THE CHURCH IS NOT RECEIVING ALL OF ITS RIGHTS. It is certainly not the fault of the Lord that we are not living up to our advantages in the Lord Jesus. They are recorded in the Word of the Lord and they are powerful and tremendous. If ye then be risen with Christ. Having been raised with Christ to resurrection life, Paul is not writing about life after the resurrection of the body, or after the second coming of Christ. His message encumbrances, Now, Today, this very present moment of time. Resurrection life is a life of liberty from sin and sickness. Now, what is the key? It is found in hearts which are SET on SEEKING that which is spiritual, and to be found in the presence of the Father and His Christ. Col. 3:1 A people whose affections are set and centered on things eternal and not on the temporal. Col. 3:2 The mind set determines the destiny of each and every individual. We are either persuaded to seek after the benefits of this life, which lead to death or the true everlasting blessings of eternal life, which shall never pass away. The sinful mind is a mind of hostility and enmity. It is against the Lord. It is not, nor can it be in submission to the will of the Lord. There is no possibility of it ever being pleasing to the Lord. Rom. 8:5-8 The scriptures make no compromise with the carnal, fleshly mind of man, for it is a mind of disobedience.
A WARNING CONCERNING THAT WHICH LEADS TO APOSTASY. Beware lest you become corrupt or spoiled, carried away and robbed. The wisdom and philosophy of this world is most generally in opposition to the Word of the Lord. The Word is truth. If philosophy is really a search for truth then it should by all means embrace the book of Truth, the living Word of the Lord. The vain, meaningless and deceitful ideas and teaching of men which detract from the truth are to be avoided. As if though that were not enough we also face the beliefs of men and their religion. Traditions which are vain and empty, religious and not spiritual. Anything that would lead one away from the teaching of the Lord Jesus is to be shunned. Col. 2:8
FOR IN HIM, THAT IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. There is to be found in Him and inhabiting His being the fullness of the Godhead. Glorious and wonderful are the workings of the Lord. Col. 2:9 The sum and substance of that which comprises the Lord, the very essence of His being was present with and dwelling within the spirit nature of the Lord Jesus. Utterly amazing and too often beyond the comprehension of mankind is our God. He is omnipresent, everywhere present at one and the same time, while we are limited to our present locality. Solomon acknowledged that the vastness of the heavens could not contain the Lord. Much less the beautiful Temple which he had built for the Lord. 1 Kings 8:27 Yet, in all of His vastness and boundlessness, the Godhead chose to abide in the Lord Jesus in a magnificent manner. It was the good pleasure of the Father that ALL that He is, in ALL of His being should dwell in the Lord Jesus. Col. 1:19 The physical body was made to be the Temple of the Most High. The Godhead does not possess a physical body, only in the Lord Jesus. God is a Spirit and therefore has a liberty and freedom which is not found in the physical realm. John 4:24 He will do exactly as He did in the life of the Lord Jesus while here on earth. More astonishing is the ultimate of this association which exists in the Godhead. The words of Jesus must be considered when He was speaking of this relationship between His Father, the Holy Spirit and Himself. He included those who would believe on Him as having the same privilege of the full presence of the Godhead in their spiritual man. Note the kinship which is given in John 1:20. I AM in my Father. YOU are in me, and I AM in you. How else can we consider this but to take it at face value and realize that Jesus spoke the truth. There can only be one conclusion and that is, that the same Spirit, the same might and power which was in Christ is also resident within the spirit of those who are truly in Christ. There is no limit, to that which will be displayed, through a people who have entered in a covenant such as this. Rest assured that the Lord will work a glorious and wonderful work in the body of believers who are totally consecrated to Him is these last days. Remember not one jot or tittle will pass away until all these things be fulfilled,