Fresh Speaking
(NOTE: Testimonies preceding this fellowship are contained in the "Testimonies" link under "Fresh Speaking")
(Jo Ann's notes from Lord's Day, May 23, 2010)
The Church met in Willoughby on Sunday morning and I was privileged to be there taking part in the enjoyment of the feast. Many of the saints shared what touched them over the past few weeks in the verses they have been reading. Each one was unique and precious.
I was touched most by the statement "Revelation results in Revolution"; if I receive a revelation then that would result in a change in me. The brother asked, what if you see that God has a purpose that you did not know before, then you saw, but did not change your ways?
-- Oh Lord, You have revealed so much to me through the saints and reading Your Word, has it caused a revolution in me?
The brother shared that God has a process.
The Father chose and marked us: Ephesians 1:3, 4a, 5a, 6b
The Son redeemed us: Ephesians 1:7a, 9a, 10b, 11a
The Spirit sealed us: Ephesians 1:13c, 14a
The Apostle Paul saw the Church and was thankful for the Church that God produced: Ephesians 1:15, 16a, 18b
God issues in the Church, which is His body, the treasure. He is a God who fills, dispensing. Our treasuring this treasure creates the Church, a masterpiece. God is still in the process of working Himself into us. Ephesians 4:15c, 16
The Apostle Paul went through many negative situations i.e., beatings, shipwrecks, etc. and he saw these as affirmations of his correctness in following the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:7, 11, 12
The brother asked in our gospel speaking we often turn away from the negative "death" experience, taking it as proof that we should not do that again! Christ is resurrection, death does not affect Him. His path takes us through situations to filter out the "old man", our self. He puts us in these situations that your self won't make it through, to teach us to trust in the resurrection.
I am accepting the assignment for this week, that the brother suggested, to take on following the sense of the Lord in me, the Spirit. Our growth occurs in the death situations – challenges, embarrassments, negative reactions, etc. I have seen the high vision of the Church, how can I not share this with others? The Church life needs to come from our walk in death, so that the life of Jesus can come out.
-- Dear Lord, gain Your purpose. Death operates to produce Life.
(Judy's notes from Lord's Day, May 23, 2010)
Ephesians takes us from God in the beginning, from His knowing each of us before God's creation (Eph. 1:4, "Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…"), to the last verse of the chapter, verse 23,
That of being His Body, His fullness ("Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all"). We call this God's economy. The focus is on a process of all that God went through – the Father's choosing and predestinating us, the Son's redemption and resurrection, and the Spirit sealing with the Holy Spirit of the promise. Seeing such a revelation should create and result in a "revolution" within us. It should revolutionize our lives! What if you see that God has an eternal purpose and that He created all things for this purpose – everything is for this purpose. What if you go through life and then have that revelation but nothing happens in your life? It is doubtful that you would have had a revelation because no revolution happened in your life.
The Father, in eternity past blessed us in the Beloved. He chose and marked us, "this one is mine". The Son accomplished redemption. He paid the price for us, a ransom, and bought us. God buys purposefully, "this one is the one I want!" There is a mystery involved which is to head up all things in Christ. Then, through the Spirit something further has happened. Now it is not just historically. With the Spirit, we've been sealed with the foretaste, the pledge of our inheritance. He comes into us and our reaction is, "Whoa! I didn't know that this would happen, I didn't know that Your redemption would get into me!" The Father, the Son, and the Spirit, this is who He is, and He gets into us! The result of His getting into us is that we get to know who He is! Paul gave thanks to the Father for making His will known to us. Does Paul say, "Thanks be to God for this redemption"? No! He says, he says, "I do not cease to giving thanks for you" (Eph. 1:16). He thanked God for the church! All that God did resulted in Paul's giving thanks for you! God is inheriting something and that is the church. When we see this, it changes us, our thoughts towards our life is revolutionized! Then, in Eph. 1:22, "He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church". The Triune God has issued in the church! From Genesis to Revelation something has happened! What He is doing, what He is after is for the producing of the church, His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23, 4:10). He is the dispensing God.
In Matt. 13:44, ("The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid, and in his joy goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field"), we saw that the man is Jesus and the treasure is the church, which is what He is after. Our treasuring Him produces the treasure, God's masterpiece, His poem (Eph. 2:10 - :For we are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus…"). In Matt. 13: 45-46, we saw the merchant who was seeking fine pearls; and finding one of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. This merchant is also Christ, and the church is the pearl. The pearl is produced from Christ's life secretion upon us, the sinners, the grains of sand, who wounded Him upon the cross. Christ Himself is producing His treasure, His masterpiece. This producing of the church did not come as a "Poof, it's done!" No, the producing of the church has been going on for 2,000 years, ever since Pentecost. In Genesis, He created in one day, but His masterpiece has been going on for 2,000 years, and He is still continuing to work on this masterpiece. In this age, His masterpiece is being worked out of the growth of the Body. The building up of the Body is a process, it is unto the building up of itself in love. We might ask, doesn't God do this? How can the church build itself up? The building up comes from the joints and each one part. (Eph. 4:15-16, "But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ., out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.").
In the recent weeks, we first went through 2 Corinthians and from there, Ephesians. This is significant because the joints of the rich supply and the operation of each one part comes out of the experience of 2 Cor: 4. This chapter enlarges our vision, we read, in 4:12, "So then, death operates in us, but life in you".
We often get into situations where we are perplexed and bothered. I may have a sense from the Lord's speaking and from His moving within me that I should do a certain thing, such as call or visit someone, or bring a meal over, etc. however, at the same time I think that what the Lord is speaking will cause me to be rejected, so I say, "No, I've learned my lesson the other time I did this, I won't do it again!". Our tendency is to back away. This was not the case with Paul. Through all the negative experiences of his being mistreated, which he recounts in 2 Cor., his feeling was that they were a proof of his apostleship. His walk was not based upon what he saw outwardly. We think we should go another direction when we come up against something. After speaking for the Lord, I may have a sense that this was good, and that the result of this speaking will be positive, however, a negative response may be just right. Why? It is because death operates in me, but life in you. Christ is the resurrection life and He can walk through any and every situation. He takes us through the situations. He is like a screen a filter, through which our "old man" can't go. We walk according to our perceived response, but the Lord would take us through. He puts us in situations where yourself, your "old man", can't make it through. When we find ourselves in such situations, our response would be not to trust in ourselves, but our dependency would be in God. In the church life today, we may have a sense to call a sister, to read a verse, to take dinner to someone. The Lord is giving us such senses all the time, but we rationalize and think that it would not be appreciated. Be assured, if you have a sense there will be a negative response that our "old man" can't handle, but, if you go with the sense your old man will get filtered out, and that's good! The supply comes from walking through the death situations and the result is that life comes out to build the church.
We have seen Christ, and we have seen the high vision of God's eternal purpose, this however is the "nuts and bolts" of our experience. This is the walk that Paul is talking about. This is the life of the cross. This is the life of always being delivered to death for Jesus' sake that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11). This is the life that will have death operate in us, but life in you. This is the "nuts and bolts" of producing what the Lord is after.
A prayer:
Lord, we commit ourselves to You, to Your capable hands. We are Yours. May we take the leading of Your life to take us through all the details in our lives so that You can produce the church. We give You all the praise and glory. This is what we have consecrated ourselves for, that death would work in us in order to produce life, and You can accomplish Your goal.
A challenge:
This week, when you have a sense of the spirit, follow the Spirit. In whatever way this comes out, be aware that your "old man" will be strained out. Follow the leading You have from the One within you, from the One that is not abandoning you. Lord, we do pray that You can speak to us this week that You can make a little more room in our heart.