Is it getting darker or lighter?

No doubt you have had the question come to mind lately, is the world being overcome with spiritual darkness? Is the end of the world finally here? The erosion of moral values, corruption in our government, rise of violence and crime, and the collapse of organized Christianity seem to point to a dark time in our world. Are these events and movements a sign that evil is taking over the world? Not if we know what God has said.

God says the light is appearing in the darkness and the darkness grasped it not (Jn 1.5 CLNT). The NKJV says has not overcome it. The light is Jesus, and no darkness can withstand Him. His light is spreading across the world, giving life and light to people everywhere. That is the reality, and nothing man says or does will change His impact on the world.

But why does it seem to be getting darker in the world? Why does it appear evil is taking over? First, the appearance of these things is not the reality. Man has a way of always announcing what seems real, but is actually false. We are too prone to live by appearances, not the truth. Jesus said, if your eye is bad, you will see only darkness (Matt 6:23). We need to have a different set of eyes to see the reality of what is true.

Secondly, it always seems darker just before dawn. Science tells us the darkest point of the physical night is just before daylight appears. The darker it seems means dawn is just around the corner. The light will break out. The spiritual darkness will be overcome, just like switching on a light in a room or the sun rising over the horizon. Satan is unleashing everything he has, because he knows the light of Jesus is about to break out through us – his brothers and sisters.

God intends that the forces of darkness be overthrown. They will be no match for the light that will come from our lives as we live by Jesus’s life. It will not come from our trying to imitate Jesus or following His teaching, but through His living in us, as us. The powers of darkness are no match for the revelation of Jesus that comes from our confession of His life here and now, and not just in heaven someday. That revelation of Jesus in us God says will someday set all of creation free (Rom.8:19,20).

Are you ready to cast out the darkness and let the light of Jesus shine? Throw off the “bushel” of believing that you are to wait for Jesus to return before the night can be turned to day. That day is now. Jesus is here, living now in us, and shining His light through us, dispelling the darkness. Walk in the light and overcome the darkness around you.

By the way – Welcome more daylight through DST this weekend.

Christ – life greetings to all

Here is our Knowing Jesus December 2022 Newsletter.

Stories include:

What is your evangel?

My Story in book form – how to get my new book, Knowing Jesus, Discovering how Jesus lives as Me

Learn all the ways you can follow Knowing Jesus on social media.

Christmas greetings from the SW Men’s Breakfast.

May His light shine brightly from your heart this season.    

              

JAU Videos moved to Rumble

Our Sunday morning Jesus as Us conversations have moved from You Tube to Rumble.

Go Here for our channel

Book release

My book, Knowing Jesus, My journey in discovering Jesus lives as me, is now available as a PDF for free. E-book and printed version soon to come.
Email KnowingJesus22@outlook.com for updated information or questions.

Clink Here for the PDF download

Converts or Conversation?

Guest post by Scott Wakefield

“My Kind of Christian”

https://myscottpage.blogspot.com/2022/07/my-kind-of-christian.html

It’s time for the real you!

Spring is the time to exchange the old drab clothes of winter for something bright and cool. It’s time for the shorts and polos that have been hidden in the closet and drawers for months to again be worn in the sun and warmth.

It is also time for me to discard those winter clothes that are worn out and not me anymore. But since I am a keeper, this is hard. Thankfully, my wife pushes me to thin out my old clothes, because I have some I have not worn for years. She says, when I get something new, “Now what are you getting rid of?”

For all of us, now is the time to let go of the old garments of our tired self-story and put on the new Jesus story as our life. It is time to let go of the false image you have been trying to portray for years. It’s time to let go of the fears, the private lies you have held onto since a child, and the envy of not getting to be who you wanted to be. You can let all these things and others go because you do not need them anymore. They are false and are not the true you.

Paul teaches us in his Evangel that who we really are is Jesus. Before Jesus came, humanity lived with a false image of itself. Jesus corrected that by becoming our failed humanity, dying to the falsehood, and then raising us together with Him to live in the new humanity, as Him. Paul said…put off from you as regards your former behavior, the old humanity, which is corrupted…and to put on the new humanity which, in accord with God, is being created in righteousness and benignity of the truth. (Eph.4.22-24 CLNT). The new humanity is Christ. He is the new creation that Paul says we have become in Him (2 Cor.5.17).

This new set of clothes, our new humanity, is not strange or unrealistic to us. They are who we have been all along, we just did not know it. Many of us have not realized that we are created to be someone different than who we thought. Hidden under the falsehood of our pretending is the real us, waiting for us to discover in Jesus. Paul said it is as simple as putting off and putting on. Notice again the order. We first put off something that is not true. We realize what we thought was the real us is false. But modern Christianity has taught us the other way around, put on so we can put off. It has taught us to try to be like Jesus, as an exchange for our old life. But we cannot become someone we are not already. We can only be who God created us to be, a son of God in Jesus. This is why we have said in this ministry, be who you already are. Be Jesus because that is the best you there is.

The springtime of your life is here. It is time to shed the drab clothes of falsehood. It is time to always think and speak of yourself as living, walking, and seated with Jesus. See life through His eyes and heart, without any thought or concern for the things of this world. Likewise, realize He lives in you, just as you are with all the frailties of your humanity. You do not have to change a thing. Let Him be your life and transform you as He sees fit.  This is true, authentic life.

Be the real you, be Jesus

Dennis

Resurrected together

Many Christians believe, as do most Jews, that there will be a resurrection in the last days. Martha stated this belief in her dialogue with Jesus after the death of Lazarus. But Jesus responded to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who is believing in Me, even if he should be dying, shall be living (Jn.11:24-26 CLNT). Jesus changed the focus from resurrection being an event in history to Himself as the embodiment of resurrected life. In Him, we are dying yet living.

Like the first man Adam, whatever Jesus did as the second Man affected all humanity after Him. Adam’s actions brought death to all, but Jesus brought Life. When He died, God says He did not die alone, we died together in Him. When He arose from the grave, we arose with Him. We have been “vivified”, “roused” from death to life together in Him for the ages (Eph. 1:5,6; Col.2:13; 3:1).

This is the wonderful truth the original Greek calls the “evangel”. God gave it to Paul by revelation and charged him to dispense it to the world. Sadly, this evangel has disappeared through the years of theological revisions since the days of Constantine. Now Christian teachers tell us to await this life in Jesus. They tell us to be faithful until we die, so that we can obtain this age abiding life. But God says we have it now. Even while living in these decaying bodies, we have the power and exceeding abundance of resurrected life in Jesus. We just do not realize it!

But don’t we still die? Yes, even resurrected Lazarus did not live forever. Even while being raised together with Christ, we are still dying. But this death is not the end, but simply leaving our earthly bodies, the temporary tent for our earthly existence. We still live on, existing always in Jesus. Our real life goes on, never ceasing. One day Jesus will give us a new body that will never decay or perish. I am looking forward to that new “super body”.

Roused together in Jesus should be the clarion message of Easter. I do not want to hear that I need to wait for life for the ages. I do not need a message of hope in a coming resurrection. I have it now! I have the Life of Jesus in me now by faith in Him. He is my life forever. Even in this temporary house I live in, I realize more everyday His life in me, as me. I live raised together with Him.

Live on together in Him

What does God see?

I grew up in a Christian denomination that focused heavily on the dangers of sin. It was the central focus of our meetings and teaching. It felt like our only mission as a community was to combat sin in our lives and the world. To overcome this problem, my teachers taught me to strive for holiness by abstaining and separating myself from any hint of evil.

My Bible teachers also taught me that God hated sin and could not look at it. He must turn away from it like He did His Son on the cross. Likewise, if I sinned, God had to turn His back on me until I repented and asked for His forgiveness.

But something happened – I saw the truth. God does not see sin at all. He has zero knowledge of sin in our lives. Why? Because my sinful body was “done away with” through the death of Jesus on the cross (Rom. 6:6). God through Jesus even “erased” the decrees (laws) that pointed out sin in our lives! (Col. 2:14). Now there is nothing that says we are sinners. Instead, in God’s eyes we are flawless, unimpeachable in His sight (Col.1:23 CLNT).

But, you say, don’t we still “sin”? I would respond, is it sin or the result of pretending – acting contrary to who God says we are? God does not see sin but grieves that we are acting contrary to who we are to Him. We hurt ourselves through our choices, behaving as though we are still living like our old self.

As a pastor all I saw was sin in people. I preached to my congregations as though they were still flawed and needed correction. That is what I thought was my job, to teach, expose, and correct with Scripture. Is it any wonder that my listeners became discouraged with the Bible or did not want to attend church? Why would even a stranger want to be subjected to this “guilting”?

Blake Shelton, the popular country music singer, says it well in his new hit song called “Bible Verses.”

But Lord knows, I ain’t measured
Up to what’s inside
And they say that that’s okay
But I keep praying for the day

That I can open up that good book
And Heaven don’t look
Like it’s out of reach
When it feels like those apostles
Are giving me the gospel
And not the third degree
I just want it to read
Like Bible verses
And not the Bible versus me (1)

What should have been the heart of my preaching and teaching? We are perfect in Jesus. God sees you and I as completely flawless in Jesus. We need to accept Him as our life and recognize who we really are. That means stop condemning yourself and others. Start seeing yourself as God sees you – flawless in Jesus.

The Bible is not a measuring stick but the revelation of God’s mercy and grace in restoring us to who we really are as an image of Jesus. The Scriptures are a reminder of what it looks to live in and as Him. My message now is not condemnation but restoration – restoring, and encouraging, presenting every man mature in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:29).

And this is how we need to see each other. Paul says from now on we are acquainted with no one according to flesh, we only see Jesus (2 Cor. 5:16 CLNT). If someone is still acting like their old selves, we restore with gentleness their image of themselves as Jesus. What would church be like if we did not see the flaws in each other – or that we felt self-conscious around each other? What would it be like to not have to pretend to be with each other? What if it was a safe place? (2)

More on that in the posts to come.

Dennis D

1. Blake Shelton, with Joe Fox, Andrew Pebbles, Brett, Sheroky, April 2021, AZLyrics.
2. Cf. This is a Safe place., Jesus as Us, 3/6/22.

“You will get through this!”

Listen or watch as Dennis interviews his friends and new JAU (Jesus as Us) community members Andy and Chrissy Koontz. Hear them talk about their journey of recovery from Andy’s brain cancer and their own spiritual quest to know Jesus. With their new revelation of Jesus living in them, a whole new outreach is unfolding, not only to other cancer survivors, but also friends across the globe searching for authentic knowledge of Jesus. 

Video – https://youtu.be/pilg_Mb-rfk

Podcast – https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cxs9q-1188ed6

Check out their website www.andykoontz.com, and especially the song Andy wrote during his recovery called “You will get through this”. 

Andy and Chrissy can also be reached through email akoontz2003@hotmail.com

Is eternal life what we need?

Most of us believed that the reward for our trust and faithfulness in following Jesus is everlasting life in heaven. To eventually live free from all the problems of this life in the endless bliss of the next has been the goal for believers for centuries. Knowing we have this reward “someday soon” is supposed to help us endure the trials of today. 

You might be surprised to learn that Jesus never promised us “eternal life”, rather, life eonion. He said, He who is believing in the Son has life eonion..and he who is hearing My word and believing Him who sends Me, has life eonion and is not coming into judging, but has proceeded out of death into life. (John 3:36; 5:24 CLNT*) The word eonion in the original Greek has been poorly translated as eternal life in our English Bibles. It comes from the word eon, meaning an indefinite period or an age. And because there is no direct English equivalent for this adjective form of the word, the best definitions are life that spans ages, life of the ages, or age abiding life. 

Jesus was not promising a better, everlasting life someday in heaven. He was talking about knowing and living inside of heaven and eternity NOW! He said heaven was now and spoke about living in the reality of God’s eternal presence in this present age. Eonion life has all the qualities of eternal God in finite bodies. He said, I came that they may have life eonion, and have it superabundantly (John 10:10 CLNT). Looking forward to a better day “beyond the sunset” doesn’t help us now. The world we live in is full of turmoil, Covid 19, economic uncertainty, suffering, pain, and death. We don’t need everlasting life someday, but life that sustains us now. That is exactly what Jesus was talking about. 

Jesus spoke about knowing who you are as God’s child forever (Jn 17:3, Rom. 8:15,16). It is exactly for these times when we are prone to fear our future. God is not waiting for us to come to heaven and then enjoy life without hassle. He is in us now as Jesus, overcoming the world we live in. All of God lives in all of us. It is knowing that we live in complete unity with Him through Jesus (John 14:20,23;17:21). There is no safer, more peaceful existence.

Jesus is eonion LIFE. He is the LIFE for this age and the ones to come. I pray you know His LIFE in you now as you face the uncertainty of this age. 

(*CLNT = Concordant Literal New Testament, Concordant Publishing Concern, 1983.)