6-11-2017 The Power of the Cross
The power of
the cross is supported by four pillars of belief. Upon looking at these four pillars, I suspect
someone is saying “OK, but where is faith?”
Okay, I’ll mention faith because nothing in Christianity works without
faith. These four pillars are rooted in
faith for without faith, none of them will work – or even matter. For it is by faith in Jesus that we obtain
the grace of God (Rom. 5:1-2) So It is impossible to please God without
faith (Heb. 11:6). So, if you will, faith is not a pillar, but
the very foundation in which these pillars are set.
By faith, we
believe that the bible is the inspired Word of God (1 Tim. 3:16) profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and
instruction in righteousness. We believe
that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence (proof) of
things not seen (Heb. 1:1). Through faith we believe that the worlds were
framed (made, created) by God and He made everything that is out of (from) that
which cannot be seen (Heb. 1:3, Gen. 1:2).
We cannot
‘see’ faith, but we can see the results of what faith brings, so faith is the
very foundation of these pillars and the pillars become the expression of our
faith.
Pillar #1
In the
beginning God … (Gen. 1:1). By faith we accept the fact that God always
is, always was and always shall be (Rev.
1:8). If we ‘can’t’ believe that God
is and can and will do all that He says He can and will, why do we even bother
with Him? Now, I put can’t in quotes because can’t really
doesn’t exist. Even we can do anything
to which we put our mind (Gen. 11:6). We may not be able to do it as well as some. Maybe not even as effectively as others, but
we can do it. So ‘can’t’ really means ‘won’t’, for whatever the reason (fear,
doubt, intimidation, etc.). We can do
what we put our minds to because God can do and will do all that He says (Num. 23:19, Rom. 4:21) and we are made
in His image (Gen. 1:26). So I can do all things through Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:13). And of course, if we don’t believe that God
can do what He says, in what does our hope of salvation truly lie?
We believe
that God loves us enough, that even though Adam and Eve messed up (Gen. 3:1-24) and ‘booted’ them out of
Eden and though He wouldn’t allow “sinners” to enjoy eternal life, He did
provide a way to come back into His grace and love (1 John 2:1-2).
God, the
Father, is the husbandman who takes care of the vine (John 15:1-8). The vine is
God the Son, Jesus and we, the believers, are the branches in that vine
producing righteous fruit as we live our lives according to God’s love. (Don’t stop reading at verse ‘8’). And as the husbandman, God, the Father, is
the base of our cross, the support system for all things. For even the Son has only done what He has
seen of the Father (John 5:19-20).
Pillar #2
In the
beginning was the Word (John 1:1)
and the Word was ‘with’ God and the Word ‘was’ God. The Greek transliteration (Greek spelled with
English Characters) is “En archē ēn ho Lógos, kaì ho Lógos ēn pròs tòn Theón,
kaì Theòs ēn ho Lógos.” With the
translation as “In beginning was the Word, and the Word was with the God, and
God was the Word.”
As we read
John Chapter one, we see that the Word was the Light of men and the light was
made flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). John (the Baptist) identifies Jesus as this
light when he says “Behold, the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the
world (John 1:29).
So we see
that Jesus, is the Son and the Word and He is one with the Father (John 1:1) and if this isn’t enough
Jesus states in His prayer, in part) “Neither do I pray for these alone (the
disciples), but for all who should believe on Me through their word, that they
may be one, as You Father are in me and
I in you, that they may be one with us. (John 17:20-21)”.
Father and
Son are one AND the Son (Jesus) is praying that we all may be one with Father
and Son. But then, our part is part of
Pillar #4.
Not only do
we believe that Jesus is God (the Father) come in the flesh, but that He indeed
died for us on the cross, cleansing us from our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Things of the law are purged by blood and
without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22, Matt. 26:28)
So, we know
that if we confess Jesus with our mouth and believe within our hearts that God
raised Him (Jesus) from the dead, we shall be saved (Romans 10:9). But we also know
that we need to confess our sins before God (John 1:9) and repent our transgressions against God that those sins
might be blotted out (Acts 3:19). After which, God will put those sins behind
His back, out of sight (Isaiah 38:17).
Jesus is the
Word of God and the Father and Son are one.
We know that Jesus Shed His blood on the cross (Col. 1:20) reconciling us to the Father so we know that He is the
“only” way to the Father. We know that
He prayed for us so we (all true believers) could be one with Him and the
Father, here in this world and forever.
He prayed that the Father would keep us from evil (John 17:15). He will come
back for He is preparing place for us (John
14:2-3)
Not only is
Jesus the Word of God, ergo our Savior, but He is also the power and authority
of God. Father gave the Son power over
all flesh (John17:1-2) to be
authority and judge (John5:22-27, Acts
10:38-42)
So salvation
cannot be obtained through anyone else but Jesus (Acts 4:10-12) because He is the way, the truth and the life,
therefore no man comes to the Father but by Him (John 14:6)
Pillar #3
But you
shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you (Acts 1:8). This is ‘active’
power, not passive. The power not just
to believe, but to ‘do’.
How many of
us have a power generator as a supplementary power source for our homes for
when power goes out? The Holy Ghost, or
more specifically, the Baptism, or infilling, of the Holy Ghost is a renewable
source of power for us to live this life (in this world) and to walk in God’s
love.
I rent so I
don’t own a generator, but those who have power generators have done so as
protection against power outages, so their homes can still function with power
when others may be basking in the darkness.
They set it up, connect it to their electrical system and fuel the tank
up. Then it (the generator) waits for a
power emergency. When we receive Jesus
into our lives, the Holy Ghost becomes our spiritual generator and is hooked up
to our power system, our heart, our spirit and waits for us to activate
Him. But all too often, that’s where He
sits. waiting for us to call. He’s (the
HG) there, He’s available and He’s waiting for us to call upon Him. Too many of us may tap into this power source
only in ‘dire’ emergency, nowhere else to turn.
We call upon Him when nothing else works. Some of us have realized that He’s there to
help and guide us and are taking advantage of His presence (PTL) on a regular
basis. And to take advantage of His
presence, we do have to push the “on” button, don’t we? And that’s what too many people don’t do.
Pushing that
on button is ‘activating’ the Holy Ghost, yielding our lives over to Him so He
is free to operate. Remember, He is a
gentleman and will not force Himself upon us.
We have to ask for His help, then yield to His direction. Give Him the ‘reins’ of our lives.
Once we’ve
pushed that on button to tap into His power, He fills us with His presence (the
baptism or infilling) and the initial evidence of this is the heavenly language
Father gives us. WE can experience a
degree power without the infilling of the Holy Ghost, for He does take up
residence in us with our profession of faith.
But to get full charge, we need to be totally filled. Now, as with the
generator, we access this power, we become drained the fuel tank will need
refilling. Remember the five foolish
virgins (Matt. 25:1-12).
So how do we
refuel our tank? 1) Read the bible so we
can discover who God is, how He operates and the relationship He wants with us. How can we now His will if we know nothing
about Him? (2 We pray, communication
with our Lord. Communication is a
two-way street so not only do we set forth our concerns, requests and issues,
but THEN we ‘zip the lip’ (quit talking) and listen to see what God has to
say. Because the Holy Ghost is inside
(us), God answers us through our hearts, but as a friend of mine says , He may
take us to the scriptures when we don’t hear his voice so clearly. He will take us to the appropriate scripture
for a given situation when we ask. 3) He
may answer through other Christians. Nothing
wrong with taking the advice of others as long as that advice is consistent
with scripture. 4) Or through the
situations which we encounter. Something
will suddenly ‘click’ and we realize that the answer is right in front of our
nose, in plain sight and again, it will be consistent with scripture. Not necessarily book, chapter and verse, but
in concept. And 5) Praying always in the
Spirit (Eph. 5:18), that’s using the
spiritual language Father has given us. No matter how He answers our prayers, the
answer will always be in agreement, consistent with scripture.
Praying ‘in the Spirit’ give us a ‘hotline’
to Jesus. Like the phone that was in the
White House, a direct connect from Washington to Moscow. The president could pick up the phone and
talk directly with (then) Russia’s premier.
No in-between overseas operators.
Our Spiritual language gives us that direct connect because our spirit
is speaking directly to God via the Holy Ghost who understand the deep
mysteries of God (1 Corinth. 2:10)
and knows how to pray, when we don’t (Rom.
8:26).
When our
tank is full, we empty it out by sharing with others what Father has shared
with us (like this blog). And when we
feel our ‘spiritual’ tank running low, we fill it back up moving with the
confidence that we can accomplish whatever it is that Father has given us to
do.
We yield,
listen then follow what the Holy Ghost tells because He is our source of power!
He helps us to communicate more
perfectly with the Father and He gives us the power to not only do things as we
live this life, but to magnify and glorify His Name (pillar #4).
And remember
when The Spirit I alive and well within our hearts, we won’t call Jesus
accursed, nor can we confess Jesus without the Holy Spirit motivating us (1 Corinth. 12:3)
Pillar #4
We worship
God in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24),
for otherwise it is impossible to please God.
When we are not honest and sincere with our praise and worship,
our efforts fall upon God’s deaf ears for He sees them as Cain’s offering (Gen. 4:3-5, Jude 11, Heb. 11:4,). Our praise and worship should not be an afterthought
or something through which we ‘think’ we may gain more favor (personal
gain). We come and worship our heavenly
Father because we truly want to give back to Him for the goodness and grace He
has shed upon our lives. We should do it
simply because we want to please Him.
There are no other Gods beside Him (Isaiah
45:5), so He desires us to worship Him with all our energies (Luke 10:27). He tells us to have no other gods before Him
(Exod. 20:3) and He will provide all
that we need (Matt. 6:25-26).
My first
girlfriend came in High School. She took
a shine to me (even today, I still don’t understand why), but she did. One of her ‘classes’ was working in the
school’s office, so she had access to information on all students. She ‘checked me out’. That is she gathered all the information
about me that she could find in the school records. She may have even talked with some of my
friends. Now, understand, I was always
afraid of being turned down, so I did not take those chances in asking for dates
back in those days. So she did what she
needed to do. She asked me to a school
dance. She pursued me. I was pretty ‘dense’ back in those days (some
may argue any change since then) and where I should have been flattered ‘out of
my gourd, I just took it in stride and said “OK.” Back then and through much of my life, I’ve
always taken whatever befell me in stride.
The point of
sharing this is that she pursued me and this is an inkling as to how we should
pursue God. Learn all that’s available
about Him so we can please Him and trust me, God will not receive our affection
for Him as flippantly as I did hers. And
He will surely bless us for our efforts (1
Tim. 6:17).
I love
Psalms 150. The Psalm tells us to praise
God with everything that we have available to us (horns, stringed instruments,
tambourines, organs, etc.) and with all our energy and strength (dance, very
breath- song). With all that we are,
giving Him our best (Luke 10:25-28). And when we do it from our heart, the stage
is set for a lot of good things to come our way (from Father).
Praise and
worshipping Father includes living for Him.
As Jesus tells us to be one with Him and the Father (John 17:21). Being one with Him and pursuing Him with all
that we are means being obedient to His word and will. Of course, we have to seek what that is and
that’s why we read the bible. When we
love Jesus, we will keep His commandments (John
14:15) and by keeping His commandments, Father and Son (the Holy Ghost is
already inside, so the godhead) will abide with us (John 15:23).
In Summary
So we need
to search Him out and discover those things which please Him in order to truly
worship Him. Then do so, with all that
have and are.
So we have
four pillars, Father, Son, Holy Ghost and praise & worship and what holds
all this together is the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7) which cleanses us inside
and out so we can have a
relationship with God – Father, Son and Holy
Ghost.
God, the
Father, is our basis for all that is.
Father gave
His life (through the Son) so we could obtain fellowship with Him, paving the
way for the four pillars to be put into action with the blood being the interconnecting factor. For God (the Father) so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus) that whosoever believes on Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life (John
3:16). Had Jesus not shed His blood
on the cross, we would still be living by our actions only and not by
faith. How could we truly please
Father? The blood
brings meaning to our faith.
Jesus also promises
us the Holy ghost who will give us power (Acts
1:8) and be in us (John 14:16-17). We remember that when God created all things,
He brought them out of nothing into existence by speaking words. Then the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God
carried those words into action as He moved upon the face of the waters. The Hebrew word here is ruwach (Strong’s 7307) which means breath or wind. The Greek eqjuivalent is pneuma (Strong’s
4151) which means breath or wind. So,
the breath of God carries His Word into action.
So with the
Father and Son living in us, within our hearts, we also gain an extra dimension
in praise and worship for we don’t always know how to pray so the Spirit
intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (we don’t know how to
speak it) (Rom. 8:26-27). In this way, we are able to praise God with
our whole being. In case you missed it
(note the *) that trickle of red is the blood of
Jesus.
And we show
our love for God by praising His Name and worshipping Him for all that He does,
has done and will do for us. And we
offer that praise up with all our energy.
So, there
are four pillars of the cross which establish a relationship with the Father,
through the Son because the Holy Ghost is alive and well within our
hearts. Because of this, we give God all
our adoration, praise and worship, thereby solidifying our relationship with
Him. And it’s all made possible through
the blood of Jesus.
Amen
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