Saturday, 24. September 2011 8:09
You are all prayed up for this Saturday. To read more of John’s words type his name “John Kloos” in the search bar. He is a mighty man of God.
Neal
Crucifixion and Resurrection
1 Corinthians 2 1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.
Paul writes this to us after his failure in Athens to establish the Church in Greece. In Athens, Paul used knowledge and his own intellect to sway the people into the Kingdom through the knowledge of man. He walked into the amphitheater and spoke about the god who was labeled by the Greeks as the “unknown” God. He then delivered a word that in affect was a powerless gospel. No miracles, no signs, no wonders, no Holy Spirit. Just another speech designed to tickle the ears of our intellect.
Have you ever witnessed a powerless gospel preached? Have you ever seen a time where signs, wonders, or miracles were not present? Have you ever been to a meeting or gathering or a church time where the Holy Spirit didn’t show up in manifest presence. Have you forever been changed by being at such a meeting? Did Jesus ever go to one of those meetings and not change the environment of such a meeting? You would be in good company with the Greeks of that day who were unmoved by the discussion with Paul. They heard but did not understand. The seed was given to them but it fell to the ground without soil for it to grow.
Paul gives us the remedy for such meetings and gatherings after his failure in Greece. Its listed in the verse above. Holy Spirit hides a verse for our day to discover in all its glory, as it was for Paul’s day that brings us into the most powerful encounter with God we can ever know through His crucifixion and resurrection. The word of God calls us Sons and Daughters with the authority to shake the world with the simplicity of Christ and Him crucified. Have you ever been referred to as a “sheep”? The bible refers to us as sheep sometimes but it was not a label of distinction, it was a label of our condition that the Lord wants to change. Has the Church ever referred to you as sheep or laypeople? Through the eyes of Christ who sits on the throne forever, He sees you now as His sons and daughters coheirs with Christ to rule and reign with Him forever. I see no sheep language in reference to who you really are beloved of God.
In Christ when we go through His death and His resurrection with Him we gain access to all that He is where every blessing that He procured for us at Calvary and was consummated at the resurrection becomes ours in Him. Christ and Him crucified activates in us His life where everything becomes possible because of what He has already done. Communion brings us into this reality and connects us with Him when we understand the depth of what has taken place. Have you ever wondered why we have reduced this event to a religious practice of sipping some grape juice and eating a small cracker? We perish for a lack of knowledge of intimacy with our Father who gave us His only anointed blessed Son.
What is it today the you are going through where you need a encounter with God an invasion of His reality into yours? Is it in finances, healing, relationships? Do you need peace freedom from fear and anxiety? Do you want to know without doubt how loved you really are? Do you need direction from the Creator who formed you? Do you really know the joy of His forgiveness and what it really is like to know that He sees you as Holy because He is holy?
This is a reality to be experienced as the written word (scripture) has declared who God is as He relates to us in His covenant names given to us and full filled in Christ through the crucifixion and resurrection. By faith we enter into His covenant names for us and experience His victory in our own lives. Good news! He is and Jesus declared Himself to be: Jehovah-Jireh (provider), Jehovah-Nissi (our banner and purpose), Jehovah Shammah (the present one), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (our righteousness), Jehovah-Shalom (our peace), Jehovah-Rapha (our healer) and Jehovah-Rohi (the one who Shepard’s us and watches over us).
There are victories awaiting you in the Kingdom of God. He is already victorious, it is finished. We are called into the life of Christ through His crucifixion and resurrection and we get all the benefits now of what He has done. Will you step into His death and His resurrection? Will you believe Him now and have life to the fullest now? We have known to many defeats as the people of God and to little of His victories. We meet to know Him and step into His victories and overcome with the testimony of Him who lives in us. You are loved passionately by Him which is why we are to be known by our love.
You are invited to encounter Him with us to learn to step into this gospel which is the power of God where there is no shame. By resolve, we will learn to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified and resurrected.
Blessings,
John Kloos
