Apostolic Character Traits

Gal 6:14  But God forbid (May it never happen to me) that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, 

• ( The effect of the world on Paul is nothing; it is dead to Him.  It stands crucified to him, and its effects on Paul will never change, they are permanent.  It is a past action with permanent results.  This is the meaning of the perfect tense in which this verb is found.)and I unto the world.

Gal6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth(inward strength and force, to have strength to overcome health, ability, capacity) any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

• Only Christ being formed and birthed in us is of any capacity or ability for us to overcome and get the victory.

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed( don’t take on the outward form or fashion of the world by a disobedient walk with the Lord) to this world: but be ye transformed( metamorphosis; or attain to a complete and radical inward change and becoming a totally different individual)  by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove( only when we are radically changed can we then test, approve and possess for ourselves the mature, well pleasing, and good will of God) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

• Remember the example of the lowly caterpillar being transformed into the beautiful butterfly.  Metamorphosis?  What about the tadpole being transformed into a frog?  Total and radical change!  Guess what?  That is exactly what the Lord wants out of our lives.  The death of ourselves on the cross and the resurrection life of our Lord within us should be so extraordinary, that indeed we all become lovely and free butterflies for His glory. Unrecognizable as a tadpole is from a frog because Jesus lives so big in us, should find us with no former remembrance of our “tadpolish” existence.  At least that should be our goal!)

Col 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring (always agonizing in an athletic struggle, fervently) for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. 

 1) Brought to a place of spiritual maturity in ever aspect of our lives; and having a full assurance and understanding of everything that God has willed for our lives.
2) Knowing and understanding every aspect of what God has called us to do and willed for us, and perform it with all spiritual maturity)
3)To the limit of the very maturity of Christ’s character so that we can fulfill every aspect of Christ will through it.
                        
James 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

• Much inward strength and capacity has the prayers of a righteous man to show itself efficient, active, capable and full of energy possessing everything that the Father has willed.

Philippians 1:20  According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness,( As Christ is magnified and made great in his life, the power of God within Paul brings much freedom to him.  Paul can live out the gospel in confidence, candor, fearlessness and honesty, unhindered in every way.) as always, so  now also Christ shall be magnified in my body), whether it be by life, or by death.

• The apostle Paul’s desire was to take his life and use it as a magnifying glass that would make Jesus Christ great.  His expectation is one of stretching out his head to be able to anxiously observe this process becoming a reality in his life.

Phillip 2:12 ¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out(Utterly accomplish, finish and achieve to completion everything that has to do with your salvation.  Utterly finish it!  Do not leave anything lacking! Therefore growing up into Christ in all things.)
    your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Matt 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

• To have real weight or clout with Jesus.  The word for love in this scripture is affection for Jesus above that of anything else.  Having a greater affection for anything in this life makes a believer unfit and unprepared to follow Jesus.  He is unable to adequately respond to the life and the call of Jesus.  There will be a lack of balance between the believer and Jesus himself.  He will not deserve Jesus.)

Luke 5:10  And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
11  And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

·        These disciples literally sent off, gave up, left behind all.  It is an attitude of the heart.  To follow Jesus is to follow Him and live the same life, which He lives.  It means to travel with Him on the same path that He travels on.  It is symbolic of an exterior call, but with an absolute commitment to one exclusive Master, Jesus, whether by life and even by death, if necessary.  The believer participates not only not only in salvation but in suffering as well.

 2Cor 12:15  And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

·        I will very gladly incur personal expense for your Christian well-being.  I will pour my very soul out for your progress in the faith.  I will exhaust myself by spending and using myself up for your spiritual maturing in Christ.

Philippians 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

• I persecute, pursue, and overtake, in hope that I can grasp, seize, and make my own, all of what is contained in what Christ originally grasped and seized me for.

Philippians  3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

• Therefore I neglect and no longer care for what is behind me. I stretch myself out and towards, and run swiftly after what is before me. The direction being, the mark of the goal of the high price of unbroken fellowship of Christ’s resurrection life, and the hope of His calling for me.

1Cor 9:24 ¶ Know ye not that they which run (to run and spend my strength in attaining to something) in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.(to posses and make my own.  Jesus said that He glorified the Father by completing all that the Father had placed before Him to do. 

25  And every man that striveth for the mastery (the agony of athletic competition) is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

26    I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:  

·        Our faith must contain a clear perception of God’s vision for our lives.  “Without a vision the people perish.” We must not walk obscurely, as those who do not know the voice of God.  We must not trash the air aimlessly with those things that Christ has not called us to, no matter how noble or praiseworthy they might be.  Our time must not be wasted by the missed discernment of God’s will; too much is at stake!  Our punch must be sure; we must strike straight and not spare.

27 But I keep under my body (To beat the body black and blue, or get a black eye), and bring it into subjection (make my body a slave to the Spirit of God)  lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway .

Acts 20:24  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.  

• Of no account do I make my life or hold my life in honor, so that I may complete my course on the horse track on which I am racing upon with joy, and the ministry that I received from the Lord to testify fully and thoroughly of the glad tidings of the grace of God.

God Is In Need of a Land

John 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

         If we were to examine this scripture in the light of its Greek translation we would find the following.  “When Jesus sets us free, we become free as to our deepest inward reality and being.”  Please allow me to explain further. The freedom that Jesus desires to bring into, will transform us through and through.  This transformation is so complete; that our identity, our reality, and the way that we see and perceive ourselves becomes of someone who is truly free.   I shall be the first one to say that this perfect state of freedom cannot be achieved until we get to heaven.  Yet we should endeavor to get as close as we can to this type of freedom now, since it is one of the keys to the kingdom of God.

             Let me give you two personal illustrations of what this freedom is like.  I grew up with a bad stuttering problem, and the tons and tons of mostly imaginary fears that came with it. One day when I was praying, the Lord gave me a revelation of what it is to be truly free.  People, I can tell you that in the midst of this vision, I felt an absolute absence of every fear. There was simply not one emotion, feeling or thought of fear. There was a perfect state of tranquility.  Once again, I know that this is the culmination of our heavenly state. Another time the Lord gave me a picture of the Statue of Liberty in New York and told me, “ One day you will be like this statue; a statue full of liberty in Me.”  I am of the mind however that we can well put ourselves on this course here on earth.

         Today’s message is the first in a series that will teach you how to live and reign in the Kingdom of God.  The fullness of the reign of God’s kingdom can only occur in total freedom.

“A God Who Is In Need of Land.”

·          The Kingdom of God can be defined simply, as any physical, emotional, and spiritual territory where the Lord Jesus Christ governs uncontested and unchallenged. 

·            The Lord is always in need of space or domain upon the earth where He can set Himself down to govern and reign. This is the reign of God in His kingdom.

·          Any earthly government that is plagued with debt, opposition, unrighteous rule and so forth will be crippled and paralyzed. The great Chinese apostle, Watchman Nee explained the concept of “a God that is need of a land.”  Brother Nee goes on to explain that the Lord God summoned Abraham out of his father’s house.  Through Abraham’s seed God raised up Isaac, then Jacob and the patriarchs, and finally summoned Moses to deliver His young nation Israel out of the hands of its oppressors.  Finally God led them into the land of Canaan.

·            God did all of this so that could obtain for Himself a people and a land, which He could call His kingdom, at least here on earth. The execution of His kingdom must take place unchallenged and uncontested from foes.  This is why the Lord God used such stringent measures to clean out the land of Canaan of all enemies.  This would be the Old Testament establishment of the kingdom of God on the earth.

·      
    Deuteronomy 7:1  When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

·          Through this godly nation in a godly land God would desire to provoke all other nations to want to know and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 26:19  And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

“ The Land In The Days of the New Testament”

·          Even now that the Lord Jesus Christ has established the New Testament, God’s need for a land has still not changed. It is still a necessity for God to have an undisputed and free earthly territory from where He can rule, display His kingdom, bring His glory and draw all men unto Himself

·          Let us first define God’s kingdom.  What is a kingdom?  A kingdom is the undisputed and uncontested rule and domain of a king.  We know that God is a king.

·          We can now ask ourselves the following question. What kind of a kingdom does God rule over? The answer is found in Matthew 10:7-8.  The kingdom of God consists of the preaching of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the healing of the sick, casting out of devils and so forth.  Here we see a God that is so loving and good that He has invested His whole kingdom and time into the “people business.”  God’s kingdom is made up of setting people free, blessing them, and taking them to heaven.

Mat 10:7  And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give


·          Finally, God’s glory is displayed as he executes His kingdom.  The glory of God is the attributes of God, which make an invisible God to become visible upon the earth. It is then visible God in His glory that will draw all men unto Himself and bring revival.


John 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

·          In the Old Testament, God made use of a physical country to establish His kingdom.  In the New Testament God utilizes Christians to bring forth His kingdom. God today uses people.  We are God’s land; we are God’s domain.

·          “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21

·          Further research will show us how the Old Testament land of Canaan is now very symbolic of the New Testament believer. In the book of Joshua we observe how God commands the Israelites to fight the enemies of Israel

·           The Lord commands the Israelites to posses engage and destroy the enemy and then possess the land for the Lord’s sake. In the New Testament we see Jesus commanding believers to posses their souls instead of possessing land.

Joshua 1:14  Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valour, and help them;

Joshua 1:15Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD’S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising

Luke 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

Clearing Out The Land

We have established the fact then that it is most imperative that God as any good and powerful must have an undisputed and unchallenged territory from which to reign. All presence of foes that would oppose, divide, and scatter would only serve to cripple the kingdom.  There is no earthly king that enjoys contention of any kind that would compete with his rule and administration.  Neither does the Lord God desire for this to happen in His kingdom.  In the Old Testament we saw God’s most exacting laws as to the treatment of enemies and for the relationship of the Jews to Him. All of this was set up by God to maintain rule and order in His kingdom.

Suddenly we find out in the New Testament that God has substituted physical land for people.  These people are we Christians!  The believer has now become God’s terrain through which He now preaches the gospel, heals the sick, casts out devils, makes Himself visible through His glory, and draws all men unto Himself through the agency of revival! Wow! What an awesome responsibility!

The rules of the land however are still the same at they were thousands of years ago. Whether it is soil and dirt, or people, God needs a cleared out, weeded, cultivated, and fertilized area through which He can move to and fro, rule, administer, and make Himself visible and known.  In reality nothing has changed.  The Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, and the Perizzites of today’s land, are the believers’ sins, hurts, bondages, demonic oppression, and love of the world.

Deuteronomy 20:17  But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

The rules of engagement also remain the same.  God requires that the name of all idols, sin, bondages, demonic oppression and the likes to be utterly obliterated from the Christian’s life?  Why? These things remaining in our lives will hinder the free operation of God within us, cripple His kingdom, and stifle His glory consequently limiting the number of people that the Lord can draw unto Himself. 


Today we find that many believers that do not comprehend, or even know that they are God’s little space of territory in a huge land of sin.  They do not know that God can only make Himself visible to this world through them.  Most believers live and die in bondage, sin, a hurt being indeed a poor specimen of land for their God and King. Consequently in the last two thousand years since the foundation of the church, the manifestation of God’s kingdom and His glory has been very poor at best.

The King, The Kingdom, and The Book

Ephesians 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

(The following is an adapted teaching from another lesson that I taught, and was  originally presented by Watchman Nee years ago.)

I would like you to imagine in your mind a simple book.  Let us consider Christ to be this book.  Now let us regard ourselves to be a piece of paper. We take the piece of paper and put into the book. We then close the book.  Therefore, whatever comes to pass with the book will also come about with us too, right?  This is because we are now “IN THE BOOK.”  So consequently whatever Christ has gone through or has been accomplished by Him has become a reality for us. Why? God because at the moment that we became born again we were automatically and permanently places this the Father IN CHRIST OR IN HIM.  You can now read through your New Testament and find for yourselves all that Christ has attained, especially through and after the events of His death, burial and resurrection. You are in Him.  What He has accomplished, you have accomplished. Everything that is His is yours as well! We do not have time today to go into how all of these things become a manifested reality in your lives. Let it suffice to day by saying that through faith, obedience, and patience all that Christ has attained and achieved to can become a manifested reality IN YOU.

The Executor of The Kingdom

....and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; Deut 7:1

Please observe with me the final part of Deuteronomy 7:1 This scripture tells us that it was impossible for the Israelites to get rid of the least of their enemies. God knew that.  That is why He said Deut 7:1 in such a fashion.  Neither then does God expect the believer today to get rid of the least of his or her sins. For two thousand years the church has erred many times in its understanding of this and has used every method for attaining to freedom and making their land suitable for the reign of the King.  Due in part to a general ignorance by the church itself and the partial deception of the enemy the church has utilized things to make itself free.  Positive confessions, believing and claiming, psychology, self-helps, miracles, prosperity and blessings, committees and programs, have all been use in an attempt to set the church free.  Are these things bad or wrong in themselves?  As I have said before, these things are not wrong.  Yet the church has continuously left out the single most important ingredient to its freedom.  This is the manifested or revealed presence of the Person of the Lord Jesus in the individual believer’s life or in the corporate life of the church. Because we are “IN HIM,” all that He has achieved, and all that is INSIDE of HIM can be our experience, our possession, and our reality.

This is why I always say that the manifested person of Christ is the one most needful thing to the individual believer, or the local assembly.   Let us now look at a few of the activities that Christ carries out as to the cleansing of the land and the preparation of the kingdom of God. Remember; because we IN CHRIST, all of what He executes in His Word is also being executed IN US. The key lies in the manifestation of His Person in us through revelation.  Therefore, the greater is the revelation of the Person of Christ within us, the more that all of His activities and treasures become a reality to us.

2Thess 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Let us take a look at 2Thess 2:8.  The brightness of the Lord’s coming is defined as the manifestation or the appearance of the Lord’s presence. “To destroy” is to render something useless, idle, and non-operational, because it has been broken down. The more therefore the presence of the Lord is in our individual lives, or the corporate life of the church the more the all of the works of the Evil One will become of no effect.

1 John 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

In First John three eight, we find the word “destroy”.  Its definition is just a bit different.  Instead of making the whole gamut of Satan’s works useless by breaking them down, here the Lord causes them to become undone.  But the end product is just the same. The important thing for us to realize that the undoing or the breaking down of sins, hurts and bondages happen in proportion to the manifestation of the Person of Christ.

1 Cor 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

In First Corinthians 15:24, we see the Lord Jesus handing over the kingdom to the Father for His use.  Notice with me though, the Jesus was only able to deliver the kingdom to God the Father after all rule, and authority, and power had been “put down” by Him.  By the way you will be interested in knowing, that the word “to put down” is the very same word to render inactive, useless and inoperative by breaking down something. Thus the kingdom of God within the lives of believers or churches can only be delivered back to the Father for His use in proportion to the breaking down of all ungodly rule, power and authority in them by the Lord Jesus Christ.  The more is the revealed presence of the Person of the Lord, the more that this evident breaking down shall become a reality.