"THE WORD MADE FLESH
AND CHRIST FORMED IN YOU"
MF Blume
MARCH 28, 1999 pm
John 1:14 And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Gala 4:19 My little children, of whom I
travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
Not only are the biographies of Old Testament characters a lesson to
us in our spiritual walks with the Lord, but so are the sovereign acts
of God.
God commanded light to shine in Genesis.
God so much wants light to shine out of your heart's darkness rather
than the physical darkness of the world in Genesis.
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But the same way He would shine in our hearts is the way He chose to shine
in darkness in Genesis.
God wants the light to shine in you so that you know Christ, but that is
not all.
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He wants to shine the light of glory that's in the face of Jesus Christ.
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How can that happen if it is in us?
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The light in Jesus' face shines in us and out of us.
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We are to manifest Christ through our lives.
The only way we could truly see the WORD'S LIFE was for that word to become
flesh.
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After reading about LIFE being in the word.... (so what? it was locked
inside and we could not see it).
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After reading about that LIFE being the LIGHT of all men... to light them
like fire lights a candle...(So what? It was inside the word and we could
not see it)
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We then read...
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
When the WORD was made flesh, it exploded into light.
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Jesus came right into the middle of an Israel turned bad and dark.
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...Right into an Israel whose priests were corrupted and the religion used
to rule people.
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And the LIGHT within that word was MADE VISIBLE!!!
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When it dwelt among us as a man, WE THEN BEHELD HIS GLORY.
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Praise God, it was "viewable."
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Oh, the WORD still was SPOKEN.
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But this time it was spoken as well as made flesh.
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And when Jesus spoke, the people felt something.
It was like the LIFE of God was now possible to be taken by Adam when it
was in a fruit.
God manifested in flesh, because the WORD IS GOD, and shined forth in
the invisible realms, as much as light shined forth in the midst of darkness.
Notice the same phrase used in two different books written by John,
but followed by different issues..
John 1:18 No man hath seen God
at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared [him].
1Joh 4:12-13 No man hath seen God at any
time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected
in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath
given us of his Spirit.
John says that Jesus Christ declared God, when no man could see God.
1 John said we declare God in the way we love one another when no man
can see God.
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We see that 1John moves from a mention of LIFE being manifested towards
us to the beholders now becoming the containers.
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We now hold what the answer to every man is!
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That is why Jesus said we would be witnesses of Him.
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We receive power to become sons of God (John 1:12) and we receive power
to be witnesses unto Him (Acts 1:8)!!
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Bless God, we have HIS POWER in us!!!
The Body of Christ that walked this earth was named Jesus Christ.
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That Body was the only means to know God.
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But now there is still a Body of Christ called the Church.
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And the world knows God by the Church.
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Your life is supposed to shine out the glory of God.
John commented about Jesus declaring God.
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1 John is about US declaring God.
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No man could see God, but Jesus declared Him and God was indirectly seen
through the body of Jesus.
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Well, now we are the BODY OF JESUS.
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And no man can see God still.
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But 1 John said God is now inside those who truly love one another.
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And when people see that and know humanity cannot do that truly, they know
God is inside.
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It is the next best thing to actually seeing God.
Now we are containers of that power.
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We "temple" (we "house") that glory!
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You BEHOLD the Glory, then you CONTAIN the Glory!
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"We have this treasure in earthen vessels."
The key is to open your heart wide open.
We are to bring forth this Jesus from our lives, now, as well.
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Yes, do exactly what He did.
A church in a town called Galatia, began slipping away from the proper
christian living God intended for us.
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So we can look at them and see, by the way Paul corrected them, and find
out what we must live like today.
Notice that Paul's mention of being called to preach the gospel to gentiles,
mentions the thought of revealing Christ in him.
Gala 1:15-16 But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace,
To
reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen;
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
For Paul, Christ had to be revealed in him in order for him to preach the
gospel.
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Whatever your work for God is, Christ will have to be revealed in you in
order for you to do that ministry!
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You may work in prisons and minister to them.
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Christ has to be revealed in you to do that, also.
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You may be an elder upon whom people in the church trust and receive strength.
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You need Christ revealed in you to do that, too.
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The different ministries we each have are all ministries that operate by
the very root principle that Christ must be revealed in you.
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When He is revealed, you have come to the place where you will work a certain
ministry.
Gala 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if
righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Paul said that he was a vessel for Jesus to live in him.
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Like a seed planted into the soil of Paul's life, Jesus Christ was growing
in Paul and coming out into the open, and people were receiving God's LIFE
when Paul ministered to them.
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Jesus was revealed in Paul.
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It was actually Jesus ministering through Paul.
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He said He does not frustrate the grace of God.
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He lets this grace work.
Gala 3:2-5 This only would I learn of
you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made
perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if [it be]
yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh
miracles among you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith?
Paul ministered SPIRIT to them, for CHRIST was living through him.
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His ministry was Christ revealing Himself through Paul IN THE FORM OF HIS
PREACHING.
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He even said that He preached not himself but CHRIST in 2 Cor. 4.
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And they got bogged down and thrown away from seeing that happen in their
own lives, and instead tried photocopying the works of God and trying to
do what God would do through them in their own power.
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They were fakes.
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Paul said it is not the flesh copying the works of God, but God's Spirit
is in you so that His Spirit would do those things in you.
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They sunk into rituals and liturgy.
And then he said:
Gala 4:19 My little children, of
whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
He said Jesus was being formed in you, but you aborted the child!
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The plant was growing in you but you choked its growth by plugging
all sorts of ritual into your lives.
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Jesus is supposed to be born from your lives!!!!!
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Christ liveth in Paul, and Paul thrives on Christ's faith, but these people
allowed flesh to thrive.
Abortion is an evil and wicked thing.
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The Bible calls a fetus a life that is equal and on par with an adult human
being.
Exod 21:22-25 If men strive, and hurt
a woman with child, so that her fruit depart [from her], and yet no mischief
follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will
lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges [determine]. And if [any]
mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth
for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for
wound, stripe for stripe.
His life is equal to the fetus' life, for the Bible says the fetus that
dies is cause for the man that caused it to die to be killed.
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This does not mean that we should kill abortion doctors.
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This is an example to prove that God considered the life of the fetus on
equal par with the life of an adult to compare the two by saying LIFE FOR
LIFE.
After we are christians, the little seed of the word begins growing in
our hearts.
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And the result is that the plant will grow and be aa strong plant, sprung
forth and fully grown from the soil of our hearts.
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Some plants are stunted and die young when the soil has stones in it or
thorns and thistles.
Luke 8:11-15 Now the parable is this:
The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear;
then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest
they should believe and be saved. They on the rock [are they], which, when
they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for
a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell
among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked
with cares and riches and pleasures of [this] life, and bring no fruit
to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest
and good heart, having heard the word, keep [it], and bring forth fruit
with patience.
After we read this, we read:
Luke 8:16-17 No man, when
he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth [it] under
a bed; but setteth [it] on a candlestick, that they which enter in may
see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest;
neither [any thing] hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
God has a "secret" seed in your heart's soil.
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And it is meant to manifest and come forth for all the world to see.
When God spoke light in Genesis He wanted that LIGHT to LIGHTEN the world.
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He did not light a candle to hide it.
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That light is meant to go far and wide throughout the darkness.
Matt 5:14-16 Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in
heaven.
Jesus put the light in you, that the Word produces, and your flesh is now
meant to be WORD, and you are meant to SPEAK FORTH LIGHT.
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This means your life is now an expression of God.
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You are an extension of God.
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You are the branch and He is the vine.
So we left off in Galatians where Paul said Christ had to be formed in
them again.
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What they were doing was not the result of Christ being formed and beginning
to actually come forth from their lives, as Paul experienced when he said
"Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."
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Their works were textbook-type christianity.
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Step by step, dead, cold, dry instructions on how to do good deeds.
My wife can play the piano with feeling and with Spirit.
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But she cannot read sheet music.
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I know those who read sheet music and play also with feeling and God anoints
them.
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But there are those who plunk plunk plunk while reading sheet music, and
are lifeless.
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This is similar to living the christian life.
And then immediately Paul speaks about a miracle baby and a flesh baby.
Gala 4:21-23 Tell me, ye that desire
to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he [who
was] of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman
[was] by promise.
Look at the mothers of the boys and see something.
Gala 4:25-28 For this Agar is mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is
the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, [thou] barren that bearest
not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath
many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise.
After Paul said he did not live, but Christ lived in Him, he said he did
not frustrate GRACE.
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"I'm doing it right. What about you? How come you are living
by fleshly ritual and liturgy?"
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Even Jesus was full of GRACE AND TRUTH.
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GRACE was allowed to work in Paul.
He went on in chapter 5 and said to not worry about slipping into fleshly
pleasures, because if they followed the Spirit they would not fulfill the
lusts of the flesh.
Gala 5:16 [This] I say then, Walk
in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Then we read in Gal 5 about FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT as opposed to WORKS OF
THE FLESH.
After talking about a fake child of Abraham, Ishmael, and the child
of promise (miracle child), Paul speaks of them as the ISRAEL OF
GOD.
Gala 6:16 And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
And he ends by saying.... as was what Jesus was filled with....
Gala 6:18 Brethren, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with your spirit. Amen.
When Paul said he had to let Christ live in him, he said he did not frustrate
the "grace."
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And he told them that this GRACE must be with their spirits, too!
After the WORD is alive in all hearts who will ever open up to it, after
it has shined upon all men, time will cease, this heaven and earth will
be removed, and God will move on to the next phase.... He will manifest
Himself through all of us as ONE BODY.. more perfectly than we can imagine
in this incomplete stage.
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And THEN the real LIFE will begin!!!!