The apostle Paul revealed the
very core of the Christian life when he wrote: “For
to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”
(Philippians 1:21). Paul testified that his life
passion is to know Christ.
I count all thing loss that I
might value the surpassing value of knowing by
personal experience Christ Jesus my Lord. I count
all my self-efforts a loss in order that I may gain
Christ, and be found in Him. I want a righteousness
that comes on the basis of faith in the atoning
death of Jesus Christ. The passion of my life is
“that I may know Him, and the power of His
resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death, in order that I may
attain to the resurrection of the dead” (3:10-11).
Has Jesus Christ laid hold of
you? Like a wrestler, the apostle Paul says, Christ
got hold on me, and now I want to get a good grip on
Him. Do you have that same passion of the apostle?
I want Jesus Christ, and nothing else in life
will satisfy once you get a taste of His life.
When you come to an intimate
love relationship with Christ, you want to celebrate
His glory at every opportunity. You long to see His
face and hear His voice and feel His touch and walk
hand in hand with Him.
He bides us, “Come and follow”
and trust Him for every provision each step of the
way.
What makes the new life in
Christ so dynamic is that in everything that happens
in our lives, God is conforming us to the likeness
of His Son. “That I may know Him and the power of
His resurrection” is the Spirit of God working in
the inner person. It is Christ through His Holy
Spirit in the heart, rooted and grounded in love,
filled with the fullness of God.
There is no other way to live
the Christian life to the glory of God. He invites
us to make ourselves available to Him. When we do,
the Holy Spirit frees us to draw near to the Father
and draw our strength from Him.
This is the way the believer
glorifies God. As we listen to the Holy Spirit and
obey Him, we will always glorify Christ. This is the
divine agenda. The Holy Spirit never glorifies
Himself. His one objective is to
exalt Jesus Christ. When I am obedient to the
Spirit, I always exalt Christ to the glory of God
the Father.
God is sovereign, and He is
always in charge of His own agenda.
When I pray that I may know
Christ and the power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of His suffering, I want to be
strengthened with the power of the Holy Spirit in
the most intimate inner person of my being. I want
Him to settle down and make Himself at home in my
core being.
Is there ever a time when He is
not available to me? Never. With
the new life, I have a new way, a new entry into the
living presence of a holy and righteous God. I don’t
come my way; I come His way by means of His
righteousness that He provides to the believing
sinner. He has give us a new identity “in Christ,”
with a new power and a new purity.
Why remain on the old way
running down the same old road of self-righteousness
when Jesus Christ has provided a new way by means of
His saving grace?
The new life begins at the
cross and ends in the presence of God in heaven.
Along the way is the joy of knowing the love of
Christ, which surpasses knowledge and human
experiences. The new life with
its new way is one “that you may be filed up to all
the fullness of God.”
Since God is able to do
exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or
think according to the power that works within us,”
we can trust Him to the better way that is God’s
very best.
The old way of rules and
regulations binds and enslaves the new life in the
Spirit. The grace of God freely given in Christ sets
you free to live His way. “It was for freedom that
Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and
do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery”
(Gal. 5:1). The old way is walking around with that
yoke. The new way of life in the Spirit is by faith
working through love.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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