The
underpinnings the Protestant Reformation gave to the last 500 years of Western
culture--dominating the culture of the planet for the last half of a millennium—are decimated. As Psalm 11:3 says, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can
the righteous do?” The answer is they go the way of the world just like
everybody else.
“The reality
is we have so much liberty, freedom—economically, socially, politically—that
the world can be in chaos and we can just turn on (a TV sitcom) and forget about it,” says Jordan. “Most of
the people in the world can’t do that. I’ve been in many places in the world
where when they go to bed at night, you know what momma’s worrying about? What
she’s going to feed the kids for lunch tomorrow.
“The thing God
is most concerned about for you is freedom. That’s what faith is all about. Faith
is the ability for you to have the absolute complete freedom in your inner
person to do exactly what you choose to do. Without that personal privacy, you
can’t make a free choice and God loves freedom. He loved it so much He was willing
to risk it—risk His whole plan in creation by giving you freedom.
*****
“You know
what He wants out of you? All He wants is your trust. He wants you to trust Him. He wants you to believe Him. He wants you to rely on Him.
“When God
put Adam and Eve in the Garden and said, ‘Don’t eat of that tree,’ He wanted
them just to trust Him, saying, ‘He’s got our best interest at heart and if He
says don’t do that, He’s got a good reason for it and we’re just going to trust
Him.’
“The whole
problem with Adam and Eve is they came to the place where they didn’t trust God.
Genesis 3:22 says, ‘And the LORD God said, Behold,
the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put
forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.’
“But they
didn’t know good and evil because they were TRUSTING God to know it! They no
longer trusted God’s Word about it. The problem was they weren’t trusting.
"God wants your trust, folks. He just wants you to rely on Him. That’s why Paul says, [28] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
"God wants your trust, folks. He just wants you to rely on Him. That’s why Paul says, [28] Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
*****
“Romans 16:25
says, ‘Now to him that is of power to stablish you
according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the
revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.’
“Paul’s
information is designed to
make you grow up spiritually, and if you don’t get this verse you’re never
going to grow up spiritually. You’re always going to be a little spiritual pygmy;
a spiritual baby over here on milk. You’re never going to be an adult who eats
meat, sits at the table and does work for God on an adult basis.
“He says the
‘preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.’ It’s HE
who has to be related to! You see the relationship is to Him, not just to a
bunch of doctrines, creeds, rites and thinking patterns. I’ve got a relationship
with HIM!
“Galatians
4:19 says, [19] My little children, of whom I travail in birth
again until Christ be formed in you.
What’s Paul want to live in you?
“Roman 4:16
says, [16] Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only
which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is
the father of us all,
“The
dependence is to be on who God has made you in Christ. That is your TOTAL
dependence on Him—that’s what faith is all about!
*****
“Paul warns
in Colossians 2:8, [8] Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ.
“Any system
that takes you away from just resting in Christ, he says ‘beware,’ and we’re
watching one of the great sea changes in global history. You need a foundation that’s built on truth and can
I tell you, as the world whirls around there’s nobody else ever going to show
up like Jesus Christ.
“The one
thing you’ve got that’s different from everybody else is you’ve got the ONE
PERSON who IS the truth. Truth in the Bible is not, ‘Well, I’m right and you’re
wrong.’ Truth in the Bible is reality.
“What is the
source of ultimate reality? What’s the real deal here? Paul says, ‘We look at
thing not seen because things seen are temporal.’ They’re not what’s real. The
things that are NOT seen are eternal. How do you get in touch with that? The
only way is by faith. But you have to have faith in what ultimate reality is
and that’s who Jesus Christ is.
“That’s why
it’s not a thing and a theology and something you’re doing. It’s something
outside of you—it’s in a PERSON. It’s in God HIMSELF. And when God stepped out
of heaven and took upon Himself humanity in the person of Jesus Christ . . . when
the eternal God become the God-man in the man Christ Jesus He gave you the
ability to reach out and make God tangible and get a hold of Him and He’s the
BRIDGE.
“The issue is preaching Christ,
making Him the issue. That’s why Paul says, [5]
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
*****
*****
“Paul’s favorite subject was the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Word in the Bible is called edification. It’s building up that doctrine in your understanding
that really is the mind of Christ. If you want to know somebody, you really
need to know their mind, don’t you?”
“You know,
you can’t look at somebody and tell what they’re thinking. I know you think you
can but you really can’t. Until a person speaks their mind, you don’t know
their mind. You have the mind of Christ. If you’re going to know a person,
that’s how you know him/her.
“I
Corinthians 2:15-16 says, [15] But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself
is judged of no man.
[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
[16] For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
“How do you have the mind of Christ?
It’s in His Word. Paul says it is ‘God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure.’ How does He work in you to will and do His good pleasure?
By having ‘Christ be formed in you.’ ”
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