MP3 Teaching Download
By Jeremy Lopez
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Everything in the universe began with God and it continues only through Christ."God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:1-3).
Last time I emphasized that 'we' are not the indispensable component for understanding what exists, how it is to be understood, or for what should take place. The Creator and Sustainer of all is where life originates and the only place absolute truth can ever be found. This means that if we truly are a believer in Christ, He is forever our "truth" (John 14:6). To truthfully represent Him, we must always begin with God in the Spirit, living with Him according to His design (John 4:23-24). This is the plan of the Lord for coming into His eternal purpose, to take hold of His call upon us, and to see all we are and do merge into His destiny for the Church (Philippians 3:11; Ephesians 3:11-12).
Such has always been God's plan. And in the New Covenant, we move from foretelling 'what is yet to be' through types and shadows, becoming restored into that capability by the presence of the indwelling Christ. Jesus said: "Apart from me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Therefore, "Christ in you" is "the hope of glory" (Colossian 1:27).
God Wants to Do a Great Work
Remember as you read: we are addressing the issues as first the Body of Christ, then as the individuals whom God does not separate from that Body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27). That in mind, we long for God to do a great work. And God longs to move by His Spirit- to go far beyond that which any of us have ever seen. But, there is a very real lack of true spiritual understanding of what it means to live by the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:25; Romans 8:14). This prevents most from actually relating to the Word which says:
"The thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1Corinthians 2:11b-14).
By working 'for' God through human, religious, albeit 'biblical' efforts, the "thoughts of God" today go by and large unreceived. Instead, trends from culture and/or highly visible ministries and marketing are by and large what become adapted by the church at large. And with individuals? Most often there seems to be no disconnect whatsoever between the world's wisdom and Christian understandings. We need to face the truth: by emulating and pursuing whatever is around us we downgrade Christ and the church. Instead of elevating God by our quality of life and example, we only imitate the world, entering the church into a competition for legitimacy (as an alternative).
By mirroring the created order, we fail to receive the power of The One who created all, who "upholds all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1:3). Today, throughout the Christian landscape, whatever can be held as that mindset and accomplished by such efforts is seen as authentic, worthy of approval and even the standard of what is to be sought for moving forward.
Such efforts to vie for standing in various arenas for the sake of attention and influence easily pass muster of what it means to be appropriate, admirable and even thrust to the fore as an example - all without being discerned by the majority of God's people.
What so very often goes almost totally undetected is that this type of 'increase' infuses the souls of people and ministries with a bifurcation, a mixture of flesh and Spirit, an impurity that encodes the church with a spirit of compromise which promotes a posture of always looking for ways to accept and endorse what God makes clear that He rejects and is to be judged. Then, having become accepted and promoted as being from God, this 'spirit' and attitude is transferred to whoever accepts and aligns with it. Finally, the degree of its overall visibility and cultural interface (worldly approval) sets the precedent for measuring its effectiveness, becoming the newest 'way' for engaging the future, for accomplishing the work of God.
Again, we all long for God to do a great work. Whether it be in the church, in our personal lives or both: we all want (& truly need) a great move of God. But when His Spirit within us is overshadowed and/or rejected in favor of our own understanding, 'the work' before us takes precedent over The One within us (John 6:28-29; Colossians 1:27). When God's direction is not sought due to perceptions of either 'the need' among us or the opportunity around us, the Call is not coming "first" from the Lord (Matthew 6:33; 1 Corinthians 12:28). But such is the fertile breeding ground for the schizophrenia so prevalent among us, manifesting its own type of 'miracle growth,' enticing those who are without discernment (& also often focusing on those who are truly desperate).
Divinely Supernatural Works
God does want to do works that are divinely supernatural: miraculous in ways almost none have ever witnessed, acts that precious few have ever been utilized to see Him perform. But for the Lord to be freed to do these, we need to be changed into vessels He can be at home in and flow through, each allowing Him to transform them. This must happen at both the "body" and "members" level (1Corinthians 12:27). To do so, we must truly become a people of the Spirit. And to do that, each one must become grounded in the roots of salvation, not just preoccupied with the fruits of blessing and increase.
God wants to mature us into "trees planted by the streams of water," one with Him. The Lord wants to develop our fruitfulness in Him, becoming those "which yield its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers" (Psalm 1:3). This degree of rooting in God requires us - at both the Body and individual levels - to become nourished by His supply through the soil, moisture, sun and refreshing rain of the place where He plants us. It can only come by seeking Him singularly in greater commitment to 'staying put' in His revealed will and by responding fully, making a complete submission to the realm of His reign (Romans 14:17-18). But instead, so very many cannot even relate to what was just expressed; many do not even perceive the degree to which we are first "the body of Christ," then we are "members in particular" (1Corinthians 12:27). Therefore, the place of His planting goes either undesired and unsought for, un-discerned, or unappreciated and fought against while in the midst of it.
As a result, even those endowed with Christ's mantle of leadership are looking for that which is disconnected from their place of planting in the Lord and His body, 'buying' what others are 'selling' which falsely teaches there is an easier way, a less difficult path, a method, technique or formula . . . a shortcut. These others are 'selling' their 'wares' to the church at large, transferring their own diseased root of personal obsession with the fruits of salvation, exampling and endorsing it to others as the way to go and the way to grow. By "blowing" these "winds of doctrine" into those with 'felt needs,' they find (& are found by) those yet to be transformed by the Spirit through the renewing of their minds. They give each other continued reason to remain disconnected, rootless, or continually unsettled in the place of His planting (Ephesians 4:14; Romans 12:2).
God Releases His Results When We Honor Him & His Processes
Blessing and increase are to be among the results of obedience, but are not to be the goals for it. The goal - "the race" - is for nothing less than the glory of God (1Corinthians 9:24). "The joy set before" us is to be no different than Christ's very own, that of fulfilling the call of the Father (Hebrews 12:2).
The time for languishing at the impasse of uncertainty and fleshly wandering about is far past being over. You must move now. If you do not move fully toward Christ for His sake; if you do not become a person who seeks the kingdom "first"- meaning His presence for His glory and His will for His purposes- matters will be taken out of your hands (Matthew 6:33). This is because all are about to see what has passed to this point as 'fruit' begin rotting before their eyes, no longer able to produce the seeming - yet temporary - success that required the continual toil and tinkering of new gadgets and gizmos to make it appear alive.
Such 'increases' are already under "judgment" and in the midst of coming down (1Peter 4:17). In this hour, that which was allowed to remain as scaffolding will falter under the weight of the shaking beneath it with an alarming frequency and greater feel of gravity. Why? These cannot stand up to 'world, flesh and devil' weather (see 1 John 2:16; Matthew 7:24-27). Why not? They were neither called for, birthed, nor do they live by God's creative, sustaining power. Instead, these arose and continue built only on the false foundations of imagination and the strength of human, religious - even 'biblical'- justifications and effort. Such 'increases' will now be exposed with an increasing intensity and greater consequence. As a result, many will cry out for their own hearts, in their homes and for theirs and others organizations as Abraham once did: "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" (Genesis 17:18). To no avail.
You see: God is not cruel. He would not sentence you to achieve by your own wisdom; neither would He require you to work by your own strength. Instead, He just requires that you receive faith and the power that comes from receiving it to obey Him (Isaiah 1:18-19; Romans 1:5; Hebrews 11:1-6). The Lord promises to reward you moving by the faith and power He supplies with greater results than anything you could ever do 'for' Him (Ezekiel 2:1). The Lord Himself promises to honor true faith and obedience with a greater significance than anything you could ever even imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21). The Lord says that He will personally put into an ongoing order divine releases which will live by His eternal power- if you seek Him "first" and value His Spirit's leading and wisdom, not your own desire and understanding (Isaiah 55:6-13). Yes, the Lord says if you will receive from Him, He will put processes of His power and purpose at work which outlast you, remaining in place long after you can no longer be found (John 12:24; 15:8; 15:16).
How Do We Get There from Here?
You must stop attempting to draw God into what He is isn't doing by insisting He be concerned about what you desire and what you are doing in the natural apart from Him - using the Bible as your justification for it. But to repent, you must first discern by His revelation, you must first receive the magnitude of degree which your heart has not been "conformed to the image of the Son" (Romans 8:29). You must face the extent to which you continue to negate Christ's work of building you in the Spirit, instead preferring your own ways and works. You must repent of taking the Lord's Name in vain - your attempts to use God's presence and power for your own carnal purposes instead of His glory (regardless of how justified & acceptable to others they may seem).
You must face a stark reality: your desire for what you perceive to be the fruits of salvation in blessing and increase without the roots of absolute surrender and dependence on God are preventing the forward motion you so sincerely claim to truly desire. That you are preventing what God wants- both through the church and in your own life that He freely gave you.
That's how to begin.
Bill Click
