Essence of absolute maximum fulfillment

“Do you grasp why wisdom, understanding and knowledge is really the gut issue in all of it?" reminded Jordan during a study on Mark 10.

"When two of Jesus Christ’s disciples came to Him and said, ‘We want to sit on each side of you in the kingdom,’ He answered them, ‘You guys just don’t get it; you’re thinking like a bunch of elitist Gentiles. You think government is about telling people what to do, but government is to administer my heaven. It’s to administer my business.

“ ‘It’s to take the wisdom, understanding and knowledge that I have and go out there and figure out how to apply it to ever-increasingly new situations so you don’t need to run to the index every time; you’ve got some discernment to be able to deal with it based upon understanding my will, and hence you can manifest my thinking, my mind, my life.’

"Ephesians 2:7 says, ‘That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.’ ”

*****

“Exodus 31 starts out, 1] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[2] See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
[3] And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
[4] To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
[5] And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

“Workmanship is an activity that the wisdom, understanding and knowledge allows you to accomplish. Notice this guy has been given wisdom, understanding and knowledge to be able to work in such a way as to devise cunning works.

“You look at creation, you see how God put that thing together so it could be worked to accomplish a purpose that hadn’t been faced before.

"You say, ‘Where’s the owner’s manual for this problem?!’ You go back there and it’s not in the index. ‘What am I going to do?’ He says, ‘I’ve given you wisdom, understanding and knowledge to figure out how to do my will in there because that information’s available.’

*****

“Colossians 1:9 says, ‘For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.’

 “You know what God’s purpose is with the Body of Christ? To take wisdom, understanding and knowledge out of His creation and harness it, subdue it, develop it so it manifests the wisdom God put in His creation. You and I are going to do the same thing UP there! Our reigning in the heavens isn't going to be telling some angels, 'Go do that,'  and some other angels, 'Do this because I said so.’

*****

“Romans 12:2 says, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

“There are three checkpoints in the issue of presenting your body to the Father for Him to use. In I Corinthians, Paul says [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
[20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

“Your soul is the issue of where your will is. He says glorify God in your spirit (obey God’s Word) and your body (that’s where it lives out). And it’s based on ‘the mercies of God.’

“All Romans 12 is telling you is just live in the reality of who God's already made you. He’s not telling you to do something so you can be something. He’s telling you, ‘Go be who you are.’

“He’s not saying, ‘Go make yourself these things.’ He’s saying, ‘That’s who you are so just let that be what the reality of your life is.’

*****

“You need to have your own personal convictions about your life. ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’ is the issue of taking an understanding of God’s Word and APPLYING it.

“And as you walk in the truth of God’s Word about who you are in Christ, it’s not a bunch of rules and regulations where, ‘If I do this I get there.’ It’s just, ‘This is who I am,’ and you’re transformed.

*****

“When you make the choice to ‘present your body,’ you make a choice to use your body for Him: ‘I’m going to let Him be the vehicle through which His truth lives and functions. I’m going to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.’ Fruits are the inward life and product of His righteousness.

“When you move from law (or performance-based acceptance where it’s what you do that gets you accepted and gets you blessed) to grace, it’s, ‘God’s provided it for me and I’m just going to let that be what lives and I’m going to yield to that. I’m going to present that as my thinking process.’ That’s where the transformation is; that’s where the changing is!

“Here’s why you want that. When Paul says ‘that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,’ that’s not a ‘good, better and best’ kind of a thing. Something that’s good is valuable.

“You know what you discover when you do what that verse is talking about; what the will of God is? People say, ‘Well, if I present my body a living sacrifice and tell God to just use it for His glory, I’m going to miss out on a lot.’

“No, you know what you discover the will of God is? It’s a treasure; it’s valuable. And when you treasure Him, you make choices in life because you value Him more than anything else. That’s really how you make the choices.

“What do you really choose to make the most valuable in your life? That renewed mind gives you the capacity to prove and demonstrate, to say, ‘There is the thing that is of greatest value and treasure to me!’

“The way Jesus Christ is glorified in your life is when people see what you see. When others see that you value Him more than all these other things, that will make you different from everybody else around you and it will make you different for the right reasons.

"It’s the essence of maturity. It’s the demonstration of what maturity is really all about. Absolute, complete, maximum fulfillment is when I take my life and function in a way that reflects His wisdom, knowledge and understanding.”

(new article tomorrow)