Citizens of God's Kingdom (House Church)

lvation from sins is accomplish from start to finish by faith. (Romans 1:17) When we started turning from our sins and turn really to God , so we can display our new nature which is righteous, holy and true. Unfortunately, many Christians have limited God’s will in their lives by allowing Him to move only at the beginning so that they get to heaven somehow, then at the end so that they do not go to hell. It is this carnal paradigm that they were cut - off from the Vine (John 15:2,6 ) and so keeps Christians struggling to fight the temptations of this world with futility. It is also this misunderstanding of the concept of salvation that keeps the Church weak and on the “defensive” instead of it marching on militantly towards the gates of hell with faith, courage, and love as its greatest weapons. Somehow, somewhere, many believers were blinded to the fact that it is impossible to live the Christian life without Christ in us (Col. 1:27). God did not save us and then just left us alone to fight the good fight of faith. He knows that we do not have any chance of making it to the end without Him. This truth applies not only to individual believers but to the Church as well. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus declared “He will build His Church upon this rock (the revelation and truth that Jesus is the Christ) and not even the gates of Hades will prevail upon it.” Please note that Christ was not just going to build a crowd that gather once a week and take a few crumbs of blessings back home. The statement made by Christ as He begins His project was very strong and militant. The church is founded on the most stable, unbreakable rock in all of creation. Its posture is offensive, on the attack, taking the fight to the very gates of the enemy camp that will consequently fall upon the feet of Christ. This is in the stark contrast to the reality that many people in congregations today struggle simply to stay afloat and have to wear mask of holiness so that their weaknesses stay hidden instead of being dealt with. How opposite to the picture of today’s churches who are merely defending the small portion that was left of them by the enemy instead of attacking and conquering the kingdom of darkness so that the Kingdom of God maybe established in this world. But then, God is not yet finished with His masterpiece, His workmanship, His Goal. PLEROMA

A Greek term generally used to show completeness, wholeness, and finished work. It is used to describe the fullness of time or the conclusion of God’s work so that it no longer lacks anything. God’s project finally finished or his masterpiece accomplished. It is used to describe God’s move in our generation as we find the Church being restored to its original splendor and now is preparing to move on to greater heights of maturity and revelation. God is not simply prodding His Church along; He is testing, shaping, and preparing His bride to be without spot or wrinkle, unblemished and perfect. To comprehend this concept a little bit clearer, we will need to tackle a few other things so that pieces of the puzzle are placed in proper order to make sense it all. GOD’S LOVE FOR MAN

To enable us to understand what Pleroma is all about, one must go back to the root of the problem. God created man, not because He wants a pet but because the God who fills all things wanted to share His nature of “love” to someone who could reciprocate it. In all of God’s creation, man was the only one who was not just spoken to being. God took the dust of the earth and carefully using His skilled and tender hands, He formed Adam so that He could share with man the authority to rule over all creation and have someone who could express love as God designed it to be. God breathe unto his lifeless figure and was made in the image and likeness of God in such a way that in all of creation, man is the only one that is able to respond to God and express love back towards Him. Man, although was definitely not God is a partaker of God’s nature, the God-kind of life because God wanted to express love and be able to receive it. Breathing life into the form of man, God was imparting something of Himself to Adam. From the beginning, God had already given Adam a life much higher than any of creation. Adam’s life was a life that is divine. His life was like that of God, nevertheless he was still not God, but a creation intended to commune with the Almighty and love Him above all and being in the very likeness and image of God, he was the only one and capable of it. Man was the object of God’s affection and the apple of His eyes. Adam was the visible image of the invisible God. Adam was given the privilege of entering into the inner courts and realms of God not even the angels could. Through Adam, the rest of creation saw a reflection of who God is. Their relationship grew and deepened. With Adam, God was able to express and receive love. It was partnership that God wanted form the very beginning. Although Adam wasn’t the creator, God wanted to share with Adam the authority to rule and reign with Him and share the life that He had (Gen. 2:15-20). But this love was to be tested. For love could only be called genuine when it is tested. In the garden were 2 trees. The tree of life and the tree on knowledge of good and evil. The purpose of the trees was obvious. It was to allow man to develop the capability to establish the character of holiness. Though man already had the image and likeness of God, he still had to develop certain characteristics consistent with the nature God gave Adam. Of all the trees in the garden, only one was forbidden. Holiness is a character that is developed through consistent and constant obedience to God. God had already given man the nature to live a holy life, but will he choose it? The one and only law that God gave man was not to eat of the forbidden fruit. This commandment, however, carried with it severe consequences (Gen. 2:17; 3:14-16). Till that time, sin and death had not entered nor corrupted creation. But the rest is history. When Adam sinned against God, he did not do so intentionally malign God. Although Eve was deceived, Adam wasn’t. Having seen Eve sin, Adam knew that Eve would be cast out. He knew the dilemma and immediately recognized that he had to make a choice. Having to choose between God and Eve, Adam love the creation instead of the creator and partook of the forbidden fruit. Needless to say that God’s heart was hurt and broken. But being faithful, God never gave up on man. Being holy, HE could not just scratch off the sin that warranted death. So He decided to express His love even more till it reached its highest pinnacle known to man. He gave His life for man. Love is the reason why God created man, love is the reason why God persevered with man, love is the reason He died for man, and love is the only real thing God expects of us. He told us to love Him above all, yet instead of genuine love, we offered Him religion. But again God has not given up. He will bring it to completion. Having seen that Israel has deteriorated to an empty religion, Jesus started building His Church, His Body. This body is the masterpiece of the great creator who will purify and cleanse this body until it becomes spotless and blameless and becomes a Bride prepared for the Bridegroom. When Jesus died on the cross and declared “it is finished”, those words reverberated throughout the whole of creation. It was not a cry of final defeat but a shout of victory. Immediately, the order of creation in the dimension of the eternal ( kairos ) had been restored. God’s original blueprint is now again progressing and moving. Our role now as believers is to bring this same order to our dimension of time (chronos). This why Jesus taught us to pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. But to bring genuine restoration and transformation from the model of the eternal to this earth, the believers must also manifest the life that God had imparted to us when he accepted Christ as our savior. We have to let Christ rise from within us like rivers of living water giving life to a fallen creation. CHRIST IN YOU

This centerpiece of the Pleroma Movement. Apostle Paul said that this is a glorious mystery that was finally unveiled. Christ in us is our hope of glory (Col. 1:27) for no one can ever live the kingdom life without Him. Living the kingdom life does not have to wait in the afterlife; it began when we received Christ in our hearts. When we believed in Christ, He did not just cleanse us from our sins, He dwelt within us. Although there may not be any visible external changes, we have actually become a new person (2 Cor.5:17). Our old sinful nature was taken away and God put in the seed of the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit. Now we are no longer sinners but saints. But if this is so, then why do we still struggle with sin? One reason is because we have not yet matured in our walk with God. Did not turned from sins fully and turned to God fully. Like a toddler who struggles to maintain balance, a baby Christian will find it difficult to walk the Christian life at the early stages of their faith. However, this is not the case for the great majority of believers who never mature because they have never renewed their minds. Although they are now new creatures in Christ, they still think like their old self. committing many sins. The revelation that “Christ is in You” is not just a metaphor but also a reality that revolutionizes our faith. We begin to understand that God is not up there somewhere seated on a throne bored and passive, but He is alive in us working on us so that He can manifest through us. As we continue to surrender more of our life to Him, the more He can manifest His life through us. The revelation that Christ is in us strengthens us against our struggle with sin because we realize and begin to appropriate the grace that God has given us. The “Christ in You” message is not merely a gospel of a changed life, it is a gospel of an “exchange life”. As followers of Christ, we have died to ourselves and are now living the life of Christ (Gal.2:20). As individual believers, Christ dwells within us. But as a corporate body (the church), we are the Christ this world will and must see. Jesus discarded His temporary and limited physical body so that He could build a much stronger and larger one. It is unfortunate that instead of manifesting Christ, many have chosen to allow their faith to deteriorate into a mere religion. The revelation that “Christ is in you “ changes and breaks all the religious paradigms currently dominating many believers who have accepted a system of beliefs but not the person. Recognizing that Christ is in you immediately transforms you in such a way that one begins to see the things no longer from the perspective of this world but from the mind of Christ (2Cor. 5:16-17). It changes our paradigm about the church because we recognize that the Body cannot function without the Head. This causes us to truly learn to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd knowing that He will lead us towards different areas and dimensions of Christians life. (Ps. 23; Jn.10. 14-16). We begin to recognize that though programs and systems may help, it must never supercede the leading of the Spirit nor lessen our dependence on Him. It also changes our relationships because we know that to malign a brother is to do it to Christ. As persons with Christ, we begin to see others the way He does and begin to feel the way Christ would. We begin to discard the sin of familiarity and not begin basing our view of others from the externals but from the heart as the Spirit allows us to discern the spirits. Curses, condemnation, and criticism are replaced with compassion, care and concern. This concept also breaks our paradigm of religiosity. Instead of praying and asking God to show Himself to us, the Scriptures tells us that we are expected to allow Christ to rise from within our hearts (2Pet. 1:19)(rom.8:29). However, the “Christ In You” teaching is not doctrine to be debated upon, nor a teaching to be dissected, it is about living your life under the full disposition of God Himself. The purpose is nor for one to declare they are “God’s”, but they develop the heart and mind of our Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in Phil. 2:5-11. It is to die to self that Christ’s life, light, love and wisdom maybe made manifest through us. A person who receive Christ in his life as authenticated by the Spirit must renew their minds in line with the mind of the Master in such a way that one would literally be willing to sacrifice oneself for another’s benefit. To have the mind of Christ is not to elevate oneself to deity but to prepared to live one’s life as a genuine love-slave in His service and at His full disposition. It is to abandon one’s life so that Christ’s life may flow through us. Although this will certainly mean that significant miraculous events and wonders will take place but it is not in the manifestation of His power that we measure our same-mindedness as Christ, but in His emptying (kenosis) of Himself and living the life of a love-slave (a person who chooses to be a servant than a free man because of his love for his master). One who has given up his rights in favor of His master. Jesus said that all He did, say, and accomplish were all “from the Father”. Billy Graham call this “zero willfulness”. Anyone who intends to follow Christ is required to same standard. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it ( Matt. 16:24 )

There have been some who have misinterpreted the logic that since Christ is in us and that we are dead to ourselves consequently means we are “Gods”. The declaration is wrong because the “Christ in You” message is not a pompous boasting that we are Deity. On the contrary it is an acknowledgement that we are but “doulous” in this world. Although we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are truly “sons” of the most High, we are not here to lord it over others but in all humility, bring ourselves to the level that we become servants of all. The “doulous mentality” is the highest form of having mind in Christ. The restoration of the ministry of the apostle and prophets are essential so that the whole body is equipped with the revelation and power it needs to take hold of what God has given us. But the sign that the church is maturing is in its humility and willingness to follow his master, even to the cross (Phil.2:8). Nevertheless, one must realize that even as Christ expects us to share His life, He has also given His followers His “Glory” (John 17:5, 22 ). The “Christ in You” is not a doctrine to be debated upon or a theological thesis to dissect; it is a truth to receive and a life to live. More than ever now, it is of vital significance that the enemy does not detract us to other issues so that this message is drowned out of the way. The Chief cornerstone, the rock of revelation, the Messiah, the Christ. This is the foundation upon which the whole Church stands. Through doctrine remains important and needed, the unifying factor of the church has never been doctrine or the Bible. It has and always will be Christ. The truth is that He is in us. The challenge is manifesting Him. This is the Day that He has made. THE BIBLE

The Scriptures remains as the highest standard against which any prophecy or revelation can be measured and authenticated with. It must be made clear that God is not about to write any additional books to the Bible. The Scriptures stands complete and competent to answer the major issues in the life of man. However, it is foolishness to read God’s word only as a book of doctrines. The “Pleroma Movement” takes a fresh look at the Scriptures and sees it as a narrative that relates the love story between God and man. The modern hermeneutics of literal, grammatical, historical and cultural context is essential but far so insufficient because it takes out the “revelational”. Each believer must learn not only to read the Word of God but also to hear and heed the voice of the Good Shepherd. When we read the New Testament we find that there are many times that the apostles and even Jesus Himself would take a verse and use it relevantly to their situation and current need though a closer look at the text quoted would show that the use of the verse is out of context if we were to use the literal modern way of interpretation. The Bible is God’s Word and therefore cannot be interpreted by systems made by men. Room must be provided for the Holy Spirit who is truly the author of the book. A person can study the Bible all their lives and not understand it (2 Tim. 3:8 ). I Cor. 2:14 say, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that comes from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, because they are spiritually discerned”. People in “ Pleroma” understand the principles of modern hermeneutics, but they value revelation just as much, if not more. For more than two years the disciples of Christ traveled and travailed with Him. They saw His deeds, they heard His teachings, and they followed Him day and night. Some even saw Him pinpointed by the John the Baptist as the Messiah they were waiting for. Some were witnesses to the baptism of Christ where the Father spoke and the Spirit came down as a dove. One would think after all that time and manifestations, Jesus question of “ who am I” (Matt. 16:15) would be an easy question to answer. But it wasn’t. It took Peter quite a while but he finally understood who Jesus is. Jesus immediately told Him that the answer was correct, but it was not from the books they have read, nor the miracles they saw, it was direct divine revelation. There are many jewels of divine truths that maybe right before our very eyes yet unless God unveils it and removes the scales off our eyes, we will never see, understand, or comprehend it. Modern hermeneutics provides very little room for the real author to speak to His people. Nevertheless, although we allow God to use the same text to bring in fresh of life, we do not allow theological nit picking as some religions and cults do simply to justify their way of life. This is where spiritual discernment and wisdom becomes essential. Men and women of God, who have matured to a level of moving in the Spirit in such a way that they are able to take in solid food in contrast to the majority which only is capable of milk, must intervene and point out what is not the Spirit (Heb. 4:14). One of the greatest emphasis of the movement is the transitioning of believers from children to “Sons”. Each son is taught to directly connect their lives to God in such a way that they are able to access revelational truths from God Himself. To allow the Spirit to speak to each believer is to allow the Body to mature in the Spirit. It is the sheep recognizing the voice of the Shepherd. His witness to our hearts, His peace, His voice are things that religion have drowned out due to inherent fears of extremism. Yet without it, there is no life for the Church. “He has made us competent as minister of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2Cor. 3:6). There is no way that a man-made system can ever capture the truths of the Spirit nor can it unveil the beauty of its revelations. The Bible was written as holy men “were carried along by the Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). And it is only through Him that we are able to understand the real things of God. The “Pleroma”, referring to the fullness of one’s experience with Christ here on earth, is a movement or a wave of the Spirit that has been spreading like wildfire in churches all over the world. It is a movement that has been the result of the restoration of the Prophets and Apostles and refers to the maturing of the church as it attains to its full measure of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:13). It is not merely a revival as many are used to calling any movement of God within His Church, for revival simply means going back to the original form of the church in Acts 2. The Pleroma movement, although acknowledging the great importance of these basic elements of Christian life in the Book of Acts, views it as the Church in its stage of infancy and childhood. As spiritual as the early church maybe, it is still but a portrait of the church (Acts 2 ) in its early stage, in its formative years and thus should be a true model of congregations in its pioneering years. These are elements that are brought by the birthing of the Church and movement of Spirit in the lives of the believers and should be the standard for churches in its pioneering stages, especially if the pioneer is a gifted apostle.

1. They devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer (42)
2. Everyone was filled with awe and many wonders and signs were being done by the Apostles (43)
3. All the believers were together and had everything in common (44-45).
4. Every day they met in the temple courts…homes…broke….bread….praising God…enjoying favor among the people (46-47).
5. The Lord added to their number daily those that were being saved (47b). In the eyes and thoughts of many ministers, this is the picture of what a true church should look like. This is why many pray for revival. Revival is going back to the original form. Yet this is not the fullness of what God had intended for His body to be. This is a picture of a church that is alive, yes. But it is still a church in its stage of infancy. It is ground zero. The church was born this way but it was not meant to stay this way. Like all living organisms, it is meant to grow and mature. Testing’s and sufferings are some elements that bring about greater maturity. Yet the key to it all is the work of the five-fold ministries in Eph. 4:11 which have been given to equip the Body towards maturity. Yet the sad truth is that many churches which have been in existence for a great number of years aren’t even experiencing the glorious and celebrative stage of their congregational life. There are many factors that may have caused this unfortunate dilemma, but the leadership factor is definitely one of them. Instead of fully relying on the power and guidance of the Spirit, many have chosen to systemize and institutionalize the known manifestations of the Spirit in the church because it has produced good fruit in the past. Nevertheless, in doing so, many have continued the practice of our forefathers without realizing why and what it is all about. It did not take long for the movement to once again create a box called systematic theology and rituals. As in the days of old, the wind of the Spirit had been dampened by man-made concepts of how God is to be served and worship. At the end of the day, we find ourselves in the same situation. In an age where information technology is the cutting edge of every growing economy, we find the Church struggling to keep up with the trends. Through it is true that information allows us to improve our way of life, it must be made clear that no believer can survive on a diet of information. This is so because the food of our spirit is revelation. Information educates but revelation transforms. It is this daily dose of revelational diet that Christ wants Peter to feed His sheep with. It is this food that will allow the believer to reach his full potential in Christ. Unfortunately, it is also this element that is most lacking in our time today. Though there is nothing wrong with using methodologies and systems to coordinate our effort, we must remember that any work done for, in, and with the Church must also be done in the leading and guidance of the Spirit and not of the flesh. Otherwise, we will be building with wood, hay, and stubble that will consequently burn before the judgment seat of Christ. The unfortunate reality is that many congregations at the moment are led by people who have mastered doctrine and theology but have no personal revelation from the Great Author Himself. We have well-educated people who preached well-crafted speeches from our pulpits but have no message from “on high”. We have codes and ethics to live by yet no faith, will, desire nor power to actually live them out. In short, what we got was religion. We may have added a few trimmings to make it seem more alive than the former ones we left behind, but we have been stuck with the same empty shell we had before. Today’s congregations have tragically made Acts 2:41-47 the portrait of what a church should look like. It has become the goal and not the beginning. It has been the end and not the cause. But a closer scrutiny of Scriptures will show that it is not Acts 2:41-47 that is the prototype of the Church but Eph. 4:11-15 ( Genuine unity in the faith contrast to just togetherness, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, unswerving faith, and speaking the truth in love and faith). Born on the day of Pentecost, the Body of Christ already had the essentials to make a great impact on the community around it. Unfortunately, being young, it was still developing the mind of its master – The Christ ( I Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5 ). Program after program, course after course, have been set-up to simply keep up with the issues of ecclesiastical infancy. “Sermonettes for Christianettes”. Again, it is not the method that is bringing the church towards a weak posture but the reliance on man-made systems instead of the move of the Spirit that causes deficiencies in the testimony of the Church. We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are so slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s World again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by the constant use have trained themselves to distinguish food from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and to faith in God, instructions about baptism, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. AND GOD PERMITTING, WE WILL DO SO. Hebrews 5:11-6:3 (NIV)

From these texts alone we see that certain elements are already hindering the progress of the church. We need to rely more on the Spirit than our systems, we need more revelations than information, and we need to continue the journey to maturity instead of resting in complacency. Realizing the following points may help:

1. God has much more revelations to unveil before us – v.11
God wants His Church to be the main channel of Divine truth for the world. Although the written word “LOGOS” has already been completed, many life-changing truths are still awaiting its chance to be proclaimed so that man may be able to fully complete God’s design for us. In John 16:12, Jesus told us that there were so many things that He could have taught us but we haven’t reached the level of maturity to absorb it and it will become more like be a hindrance than a blessing ( John 6:53-69). And how true. The gospel being preached at most churches today are benefit-centered and not Christ-centered. This is the reason why many believers still store up treasures here on earth instead of heaven. God never intended to stop communicating with His creation, it’s just that we have stopped listening; thinking that all that God wanted to say was already written in Scriptures. But though the Bible remains as the only real measurement to authenticate any general and specific revelations and prophecies, it does not mean that God has stopped communicating to His children. Throughout history, we have seen God raise strong men and women His people needed it most. His most potential weapon was a man who consecrated his life to Him and made himself and fully at God’s disposal. It is people like this, who dare defy the complacency of orthodoxy that has caused the church to move towards restoration. People who have courage enough to say what is wrong with the church today and point the way towards the move of the Spirit. This often comes at a great price of being misinterpreted and even more severe, being disowned.

2. It is God’s will that we receive more than we have already attained - 6:3
The very reason why He created man is to love and enjoy fellowship him. However, because of Man’s fallen state, nature, emotions, and perspectives, this has become virtually impossible due to the great difference between them. At the very least, fallen man will rather avoid God totally than make use of a mediator to communicate with Him. Isaiah tells us that “His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts”. However, after receiving Christ in our hearts, we not only received holy life but the mind of Christ through the Spirit. This tell us that as believers, we can now begin to see things God’s way and begin to understand His heart and His plans. Again, we can begin enjoying the purpose for which we were created for and to intimately fellowship with Him who is the ultimate lover of our souls. All through Scriptures we find God inviting us into his inner courts, his chambers, and his presence. But in the New Testament, we find that he now is no longer just inviting us to the beauty of His domain, but He has chosen to dwell in our very being. Now we find Him asking us to open the secret quarters of our hearts so that He can transform us into the person He designed us to be ( John 14:17 ).(rom.8:29).

3. The greatest hindrance to our fellowship with God is our own selves – 5:12 – 6:3 ; not dead to selfish ambition. Jas. 3:15-16
A lot of believers blame Satan or other demonic spirits as the cause of their continuous struggle just to survive the Christians faith and to somehow make it to heaven. However, as the text will show us, God wants us to receive more and has already made provisions in Christ to do so. However, as deep as God wants our intimacy with Him to be, he will only go as far as we will allow Him. There must be a willingness to open up and allow fresh revelation to come in. Many believers have ceased to grow because they have misinterpreted complacency to contentment. Growth requires change and change is inconvenient. Growing deeper means giving up one’s favorite petty preaching’s and being prepared to take in deep truths that to take in deep truths that requires life-changes. It is personal choice to open up and tell God, “here am I Lord, speak”. The Pleroma movement is definitely not a man-made attempt at organizing another umbrella organization that would try to get the alliance of other ministries and ministers for purposes of pooling resources to make it easier to galvanize the cooperation of believers in inter-church activities. Yet though it is no organization, it is a movement that will instill genuine unity among the true believers of our Lord Jesus Christ, having as its greatest bond, the covenant relationship as sealed through the breaking of bread. This unity will transcend all denominations and alliances because the basis of its “oneness” is not a project, nor an activity, nor doctrine, nor a common culture, nor a common enemy, nor is it even disaster in the nation. Though these are things that can cause believers to come together for a time, the unity (if there be any at all) would be temporary and very shallow. The binding tie among the believers in the movement is solely “Christ in you, the hope of glory” ( Col.1:27). Organizations exist to perpetuate itself. It may start with such a great passion and a great cause to rally together but it does not take very long before it deteriorates into an empty shell that it once was. It is therefore, essential as well as vital, that the leaders of the movement concentrate on its God-given mandate of equipping the people towards maturity as written in Eph. 4:11-15. It is so easy to be detracted from the path God had set for the movement because human beings are led to believe that it is the structure, organization, and systems that keep it alive. On the contrary, history will tell us that organizations tend to forget the very reason for their existence and then simply try to maintain the plateau that they have already achieved. I find no fault in this except for the fact that the Scriptures tell us that God has something more than what we have right now. The very core and center of the movement is the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ, who serves as the cornerstone of all doctrines and practices that are Christian (Mat. 16:13-20). Although Jesus begins their small group discussion by asking the opinion of the general public regarding His identity, He turns to His disciples and asks them who He was to them? After more than two years of being together and seeing Jesus heal the sick, make the lame walk, make the blind see, the deaf hear, the leper cleansed and the thousand fed; after witnessing Him walk on water, turn water into wine, calm the raging storm, and even raise the dead; one would think that the answer to His question would have been answered by any of His disciples. Nevertheless, it took a revelation from the Father for Peter to reply and say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. Things have not changed very much since then. Although we have been exposed to images of Him, His teachings, and even miracles, many have not really come to the life-changing revelation of who Jesus really is. For many, they have come to recognize Him as a historical savior and is the only way to eternal salvation. Though true, many believers have stopped their journey there, having been told that their salvation is already secured. To know who Jesus really is requires revelation, not just information. The lack of revelation and the great dependence on information has caused Christianity to deteriorate more into a religion than an actual life-changing experience. Personal encounters with the Lord have now become the exemption instead of the rule, having been replaced by church attendance and other religious rituals. The truth of the matter is that information can never replace revelation. The great majority of believers teach and believe that Jesus now sits quietly on the right hand of the Father in heaven resting out the rest of eternity, having paid the grueling price of the precious sinless lifeblood of Christ for you and me. Having finished the task with outstanding marks, He now becomes complacent and simply looks on as man struggles to fight sin and temptation on his own yet in the name of Christ. What an exercise in futility! Although the Scriptures clearly tell us that Christ has now ascended into heaven, it is also the same Bible that tell us that He has entered into our hearts. (Col.1:27). It is Christ in us that changes us from glory to glory (2Cor. 3:17). The message is clear. What stands before us now is not a doctrine but a person. “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”(Rev. 3:20). It seems ironic that though He is talking to believers, the Lord is outside of the door knocking for us to let Him in. but this is the tragic truth in many cases. The world has seen enough of religion; now let them see Christ as He lives through us. Let him who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. I-edit
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