How Life Became Death

HOW LIFE BECAME DEATH PART II

Greetings, We often say that Christ is the life. This saying is derived from the scripture in John 14:6

6 , “ . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

But when I began to watch the lives of the people I lead I realized that many people do not live as though they understand this scripture. If the church does not understand this scripture they will never cherish walking in the Spirit, which is the only walk the Father recognizes. Every other walk, way of life or lifestyle the Father considers death. WHY IS IT DEATH? You may think you already know death, but let us allow the scriptures to show us death so we may understand it better. God said to Adam;

Genesis 2:17

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

This is the Word of God. Who is the Word of God? Christ. Every time God speaks Christ comes out of His mouth because Christ is the Word. God spoke all things into existence through Christ.

John 1:1-3

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Remember, Moses wrote the book of Genesis. He did not have the revelation of Christ, so when he wrote of creation he wrote, “God said” and whatever God said happened. But John having a deeper revelation of Christ gave explanation to creation by the scripture above. He showed that the Word of God was actually an extension of God called Christ. God used Christ to make all things. When God spoke Christ came out of His mouth. This set the boundaries of Adam’s life. The boundaries were that he could live forever, ruling over the earth as long as he did not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam could have lived forever if he would have obeyed the Word of God, which is Christ. This is why obedience is required for the sons. Our obedience keeps us walking in that life.

THE PREEMINENCE OF DEATH

We have learned that man’s life and existence was predicated upon his obedience to God’s Word, which was in Christ. We know that man disobeyed God one day and ate of the Tree which God commanded him not to. Now here is the tricky part. There is a difference between living and existing. Adam died the day he disobeyed but because he existed until he was nine hundred and thirty years old, we do not see him as dying the day he sinned. We only see death as the end of one’s existence but death is separation from God, as soon as we disobey. BECAUSE WE DO NOT CEASE TO EXIST AT THE MOMENT OF SIN, WE FEEL LIKE WE ARE STILL LIVING. It is as if we have found a way to live without obeying God. Adam could not and neither can we. The story of Adam shows us that not all dead men are in the grave. He moved, walked and talked for nine hundred and thirty years before his existence ended upon the earth. The ending of earthly existence is just the conclusion to the state of death that may have begun years before that conclusion. When we, as children, disobey the Father, sin is found in our hearts and God, being holy, will not fellowship with us even though we are His sons. This is death, existence without the fellowship of the Father or His guidance and is called walking after the flesh. If we reject life, which is spiritual, the only thing left to accept and follow is humanity, which is flesh in God’s eyes. BUT I THOUGHT MY FLESH WAS SANCTIFIED ALSO?

1 Thessalonians 5:23

23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is true. As children of God, the circumcision of Christ has sanctified our bodies. But what does it mean to walk after the flesh if our flesh has been sanctified? Is our flesh still some kind of evil influence warring against our soul and spirit? Of course not! To understand this we must see that there are two races of people on the earth, spiritual and natural (fleshy). Though we are spiritual, we can choose to reject and disobey the Word of God just as Adam did. When we make the same choices, we follow the same customs and ways as those who are not spiritual and are classified by God as flesh.

Romans 8:5

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. Mind: to think like, to consider, to be concerned with Even though we have been made spiritual through Christ Jesus, we must choose to walk in Him by being spiritually minded.

DEATH BY DECEPTION

Lately, I learned something through experience, and that is that death is deceptive. We can continue in our routine way of doing things but still have a feeling that even though we are doing all the things that we usually do, something is wrong on the inside. Because we are still going to church, we do not believe we are in the flesh. But if we are going to church and not living the Word we hear, we are still in the flesh. Even if we are not walking in your calling, we are still in the flesh. When we came into Christ, we were not given the option of what our calling would be or what our responsibilities would entail. The Father according to His good pleasure chooses these things. These are all spiritual functions given to those who were made spiritual by the Father through Christ.

Romans 8:6-7

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

These scriptures show the reason we often feel our lives are at a standstill. It is because of our way of thinking. If we think carnally it separates us from the life of Christ. But, what makes our minds carnal? The rejection of God’s Word makes the mind carnal. God desired to have a family whereby we are called the children of God. We were placed in Christ. But sometimes we live outside of what we know of the Father and what is written of Him.

Colossians 2:6

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Let us view the Father’s position and His role in our lives. Turn to the book of St. John 15:1

John 15:1

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

This scripture shows the role of the Father in our lives. The Father is holy and He inspects Christ and we are the Body of Christ that the Father inspects. The Father’s position inside of His inspection is no fruit, no reason for life. It is that simple. The Father does not chide with us in counseling sessions begging us to repent. His position is always clear and it is BE YE HOLY FOR I AM HOLY (1 Peter 1:16).

Christ said in St. John 15:4

John 15:4

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I thought I understood this scripture, but it has recently been revealed unto me. Our lives are now of a spiritual nature. The effect our lives should make is spiritual as well. Such effects include the influence our lives should have on others, our ministering with an anointing that destroys the yolks in the lives of other people as well as being able to pray where God hears and answers. Now Christ lets us know we cannot do any of these things of ourselves. These come from the source of our life which is Christ. But to experience these attributes we must abide in Christ by remaining in His Word, through obedience to it. Our obedience gives us the ability to operate as Sons and abide in Christ.

John 14:15

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Christ is trying to let us know that our lives are not our own. Our only reason for existence on this earth is simply for Christ to be able to live through us. We are merely branches of Christ and as branches we can do nothing of ourselves. When we do things on our own without Christ, our life with God is at a standstill. We can continue functioning in “ministry” but have no affect on others lives.

Colossians 3:4

4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Christ is our life once we are born-again. We do not have to try to get into this life. We are spiritual creatures. When we choose to disagree with the truth, we can continue to “function”, but no affect is being made because it takes the Spirit to introduce a change in the lives of people. Being branches of Christ, when we choose to take our route in our minds, we are cut off from our life source that is Christ. That results in us walking as creatures who never knew Christ, walking in constant death. Take for instance a praise and worship leader.

Their job is to prepare the hearts of the people to hear the Word of God and break up the fallow ground in their hearts. But when the spiritual leader tries to walk after the flesh, nothing is done in the Spirit. The people are only hearing good singing, and not being moved or ushered into the presence of God. Walking after the flesh as spiritual beings, we walk after the traditions of creatures void of God.

Ephesians 4:17-20

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

Before salvation, we were slaves to sin and its filthiness. We were merely temporarily existing, life from the cradle to the grave, no point to life. But now as Sons of God, we have been taught God. We cannot think our way into the heart of God. It is just who we are. As sons of God, when we are off-course, not fulfilling what we know that we can be in God, we become frustrated and depressed. We can try and label all the things our mind tells us that we are depressed about, but in actuality we are only depressed because we are walking in a lie. When we look at all that we have experienced with God, and then choose to walk in the flesh, those self same experiences will be the things that judge us. Those experiences were designed to encourage us and to build us up in our belief of who we really are.

Those experiences taught us Christ and we cannot deny that we have learned of Him because we have said out of own mouths that we have. We were once all messed up on the inside and out, yet God still decided to call us His own. He systematically taught us Christ and the standard of Christ through experiences. IF CHRIST BE LIFTED UP When we chose to walk in the Spirit, people were drawn to us because of the Christ that they saw in our lives. Christ was real to us. We experienced Him on the street, in the school and in our everyday life. We made such an impression on people that made them want to be a part. That was the life of Christ living through us. Just as we made the decision then to allow Christ to live through us, we have that same decision to make now. Now we have no excuses as to why we are not making the mark. We have experienced the standard and fallen away from it. God is calling for repentance from those who have not measured up.

We have to be honest with ourselves. Is our passion still towards ministry, or are we just fulfilling our duties? Where are we truly in our hearts? Is our desire towards God and godliness in every situation? Have we come to a place where it does not even matter anymore whether we please God or not? If so, we have reverted to being a natural man, bringing forth nothing of the Spirit. When we look at our hearts and see our shortcomings, are we truly sorrowful? Do we cry out for a second chance only to try and avoid the consequences or do we truly want to change? God is looking at where are hearts are, not just what we say out of our mouths. We have to want to do the righteous thing.

PERFORMING RIGHTEOUSNESS

Inside of doing the righteous thing, God built character in us. We were able to humble ourselves to each other, and that is how God was seen in our lives. When we kept Christ first we were able to stay spiritual. When we do go astray and choose not to walk as who we are, God in His infinite wisdom and mercy will show us ourselves, and the ugliness in it, hoping that we will come to hate our sin as He does. Once He shows us all we need to know, He will put us back in the same situations. The acid test that we have actually changed is that the sentiments that God has about the sin remains in us once we go back into our everyday lives. If we still struggle with how we feel about the sin, our hearts truly have not changed. As the lights to the world, if we do not walk in who we are, we rob so many of their hope of ever being free. We have to take the responsibility in their lives, not letting our own lusts hinder us from being who we are. We MUST hate the sin enough to change, enough to extract it all together from our hearts. If we do not hate the unrighteousness that is found in sin, we will never move.

Luke 14:26

26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

After we come to the place where we hate sin, it has to be replaced with virtue (strength) and patience as the Word says in 1 Peter 1:5-10,

1 Peter 1:5-10

5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

If this is so, we should ask ourselves, are we still making an affect on the people God has put us over. If we are not making a spiritual effect, we need to examine exactly what type of affect are we making. There is a law that has been created. With sin comes death and death brings immediate separation from God. Just as the law of gravity states what comes up must come down; the same is parallel with the scriptures. The soul that sinneth must die and we know that with sin comes death. This walk after the spirit must be a lifestyle. It can no longer be we walk after the spirit in spurts and we walk after the flesh the majority of the time.

THE CONVERTED HEART

How do you know when your heart has changed? Your heart has changed once you have agreed with the Father and your hate for sin is the same as God’s in all situations. The decision is ours to please God. He will continue to show us unrighteousness in us, but we have to make that decision to obey and agree with Him from the heart.

I love you,

Apostle Mike