THE FOUNDATION Understanding the “WHY” of the Gospel
AARON R. HARRIS December 2018
Before You Read…
The Christian life is not just about saying a prayer
to go to heaven, the Christian life is about transformation; transformation into a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing, and a new way of living. This is the transformation the apostle Paul speaks of in his second letter to the Corinthians when he writes, we become a “new creation” when we are in Christ.
If you are seeking a closer and more intimate re-
lationship with our Lord, you have to allow Holy Spirit to connect with your spirit. Only in your spirit will these truths be revealed to you. Please allow me to make a few suggestions before reading this booklet… • Find a place and a time away from distractions. • Open your heart and pray that your spirit will recognize and receive what Holy Spirit is showing you. • Don’t read so fast that you miss important parts. • Stop and talk with God when you feel prompted.
Although this booklet was intended to be an easy
read, it is very full and thick with truth and revelation; you may desire to read it again and again to gain all Holy Spirit may show you.
My hope is for you to be blessed with the knowledge
of His love and to understand the true and complete foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ… ~Aaron
Dedication
To my ever faithful wife and friend, thank you for
your love and your daily prayers over my life. Your consistent prayer of Ephesians 1:17-21 over me has moved Holy Spirit to awaken me to the exact things written in those verses. I am now on a journey in my life that you helped me begin by your love and your prayers. I am excited to experience what He has, and is yet to reveal to me through His word and my relationship with Him. I am eternally grateful for your love and your persistence in prayer. ...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. ~Ephesians 1:17-21 (NKJV)
i
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank and recognize the following men
of faith. Your work has been instrumental in guiding me and growing me in my relationship with our Father. Since 2014, Father God, through Holy Spirit, has used you to help me transition from a passive follower of Christ with little to no fruit into a passionate follower and expounder of the true gospel. I have discovered who I really am. Holy Spirit is working in me, transitioning me into Kingdom thinking and understanding. He has allowed me to see the Kingdom and I am confident that I will walk in it in a very short while.
Dan Mohler - Your work and ministry have had the
greatest effect of all in understanding my true relationship with my Father and in changing how I view myself. You will recognize many of your teachings and words in this booklet. The deceptions the deceiver throws at me no longer blinds me nor clouds my vision of who we are as Christians. I now understand what it means to be a new creation! Thank you for showing that to me in a way I could understand.
Bill Johnson - Your books as well as your teachings
through Bethel Church has had a profound effect in removing the scales from my eyes and revealing who we really are in Christ. iii
You have a gift that allows many of us to see what we have not seen before in the scriptures. Thank you for your life’s work.
Dr. Jonathan Welton - Thank you for your work in
your book, Understanding the Whole Bible: The King, The Kingdom, and the New Covenant. This book has made a profound impact in my understanding of the scriptures through expository study using a historical and contextual hermeneutic, by viewing scripture through better covenant theology and eschatology based on these principles. It has to be the richest and most exciting book I have ever read. It has allowed me to see the scriptures as I have never seen them before.
Holy Spirit - You are the most important person of
all. I give credit and thank you for guiding me and directing me as I travel this exciting new road in my life. Thank you not only for this guidance and the revelations you have given me; thank you for opening up the scriptures for my understanding and for becoming my closest friend and daily companion.
iv
Foreword
There lies beyond the sunset a wonderful, glorious
day. On that remarkable day, we will see Jesus. The Lord will return to earth and He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Bible tells us that “Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Every believer in Christ will then spend eternity in a place called “Heaven.” What a highly anticipated and most glorious day that will be.
The fact is, many Christians bound for Heaven have
to admit that they are wandering in the “what about now?” wilderness. Is this really all there is to the abundant life? What am I missing?
My dear friend, Aaron Harris, has put pen to paper
sharing his journey of spiritual formation. Within the pages of “The Foundation”, you will find answers to your questions concerning the abundant life. Aaron’s writing represents the fruit of extensive study and the nature of spiritual development. You will be encouraged and equipped as you experience your full and meaningful life.
I want to ask you a question; “What are you seek-
ing?” In John’s gospel, chapter 1, the Bible tells us that Jesus walked by and John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Two of
v
John’s disciples then began to follow Jesus. In verse 38 Jesus asked them a very meaningful question: “What are you seeking?” Now the question comes your way... “What are you seeking?” My prayer is that you will find help in the pages of this heartfelt writing. Cliff Jenkins, Pastor New Hope Fellowship Springdale, Arkansas
vi
Preface
In June 2012, after a 36-year career in the field of
education, I retired from my job as a school administrator. After my retirement, almost immediately I began to gain an interest in giving more of my time to the Lord and seeking the Lord’s guidance in His service. While the direction was still unclear, the urgency to seek and serve never left me. As fall of the next year approached, I considered volunteering for administrative tasks in my church. Several years before, my pastor, who is also my best friend, had mentioned me helping in this way after retirement. After retirement, I never visited with my friend about it because I did not feel the peace that this was the Lord’s direction for me. I knew the Lord had put something on my heart that gave me the desire to submit to Him and to serve Him, but I just wasn’t sure this was it.
Over the next year and a half, the Lord began to
instill in me the idea that there was more to Him than I was taught in my church growing up and the churches I attended during my life. He then pointed me to Romans 12:2 (NKJV): “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
vii
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
I knew there was more to discover about the Lord,
but knowing where to start studying and changing my thought patterns was a challenge for me. I was very cautious, afraid of “false teachings” that I had been warned about while growing up. The denomination I grew up in claimed the inerrancy of the scriptures. However, I was puzzled how they could determine that some things were for today; but other things, even in the same passage, were not for today but were for the time of the apostles. I then began to pray that the Lord, through Holy Spirit, would reveal truth to me and lead me in the direction He would have me go.
During the summer months of 2014, a good friend
of mine began sharing with me a new way of thinking in regard to the gospel and told me about Power and Love Ministries. As time went on, I kept hearing in my spirit to listen. Holy Spirit began moving in me and was creating the desire to dig deeper. I kept hearing in my spirit there was more to God than what I grew up being taught. After being pointed back to Romans 12:2, I began hearing in my spirit “do not put God in a box.” It was around that time I began to want to attend a Power and Love Conference. On their website, I found a four-day conference was scheduled in viii
Oklahoma City during the month of August. I felt drawn to attend. I wanted to attend but I was sensitive about false teaching and “guarding against the schemes of the devil.” Then Holy Spirit said to me... “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” ~John 10:27 (NKJV)
I trusted that verse and Holy Spirit in me. I made
my decision to attend, and I registered for the conference. During my entire three hour drive to Oklahoma City, I prayed the Lord would open my mind and my heart to hear Him and Holy Spirit during the conference and not to judge the people in attendance and what I might experience. I was praying for discernment to know what was of Him and what was not. I will say that during this conference, I experienced some things I had never experienced before in all the churches I had attended. All I experienced at the conference assured me that I had stepped out in the faith of what my spirit was telling me, and it was good. It was there in Oklahoma City I began my journey to know Him at a higher and more intimate level. The Lord has been faithful in leading me, teaching me, and revealing to me a new level of understanding through Holy Spirit and the Word. He has become my companion and my best friend. I now visit with Him several times a day, but I ix
am learning to constantly be aware of His presence and talk with Him throughout the day. Sometimes it’s verbal, but most of the time it is through my spirit and Holy Spirit connecting. I am aware of Him on a much greater scale than ever before. Following is my calling and my mission. Aaron Harris
x
Introduction
Not long after attending the conference in Oklahoma
City, I began listening to teachers such as Dan Mohler, Bill Johnson, Dr. Jonathan Welton, Kris Vallotton, and a few others. As I discerned what I was hearing from these teachers and evangelists, I was also listening carefully to the voice of Jesus and Holy Spirit. Through these teachings, scripture, and Holy Spirit, I have received my greatest truths and my greatest revelations. I can now say with total certainty I know who I am, why I’m here, and why God can love me the way He does. These truths have been given to me to share during this season of my life. It is a new understanding for me as I am sure it will be for many of you. I am convinced this understanding is paramount in comprehending the true and complete gospel of Jesus Christ, the kingdom, and why abiding in Jesus is so important in our walk as Christians. It is by the correct understanding of the true and complete gospel of Christ that we are better able to comprehend scripture, and Holy Spirit is able to align our thinking and understanding in kingdom truth. The truth has been there all along, but we have been blinded by a lack of understanding and the teaching of an incomplete gospel.
xi
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” ~Proverbs 25:2 (NKJV)
When you have a relationship with Holy Spirit, He
speaks to you; and you know when He speaks. If you have not begun to seek an intimate relationship with Him, I would highly encourage you to do so. I would also encourage you to pray and ask Him to open your heart and your eyes to His help in your understanding and discernment as you read this booklet. Jesus told His disciples, He would send us a helper after His departure from this earth. His name is Holy Spirit. All we need to do is ask Him to help us and be sensitive to His guidance. Please stop, take a moment, and ask Him now to affirm truth as you hear it. Ask Him to open the eyes of your heart to Him as you read “The Foundation.”
xii
The Foundation
The Gospel, as I have been taught over my years in
the church, is defined as the good news of Jesus Christ. It is God’s story of coming to earth in human form, living a sinless life, dying on the cross, and thus paying the debt for my sins. His death on the cross provided for me a way to avoid eternal damnation in Hell and to gain eternal life in Heaven with God after I die. All of this was made possible through God’s fervent love for us... I was never told “why God loved me the way He does. I was just taught that God’s love was a mystery and we were incapable of understanding how He could love us the way He does. I just accepted this by faith and continued along my way of trying to not sin and trying to be a good person. My daily life consisted of living in condemnation of my past, sinning again, asking for forgiveness from God, and trying again to live the life He paid for again, and again, and again; all the time falling short and being a failure in my “born again” life.
But was this all there was to the Christian life?...
Jesus was beaten and He died a horrific death on the cross just so I could live under this condemnation now, but join Him in Heaven when I die?... If I was supposed to have victory in Jesus then why was I such a failure in my efforts to be like Him?... Surely there must be more to this gospel... 1
It just seemed... incomplete. There had to be more to this gospel that I hadn’t seen. In my mind, there was no foundation, no anchor, no starting point to how we came into this gospel. It all starts with God’s love for us; I get that. However, why and how could God love me so deeply that He would sacrifice His own Son for me? It didn’t make sense... Then my eyes were opened! The Anchor
There are three critical keys I believe we need to
know in order to understand the foundational basis of the gospel: 1) who God is; 2) who God says we are; and 3) what God says about our lives.
1 John 4:8 states “He who does not love does not
know God, for God is love.” Yes, God is spirit ~John 4:24 and God is light ~1 John 1:5. He is also faithful, everlasting, all-knowing, etc. However, love best describes His core character quality as well as His heart toward man. It is His essence, His substance, His makeup, His image. It is His nature; His divine nature. So God is love in its purest form. This is what we have to understand about God: God is Love. Not just a verb, but a noun. He is Love. Also, man is not just another life form created by God. He is a special creation, set aside from all things ever created by God; man is unique above all creation. 2
Creation and the Garden
After God had created the earth, on the sixth day... “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” ~Genesis 1:26-27 (NKJV)
So you and I were made in God’s Image. That is
why we are on this planet. We are created in His image; we were created to walk in His Image; we were created to be love and to walk in love.
So God creates this man from the dust of the
ground and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life and the man becomes a living being. Now the Lord God had planted a garden eastward in Eden. He places the man there to tend it and gives him this one instruction. God says to Adam, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” ~Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)
3
It’s a directive, not a rule or a law, but a directive in
the sense of this is how you live. God is saying: Do not eat the fruit of the tree because it is not what you were created for; you were created for my image. Here’s what the Lord God was really saying... You were not created for evil; you were not even created for the knowledge of evil. You were created to know Me, to walk in Me, to walk in purity, to walk in innocence... Do not eat the fruit of the tree... It is the knowledge of good and evil... do not eat of the tree!
The serpent then comes along and deceives the
woman. Then the woman eats of the tree and gives the fruit to Adam. God looks down, and Adam eats the fruit! They’ve sinned; they’re naked and ashamed. They run and cover themselves. Then they hear the sound of God walking through the garden in the cool of the day, so Adam and his wife hide themselves from the Lord. The Lord God then calls to Adam and says to him, “Where are you?” Adam says, “I heard you coming; and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” God then asks Adam, “Who told you that you were naked Adam?” “Did you eat of the tree which I instructed you not to eat?” Adam said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me to eat of the tree, and I ate.” ~Genesis 3:12 (NKJV)
4
What was Adam saying? “Look, God, if You... hadn’t
given me the woman... I probably would not have eaten the fruit!”... Wow! Where did that come from? ... He blames God?!. .. Then God says to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’” ~Genesis 3:13 (NKJV)
It’s not my fault, the devil made me do it!
What just happened? No responsibility, no humility,
no repentance... “Hey! Don’t look at me! It has to be someone else’s fault!”... “If you hadn’t given me the woman, I probably wouldn’t have eaten the tree.”... “Not my fault! ... The serpent said to eat...” Self... the flesh... “the old man”... had just been born.
Blame shift, self-justification... The first effect of sin
is self-centeredness, self-consciousness, self-protection, self-justification, self-defense ...
The first effect of sin is self-serving. Selfishness is
the root of every sin! When man ate of the tree, what we were created to be (love), became self-centered. There is no love in selfishness, and there is no selfishness in love. Adam and Eve were then removed from the garden and thus began the journey of man.
5
Jesus
Forty-one hundred years pass, and Jesus comes
on the scene. He comes by virgin birth, setting aside His deity, and walks the earth as the “Son of Man.” Jesus came and modeled a life for which man was designed and created, but Adam failed. Jesus came as a man, in perfect relationship with the Father ... the image of love... the model of life... the living expression of God Almighty. “.. .If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself ...” ~Luke 9:23 (NKJV)
Why did Jesus say to deny yourself? Why? Because
you were never made for you... you were made for the image of God. We were never designed to put ourselves first, to be self-centered, to look out for number one. We were designed to be sons and daughters of Almighty God and to carry that image with us as we took dominion across the earth. We were to go forth and multiply “the image” as we went. We were created with authority, through the Father. When Adam was naming the animals, the name he gave each animal determined the characteristics of that animal. Father God sat beside him as he did this, and He was pleased.
6
When Jesus said to follow Him, we must deny our-
selves; the only thing He is asking us to give up is what we never were created for in the first place. Didn’t God say to Adam, “... for the day that you eat of it (tree) you shall surely die.” ~Genesis 2:17 (NKJV)
So,... when Adam ate the tree, he didn’t fall over
dead... You read that, and you say, “Well, he didn’t die!” Yes, he died... it was the day you and I died... who we were created to be... died. When Adam ate the tree, the image of God and what Adam was created to be was lost. Man became a god unto himself and left alone, apart from the image of God. Man looked nothing like he was created to look like from the beginning. Created to Be Love “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” ~ 1 Timothy 1:5 (NASB)
Love is the goal of our instruction... Christians
are restored back to our created value, which is His image; and God is Love! Man was made to love, to be love. Anything outside of pursuing that is living apart 7
from grace. Grace empowers God’s will! If you are not pursuing “being love,” no wonder life is so hard, no wonder life is so tough! Jesus says I am not like that! “My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” ~Matthew 11:30 (NKJV) “Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” ~Matthew 11:28 (NKJV)
Living for self is the deceiver’s goal for our lives.
When we live for ourselves, we are living from a foreign foundation for which we were not created. If you put gasoline in a diesel engine, you will destroy the engine. The diesel engine was made for diesel fuel. Gasoline will lock up the engine because it needs the lubricants that come from diesel fuel to run smoothly. In short, diesel engines weren’t made for gasoline. You read the scriptures... if you live for yourself; just like gasoline in a diesel engine, you will destroy the product. You were never made for you... you were made for the image of God! Know Who You Are “For the Son of man has come to save that which was lost.” ~Matthew 18:11 (NKJV)
8
Not who, but to save that which was lost. What
was lost? The image was lost... your created value... your heritage... your potential. What was lost? The image... You need to look before the tree to find who you are! We are still trying to find who we are through life, and the way we have lived, and what has happened, and what has not happened. We look at how we have been treated, how we have been wronged, abused, hurt... We think that the way we grew up was normal. It wasn’t normal! It was what we became when Adam ate of the tree. We were taught anger was normal and frustration was normal. We were taught to live for our rights and fight for our rights. We were taught all that stuff. We were taught that if you “do me wrong, I’ll get you back,” or “I’ll be angry,” or “I’ll cut you off.” Then sin, selfishness, willfulness, jealousy, pride, anger, wrath, and bitterness entered into that void where love had been. We think all of those emotions are normal!... They’re not normal!... We were not created that way!... We became that way! Deceptions
God did not teach us the way we grew up. So
who did? The deceiver taught us! They’re all deceptions that came through the fall of man. None of that 9
stuff is our created value, none of that stuff is who God made us; it is who we became when Adam ate of the tree. None of that is who we were created to be because we were created to be love. So everything outside of love is not who we are, it is who we became when Adam ate of the tree. We were born into Adam... so we must be born again! Our lives don’t have to go up and down, we don’t have to live okay one day, then not okay the next day... we can live in love because that is who we were created to be.
All of our lives, we have needed love. The fall
took who we were originally created to be away from us. The deceiver lies to us about who we are supposed to be. He works continuously, trying to convince us that our past decisions, our past failures, and our past sins define us. He tells us we are not worthy of love so we are constantly in search of someone to like us and understand us. We are searching for approval to fill the void of what we lost. We were cut off from love. Our identity of being love was given up at the tree. We have moved from being love to needing love. So now, all our lives, we are in survival mode. We need someone to love us; we need someone to appreciate us; we need someone to accept us and not reject us; we need someone to do us right and not wrong; and
10
all those things determine who we are and how we are doing. They are all deceptions; we were never created to need love... we were created to be love.
Some of us wake up every morning and we don’t
even like ourselves. We are trying to survive and make it in the world in which we live. We want others to like us to prove we are likable. Our lives are dependent on others and how they treat us. If things do not go well, we are hostile, frustrated, insecure and vulnerable. That’s how we live.
From a very young age, we are becoming a prod-
uct of how life treats us. Have you ever seen a toddler in a store who speaks to everyone and greets everyone with a smile? That little tyke is made in the image of God! He or she is walking in joy and happiness. The love of God just seems to ooze out everywhere they go! Then life happens... A stranger ignores them, shuns them, or belittles them. Someone shows anger toward them or scurries them away. Someone rejects them and the little one has just been taught another lesson of life’s deceptions of how they are “supposed” to be. As they grow up they learn to be hurt, broken, insecure, and/or a fighter. They begin to look for someone to accept them, to want them, to love them. That’s how life is! Every person on earth was born into Adam!
11
Every person is born into this lost identity, and every person is born into the fact they have to find out who they are... because they are in desperate need of love. Growing Up
I used to think being a Christian was going to
church and living a little better life than people who didn’t go to church. I was going to church so I could go to Heaven and not go to Hell. I thought going to church was just something I was supposed to do... I wanted to go to Heaven when I died, so I was going to church to get there... I did not realize I was the church. I did not realize I was created to be a son... I was taught that God loved me, but I didn’t realize He wanted to fill me with His Spirit, I wasn’t sure what His Spirit in me really meant anyway... I did not understand having a relationship with Him and I didn’t know He wanted to wash over me with His amazing grace... I did not realize life was so worth living... I didn’t realize it was so awesome to be alive because life is in Him, and He wanted to breathe that back into me. I did not realize He was pursuing me, and He wanted to love me and hold me and lead me through life.
12
The Complete Gospel
We think the gospel is all about the fact that you
and I sinned and Jesus had to come and die and pay this terrible price to take away the sin. But what then? He takes away the sin for what?... So we’re left sinners?... He took the sin off us because there is something under that sin of great value, worth redeeming and worth the blood of Jesus. It is called you and me, if we would ever come into agreement with the scriptures! “...the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” ~Ephesians 4:24 (NKJV)
We have to believe and see ourselves in agree-
ment with Him! He didn’t die and shed His blood so you and I could remain a conscious sinner, waiting to go to Heaven by His mercy! He died to get the identity of sin off of us so we could become sons and daughters, and walk in holiness! It is not about sinning and being forgiven to then just keep on sinning and being forgiven again. He did not pay the price to keep that thing you are despising alive (Romans 6:11, NKJV). He paid the price so sin could finally die and the new you could rise up and become sons and daughters! The grace of the Gospel does not leave you the same! The grace of
13
the gospel transforms and changes who you are through faith!
“The church often tries to shame people to come
to Christ; to shame them into holy living instead of unveiling the brilliance of Christ’s purpose. We will be much more effective if we preach on men’s value instead of men’s sins. If you preach on men’s value, they will begin to set their eye on it. The knowledge of their true value will separate them from their sins, and they will wonder why they are living so below the truth once it pierces their heart. The truth will begin to make them free! You point out sin; you cause them to focus on sin; and then they are in a war against it... but Jesus already won that war! You preach on men’s value, you call them up and out of the bondage of sin! You teach men’s value and purpose and created identity through God, and they will desire to live toward that and for that!” ~Dan Mohler See Clearly
We have not seen this thing clearly. No pastor,
evangelist, or teacher I have ever sat under, told me the cross exposed my value! Growing up, I was always taught the cross revealed the sin in me, and that Jesus had to be punished in my place, for my sin. I am not 14
condemning these pastors, evangelists, and teachers. It is just that we have not seen the gospel clearly.
God did not punish Jesus in our place. Jesus
came as the unflawed and spotless lamb, so He could be the perfect and eternal sacrifice to free us from the bondage of sin. We died with Christ, and sin died as well. The sin that we all carried through Adam and the individual sin from our own decisions has been dealt with at the cross. “...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” ~Romans 6:6 (NKJV)
No one pays a high price for nothing! God paid
the suffering and the blood of His Son Jesus for mankind! Why? Because we are worth it to God the Father! Jesus shed His blood and died for you... not because of you. God seems to think His Son dying is worth you living. He knows you are worth the blood of Jesus! If you had a resume on the desk of Heaven, He would read it and see your eternal created value and He would sacrifice His Son to get you back again; and that is exactly what happened! Nobody ever told me I was worth the beating, the defacement, and the flesh being torn off Jesus’ back. Nobody ever told me I was 15
worth the nails being driven through Jesus’ hands and feet as they nailed Him to the cross. Nobody ever told me Jesus died because I was worth His death. God thinks so! That is the reason for the cross! The Gospel Reveals Your Value
The gospel reveals your value. Every one of you
is worth the blood of Jesus. Every one of you was created for the image of God. The price Jesus paid at the cross was for who you were created to be, not who you’ve been. He paid a price to redeem what you were originally designed to be, not what you’ve been. He wants what you’ve been to die so the real you can rise up and finally live! He didn’t die because you sinned. He died because you were created to be sons and daughters. You were lost sons and daughters. He died to get the sin off us to get us back to our original state.
Did He die on the cross because we sinned? We
were born into sin through Adam, and we have sinned by our own decisions. So, He had to die as a sacrifice for sin, but the reason He died on the cross was to redeem that which was lost. What was lost? The image of God in man.
16
Jesus Beaten
That is why Jesus was beaten beyond description
before the cross. Before the cross, “His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men;” ~Isaiah 52:14 (NKJV)
The worst barbaric act ever done to man, Jesus
was marred worse. That means when they were done beating Jesus, He was unrecognizable. You could not tell who He was. He sure must believe our lives are valuable to take a beating like that. Why did He have to get beat beyond recognition? Because when sin got through with us in the garden, we did not look anything like we were created to be. So Jesus took what we became, so we could become what He is... a son. And He bore our image, so we could bear His. He got beat unrecognizably so we could take on His spirit and become the image and the love of Almighty God.
If God made man in His image and the image was
lost when Adam ate the fruit of the tree, then the reason for Jesus’ death was to redeem us back to the “image,” not get us to Heaven. So you really didn’t pray a prayer to go to Heaven. Heaven came back into you. You are
17
not waiting to gain the Kingdom, the Kingdom is here! Jesus said, “Don’t look here, don’t look there, it is in you... the Kingdom of God is in you.” ~Luke 17:21 (NKJV)
“Heaven is our destination. The Kingdom in us is
our assignment.” ~Bill Johnson Learning to Live the Image
It is all about love... becoming love. I was never
really sure how I felt about myself. Some days I was up, and some days I was down. I was a mess. Everything depended on how things went and how others treated me. I had prayed “the prayer” years ago and given my heart to Jesus. All this time, I just thought I was supposed to go to church, try not to sin, be good, tell others about Jesus and how He loves us (even though I did not really understand why). I lived under self-condemnation everywhere I turned. My focus was on avoiding sin and not on the savior; I couldn’t help but sin because my focus was on it. I couldn’t avoid it. I was not even sure if I liked myself. I was always failing and feeling that I had let Jesus down; especially after
18
all He did for me on the cross... But now I like me! I can see myself as He sees me! I see myself from the position of what He paid to restore! I love who He is teaching me to become! That is important! It is important because now I understand! We are created in the image of God! We are to “be” love. It’s All About Love
Consider these scriptures. “But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the Prophets.” ~Matthew 22:34-40 (NKJV)
Jesus was responding to the Pharisees regard-
ing the old covenant law. Therefore this commandment was inferior to the new commandment that would come later with the new covenant.
19
Here is the challenge for successfully following the old covenant commandment. If you do not have a good view of yourself, you will not have a good view of your neighbor. If you cannot see yourself clearly, how can you see others clearly? If you do not love yourself, how can you love others? If you do not love yourself as God loves you, how can you love others as God loves them? If you love yourself through hate, condemnation, vanity, fault finding, nit-picking, shame, and guilt; then guess what you will tend to do? You will see what is wrong with everybody else. It’s a survival mechanism. You won’t feel so bad because everybody else has their issues too. You will then look at others through the lens in which you see yourself. This is actually a conditional love. You are only able to love your neighbor based on how you feel about yourself on a particular day or at a particular time.
It is important to see yourself the way God sees
you. In the book of John, Jesus speaks and gives a new commandment saying, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” ~John 15:12 (NKJV)
20
This is unconditional love! This is a much great-
er and clearer commandment than the old covenant law of “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Jesus had modeled this love to His disciples throughout His ministry. He had never been offended; He was never angry at them, hurt, bitter... He was walking in the image man was created to walk in... the image of Love. He was elevating the old covenant command of loving your neighbor as yourself to that of the new covenant, loving your neighbor as He (Jesus} had loved them (disciples) ... love unconditionally.
The Bible teaches you cannot love God until you
see His first love. No man just loves God on his own. “We love Him because He first loved us.” ~1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
So the way we come into understanding this gos-
pel has to be the way He loves us; it has to be! It is not the idea of you are a sinner, and you have to repent. “.. .it’s the goodness of God that leads men to repentance ...” ~Romans 2:4 (NKJV); “... Mercy triumphs over judgment.” ~James 2:13 (NKJV); “…love covers a multitude of sins.” ~1 Peter 4:8 (NKJV)
21
We are afraid to preach that; we think by preaching
that we are enabling sin. We’re not! We’re crushing sin!
If any man ever tastes and sees that he is really
good, why would he want to go back to that thing? When you see and understand why He loves you, it will convict you of your sin and you will want to repent. Be very careful you do not talk yourself out of truth. God so desperately wants to love us that He sent His Son! How super radical is that?! We Have to Understand
If we teach the gospel in a way that leaves peo-
ple singing about how confused we are about how God would love people like us, then they will think God is just “loving.” Then they will not be able to relate to or understand His love. People will not aspire to grow to be like Him because they are mystified and confused about how God could love them. They will then make Him out to be this separate entity where He is love, He is the lover, and we are the mess... It is a wonder He even looks at us... We say the love of God is a mystery. Why would God love me so much? We then muster up faith; we sing the song; and we trust that it is true. Yet, we are not impacted in our minds and in our hearts; we are not impacted in that place of change. We are not 22
impacted because we do not really understand why He can love us like that.
I hear people talk and say, “I can’t imagine how
God could love me” and the only reason they say that is because, they “define themselves” based on their past performance, their moral failures, and what they remember about their lives. They do not define themselves based on their created value, their potential and what God has paid the price to redeem. His love has nothing to do with where they have been. His love has nothing to do with what they have done or what they have not done. The reason His love never runs out on us is that He will never lose sight of who He created us to be; He will never lose sight of our potential, our destiny, and what we look like when He lives inside of us! He Loves Who He Created Us to Be
He loves your root-created value that goes back
to the beginning. He loves what He paid the price to redeem, the real you that you never saw before; but He always knew. On your darkest day, He did not lose sight of who He created you to be. In your most rebellious act, He still saw you as the son/daughter He created you to be. People who have done grossly, negligent, 23
terrible and ungodly things in secret feel like there is no way God could love them. The only reason you did those things is that you had no clue to who you were. You had no clue of the value of your life; you were in the dark. Remember, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” ~Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
The only reason a man is bound to something is
that he does not see who he is. The only reason he expresses as he does is because he is in identity crisis, and he doesn’t know the truth! God doesn’t love where you have been. He doesn’t love the tree that Adam ate from. He loves your created value, your potential, your destiny. Grace Abounds “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” ~Romans 5:20 (NKJV)
Why? When sin abounded, His heart groaned
because He knew who you were created to be. He wasn’t offended; He wasn’t hurt; He wasn’t angry with you. We misunderstand the heart of God. We think He is mad, angry, frustrated, and offended. We think 24
that way because this is how we have been treated our whole lives! But we have been treated that way through the fall of man! Here is what God does when people are sinning. His heart grieves, not for Himself; but for us. He doesn’t get hurt; He is hurting for us. He doesn’t get mad; He doesn’t get offended because He knows who we really are. He knows the deceiver has been blinding us through deception our entire lives! “Love does not take into account suffered wrongs.” ~1 Corinthians 13:5 (NKJV)
He is hurting for lost children; He is hurting for
people who are angry and don’t know why. He is hurting for people who are holding on to something they’re not. He is hurting for people who are created to look like Him and don’t understand it. He is not mad at one of you. He is hurting until we come to the knowledge of truth. Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is here; He is in each believer. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” ~1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
25
Holy Spirit is here to help us and to guide us. He
is here to make known the heart of the Father and to make us more like Him, more like Jesus. He is not here to condemn us or to have us look back and examine ourselves to what we were before the cross and before we were born again. We are now dead to sin (Romans 6:11), we are redeemed (Colossians 1:14), we are sanctified (Hebrews 10:10)... When the disciples asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” ~John 6:28-29 (NKJV)
Now, do the work of God and believe! Believe in
Him, look to Christ, and move on! God Wants You
You would not even have the desire for God if He
did not touch your heart. If He did not draw you near, you would be lost and blind. Like a brute beast, you would walk straight into destruction by instinct. Holy Spirit draws you, and Holy Spirit convicts you. He reveals truth to the believer and to the unbeliever. We only need to listen. What prompted you to read this 26
booklet? You can say, “Well, I wasn’t planning on reading it;” but here you are. When your spirit hears truth, your spirit recognizes truth. It jumps; it comes alive. Remember, “My sheep hear My voice...” ~John 10:27 (NKJV)
God breathes on your heart because He wants you.
Putting on the Image
Now, look what we have done! When we put off
the old man, we “...have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” ~Colossians 3:10 (NKJV)
So, I bet Jesus died to restore you back to the
image of God! You didn’t pray a prayer to go to Heaven, you prayed a prayer to get free from the old man so you could put on the new man who is according to Christ! Now, look at verse 14. “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” ~Colossians 3:14 (NKJV)
Wow!!! How amazing! 27
Our Calling
Do you see my pursuit? Do you see your call-
ing and pursuit? My pursuit is to be one with Him. To know His love like He loves, to become His love like He is love. The only way to get back to being love is by understanding who we were created to be, making the decision to step up, deny the lies of the deceiver and to claim and receive what Christ redeemed for us at the cross! Our created value, our destiny, the image of Almighty God! Christ in us, the hope of Glory! Come Home
The true gospel begins with the knowledge that
we were all created to be sons and daughters. At the fall of man, we became lost sons and daughters. Our Father in Heaven is not angry with us. From the beginning He has always loved us, and He desires an intimate relationship with us. Jesus gives us a great example of this in Luke 15 with the Parable of the Lost Son.
The son, self-centered, living for himself, decides
to ask for his inheritance early. He is saying I do not value you (my father) more than I value myself and my wants. Give me what is mine by heritage, and I will go on my way. The father gives his son his portion of the inheri28
tance. The son goes away and squanders all of it. He returns to his father’s home humbled and willing to work for his father as a hired hand for his food and provisions. The father sees him coming from afar. The father, in great joy, comes running toward him, throws a robe around him, puts sandals on his feet, and places a ring on his finger. The Father accepts him, and he gives him his identity back! The son receives back his identity as a member of the family with all rights and privileges! He is back in the family! The father takes his son into his home, throws a party for him, and celebrates his return! The relationship of father and son has been restored!
God has already forgiven us through Jesus’ mag-
nificent work on the cross. We stand forgiven now! Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ~2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NKJV)
We have already been reconciled by God through
Christ’s death and resurrection. Now we must receive God’s outstretched hand of grace through Christ. We receive God’s grace toward us by believing and ac-
29
cepting Christ’s sacrifice for our sins and the sin into which we were born. All we have to do is to trust and believe in Jesus’ work on the cross and His resurrection for this reconciliation! We turn to Him (repent); and by faith and obedience, we are restored to the sons and daughters we were originally created to be! This is eternal life! You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. ~John 5:39-40 (NKJV)
There is no transformation without encounter. It
is not through the knowledge of the scriptures we are saved. It is through acceptance of the Father’s grace of the cross and by encounter with Jesus through relationship. If you have not yet done so, do so now. Repent... turn to Jesus... confess He is Lord... accept His sacrifice and forgiveness... recognize Jesus Christ as your savior... and seek to be restored to relationship with your Father! Jesus “the Christ” is your only way back to your original created value, the only way back to the image in which you were created… the only way back to your true heritage… the only way back to redemption as a son/ daughter of almighty God…
30
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. ~John 14:6
31