THE MAIN SIGN/WONDER
14/08/24 09:20
The gifts of the Spirit are not life in the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is new covenant oneness with God. It’s incarnation lived and Christ come in our flesh as John describes it. If we are tied to the law, we are not in the Spirit.
SIGNS ARE NOT THE GOSPEL
I used to be big on miracles and signs. This is because I was once too small on them, having been raised in a culture of cessationism. However, I have seen people healed and participated with Jesus in ministering His healing. So I know that the power gifts are real and have their place. But they are not the Gospel. Your union with God in Christ is the Gospel.
HOW DOES HEAVEN INVADE EARTH?
The main manifestation of the Spirit of Christ is you and I and the church incarnated with the fullness of God. Heaven invades earth by way of the completed atonement and the incarnation of the trinity in us. Manifestations are exciting but they are not to be lived from. Robust Believers live from the oneness with Christ that Christ has made theirs.
This is not to deny the gifts or retreat into a form of ‘godliness without power’. But it is to live in the fact that the main deal of the post cross age is Christ in you – Christ your life, Christ come in the flesh of the Believer – all of which is the incarnation. A familiarity with the teaching of the Church Fathers and reformed theology attests that this is true. Oneness with God is the result of Christ our life – our interwovenness with God in Everyday Living is normal Christian life. The incarnation is the basis of the gifts, the anointing and the comfort of Christ. It subjects us to the healing that is ours in communion with God.
LAW BASED RELIGION IS UN-SPIRIT
‘He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. TITUS 3.5 NIV.
One cannot be tied to the law and be in the Spirit. We may move in the gifts, yet not be in the Spirit. We are not in the Spirit if we are living in Adamic separation, even if we do deploy some of the gifts. Life in the Spirit is oneness with Christ as per the Nicaean Creed.
SIGNS POINT TO CHRIST – BUT ARE NOT THE GOSPEL
Kriston Couchey wrote perceptively on Facebook, “I fully agree with what Martin Smith said, "Signs, wonders, and miracles are for the immature." I also would add, for unbelieving individuals. [Particularly individuals who reject Christ our life]
“We don't see the church wholesale walk in these manifestations fully because these things in the life of someone who is still wounded, offended, and unhealed, tends to be seen as a God's approval of themselves and non-approval of others who don't function that way.
“It also tends to be used as a circus show by the untested and immature and brings approval of men and creates disciples of a cultish nature.
“Gods true revival is seen in embracing who God says about who we are in His eyes; a fully loved, accepted and forgiven child.
“Our identity as sons of God in rest and confidence is the place of maturity, and is the awakening God is bringing. Signs and wonders are the things that follow sons. We don't follow signs and wonders. We follow the Fathers heart of love and rest within us.
In this place of rest, power and glory naturally flow in signs and wonders. They are normal and not a means for fame and finances.”
The main sign is an incarnated and healed life in which one grows into who one is as a son/daughter of God.
SIGNS ARE NOT THE GOSPEL
I used to be big on miracles and signs. This is because I was once too small on them, having been raised in a culture of cessationism. However, I have seen people healed and participated with Jesus in ministering His healing. So I know that the power gifts are real and have their place. But they are not the Gospel. Your union with God in Christ is the Gospel.
HOW DOES HEAVEN INVADE EARTH?
The main manifestation of the Spirit of Christ is you and I and the church incarnated with the fullness of God. Heaven invades earth by way of the completed atonement and the incarnation of the trinity in us. Manifestations are exciting but they are not to be lived from. Robust Believers live from the oneness with Christ that Christ has made theirs.
This is not to deny the gifts or retreat into a form of ‘godliness without power’. But it is to live in the fact that the main deal of the post cross age is Christ in you – Christ your life, Christ come in the flesh of the Believer – all of which is the incarnation. A familiarity with the teaching of the Church Fathers and reformed theology attests that this is true. Oneness with God is the result of Christ our life – our interwovenness with God in Everyday Living is normal Christian life. The incarnation is the basis of the gifts, the anointing and the comfort of Christ. It subjects us to the healing that is ours in communion with God.
LAW BASED RELIGION IS UN-SPIRIT
‘He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. TITUS 3.5 NIV.
One cannot be tied to the law and be in the Spirit. We may move in the gifts, yet not be in the Spirit. We are not in the Spirit if we are living in Adamic separation, even if we do deploy some of the gifts. Life in the Spirit is oneness with Christ as per the Nicaean Creed.
SIGNS POINT TO CHRIST – BUT ARE NOT THE GOSPEL
Kriston Couchey wrote perceptively on Facebook, “I fully agree with what Martin Smith said, "Signs, wonders, and miracles are for the immature." I also would add, for unbelieving individuals. [Particularly individuals who reject Christ our life]
“We don't see the church wholesale walk in these manifestations fully because these things in the life of someone who is still wounded, offended, and unhealed, tends to be seen as a God's approval of themselves and non-approval of others who don't function that way.
“It also tends to be used as a circus show by the untested and immature and brings approval of men and creates disciples of a cultish nature.
“Gods true revival is seen in embracing who God says about who we are in His eyes; a fully loved, accepted and forgiven child.
“Our identity as sons of God in rest and confidence is the place of maturity, and is the awakening God is bringing. Signs and wonders are the things that follow sons. We don't follow signs and wonders. We follow the Fathers heart of love and rest within us.
In this place of rest, power and glory naturally flow in signs and wonders. They are normal and not a means for fame and finances.”
The main sign is an incarnated and healed life in which one grows into who one is as a son/daughter of God.
