My project results – part 4 of 6

 

God gave me really good news about the kingdom of God.

 

God has delivered us out of the authority of darkness and placed us in the kingdom of his beloved Son (see Colossians 1:13)

 

I am now in the kingdom of Jesus. The kingdom of God isn’t a future event. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven - that prayer has been answered. I now live in the kingdom of Jesus on earth.

 

 

God then confirmed in several ways what he had been teaching me about the topics of life and righteousness. 

 

ITEM 1

Righteousness delivers from death. (Proverbs 11:4b INT)

Those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Proverbs 11:30a RSV)

You will not give the holy one of you to see corruption. You reveal to me paths of life. (see Acts 2:27b-28a)

 

What is the path of life? Righteousness. Jesus takes away our sins which makes us righteousness, we are without sin. We have been made holy, its the same Greek word translated saints. Righteousness is being made right. When you see you are righteous as a free gift you have found the path of life. When sin is gone, there is no penalty of death. You don’t die. As it is written, “The righteous through faith shall live.” (Romans 1:17b)

 

ITEM 2

The first man Adam is a living soul, the last Adam [Jesus] is a life-giving spirit. The first man Adam was out of earth, earthly, the last man Adam is the Lord out of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. (see 1 Corinthians 15:45,47,49)

 

After Noah’s flood God set a limit on the first Adam’s life at 120 years. (see Genesis 6:3) God won’t violate his own word. So in order for a Christian to live past 120 years we can’t still be a first Adam man out of earth. God’s solution is for us to cease to be a first Adam man. In baptism the first Adam man dies and a child of God is born. We become like Jesus.

 

We received a spirit of adoption, by which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Romans 8:15b-16)

 

I have said Gods you are, and sons of the Most High, all of you. (Psalm 82:6)

 

ITEM 3

Flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 15:50)

Except one receive birth of water and spirit he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

Stop fearing, little flock, because your Father was pleased to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

 

We get a new body in baptism so that we can now enter the kingdom of God. A child of God can enter the kingdom of God. A first Adam man out of earth can not because he has not been born from above (from heaven).

 

ITEM 4

We now bear the image of Jesus. This couldn’t happen until Jesus came in AD 33 and died on the cross. This is why the old testament saints could be made righteous but would still die. They only had a soul. They still bore the image of the first living soul Adam. Moses, for example, could only live 120 years. Old testament saints had the promise of salvation coming in the Messiah. But Jesus hasn’t come yet. Old Testament saints didn’t have baptism in Jesus name, they were not yet able to be born of spirit. (see 1 Corinthians 15)

 

The promise to Abraham was the spirit. (see Galatians 3:14) The promise to Abraham was to be changed from a man with a living soul into a child of God with a living spirit. To be changed in an instant from the glory of an Adam man to the glory of a son of God. ‘As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls.’ (1 Peter 1:9 RSV) The salvation of your soul is the gift of the spirit.

 

ITEM 5

Those of Christ crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. (see Galatians 5:24)

 

The nice thing about God is He isn’t subtle. God crucified our flesh, the source of sinful lusts and passions. God killed it, buried it, and left it in the grave. The old is gone. The new has come. We are new and we are now entirely good.

 

Jesus died and was buried so that he would bear much fruit – us. (see John 12:23-26) A seed reproduces after its kind. Jesus has a spirit and a body. So do we. You can’t be born partially. You can’t be born with a spirit and not a body. And you aren’t a mixed birth. You can’t be born with a righteous spirit put into a sin nature body. The spirit is at war with the flesh. In baptism all of you is made new. You are made righteous. You are made right. Jesus reproduces exactly like himself in both spirit and body. We are now a child of God where Jesus is the firstborn. We look like Jesus.

 

ITEM 6

God has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. We now partake of the divine nature. We have escaped from the corruption in the world. (see 2 Peter 1:3-4)

 

We are a child of God. We are born again without sin, holy, righteous, having life that lasts forever. We keep waiting for more to happen not realizing the date everything happened for us was the date of our baptism, the day we were born new. We are born a spirit and given a heavenly (spiritual) body - a body for a spirit.

 

I have a heavenly body. It is good and perfect, incorruptible and immortal. I bear the image of the man from heaven, Jesus, just as I previously bore the image of the first Adam man out of earth. I am born with this image. I don’t do anything to have it other than be born.

 

I have been born a child of God. I have a heavenly body. Thank you, God!

 

ITEM 7

my people die for lack of knowledge. (see Hosea 4:6). How does a lack of knowledge cause you to die? Jesus says the word is your judge. (see John 12:48). It is scripture which says a sinner dies, a first Adam man dies. So if you believe you are still either a sinner or a man out of the earth, you will die. You are corrupting yourself with a lie. You are lying to yourself about who you now are.

 

How does God handle this? Jesus is the word. (see John 1). Jesus always tells us the truth. Jesus is a teacher. Explaining scripture so we understand the truth is what Jesus excels at doing.

 

If you continue in my word, truly my disciples you are, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31b-32)

 

The word shows me God has set me free of sin, free of death, and free of corruption. When I believe the word, I am set free forever. The gifts of God are irrevocable, which means they are mine forever. My freedom is a gift from God. Jesus sets me free.

 

ITEM 8

The ministry of the spirit is in glory. The ministry of righteousness abounds in glory. (see 2 Corinthians 3) A lot of what we have been hoping to receive in the future – life, glory, the kingdom – is already ours in the present. We need to see it so we can have it. You can only believe what you know. We have been glorified with Jesus. God’s glory shines. That’s why Jesus says we are the light of the world. (see Matthew 5:14).

 

 

Click here to read part 4 continued