"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Romans 8:16-17
The Holy Spirit tells us who we are in Christ. He tells us that we are God’s children. He tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ. He bears witness with our own spirits and we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that we have been born of God. I can remember when I was a child, I never doubted who my parents were. If I was scared, I was comforted by them. My needs were always met by them and I never doubted that I was the child of Neal and Brenda Shull. I knew that I was their child. I knew this Truth not only because they told me that I was, but because I lived it and they showed it. I knew that I was an heir and man did that make me feel great. I never lacked confidence, because I knew who I was, I knew who my parents were and I knew that I was safe and protected by them. I thank God daily that I had a great childhood.
Now that I am saved, I have God Who tells me that I am a joint-heir through Christ. We are joint-heirs, we are not ugly stepchildren, we are not servants, we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. All of His honor, we jointly share, all of His possessions we jointly share. “All things the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said I, that He (The Holy Ghost) shall take of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:15
That is some awesome Truth. Words cannot even begin to describe the power of this Truth: we are joint heirs with Christ. Just think about the power of Jesus, who He is, what He can do, the love He possesses, the mind of service He has, what He has power over, and then say, yeah God said it, so I definitely am, a joint-heir with all of that, WOW! Our Father gave it all to Jesus, He created Him, all that Jesus is, and all that He has is directly from God, and we are now joint heirs with it. Look at how our Father says that we will be when Jesus returns. “Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2
You have to have the Spirit in you to even begin to think about it, because if you are just in the flesh, just playing religion, you will freak out over this. People in the church who are without the Holy Spirit will fulfill Jesus' prophesy over this. "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service." John 16:2 You begin to talk like you really are a joint-heir with Christ and watch what happens. We are going to study about persecution in later postings. But we are not those who faint and are destroyed by a lack of knowledge and we do not reject knowledge as Hosea prophesied. No, we are now more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We now have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and He is praising God and assuring us all of the time that we are heirs, joint heirs with Christ!
Now I want you to ask yourself this question, God proclaims that we are joint-heirs if we suffer with Christ. So what is Jesus suffering? This verse does not say, if we suffer what Jesus suffered. No, it says, if we suffer with Him, present tense. So what is Jesus suffering? Jesus is not sick, He does not fear, and He is not suffering from economic problems. Jesus is not suffering from gangs or violence. He is suffering, but what? What is it that Jesus suffers from; it’s people not believing Him. Jesus suffers people not accepting the sacrifice He has offered and them suffering the consequences of their unbelief, the eternal consequences. We are joint-heirs with Jesus if we suffer people not believing the God’s Truth. Jesus suffered this persecution when He first came in the flesh and He still suffers it today!
So far we have studied some pretty powerful truths. How many people though really believe what we have studied in these posts? Unfortunately, not only don't most people believe what we have studied, but they aggressively oppose it. Churches have damned me for just putting some of these verses together. I had a preacher hold his ears and say that he never wanted to hear me share these verses again. I was younger and boy did I love to see Him try and answer, “as He is so are we in this world.” OK, I was being ornery, but I was young, and He never could answer me with scripture why we weren’t. To be honest if I saw him today, I probably would bring it back up again!
The sad truth is what we have studied is not popular. People want to earn it, they want to glory in the fact that they somehow did something to receive these things from our Father. The world and satan want to condemn us for not measuring up, so we will buy their tape series, or their books to assist us in measuring up. They want to condemn us so we may tithe or give some sort of offering to make up for our inadequacies. But what we have studied is it is all just a free gift. Now you know why Jesus is called a stumbling block, He made it so simple, and He made it so it could never be earned, and that is just not the way the world works. People stumble over this every day. But we are stable and fixed in the Truth, held firm by the Holy Spirit. God is for us, and with Christ, God can now use us to do all things!
Be simple this day and rejoice over the free and glorious gifts that we have been given from our Father! We haven't earned them! Yet, even in our humanity, we have received it all. We have been given everything: glory, sanctification, unity, power, ability, Truth, faith, and hope directly from the only One Who has it to give!
The Holy Spirit tells us who we are in Christ. He tells us that we are God’s children. He tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ. He bears witness with our own spirits and we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that we have been born of God. I can remember when I was a child, I never doubted who my parents were. If I was scared, I was comforted by them. My needs were always met by them and I never doubted that I was the child of Neal and Brenda Shull. I knew that I was their child. I knew this Truth not only because they told me that I was, but because I lived it and they showed it. I knew that I was an heir and man did that make me feel great. I never lacked confidence, because I knew who I was, I knew who my parents were and I knew that I was safe and protected by them. I thank God daily that I had a great childhood.
Now that I am saved, I have God Who tells me that I am a joint-heir through Christ. We are joint-heirs, we are not ugly stepchildren, we are not servants, we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. All of His honor, we jointly share, all of His possessions we jointly share. “All things the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said I, that He (The Holy Ghost) shall take of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:15
That is some awesome Truth. Words cannot even begin to describe the power of this Truth: we are joint heirs with Christ. Just think about the power of Jesus, who He is, what He can do, the love He possesses, the mind of service He has, what He has power over, and then say, yeah God said it, so I definitely am, a joint-heir with all of that, WOW! Our Father gave it all to Jesus, He created Him, all that Jesus is, and all that He has is directly from God, and we are now joint heirs with it. Look at how our Father says that we will be when Jesus returns. “Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2
You have to have the Spirit in you to even begin to think about it, because if you are just in the flesh, just playing religion, you will freak out over this. People in the church who are without the Holy Spirit will fulfill Jesus' prophesy over this. "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service." John 16:2 You begin to talk like you really are a joint-heir with Christ and watch what happens. We are going to study about persecution in later postings. But we are not those who faint and are destroyed by a lack of knowledge and we do not reject knowledge as Hosea prophesied. No, we are now more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We now have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and He is praising God and assuring us all of the time that we are heirs, joint heirs with Christ!
Now I want you to ask yourself this question, God proclaims that we are joint-heirs if we suffer with Christ. So what is Jesus suffering? This verse does not say, if we suffer what Jesus suffered. No, it says, if we suffer with Him, present tense. So what is Jesus suffering? Jesus is not sick, He does not fear, and He is not suffering from economic problems. Jesus is not suffering from gangs or violence. He is suffering, but what? What is it that Jesus suffers from; it’s people not believing Him. Jesus suffers people not accepting the sacrifice He has offered and them suffering the consequences of their unbelief, the eternal consequences. We are joint-heirs with Jesus if we suffer people not believing the God’s Truth. Jesus suffered this persecution when He first came in the flesh and He still suffers it today!
So far we have studied some pretty powerful truths. How many people though really believe what we have studied in these posts? Unfortunately, not only don't most people believe what we have studied, but they aggressively oppose it. Churches have damned me for just putting some of these verses together. I had a preacher hold his ears and say that he never wanted to hear me share these verses again. I was younger and boy did I love to see Him try and answer, “as He is so are we in this world.” OK, I was being ornery, but I was young, and He never could answer me with scripture why we weren’t. To be honest if I saw him today, I probably would bring it back up again!
The sad truth is what we have studied is not popular. People want to earn it, they want to glory in the fact that they somehow did something to receive these things from our Father. The world and satan want to condemn us for not measuring up, so we will buy their tape series, or their books to assist us in measuring up. They want to condemn us so we may tithe or give some sort of offering to make up for our inadequacies. But what we have studied is it is all just a free gift. Now you know why Jesus is called a stumbling block, He made it so simple, and He made it so it could never be earned, and that is just not the way the world works. People stumble over this every day. But we are stable and fixed in the Truth, held firm by the Holy Spirit. God is for us, and with Christ, God can now use us to do all things!
Be simple this day and rejoice over the free and glorious gifts that we have been given from our Father! We haven't earned them! Yet, even in our humanity, we have received it all. We have been given everything: glory, sanctification, unity, power, ability, Truth, faith, and hope directly from the only One Who has it to give!
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