It's Already Done

 

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