[3] And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent."
“Eternal
life is not just living forever; it’s to KNOW the Father," explains Jordan. "It’s about the intimacy
(in-to-me-see?!) of your relationship where you share His life. You’re to have a capacity for His character, His wisdom, His
understanding, His knowledge. Where all that God is free to do for you through
Jesus Christ is manifest in you.
“That’s the ministry NOW and you’ll have that
capacity of what you know for the reigning with Him. So your hope of glory out
there is Christ in you NOW! See why He wants you to know the riches of the
glory?!
*****
“Paul
said, ‘I want this stuff to get a grip on you that God would grant you the
spirit of wisdom, revelation and knowledge of Him.' He writes in Romans 6:22-23, ‘But now being made free from sin, and
become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life.
[23] For the wages of sin
is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
“That verse bothers people because
they say, ‘Well, I don’t get eternal life until the end?!’ That’s because you
think of eternal life as dying and going to heaven and living with God in
heaven forever. There’s not a verse in the Bible that defines eternal life that
way!
“Eternal life isn’t going to
heaven and kicking up gold dust. In the end, the gold of it is that you know
the Father in a personal, everlasting way.
“It’s coming to more fully
understand day-by-day what the Father’s plan is, what the Father’s will is, why
did He create the universe, what is His purpose behind it, what is His goal,
why did He put man in the earth, why did He form the Body of Christ.
“You don’t just understand it, you
say, ‘Woo-hoo, I got it! I got the picture! I LIKE it! I think I’ll just join
in and do this! I’ll let the zeal of the Lord of host--the thing that thrills
Him thrill me!
“It’s your faith resting in the
truth of God’s Word, and when your faith rests in God’s grace, who God has made
you in Christ, it will bring forth fruit unto God, righteousness unto holiness.
“Holiness is talking about your
character. Talking about who you are. You’re someone who is set apart for the
purpose for which God created you. That’s what the word ‘holy’ means. His
character begins to express itself through you and the end is eternal life.
*****
“Look at Jeremiah 9. I try to
drill this home to our folks in Chicago all the time. The passage reads, ‘Thus
saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the
mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
[24] But let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:
for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.’
“Glory in the fact that you
understand the Lord and that you have an intimate personal knowledge of Him.
You understand what He’s about, what and how He thinks and reacts and what He’s
planning. You understand to the point it brings forth fruit in your life. If
you’re going to rejoice in something, rejoice in that!
“That thing about ‘exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things
I delight’—the key to knowing the Lord, and to knowing God, is to understand
what He delights in! What is it that thrills His heart? What He’s doing in His
Son! If you ask the Father, ‘What is it that thrills you?’ He’ll say, ‘There He
is at my right hand.’
“Psalm 40:7-8 is quoted in Hebrews
10 as being a reference to Jesus Christ, but I want you to see how it's said in Psalms: ‘Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it
is written of me,
[8] I delight to do thy
will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.’
“When the Lord Jesus Christ came,
He said to the Father, ‘I know what you delight in, Father, and you know what, that thrills my
heart, too, and I’m ALL IN for what you delight in!’
“Paul says, ‘Let that mind be in
you which was in Christ Jesus.’ He gives you the privilege of thoroughly,
completely understanding what the Father’s thinking is; what thrills His heart.
“He says, ‘Come on and delight in
that, too. You come delight in it!’ Get as thrilled about it as He is. In the
Bible, that’s called ‘God likeness, godliness.’ Godliness isn’t just doing what
God does; it’s DELIGHTING in it, buying into it. It’s being all into it like He
is.”
(new article tomorrow)
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