Litzman The Joy of Knowing Who I Am

Book 1 of the Fundamentals of the Christ-Life Bible Study Series
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9992684-0-7
Verlag: WRLitzman Grace Media, Inc.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 234 Seiten

Find yourself in God's eternal plan! What happened when you were born again? What is your spiritual identity to God? How does Christ and His Cross affect you and your earthly life? Oh! What rest and joy comes when we discover who we are in Christ! Christians can be spiritually saved yet completely uninformed of what that means, leaving them poorly equipped for living out their earthly Christian life. Apostle Paul taught the importance of renewing our minds after salvation. Before God created the heavens and the earth, he already had a goal and a plan, which He kept hidden until He revealed it to Paul (Eph. 3:8-11; Col. 1:25-27). By learning God's eternal plan, we understand our lives, salvation, our part in His plan, and who we are to God. This plan culminates in the final gospel, which Christ personally assigned to Apostle Paul. The final gospel, the gospel of grace, is for born-again believers who live in the age of grace after the Cross. This final gospel is to us, for us! A Study of the Final Gospel opens a whole new understanding of the Bible, God's eternal plan, Christ's administration of it, and our role in it, including our relationship with Him and our earthly walk. This is an in-depth, Christ-centered Bible study series for individuals or groups, using God's Word, to help us learn to live this life in Christ as God's children. Because these lessons build from the ground up, it is vital for all Christians, both new and seasoned, to start fresh with strong, foundational understanding to firmly support advanced concepts in later teachings. We strongly urge students begin with Book 1 of the first series, The Fundamentals of the Christ-life and work through these lessons and the following books in their proper order.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Litzman, Warren

Leseproben

Lesson 1
What Is the Christ-life?
As we get underway in our lessons, the very first thing we will consider is the question, What is the Christ-life? Now that is a new term to some people. We get the term Christ-life from Galatians 2:20, where the apostle Paul said, The life I now live in the flesh is Christ (Gal. 2:20). We consider the in-Christ message as the apex truth of the Christian’s life because the Christ-life is the Christian life. One of the best translations for Christian is “Christ-person” (2 Cor. 2:10), meaning Christ’s life in operation. So, a person who has the Christ-life is a Christian with the knowledge that the very person within him is Christ. Then again, the Christ-life is more than that. It is a deep, spiritual truth. There was a time when this knowledge was hidden from God’s people. Even now, multitudes of God’s people have no concept of the fact that they are Christ-persons. That is why I give my life for these principles, these truths: that the only person in me is Christ and that Christ is the person whom I am growing up into. The only person in you is Christ. He is the only person you can grow up into. There is no life of your own because you no longer live; you were crucified with Christ, and the life you now live, indeed, is Christ (Gal. 2:20). The Present Truth
This brings us to the very first verse of Scripture I would like to deal with. Never forget these particular verses in 2 Peter 1:12–14: (12) “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. (13) Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; (14) Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.” ? Look Closer:
I want you to see specifically what is stated for us in verse 12, where Peter used the term present truth. Think about these questions: Is there a present truth with God? What is truth? Pontus Pilate asked the second question directly to Jesus in John 18:37–38: (37) “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. (38) Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.” ? See how Jesus responded earlier to this question by his disciples. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). To be factual, all truth is a person, Jesus Christ. We will find out in our study that God doesn’t really give truth; He is truth. Jesus Christ is obviously that truth because He said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6). That is one of Jesus’ great “I am” statements. Truth is a person. So, is there a present truth? Is there a truth more greatly emphasized and taught by the Holy Spirit at a specific time? We believe there is. We believe, along with Peter, there is such a thing as present truth. We believe present truth to be Christ alive in human beings, the Christ-life. What is the Christ-life? It is the present truth of God. We believe God is now bringing forth this present truth. You might say there has always been this present truth if Peter spoke of it over 1,900 years ago and we are just speaking of it now. It has always been in existence; I will not deny that. But I will say that, with God, in every generation of time since Christ left this earth, the present truth has been centered in the person of Jesus Christ. God has always worked to bring that truth. Then why did men not recognize it as I do now? Quite simply, men’s minds are so polluted with doctrine, theology, and manmade religion that they totally ignore God’s present truth. I think God has always brought the present truth, but I believe men’s minds can become so contaminated with men’s ideas, human doctrine, and satanic religion that they miss God’s present truth. I see this happening generation after generation from Christ’s Cross forward. I have been learning Christ in me for the past 45 years and have never been disappointed. This great truth of Christ in us as our hope of glory was profoundly expressed in the days of the apostle Paul and the apostle John. ? Look Closer:
Carefully read Colossians 1:25–29 below and note/underline the key words and phrases in each of the verses (i.e. the dispensation of God, given to me for you, the mystery, hid, etc.). (25) “Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; (26) Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: (27) To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (28) Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: (29) Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.” ? That gospel had to be Christ in us as our hope of glory. But, within a few years after Jesus left this earth and Christ began living in human beings, the gospel of it was lost, the truth of it was lost, the theology of it ceased to grow so that our world became unaware that the real Jesus Christ lived in believers. That means for the next 1,700 or 1,800 years, our world has not had this present truth as Paul taught and wrote about in his epistles. The present truth is Christ in us is our hope of glory. That is God’s whole intention, and it is man’s entire need — Christ in us. How did it get lost? It got lost because when a person is baptized into Christ — simple salvation, a re-birthing — the Christ in him is a lamb with a lamb spirit and will not war, will not force that believer’s mind to come to the understanding that another lives in him to be his life. If Paul’s message is not preached, if the Scriptures are not studied, then a great number of believers will never enter God’s fullness. ? Look Closer:
Read 2 Corinthians 4:2–6 below, and note how truth can be hidden or lost or even not made known. (2) “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (5) For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. (6) For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” ? Now, what would Satan do to keep people’s minds so polluted and focused on carnal things that they have no concept that Christ is in them? This would keep their minds unrelenting to the Christ in them. If you were Satan, what would you do? You would pollute that mind with human doctrine, fill it with religion, keep men so busy with doctrines, self-works, and noble hopes that there would never be a place for the Lamb within to flow forth into their mind. So they would never know the truth. I believe as recently as around 1980, one of the most remarkable things that ever happened since the days of apostle Paul and apostle John took place. God, by His grace, began bringing forth voices declaring this message of Christ in you as your hope of glory, and that would bring men to a oneness with Christ so that the only life they live would be Christ. Jesus Christ is being revealed in human beings now as never before. Not since the days of the apostle Paul has there been such a grand and total move of God upon this earth. Well, you say, what about all these other things that have happened here in the outer realm. I will just speak boldly, frankly. Most revivals, most deliverances, most signs, wonders, and miracles are still in the outer realm — men doing things, not Christ alive in them, not men as containers with Christ as the only life in them. That is what has happened. That is the difference in this move of the Spirit. God, by His grace, is raising up literally thousands who are now going forth proclaiming, “The only life I now live is Christ.” That is our purpose in studying this verse on present truth. The one present truth let loose in our universe today is this truth of Christ in us. So, God does have a present truth. Understanding Christ in Us
Now, notice I didn’t say men were coming to life, that believers were just now coming to life. I mentioned men are seeing greater revivals, outer things, human things, men filled with the Holy Ghost, men with great gifts, men with great power, men with great talent. That is outer; it is not this inner knowledge that Christ now lives in us as our hope of glory. Christ in us. You see, if we know Christ is...