Whether
we have realized it or not, there are three basic groups or categories
of Believers. The largest world group consists of people who, though they
are heavy and try to avoid the darkness in the world, have no hope that
the world can be redeemed. They feel helpless, they co-exist with the sinner,
tolerate their behavior and allow the heaviness of sin to remain in their
lives.
Assuming Christ's
return is imminent, they retreat into what seems a shelter of apathy concerning
the non Christian world around them. Yet most are not truly apathetic.
Their souls, like Lot's, are vexed by the conduct of unprincipled men.
"and
turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with
an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live
ungodly;
and delivered
just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
for that
righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;"
2
Peter 2:6-7-8 KJV
THE THREE GROUPS:
1: The
first group has compassion, though, is kindled even if it's limited. Rarely
do they extend themselves beyond the needs of their immediate family and
closest friends. Belonging to churches and denominational groups that fail,
to disciple them, they fail to full demonstrate "the Love Of Christ." They
love the Lord, but they don't know how or what to do to change society
or even to positively impact their neighborhoods.
2:
The second group of Christians consists of those who would rather rail
at the darkness than adjust to it. Though much smaller in number than the
first, they are by no means apathetic; in fact, they appear exactly opposite.
They rage at
the depravity of the ungodly and protest the audacity of the wicked. They
pound the pulpit and the pavement; they are both vocal and visible. Yet
their ability to transform their culture is, for the most part, neutralized
by their negativity and rage. The end result? They are dismissed as judgmental
extremists. Most sinners simply cannot endure the harshness of their approach.
Both groups sincerely
desire to see our culture transformed. Yet the same problem afflicts them:
they are troubled that the world is unchristian, that the world does not
believe in Yeshua the Jewish Messiah, yet, they themselves are not troubled
that their own hearts are not manifesting the attributes of the LORD.
They do not
perceive God's agenda for the Ages and His heart. The transformation of
the Body Of Christ, the church into the image of His son Jesus Christ is
the revelation that all must understand yet they fail to receive it.
"And
we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose.
For whom
he did fore know, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Romans
8:28-29 KJV
The Five Virgins
3: The
third group of Christians have a need to change the world. It need becomes
critical as we get closer to the return of the Lord for His Bride. It is
this very passion, the passion to disciple, to teach and to transform,
conformed to Christ that separates the third group from the others.
These are the
five virgins, the remnant that carry the oil in their lamps and go out
to meet their bridegroom. Though smallest in number, its members
(not a church or denomination, but a remnant) are
the most effective. Throughout history, these have been the ones that are
the world changers.
These
are the individuals who have understood the priority of God. They know
that the Father's highest passion is to behold His Son revealed in a believer's
soul.
As much as they
are moved with compassion for the lost, their primary quest is not to touch
their neighbors' hearts, but to touch the heart of God. They know if they
awaken the Father's pleasure, the power of His Spirit will go before them.
God Himself will change the hearts of those around them.
It is my sincere
quest in life to be like Jesus in everything. It stuns me to know that
if I am truly conformed to Christ, I have the Spirit's promise that I will
also awaken the pleasure of Almighty God. Here, in my transformation, is
the power to touch cities and redeem cultures, for it takes transformed
people to transform nations.
What Does
It Mean To Be Like Christ?
Indeed, it
was this Obsession Divine that gave the hunger to our beloved Apostle Paul
for Christ likeness. This was his great success. His expressed vision was
simply. . .
"That
I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of
His sufferings, being conformed to His death"
Philippians
3:10 KJV
Paul's passion
was taken up with this one heavenly goal of being conformed to the life
and power of Jesus Christ.
Our Beloved
apostle's quest was not only to win the world but to know Jesus
Christ. The result of this Obsession Divine led to works in the life of
Paul that accomplished the following. . . .
-
founding churches -
- making
disciples -
- writing
almost half the New Testament -
- winning
the lost -
- demonstrating
miraculous spiritual gifts -
- and remaining
faithful throughout times of terrible suffering -
All these accomplishments
were achieved by our beloved Paul because they were by-products of his
passion to know Christ. They all were.
In the same
manner the Father's immediate and primary goal for the Lord's church is
for us to be like His Son Jesus Christ. The Lord manifests the father's
Light and in turn the father expects us to manifest his son's light.
He rescues,
redeems, heals, transforms us so in turn He can live His live through us.
Some say that the Father's goal is to win the lost. Yet, if this were His
highest priority, He would simply bypass the church and save men Himself.
Has He not
proven, as seen in Paul's conversion, that His abilities to save people
are without limit? Did He not change the arrogant heart of King Nebuchadnezzar
into a man of meekness who gave glory to God? Who can resist Him who is
irresistible? However, instead of revealing His glory, it is His choice
to reach to the lost through the agency of transformed people.
Dear Church,
this is the glorious mystery of our existence: the Almighty has purposed
from eternity to create a race of men and women who, though tested in a
corrupt and violent world, bear the image and likeness of Christ.
So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male
and female created he them.
Genesis
1:27 KJV
Christ has called
this NEW RACE, this heavenly-natured people "the church," His "new
creation"
"Therefore
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new."
2
Corinthians 5:17 KJV
The Obsession
DIVINE
When people
fall in love, they become obsessed with their beloved; to be obsessed is
"to
think continually about the same thing."
In the same
manner, the Father is obsessed with penetrating, filling, radiate, consume
His universes with the Spirit, Presence and Power of His Incarnate manifestation
of Yeshua or Salvation.
Beginning with
eternity past, revealing the Firstborn in the womb of time, and continuing
with the transformation of His Body, the church, the Father desires all
creation ultimately to be summed up in His physical Incarnation, Jesus
Christ or yeshua Ha-Massiach.
This is the
race that has been placed before us, this becomes our goal. as we become
part of the third group, our participation in this race "sums it up."
Here is the
revelation:
that
in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth;
even in him:
Ephesians
1:10 KJV
This
will continue until all that we are IS conformed to
His Son Yeshua.
The revelation
is that the Father is obsessed with His Son, as we allow ourselves to be
transformed into His image, we must also allow ourselves to surrender not
only to God's PERFECT WILL, not His permissive, but PERFECT WILL, which
is also His obsession.
The Lord's
prayer shows us how He prayed prayed. the main focus in this prayer is
that the very love with which the Father loved the Son would be in His
disciples.
"And
I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love
wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
John
17:26 KJV
We can receive
and be flooded with the very same quality of love that the Father has for
His Son. We can know the divine obsession.
As this revelation
becomes part of our daily walk, we must begin to ponder and then pursue
what it means to be Christ like.
We must surrender
our lives not only to the understanding of the Son's sacrificial death
on the cross for us but also we must continue to grow in that death and
give ourselves to the obsession divine of God.
We must allow
ourselves to see creation, starting with ourselves, our churches, our neighborhoods
summed up in Christ through the eyes of our heavenly Father.
For it is here,
in this revelation, in this understanding, in the transformation of our
lives, that we are revealed by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT the wondrous
Obsession Divine of God.
It is here,
in the realm of the spirit, in the Holy Of Holies that we discover and
fulfill the unveiling of His Son in the earth. It is here, at the foot
of the Cross of Christ, that we discover THE POWER one life surrendered
to His Obsession Divine has upon the heart of God.
It is my prayer
that your heart becomes as obsessed with His Son as He is with you knowing
HIM. I pray that this absorption of knowing God's Son comes to its maturity
in all our lives. It is my prayer that it comes to its fullness in this
dispensation.
Oh! Lord it
is my prayer that you will displace all other pursuits until, the mere
glimpse of Jesus becomes my complete focus. Allow my whole being to be
flooded with the pleasure You Yourself desire in me and your son's Holy
Church that we may feel your heart.
In My Own Words,
Edmund DeSoto
TO
YOUR HEALTH
N
E W !
The
Old Covenant is the Dispensation of the Father. Messiah's earthly ministry
is the Dispensation of the Son. The age between The Ascension and
the Second Coming of Christ is the Dispensation of The
Holy Spirit.
