Christ In You The Hope of Glory!
We go from faith to faith, power to power, glory to glory, trial to trial, and one measure of grace to another measure of grace. He only is the author and finisher of my faith. Pastor Duane has started the “Mysteries of God” series and shared the anagram below about faith, the 2nd sermon in this series.
Mystery of Faith
F = Christ died F or us
A = Christ died A s us
I = Christ lives I n us
T = Christ lives T hrough us
H = Christ the H ope of glory
It all begins with a revelation of Jesus and ends with Him. We begin with faith in Him; we live by faith in Him; and we finish by faith in Him. It began on the Cross and was finished on the Cross. Christ lives through me. We are renewing our soul (the mind, will, and emotions) by revelation given by the Holy Spirit through the Word (Jesus is the living Word). My spirit man has everything it needs, because it was born again. I have Christ in me the hope of glory!
I was my problem before Christ. He has delivered me from the dominion of sin. I can run to Him now, and the sin that use to keep me in bondage has no more power over me. I don’t have to be bound to the same things that kept me in bondage previously. My old man was crucified with Christ. It is a daily walk with Christ and I working together to overcome what the devil and my flesh throw at me.
As I read the Bible and renew my mind to what the Word says about situations, I have a choice. I choose to obey the Word, what it says, or I listen to the voice of the world. Pastor Duane brought up a couple of ways that Satan diminishes the power of the Cross.
1) Law=self effort (When you look to yourself or works, you diminish the power of the Cross. The whole Christian life is: I believe I receive, thank you, Jesus! The Good News is “you” aren’t in the equation.)
2) Philosophy=man’s wisdom (Not by faith in myself or human reasoning, but faith in Christ and what He did for me on the Cross. Human reasoning diminishes the power of the Cross.)
Colossians 2:6-10 GNT 6) Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with Him. 7) Keep your roots deep in Him, build your lives on Him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving. 8 ) See to it, then, that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe, and not from Christ. 9) For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in His humanity, 10) and you have been given full life in union with Him. He is supreme over every spiritual ruler and authority.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We should listen to God only. We should not listen to worldly news, traditions of man,and ruling spirits of the universe (the devil). They diminish the power of the Cross in our lives. It goes back to this: Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He who began a good work in you will finish it.
Phil 1:6 Amp And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.
Debbie Wright
I am not gifted like Debbie: She seems to gather all the nuggets from the Pastors Sermons for the week and blends them together in such a way it makes them all fresh and new again. And when I listen to the CD again, it just creates a new way to help me get it into my brain.
Thanks Debbie, The Lord Bless you.
Thank you, Ms Rita! So very glad this ministered to you in this way. There are several people that write on this blog. I only wrote this one! Blessings to you dear friend!