Friday, September 30, 2011
The Hour of The Anointing by JW Luman
This is a tremendous lesson on the Anointing. It deals with the effects of the anointing. It goes with the series of Classes to which it is linked, so I urge you to also look at those videos. - Rabon
Video streaming by Ustream
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Great New Book Available - Pentecost - Hoax or Reality?
This is a tremendous new book written by JW Luman. It deals with the reality of Pentecost and what it truly means to be Pentecostal, by showing that day to be much more than the day when people spoke with other tongues; but the Day when Christ came in His Glory to dwell in the souls of believers thus fulfilling the Old Covenant feast of Pentecost.
This is a wonderful study and I highly recommend it as a worthy addition to any library of those desiring to know the Salvation we have received in Christ.
This book is available for purchase at Amazon.com
ISBN-13: 978-0983053101
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Knowing The Unknowable God
If you were to ask any believer if they desired to know the Lord in a greater and deeper way, I would guarantee that all would answer in the affirmative. Therefore, I do not believe that lack of desire to know Christ is the leading reason for the evident lack of spiritual knowledge in the Church. Many will say that it is due to indifferent Christians who are not trying hard enough and not putting enough effort toward knowing the Lord. In my opinion, lack of desire to know Christ does not account for the lack of knowledge in the Body of Christ, but the means by which they endeavor to achieve such knowledge.
The problem is that age-old one, The spirit (soul) is willing, but the flesh is weak. The willingness of our souls to know God is always met with the absolute inability and incapacity of our flesh to fulfill such a desire. However, it seems that we always insist on attempting to know the Lord through the impotent agency of the natural mind and we always seem surprised when the results prove unsuccessful. The mind of man can never proceed beyond man himself. By that, I mean any conclusion that man reaches with regard to spiritual reality will always resemble himself. Consequently, we will create Christ in our own image.
I recently read an article written by religion professor Scot McKnight, entitled The Jesus We’ll Never Know. His subtitle was, Why Scholarly attempts to discover the ‘real’ Jesus have failed. And why that’s a good thing. The following is a quote from this article that I believe shows what man’s pursuit of this knowledge of Christ has done and will always do. “Spiritual formation experts would love to hear that students in my Jesus class are becoming more like Jesus, but the test actually reveals the reverse: Students are fashioning Jesus to be more like themselves…To one degree or another, we all conform Jesus to our own image.” This is the result of natural men attempting to comprehend the Spiritual Christ. Once again that is the automatic result, because the natural man utilizing natural faculties cannot perceive anything beyond his own face. This means that man (absent from the true knowledge of God) will always take heavenly reality and define it in accordance with his earthly (self-centered) perspective.
The knowing of Christ is not an intellectual exercise. Therefore, it cannot be a consequence of theological or academic accomplishments. While the study of the scripture and the searching of theological information are vital toward scriptural understanding; scriptural information and understanding cannot be substituted for spiritual knowledge. Teachings, lectures, books, and articles are invaluable to growth, but they must only be seen as instruments to turn our souls unto the Spirit of Truth that He may reveal in us the knowledge that is exclusively His. In other words, the knowing of Christ does not take place from the outside, but from within. 2 Corinthians 4:6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Notice, the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God shines in from within not into from without. My point is that the knowing of Christ necessitates a work of the Spirit, by which the soul is unveiled to the indwelling Christ, Who is the living personification of the Knowledge of God.
It should be clear that I am not speaking of God enhancing man’s capacity for spiritual understanding until man understanding is equal to God’s. I am speaking of the necessity of God revealing in our souls that knowledge that is His and His alone, the knowledge that is untainted by man’s preconceptions and assumption. This inward revealing enables our souls to know and experience Christ as He is not as we have imagined him or, in our ignorance, fashioned him to be.
1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Matthew 11:27, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Ephesians 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
These verses demonstrate the impotence of man to tread upon this sacred ground of knowing Christ. In Christ, we are faced with a relationship that “no man knoweth”, a love which exceeds knowledge, a salvation that man cannot know for it is known and searched out only by the Spirit of God. Man is hopelessly shut out with regard to knowing Christ, thus Salvation, if he stubbornly insists upon doing so through his own insufficiency. Christ is foreign territory and when we are attempting to know Him, we must understand that the natural faculties cannot proceed upon this Holy Ground. Paul says it beautifully in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “…yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” We cannot know Christ by the same means that we know natural things. A New Creation necessitates a New Knowing. The Salvation by which we dwell in heavenly places, demands a knowledge that originates in heaven and is not derived from the earth. This demands a miraculous and necessary work of the Spirit indeed, for we are talking about a knowledge that man cannot even approach through his own efforts.
Paul’s prayer for the church was always toward this end: “That you may know…”, and his own prayer was toward the same end: “To know Him…” But he only gave ONE possible means for such a knowing. The answer is not the gathering of knowledge by earthly means or even through what we call spiritual means. The answer is the soul beholding the Person of the Knowledge of God Himself. The beautiful type to which Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 4:6, is the Holy of Holies. You will recall that the construct and coverings of that compartment of the Tabernacle made it impossible for one thing to ever enter that sacred realm: Natural Light. Natural illumination which would bring natural perception was absolutely shut out from the Holiest of All. To see, know, or comprehend anything of that realm, God Himself had to be the Light and in the Appearing of His Light and His Glory, all things of that realm, which was hidden from all natural elements, was made known.
Are we not, by union with Christ, brought into the Holiest of All? Absolutely we are, that is Salvation. Therefore, as it was in the type, more so it is in our hearts in light of the fulfillment. No natural illumination can bring about Spiritual comprehension. God must cause the Light of His Knowledge to shine in our souls. As the scripture says, “The daystar must arise in our hearts”, “The eyes of our soul must be flooded with Light”, “Christ must be revealed in us.” That is the only answer to our darkened and ignorant soul: HIS LIGHT. Only God can shine in our hearts and reveal in us that glorious Salvation, that glorious Christ, which the eye of man can and will never see; the ear of man can and will never hear, and the mind of man can and will never know.
What a dependence we have upon the Spirit of Truth to do what He alone can do, which is shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which comes only in the revealed presence or face of Jesus Christ. This must be true of us if we are to live and walk as the City of the Living God. For it is said that His City, has NO NEED of the sun, moon or stars…(Natural Light from without) for the Glory of God and the Lamb do lighten it. This is a people filled with His knowledge who make manifest the savor of His Knowledge in every place. May our hearts always endeavor to know Him in this way.
{This article was published in Contrast Magazine. Contrast is an E-Magazine sent out on a bi-monthly basis. To subscribe to this free magazine, please send your email address to rabonbyrd@ymail.com}
The problem is that age-old one, The spirit (soul) is willing, but the flesh is weak. The willingness of our souls to know God is always met with the absolute inability and incapacity of our flesh to fulfill such a desire. However, it seems that we always insist on attempting to know the Lord through the impotent agency of the natural mind and we always seem surprised when the results prove unsuccessful. The mind of man can never proceed beyond man himself. By that, I mean any conclusion that man reaches with regard to spiritual reality will always resemble himself. Consequently, we will create Christ in our own image.
I recently read an article written by religion professor Scot McKnight, entitled The Jesus We’ll Never Know. His subtitle was, Why Scholarly attempts to discover the ‘real’ Jesus have failed. And why that’s a good thing. The following is a quote from this article that I believe shows what man’s pursuit of this knowledge of Christ has done and will always do. “Spiritual formation experts would love to hear that students in my Jesus class are becoming more like Jesus, but the test actually reveals the reverse: Students are fashioning Jesus to be more like themselves…To one degree or another, we all conform Jesus to our own image.” This is the result of natural men attempting to comprehend the Spiritual Christ. Once again that is the automatic result, because the natural man utilizing natural faculties cannot perceive anything beyond his own face. This means that man (absent from the true knowledge of God) will always take heavenly reality and define it in accordance with his earthly (self-centered) perspective.
The knowing of Christ is not an intellectual exercise. Therefore, it cannot be a consequence of theological or academic accomplishments. While the study of the scripture and the searching of theological information are vital toward scriptural understanding; scriptural information and understanding cannot be substituted for spiritual knowledge. Teachings, lectures, books, and articles are invaluable to growth, but they must only be seen as instruments to turn our souls unto the Spirit of Truth that He may reveal in us the knowledge that is exclusively His. In other words, the knowing of Christ does not take place from the outside, but from within. 2 Corinthians 4:6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Notice, the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God shines in from within not into from without. My point is that the knowing of Christ necessitates a work of the Spirit, by which the soul is unveiled to the indwelling Christ, Who is the living personification of the Knowledge of God.
It should be clear that I am not speaking of God enhancing man’s capacity for spiritual understanding until man understanding is equal to God’s. I am speaking of the necessity of God revealing in our souls that knowledge that is His and His alone, the knowledge that is untainted by man’s preconceptions and assumption. This inward revealing enables our souls to know and experience Christ as He is not as we have imagined him or, in our ignorance, fashioned him to be.
1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Matthew 11:27, “All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.” Ephesians 3:19, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
These verses demonstrate the impotence of man to tread upon this sacred ground of knowing Christ. In Christ, we are faced with a relationship that “no man knoweth”, a love which exceeds knowledge, a salvation that man cannot know for it is known and searched out only by the Spirit of God. Man is hopelessly shut out with regard to knowing Christ, thus Salvation, if he stubbornly insists upon doing so through his own insufficiency. Christ is foreign territory and when we are attempting to know Him, we must understand that the natural faculties cannot proceed upon this Holy Ground. Paul says it beautifully in 2 Corinthians 5:16, “…yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” We cannot know Christ by the same means that we know natural things. A New Creation necessitates a New Knowing. The Salvation by which we dwell in heavenly places, demands a knowledge that originates in heaven and is not derived from the earth. This demands a miraculous and necessary work of the Spirit indeed, for we are talking about a knowledge that man cannot even approach through his own efforts.
Paul’s prayer for the church was always toward this end: “That you may know…”, and his own prayer was toward the same end: “To know Him…” But he only gave ONE possible means for such a knowing. The answer is not the gathering of knowledge by earthly means or even through what we call spiritual means. The answer is the soul beholding the Person of the Knowledge of God Himself. The beautiful type to which Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 4:6, is the Holy of Holies. You will recall that the construct and coverings of that compartment of the Tabernacle made it impossible for one thing to ever enter that sacred realm: Natural Light. Natural illumination which would bring natural perception was absolutely shut out from the Holiest of All. To see, know, or comprehend anything of that realm, God Himself had to be the Light and in the Appearing of His Light and His Glory, all things of that realm, which was hidden from all natural elements, was made known.
Are we not, by union with Christ, brought into the Holiest of All? Absolutely we are, that is Salvation. Therefore, as it was in the type, more so it is in our hearts in light of the fulfillment. No natural illumination can bring about Spiritual comprehension. God must cause the Light of His Knowledge to shine in our souls. As the scripture says, “The daystar must arise in our hearts”, “The eyes of our soul must be flooded with Light”, “Christ must be revealed in us.” That is the only answer to our darkened and ignorant soul: HIS LIGHT. Only God can shine in our hearts and reveal in us that glorious Salvation, that glorious Christ, which the eye of man can and will never see; the ear of man can and will never hear, and the mind of man can and will never know.
What a dependence we have upon the Spirit of Truth to do what He alone can do, which is shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, which comes only in the revealed presence or face of Jesus Christ. This must be true of us if we are to live and walk as the City of the Living God. For it is said that His City, has NO NEED of the sun, moon or stars…(Natural Light from without) for the Glory of God and the Lamb do lighten it. This is a people filled with His knowledge who make manifest the savor of His Knowledge in every place. May our hearts always endeavor to know Him in this way.
{This article was published in Contrast Magazine. Contrast is an E-Magazine sent out on a bi-monthly basis. To subscribe to this free magazine, please send your email address to rabonbyrd@ymail.com}
A Study of Paul's Letter to The Galatians - Class 01
Video streaming by Ustream
This is the First Class. I suggest you start here. Sorry for the misorder. I will post Class 2 and 3 so you can start at the beginning.
Monday, September 26, 2011
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