TEXT: EPHESIANS (shows Christ as “Our All in All”)!
TOPIC: “IT’S
ALREADY DONE”!!
We are the kingdom messengers which means we are walking in
power, righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost!
·
Romans
14:17: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
·
1
Corinthians 4:20: For the kingdom of God is not in words, but
in power.
[This “power” is “du’namis”, meaning force,
miracle working power, mighty work, strength, virtue, might, ability,
abundance, etc].
Therefore we should be about our Father’s business doing
exploits – healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out devils. We should be going according to Luke 14:23 into the highways
(hodos’) [road or way], wherever the Spirit of God leads proclaiming this
Gospel of the Kingdom: and hedges
(phragmos’) (a fence, wall) that has God’s people “fenced in” so as to free them
with the “good news” of Jesus Christ so that the walls of “Jericho” may fall!. Jericho
is defined as the city of moons,
which symbolizes the powers of the devil.
We know that he is reaping havoc everywhere and it doesn’t exclude the
church.
·
Revelation
2:9 (The message to Smyrna): vs
9: I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue
of Satan.
But God encouraged those that were
faithful: vs 10: Fear none of these things which thou shalt
suffer: behold, the devil shall cast
some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation
ten days: be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life.
This “death” was not physical death. He didn’t say “until death”, but “unto
death”, meaning, till all the bondages of religious order: philosophies, vain deceit, traditions, and rudiments
of the world spoken of in Colossians
2:8, is eradicated from the lives of the sons of God. But physical death did and will come to those that are not willing to accept truth, chasing after the flesh of Jesus and not
after Christ, just as it is today.
God want us to “die” to the lies and deceit
of religion, and live by the truth that Christ
is here in us by the Spirit and we are right now overcomers! This is “the death” of the saints that's precious
in the sight of the Lord (Psalm
116:15), not physical death because Jesus died so that we wouldn’t have
to! John
3: 15: Whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal (quality) life: vs
16: God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish,
but have everlasting (unending) life.
The majority of Christians are
waiting for Jesus to come back and get them, when He is come already
and has
finished the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4). God is through
with the physical body that Jesus was in and He’s not coming back like that as
many suppose or thiink: 2 Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth (from hereon) know we no man after the flesh:
yea, though we have known (past tense) Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth (from
hereon) know we him no more!! We must know Him by the Spirit and that’s
knowing Him as “CHRIST” (the anointed one(s) and His anointing). Now the work has to be done in His “other
body” that is now called CHRIST:
·
Romans
12:5: So we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone, members
one of another.
·
1
Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one and hath many members
and all the members of that one body being many is one body: so also is CHRIST!
As the Lord said to the church of
Smyrna, those that haven’t received the
revelation yet, be faithful until He delivers you from the bondages and traditions of men, and
those that have received it and have been delivered are already dead
to the lies and deceit of religion and are now wearing “the
crown of life”! Crown is from the root word “steph’anos”
meaning a chaplet (a garland for the
head) [as a badge of royalty or symbol of honor]. Crowns
are worn on “the head”. How much “royal” or “honorable” can it get, than
putting on “the mind of Christ”:
·
1
Corinthians 2:16: Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he
may instruct him? But we have the
mind of Christ.
·
Philippians
2:5: Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus.
Having His mind, we know that He
came that we might have “life” (zoe)[eternal
vitality], and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
With His mind we are spreading the good news everywhere the
Father opens the door! And we must “open
our mouth’s boldly to make known the mysteries of the Gospel” to His
people (Ephesians 6:19)!
So what’s hindering you or us?
When we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts as Lord and
Savior, He did more than just save us. In time He brought us into a realization that
there is more than “salvation”. It
goes deeper than salvation.
Salvation through Jesus has given us access to God! Once we gains access to God we must progress
further than just being “saved” to being “born again”! Being “saved”
is accepting what Jesus did on the Cross.
Romans 10:9: If
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (so’zo) [delivered; protected; made
whole; preserved; forgiven]. But to
be “born
again” is a new concept of
one-self and that is – you are not just a man/woman born of woman, but a
man/woman born (produced and brought forth) of God!
·
John
1: 11-12: He came unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he
power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: vs 13: Which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
·
Acts 17:28:
For
in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets
have said, for we are also his offspring.
Yes in the natural we were born of a woman as Jesus also
was, but we must know that “we are born of God” because of the
new birth! 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature (creation); old things are passed away, behold, all things are
become new.
Therefore we have to become the awesome men and women of God
that He has empowered us to be.
·
Luke
10:19: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and
over all the power of the enemy: and
nothing shall by any means hurt you.
·
Acts
1:8: You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and you shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost
part of the earth.
One thing we do know, in relation to God’s people, IT’S ALREADY DONE!!
Right now we are on the teachings about the disciples and
how and where they affect us knowing they are on the inside of us. We have been talking about Peter, who was the
first disciple Jesus called.
·
Matthew
10:1-2-4: And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them
power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease. Now
the names of the twelve apostles are these; the first, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the
son of Alpheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thaddeus; Simon the Canaanite,
and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Peter had two names, Simon meaning hearing,
harkening, obeying: the other was
Peter, meaning hard, compact, strong, firm, unyielding, a
large stone, a rock. He is the
characteristic of “faith”.
·
Romans
10:17: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God.
Even with where we are now in God He wants us to come up
higher! We know we have to have “faith” in our walk, with God and as God, but we found
out that there is a “place beyond faith” which is moving into
the place
of “most holy faith”!
When we are in that place we are speaking things into
existence! We are calling things into
existence! We are exercising the authority and power that’s on the
inside of us!
·
Hebrews 10:8: But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth,
and in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach.
·
1 John
4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Hebrews 12:2: Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
(5047) of our faith.
This word “finisher” does not mean “the end as none existence”, but it’s
from the root word teleiot’es, meaning
completeness (mentally; morally): perfection or perfectness / also
from tel’eios, meaning to come of full age; perfect.
One might ask, “How
do we come into full age”?
·
Ephesians
4:11-12: And he gave some, apostles; and some prophets; and some, evangelists;
and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Vs 13: Till we all come in the unity (oneness; harmony) of the faith,
and of the knowledge (full discernment) of the Son of God, unto
a perfect (complete; full grown) man, unto the measure of
the stature (maturity) of the fullness
of Christ.
This is having the understanding that we the “church”
are “Christ’s
body” in the earth ordained and anointed to do what Jesus did when He
walked the earth in that flesh body He was in, because He is not coming back as
religion teaches: (again)
·
1
Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after
the flesh: yea, though we have known
Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. We must know Him by the Spirit! We the church are the members of His body,
of His flesh, and of His bones (Ephesians 5:30).
These are the five smooth stones that David
picked up and put in his “shepherd’s bag”
(1 Samuel 17:40). Apostle (apos’tolos), is a delegate; an ambassador
of the Gospel, one commissioned or sent)”, to establish or help build up the church, set things in order through
discipline, and defend truth. Prophet or
(prophetes), is a foreteller; an inspired speaker, which proclaims and interprets divine revelation. Sometimes they are called seers or inspired speakers. It bears the connotation of a predictor or
revealer of future events. Evangelist or
(euaggellistes’), is a preacher of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The Pastor (poimen’) is the
shepherd of the flock; tends to and feed the flock of God. The
Teacher (didas’kalos), is an
instructor in the Word of God, through study, and rightly dividing the Word of
truth.
We are the “stones”, even more, we
are the “lively stones”, built up a spiritual house unto the Lord (1
Peter 2:5). As God perfects each
of these gifts in us, whichever one is needed at any given time, is able to
rise to the occasion combat and destroy any Goliath or enemy that comes before
us! Hallelujah!!
The first three chapters of Ephesians
are saying to us what God has done for us:
·
EPHESIANS
1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ.
·
Vs 4:
According as he hath chosen us in
him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without
blame before him in love.
[We’re already
“chosen”]: John 15:16: You have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your
fruit should remain: that whatsoever you
shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
“We are already
without condemnation”: [blame is from the root word “am’omos”,
meaning unblemished; unblameable; faultless; without fault]:
·
Romans
8:1: There is therefore no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Actually you
should read all of Ephesians chapter one at your convenience.
Look at Ephesians
2:1: And you hath he quickened (made alive) who were dead (past tense) in trespasses and sins: (read verses 2-9).
·
Verse
10: For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them
·
Vs 11:
Wherefore remember, that you being in
time passed Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which
is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
·
Vs 12:
That at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
·
Vs 13:
But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes
were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
·
Vs 19:
Now therefore you are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God;
·
Vs 20: And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. (Read whole chapter).
Ephesians 3:1-21:
Vs 6: Paul preaches to the
Gentiles about being fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and
partakers of God’s promise in Christ by the gospel.
Gentile is
defined as eth’nos, a race (as of the
same habit), a tribe; specifically (non-Jewish). Jesus tore down the wall between Jew and
Gentile: Ephesians 2:14-15: For he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (that applies even to the racial divide
today); having abolished in his flesh
the enmity (hostility), even the law
of commandments contained in ordinances:
for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.
In Mark chapter 7
[Jesus talks to the Pharisees and scribes about what defiles a man]:
·
Vs 15:
There
is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him: but the
things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
The defilement wasn’t because someone ate something without
washing their hands as the tradition of the elders were.
Tradition is from
the root word parad’osis, meaning transmission;
a precept; the Jewish traditional law; ordinance. This was the handing down of the
teachings and interpretations of the
Law of Moses by the Jewish elders and
rabbis preserved in the Mishnah and the Talmud. These laws and teachings were held equal to
if not above the Laws of Old Testament even forsaking God’s commandments to
keep their traditions. But Jesus strongly rebuked them in
relation to “their traditions and
interpretations of the Law”, saying in that they had: “Made the word of God of none
effect through your tradition, which you have delivered: and many such like things you do” (Mark 7:13).
There are people today that still believe that the Jews are
God’s chosen people. But the Jews have to come to God the same way
everybody else does, and that’s through Jesus Christ.
·
Galatians
3:27: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ.
[This “baptism” has nothing to do
with water (H20), the “baptism”
into Christ is by the
Spirit. John the Baptist said: “I
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that comes after me is mightier than
I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire” (Matthew
3:11). And to support that, 1 Corinthians 12:13: For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and
have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
·
Vs 28:
There
is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is
neither male nor female: for you
are all one in Christ Jesus.
Chapters four through six is telling us to exercise
all the power and authority he has given us! [Meaning, “IT’S
ALREADY DONE”!!! We don’t
have to wait to die and sail off beyond the blue for this to happen we can have
it all now]!
·
Ephesians
4:24: Put on the new man, which, after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness.
·
Ephesians
6:10: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his
might. Vs 11: Put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Chapter 4 –
now we the Church must put the power God has given us through Christ by the
power of the Holy Ghost into action.
We’re always asking God for this and asking God for that and
nothing is wrong with that, but as we come into the full maturity of Christ we should
be at a place where we speak it, say it, command it!
Like parents that raise children: at the beginning the children are totally
dependent on the parents. But as they
mature the parents begin to teach and show them how to acquire and get things
done on their own. So it is with our
Father, He has shown and taught us how to work the Word so we can work the
works. We’re no longer babes drinking
milk but we are eating meat and we have to start stepping out on nothing
believing something is there! This is
what is called “the place beyond faith”!!!!
Once you have matured
do you keep going to your parents for clothing, shelter, direction? You begin to make these decisions for
yourself.
God is saying to us, “It’s
already done”!!!
When you’re feeling discomfort – lay hands on yourself! When you’re facing a mountain – speak to
it! When you’re in a valley – praise
your way out! When circumstances arise –
speak to it! But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and
in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach (Romans 10:8).
I’m not telling you we don’t need God for anything, because
we do! We can’t function without
Him! Acts 17:28: For in him we live, move, and have our
being; as certain also of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring”. What I’m saying to you is, move as God use
the power and authority in you!
·
St.
John 16:23: And in that day you shall
ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I Say
unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you.
·
Vs 26-27:
At
that day you shall ask in my name and I say not unto you, that I will pray the
Father for you: for the Father himself
loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from
God.
As we move out in the place beyond faith know this, as
we begin, if it’s wrong or if it’s not right, the Holy Ghost is there to lead
and guide us into all truth.
He won’t let us go wrong.
As we exercise the gifts, it’s all by faith. How are we going to grow or know if something
we’re doing is right or wrong if we don’t step out on nothing knowing that
something is there?
What if Peter never walked on the water at Jesus’ word when
He said “Come” (Matthew
14:28-29)? What if the fishermen
had not cast their net to the right side like Jesus said (John 21:6)? Or what if they had not launched out into the deep and
let down their nets for a draught? But Simeon said, “Nevertheless,
at thy word” (Luke 5:5).
Let us continue to go and grow “beyond faith” and
exercise our gifts “beyond faith”!
God’s Presence, His
power, His word, His anointing is always present with and in us!!!
BECAUSE IT’S
ALREADY DONE!!! Let’s continue to do
exploits for the glory of God!!!
Evangelist Mary Perry