Revelation of Christ Vs Assimilation of Christian-eze

Revelation= vision, truth, knowledge from God

Simple Assimilation=copies, competes, likes the center of attention, the applause of men

Isaiah 58 Ministries                                            

Have you really had a revelation of Christ or are you simply mimicking the Christians you see around you?                                

 Fathers Day, June 2014

Pastor: Leah Svensson








Scriptures: Matthew 16:13-17, James 3:10-13, Matthew 15:15-20, Hebrews 12:1, Matthew 6:5, John 7:38, 1 John 2:20-29, Isaiah 2:2-4, Micah 4:1-5, Joel 3:1-12

 

   The other day Michelle and I were talking. It is often the case, that one of us will have an “aha” moment. I love these. It’s like when Jesus said to Peter when he asked him “who do you say I am?”  Peter gets the answer right with Jesus saying that no one could have shown this to him but only God Almighty!

^{Matthew 16:13} Now when Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is?¹⁴ And they answered, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.¹⁵ He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am?¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.¹⁷ Then Jesus answered him, Blessed  are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven.

     

So, what was this recent aha moment? Well, we were talking about someone who is heavily involved with church and seems to be super spiritual and do many of the perceived “right Christian things,” but when it comes to the hard commitments, they don’t want to make them. They still do many of the old things they used to do before they came to know Christ.  

^{James 3: 10} Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.¹¹ Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?¹² Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.¹³ Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the [unobtrusive] humility [which is the proper attribute] of true wisdom.

                                  Sermon

                    Revelation Vs Assimilation

   

 

Learning to cook, Teen Challenge young men

 Recently, I have  been blessed beyond measure to witness some of the most amazing spiritual births and awakenings in the lives of the young men at Teen Challenge. God brought Justin into our lives and day by day I hear the world saying “he’ll go back, he’s gonna to have a hard time, be prepared for him to fail and start using again…” even some of the guys at TC have seemingly good Christians telling them they will never be anything but an addict. Well, these Christians most likely don’t smoke, aren't addicted to alcohol, and hold down a "decent job". In today’s day and age, these things qualify peopel for "sainthood", "righteous", "not a sinner" and give them the "false moral standing" to "lord", (make others do things), over those who are weak around them and struggle. If you are on food stamps, if you  live with your parents, if you smoke cigarettes, automatically you are put into "a human sub class" of people where your thoughts and ideas, or God forbid, spiritual maturity are questioned.

"Good Christain"

However, if we were to open up these seemingly “good Christians,” we might actually find that they have never received a "true revelation of Christ", they are not "saints", but "sinners" because  they are merely "assimilating" the right words, not actions from watching those around them. They can “walk the walk and talk the Christian talk,” but on the inside they are hollow. They can raise their hands during praise and worship and have all the newest Christian music on their ipod. These are people who can quote books and authors and go to all the Bible studies, but when pressed, have no real "revelation of Christ". They might have grown up in Church so they know how to “act Christian,” but in their rooms at night, they turn on the porn. Their conversation might be filled with off color jokes and dirty swear words. Their outsides have changed but their insides are dirtier than a pig in slop.

church potlock

Justin met some of these people at a church he visited. He sat with a group of “Christians” and he said they were kind and friendly and asked about him and what he did for a living. He told them how God had come into his life and changed it and how he was excited for his future but when he told them he had just given up heroine by the power of God, some of them just shut down. They said that he would never be able to live a happy life and would always be bound to the desire to use. Whoa, hold your horses!!! Talk about people who don’t know who Jesus is!! They didn’t even say “you can only do it with Christ.” No, they told Justin he could  never be free from heroin.

Jesus warned us of such people

^{Matthew  7: 15} “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

     

Justin

Justin has had a revelation of Christ. He comes up with stuff that “flesh and blood” could not reveal to him. The Holy Spirit makes us so much smarter, that’s for sure!!  One time he was asked by a leader to pray for a friend of hers who did not know Christ. Justin wrote down this prayer he prayed:

 " I pray that the Spirit would reveal to him the truth of the Lord and that he would be redeemed with Salvation for the Kingdom of eternal life and be shown somehow, someway that Jesus is the only means to that access to God…"

   Wow!!! Jesus is the only access to God! Flesh and blood did not reveal this kind of prayer to him, but the Spirit of God.

Baptism revealed by God to Justin, Jimmy, Kansas

   When we truly come to Christ, it’s not just our outward actions that should change, but our very thoughts, words, and conversation changes. We no longer think in terms of this world or this world’s goods. Time has an eternal meaning and we know that every thought, every action, has eternal blessing or consequences attached to it so we change accordingly.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

The Lord showed me that some people "assimilate" Christian actions but have not had the revelation of Christ themselves.

     

     When you have a revelation of Christ yourself, God and the Word just start pouring out of you. Sometimes the Church we attend wants us to focus more on assimilating what "they perceive to be Christian actions" but they do not encourage us to have a revelation of Christ for ourselves.

   

Leah & Jimmy

      I know another young man of God named Jimmy who, when he gave his life over Christ, he got in the Word like all...the...time...and he knew this would lead him to Jesus and then to the Father. This was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. The Church or instructors could tell someone what to do it but until the revelation came straight from God, it will not make nearly the changes in you that reading and comprehending the Word with the revelation of God will do for you and everyone around you.

Turn around and go the other direction

When someone has had a genuine revelations from God about who Christ really is, everything changes. They may make mistakes, but deep inside, they are 180 degrees different.

    God wants us to have a revelation of who he is and not just produce actions based on the assimilation of Christian etiquette we see around us. This is what forces most people outside the Church to call  Christians hypocrites. Most people don’t set out to act hypocritical, they just go along with what others in their church are doing but don’t know why. They spend $100’s at the Christian book store but don’t really know the nature of Christ. Books are great to read, but without the Holy Spirit to guide us and reveal to us the truth, it's all for naught.

       So, where does this true revelation of Christ come from? Well, first, we need to examine our lives and make sure what we are doing is truly from a place of humility. Do you raise your hands at church and look around to see if anyone is watching your super spirituality?

 Matthew 6:5  "When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.

       

       I knew a young man who sang the most amazing praise and worship but he laughed and joked about having inappropriate relations with his girlfriend. God did not take pleasure in his worship In fact, it makes God sick when inwardly, we are full of sin, but outwardly, we praise him for the praise of men around us. I’ve known way too many worship leaders take the deep plunge into atheism because the pride or worldliness  of  the Church got to them.

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

The difference between having a revelation of Christ and merely assimilating the niceties of “Christian living” can be summed up in a letter from John, the beloved.

^{1 John 2:20} But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

²¹ I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

²² Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

²³ Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

²⁴ Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

²⁵ And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.

²⁶ These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.

²⁷ But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

²⁸ And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

²⁹ If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

   
   

     The anointing is from the "Holy Spirit".  Your words, actions, life, will beam with the Love of God and everything about you will be "HOLY." (Holy, Pure, Clean, Sinless) Let that anointing(Holy, Pure, Clean, Sinless); abide in you.

 Let the anointing teach you all things!(Holy, Pure, Clean, Sinless)