Hi this is our Blog on Grace. We hope and pray that the Grace of God will flood into your life like it has ours. A good place to start is to listen to the mp3 messages, they will not only turn your world around, you will feel like you have just been saved all over again!
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Wednesday, 29 April 2009

Antidepressant...(26Apr09)

Jesus Our Centricity

Centric – cen·tric or cen·tri·cal adj
1.at or constituting the middle of something
2.issuing from or relating to a nerve center
Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

A few centrics:
Self /Con / Ex / Church / Theology / A Cause ….

But ours is to be Jesus-centric…
Therefore we need to KNOW Him & with an approach that has no ceiling / limitations – if we allow a ceiling then we will get to the place where He alone does not satisfy & we will look for make other things "centric" – could be close to idolatry.

So who is Christ – He is Glorious & He is our everything:
His Glory: glo·ry n
1.the fame, admiration, & honor that is given to somebody who does something important
2.something that brings or confers admiration, praise, honor, or fame
3.praise & thanksgiving offered as an act of worship to a deity
4.majesty or splendour
5.beauty that inspires feelings of wonder or joy
6.the idealized beauty & bliss of heaven
7.a halo around somebody's head.
interj
used to express great surprise, shock, dismay, or pleasure (dated)

This is His glory – one aspect at least: that in Him was the fulfilment of the Law - (Matthew 5:17) – all its demands He met, He fulfilled them all….IE He brought it to an end for those who believe.

Opened the way for us not only to be loved by the Father but to KNOW His love – as shared last week –
Eph 3:19 "…& to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

It is a massive thing to KNOW the love of Jesus – it is the gateway to being filled with ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD!!!!

Peter – full of the fullness of God wrote this for our comfort & guidance "…in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy…" (I Peter 3:15) – one simple way of doing this is to say, in your HEART & to God – Oh Lord, my HEART is yours….pure love.
"Regard" is too weak a word – a.) set apart, b) sanctify – venerate: regard with profound respect / honour as sacred or SPECIAL - elevate to highest – make holy – pure – simply: set to the fore / front – before & greater than.
This is what counted FOR David in his being a man after Gods own heart & we know how God saw & dealt with him.

This shifts our focus from other things to Christ & His focus is always the Father.
& in this we will find the Holy Spirit a willing & able Helper….the revelation spoken of in Eph 3….He is our Revelator!!!

Peter tells us to "…set apart Christ / Messiah the Lord / as Lord…
This Jesus… & His Glory – awesome wonder of His Being & Name:
Was declared by the Prophets – who heard God & He fulfilled their words.
From Genesis to Zechariah (John the Baptist's father) & all found the fulfilment in Him.
His arrival was announced by Angels:
Matt 2:8 - 15 Good News & Great Joy that will be for ALL people…Glory to God…& peace on Earth…V13 "& suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God & saying 14 Glory to God in the highest, & on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"
 Glory Erupted!!!!
His life was one of Love, Power & deep Worship…He was set apart – His life was a demonstration of The Kingdom of Heaven:
There wasn't a thing He didn't know – even the thoughts of men.
He was known by those with pure hearts – those who had faith.
He was known by demons, principalities & powers – His authority.
He was known by those in need of Power – healing & deliverance.
He found those in need of Power…accessible and willing.
Etc etc etc …not enough Tetra bytes in cyberspace to tell of all the good things about Him….
He was the Great High Priest – 5 superiorities of the Priesthood of Jesus -  Heb 7 (John Piper on Heb 7):
 His is sinless - v26 "We have a High Priest who is "holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens."  No other High Priest could say this or will ever be able to, ever!
Because he was sinless, he didn't have to offer sacrifices for himself, but instead could offer himself as a sacrifice. Verse 27: "He does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself."
"His sacrifice of himself was "once for all." You see that at the end of verse 27, "This He did ONCE for ALL when He offered up Himself."
Other priests were appointed by the Law in their weakness, but he was appointed by a divine oath as a perfect Son. Verse 28: "The Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son."
His ministry is forever, IE never ends, IE is alive / active today. At the end of verse 28: The oath "appoints a Son, made perfect forever."
His Life fulfilled the price Sin demanded for our Lives…IE the Law.
Every letter completely "satisfied" IE fulfilled.
Heb 10:12 – a single sacrifice for sin…for all time…He sat down…Heb 1:3 at the right hand of the Father….Hallelujah!!!
His death purchased for us Life & Life Abundant:
Free from sickness / oppression / possession.
Free from poverty.
Free from condemnation & an evil conscience (awareness of the guilt under the Law – Rom 10:22).
His Spirit continues His work today – thro those who have set apart the Messiah as Lord in their hearts – believed – by faith – those "working' for God Jn 6 (i.e. by believing in the One He sent) by His Grace (powerful enabling) that is with us 1 Cor 15:10.
Greater works Jn 14:12 – coz we are 'in the Spirit" & not in the flesh.
By & in His Spirit & NOT by the labour of our flesh in the Law!!!
By Fire & not by sweat.
By Being & not by doing!!!
We ARE therefore we Do…
We, those who Believe, are His great legacy!!!

Our Hope (that to which we hold unswervingly) is set in One so Great & Wonderful…that if we fix the Eyes of our Heart on Him….His Glory will captivate & accelerate us in all of His Fullness, all of The Fullness of God (Eph 3).

My prayer….may the eyes of YOUR heart be enlightened….Glorious Jesus our Centricity.



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