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Our Walk With God
Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author When we come into this world we are born male or female. As we grow we realize that something is not right; we are missing something. Some people start drinking; some do drugs; some get caught up in materialistic things of life to try and fill this gap. There is only one thing that will fill the gap and do it right, and that is God. I know some of you who are not of God are saying, "Right, just what I need another person telling me how to do it and how wrong I am." That is not what being of God is about. It is not about: It is not about any of these, but at the same time it is. All of the above are side effects of following God, not the main thing, not the one thing that means the most to God. You ask what is that? Your relationship with God is what it is all about. You see God created all, and when He created man He gave man dominion over all He created on the earth and over the earth itself. He did not create man to have a servant, even though we use that word in our liturgy and in the word. It is not being a servant as we think of a servant. It is more like a child to a father type, a servant as far as having responsibility for all we are in charge of doing. He did not create us for that, or to be a robot, or to play with us. As a child, Adam had all he wanted and had only one thing to avoid. Some of you may have children, but all of you should understand this next part. Would you get rid of electricity or matches just because you have children? Of course not; you would cover the outlets and put the matches up and tell the child not to touch them because it is dangerous. If they get the cover off the outlet or somehow got the matches and hurt themselves (as happens all too often) are you to blame, or are they? Neither and both. Well, God did the same with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I believe He planned to let man eat of it when man was ready to eat of it, but not before. Just like us with our children, in time we will let them have matches or plug things into the wall, but not until they are ready. So God had a problem, but it was even worse because this problem was then hereditary and the only way to correct it was someone had to pay the price for the problem. It would be like you wanting to trade places with a child who died or was injured due to the outlet or matches. That is just what God had planned. He would take all of our places so we would not have to deal with what had become inherent in each of us due to Adam's disobedience. When Adam ate of the fruit he was disobedient to God, and he was cut off spiritually from God, as were all that followed until Jesus. As you realize you have a void in you and that booze, drugs, and other things or people will not fill, you come to realize that you need Jesus. Only Jesus can fill the gap in your life. Now that you have accepted Jesus as Lord, you are saved from death, Hell, and the grave. But is that all there is, attending church, reading the Bible, and praying? Now you need to understand you are a part of the church, but not of the body of Christ yet. Why? There are two separate areas. Once you are saved you have the spirit in you and you are of the church. When you are of the body of Christ you have the spirit of God in, on, and through you. First let's see what the church is:
He did create us to be His child, as any father who fathers a baby.
Matthew 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Remember our study on Christ; Christ is a Greek word which in English means "The Anointed One" (Luke 4:18, Is 10:27) .
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Here Jesus told Peter that he did not understand nor come to know the Christ (The Anointed One) by mental knowledge, or being there with Jesus. It was revealed (a revelation) to him by God; so Peter had a revelation in his spirit.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Here is where Jesus named Simon as Peter and in Greek the word is Petros;
Strong's Number: 4074-GSN
Transliterated: Petros
Pronounced: pet'-ros
a primary word; a (piece of) rock (larger than
3037 GSN); as a name, Petrus, an apostle:
KJV--Peter, rock. Compare 2786 GSN.
Notice that it is a piece of the rock, not the whole rock itself. Jesus is the cornerstone, but the rock is revelation knowledge from God via the spirit of who Jesus is as the Christ and Son of God.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now the Greek word for rock here is petra;
Strong's Number: 4073-GSN
Transliterated: petra
Pronounced: pet'-ra
feminine of the same as 4074 GSN; a (mass of)
rock (literally or figuratively): KJV--rock.
Which as you can see is the rock.
So what is the rock (petra) Jesus is referring to? It is not Peter, because Peter is a piece of the rock. Jesus said, "upon this rock". Well, He was just talking about the revelation Peter had, so the church is built upon the revealed (revelation) knowledge from God of Jesus as the Christ and true Son of God. "Jesus" translated is "salvation". So if you are of Jesus you have salvation, and when you are of Christ you are of the Spirit of God, in, on, and through you. The Son of God refers to our inheritance of God's kingdom.
So, we are the church as far as the revealed knowledge goes, but we are not the church.
Now we realize who Jesus is as the son and as the Christ.
So let's see what Christ is:
"Christ" is a Greek word that means "The Anointed One and His Anointing". "Anointed" means having been rubbed in, on and through. Jesus told us that being anointed was having the Spirit of the Lord upon Him:
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the LORD {is} upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the good news (gospel) to {the} poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to {the} captives " I Cor. 1:24 "but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, The Anointed One and His Anointing (Christ) the power of God and the wisdom of God."Here we are told that Christ, or the Anointed One and his Anointing is the power and wisdom of God.
In Is. 10:27 (KJV) we are told that the anointing removes burdens and destroys yokes. A yoke is anything that weighs you down, like sin, sickness, debt, etc.
All through the Old Testament times the Jews were told of the coming of the Anointed, and when the Anointing came it would bring yoke destroying, burden removing power. Remember what I Cor. 1:24 says, "Christ (The Anointed) the power and wisdom of God." Who else could destroy yokes? God, of course! So the Jews were looking for the Messiah, which is Hebrew for the Anointed One. The Jews admit Jesus was a prophet and a teacher and that He did great works; they just don't admit He was the Christ (the Anointed One).
So as you spend time listening for the voice of God and to hear Him you will learn patience, which is the 4th element of the fruit of the Spirit. You should have understood God's love when you were saved and as you are waiting on the voice you should be growing in joy and peace.
I recomend highly that all who have not taken the time to hear from God directly do so, and those who are just recently saved, start now.
Is there any proof we are to even hear from God?
1 John 2
John 14
So we know we are to be taught by God, so why do we need churches teachers and pastors?
Church, as it known by the world, is where we get together to praise God, to uplift each other, share the blessings, and educate others how to hear. The teacher is to help the new born to do just that, to hear from God. The pastor is needed to look after all who are in his congregation, pray for them, and uplift them.
When you start hearing the voice of God you will start getting a full understanding of His word. You see God in His wisdom wrote the Bible where, without the Spirit, it could be interpreted many different ways. With the Spirit of God the word is understood rather than merely interpreted; this keeps our enemy in the dark unless Satan converts and is of the Spirit of God as well. So we are protected from our enemy's understanding the plan.
As we grow in God and learn we also grow in all of the fruit of the Spirit:
Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control, and until you have all of the first 8 parts of the fruit of the spirit the last will not be totally there for you; the self-control is based on all the other fruit be in your life.
The more you grow in this life the more you can help others to learn and grow.
When this life ends we all go on to the next and the next is as real as this life is to us now. Like a baby in the womb not realizing there is another life or a larger universe, so are we about the next life.
Some tips in this life:
But most of all remember to shut up and listen to Him and remember He is your Father and He loves you.
My prayer for you is:
3 John 1Remember to show faith when you pray, then praise and give thanks.
God Bless You as you hear His words and follow His leading.
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