take place because of its associations or practiced
consequences but; it is a characteristic that belongs to Christ Jesus and it is manifested by letting Christ live again through
us.
The issue we have to deal with here is this. What some people believe to be
virtuous are unrighteous acts that are performed to bring attention to them self rather then Christ Jesus. All these qualities
that we have been talking about so far are characteristics of Christ Himself and we surrendering to God's will and; we
need to stop helping God out to save us and keep us saved.
Jesus saved us and
keeps us saved and we need to as I have said before keep the ball of life in God's courts of His forgiving grace. Morality
has nothing to do with accepted moral standards of conduct that are generally accepted as right or proper if they are not
based on God's forgiving love graced message. I pray you are hearing me well through the Holy Ghost's leading. Our
witness of righteousness is in Christ and it must not be in our endeavors to play God. It is only Jesus Christ's characteristics
of manliness operating in our life that causes true maturity.
8. Praise - The
Greek word is epainos: it means a superimposition which is a miracle operation that takes place such as a transparent image
which allows light to pass through with little or no interruption or distortion so that objects on the other side can be clearly
seen and they appear simultaneously although one may partially obscure the other. This manifestation of spiritual life and
growing miracle must be gaining manly strength in our understanding as it represents how God the Father sees us in His sight
with Christ being in us.
The day we became born again; our old nature was transformed
and we became a new creature in Christ and the more we surrender and become open to the light and love of Christ who lives
in us; the more we are able to enter into true worship in the Holy Ghost with power and not just emotional hype.
Over the years I have been in Christian assemblies where the praise and openness of the people before
God has caused divine healings of all kinds; people falling under the power of the Holy Ghost that at times you could feel
the dew of the spirit of God on your flesh and at one time as we were singing our praises to God; we heard the heavenly host
singing along with us that was recorded on tape. It's when we truly worship by allowing the Holy Ghost to worship through
us that; the many gifts of tongues and interpretation come forth to enlighten us into God's loving friendship.
It is in us seeking all these other Godly characteristics that open us up to true worship and praise
with thanksgiving. Our praise is not a formalized church assembly obligated performances but characteristics like a coat of
righteousness that we wear at all times day and night. Scripture tells us that we have slipped into a coat of righteousness
which is Christ Jesus him self.
9. Think, on these things." Now all these
things we have talked about must be made clear to our heart and mind because; we must know what to focus on in life so we
can walk as a true representative of the love that God has for us and his creation. A person who thinks and focuses on what
we have said; lets the Holy Ghost take inventory of the intents we have as the first loves of our life.
Our walk of faith is totally dependent on us walking in Christ's shadow and all around protected
hedge in a world that is rejecting it's main core values and serving false god's of there own making. Ignorance of
knowing God's forgiving grace and the reason for us having a sentient being and living on this planet has caused man to
search for meaning and love in all the wrong places and they have created gods of their peculiar liking.
I never can say it enough; "Jesus is the way the truth and the life and no man can come to God
the Father except through Him." With all the different denominational faiths, cults and sects that exist on this planet
it proves to me that; man kind is searching for a spiritual concept or leader that can fulfill an emptiness that they have
with in them self. It is man kind searching for their creator who was the one who gave them life and know wants to nurture
that life. Make no mistake the anti Christ spirit is at work even now and the physical manifestation of the anti Christ I
believe is getting ready to be seen on the public scene as the man of perdition.
Let
us remind our self that; we were called by God to be his ambassador and point all people to the cross of Christ Jesus. All
true Christian assemblies are doing this however; there are few that have not sullied the good news gospel message with the
traditions of men and false doctrine and have led God's kids to follow these man made plans of servitude and emotional
hype. I as never before seen the devil in such an emotional rage going around like a roaring lion trying to devour every thing
he can to thwart God's purposes in the land.
I have yet to figure out why
we have very few basic Holy Ghost teaching prophets of God on Christian TV programming instructing the people how the kingdom
of God is built line upon line, precept upon precept with practical application to God's children. I believe that the
majority of Christian assemblies know that; the body of Christ is in a disruptive state and divided and looking for answers
as never before. For me I spend a lot of time in the word and my mind has been trained to stay heavenly minded. Not too heavenly
minded that I want to sit in a judgment position and become some kind of Pontiff Personality.
Jesus said this in Luke 22:25-30 which I believe to be the key of being a reigning ambassador for Christ Jesus.
"A dispute arose among the disciples as to which of them was considered to be the greatest. Jesus said to them, "The
kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are
not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table?
However; I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I
confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and
sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."
Today we have born
again leaders puffing their own wares and they come across as benefactors. I have to say; "Father forgive them for they
know not what they do" A benefactor is one who offers an example of having the resources to give to another. It could
be money or Godly advice however; it is with self edification purposes in their own making.
Most of God's kids
have been taught that Jesus is a benefactor not as a man who was tested and tempted as we and knows how we truly feel when
we are pushed to the limit and despair of life itself because; this serving Jesus is not being preached with power with in
the Christian assemblies. A person who is reigning with God get's in the ditch with his brother and hears their frustration
and longing to be loved for a while like Jesus did and is still doing as we walk in heavenly places with Him in hearing our
discomfort and pain as we are maturing as he did in our daily growing pains of life.
It
was Christ who lived in Him that had the miracle working power to have Him do the works that He did on the earth which made
Him sinless. Jesus the man was not born with the cursed sin nature that we were because; Mary became pregnant with the sperm
of God through the Holy Ghost that is perfect and pure however; he went through all the temptations that we do with out sinning
not because of some special privilege but because; He was born a born again child of God with Christ in Him.
Unless we fully understand this; we have the capacity to keep Christ Jesus at a distance because;
we do not feel worthy to be a child of God the same as Jesus. Jesus was born as a saint and we also became saints as He is
because when we accepted Jesus as our savior; we received Christ into our being to live in us as He lived in Jesus the day
he came out of Mary's womb. We had to have a second birth to become a child of God causing Jesus to become our brother
who has run His race and now sits in heaven with His heavenly Father and we will be sitting with God the Father eventually
when we get raptured off the planet. You can not be in the family of God unless; you have Christ living in you. A born again
believer rules and reigns by allowing them self to become child like and letting Christ live again through them.
John the Baptist said it right when he saw Jesus come on the scene at the Jordan River when he said;
"I must decrease and he must increase in my life." It is our hunger in letting the Holy Ghost mold us as a potter
molds clay that transforms our life with the power and ability to let go and let God move through us. I pray we learn how
to be persuaded that the God we serve in obedience is a friend who wants to meet our every need and wants us to rest from
any laboring that causes us to make our Christian walk difficult. The blessing of the Lord in our reigning is in deed sweet
and there is no toiling or judgment in it. Amen.