Unity Equals Victory

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In football, I love the idea that when a play is called by the quarterback in the huddle that every member of the offense knows what his assignment is for that particular play.  The play is called, the players ‘break’ the huddle and line up in their unique positions.  The quarterback then barks a series of signals that either changes the play at the line of scrimmage or signals the start of the play.  Bam!  All eleven players move indiscriminately toward their assignment to achieve movement toward the ‘goal’ line.  Some teams are very good at this and others are just average.  And no matter that you have a superstar at one or two positions, without everyone doing their part, that team will not win as often as the team where every player is synced with the other players, all doing their part.

The apostle Paul stated it thusly to the Ephesians:

11 And He Himself  (Christ) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 (a) for the equipping of the saints (b) for the work of ministry, (c) for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ– 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

I’m convinced that someone read this passage and then invented team sports.  Every team sport has individual positions and one or more of those positions serve as a leader for the team to excel and achieve their goal of victory.

Whether it is marriage (a two-team sport), family, business, or ecclesia (church), Paul’s game plan works every time.  Unity equals Victory!

As leaders, let us share the vision succinctly, incorporate all the players, outline the assignment for each position and provide leadership that unites the players along the way to victory.  We can do this!

Grace

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You would almost think that grace was a new concept in the body of Christ today given the frequency by which it is being utilized.  It seems that every message preached and every song being sung today is promoting grace.  I wouldn’t be that concerned about it but some of the rhetoric being thrown around pertaining to grace is erroneous at best and reckless at worst.  What seems to be at the center of the confusion is the difference between positional grace and functional grace.

Grace can easily be understood as that spiritual resource that Yahweh supplies that you can’t supply for yourself-a gift.  Grace is the divine presence and subsequent empowerment of the Holy Spirit within a person that causes change within and flows through that same person to others-glorifying Yahshua.

So, yes, Yahweh must first extend grace to everyone for your position (lineage and subsequent nature associated with that lineage) in Christ to change.  You cannot ‘save’, or deliver yourself from your sin condition that is generationally connected to Adam…you cannot make yourself righteous, acceptable and valuable to Yahweh apart from Yahshua’s sacrifice and shed blood on the cross. Yahweh Himself must give this gift of salvation that transfers your family lineage from Adam to Christ.  One’s simple response to this gift is repentance-a true expression of the contrition of one’s heart!!  Then, by faith (agreement with Yahweh), receive the finished work of Yahshua, completed on the cross.   Instantly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace, responds to your heart’s desire to belong and be reconciled to Yahweh through the gift given and received.  HalleluYAH!!!

But notice these two passages that reference grace in the New Testament:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:8-10

4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.  Titus 3:4-8

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

So grace cannot be understood solely linked to salvation, but must also be present and active in our lives as Kingdom change agents and sons of Yahweh in the earth today.  Romans 8:14 states that the sons of Yahweh are those who are ‘continually’ led by the Holy Spirit.  Later Paul explains that even the earth is groaning and travailing for the sons of Yahweh to take their place mightily in the earth so that the earth can glorify Christ as it was originally designed.  Man cannot fulfill his divinely given purpose without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace, functioning in and through him.  If we stop at positional grace, we change lineages from Adam to Christ without the nature change and without fulfilling the Yahweh-given mandates unique to every believer.  As Paul states emphatically, “We are His workmanship, recreated in Christ Yahshua for good works.”

Therefore, there exists a distinct balance and relationship between the spoken Word, the Holy Spirit and man, who is uniquely designed to hear Yahweh’s voice and release his faith, which grants the Holy Spirit access to the spoken Word and brings about manifestation of that Word.

How much of what is being done in the name of Yahshua, the Christ, is actually being accomplished without the Holy Spirit’s empowerment within and through man?  How much of Yahshua’s earthly ministry was accomplished without the Holy Spirit?  Exactly, my point!

And The Two Became One

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In preparation for a wedding ceremony recently, I was pressing into the heart and mind of Yahweh for a distinct and personal message that I might deliver to the groom, bride, wedding party, family and friends.  The morning of the ceremony I was drawn to a very familiar Scripture- Romans 8:29:

“For who He (Yahweh, the Father) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (Yahshua, the Son of Yahweh) might be the firstborn of many brethren.”

I was then drawn by the Spirit within to dig deeper into the word, “conformed”.  The word in Greek is actually two words, which translate, ‘to be joined or morphed together in both form and fashion’.  Of course there could be no greater illustration of the true Kingdom concept of marriage, where the two become one.  But, before we can go there we must be true to the context of the verse that we were predestined to be morphed together in form and fashion with the image of Yahshua the Christ.

If we are not ‘conformed’ to Christ by the Spirit, then realistically there is no possible way for us to be truly joined and morphed together in marriage, family, business, ecclesia (church).

The apostle Paul later instructs the Romans to not be ‘conformed’ to this world, but be ‘transformed’ by the renewing of the mind.  Interestingly, the word he uses in chapter 12 for conform is different and means ‘to make new again or renew’.  So, the message is clear,

We must leave something old and dysfunctional to be morphed into something new, dynamic and life-giving.

Many people claim to have completed this transaction but retain old mindsets in which the enemy has established soulish strongholds that undermine and sabotage this new and effective life in Christ.

Every aspect of our life in this world was predetermined to be influenced directly by the presence of Christ within.  Yahweh saw your life today before He created the foundation of the world!  Let’s allow the Spirit within to us bring that prophetic vision into today’s reality.