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Lessons AC 67 - 74 Pages 209 – 243
AC 67: Providential Perception
Phil 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil 1:3 I give thanks to my God upon every remembrance of you, Phil 1:4 always, in my every petition on behalf of all of you, making petition with joy,
How can God turn your negative decisions for your advancement and glorify Himself? This is possible in three areas:
God has perfect reasons for everything He allowed. God has perfect reasons for not stopping your decision and action and He does not intervene in any situation.
There is no set back in God’s plan. Error, imperfection or fault in God’s plan is not possible.
Providence is the divine outworking of all divine decrees with the objective of manifesting God’s glory.
In the life of believers, nothing is by chance; nothing is a matter of fate, good or bad luck. God is in charge of all things and everything in this universe.
God will turn your curse into blessing because He loves you (Gen. 50:19-20). God will offer you the opportunity to go through any situation that will glorify Him.
Where there is grace, there is provision. Where there is faith, there is progress. Grace provides, faith utilizes that provision to reach spiritual maturity.
The spiritual life is a path that advances forward and upward. If you are not advancing forward and upward, you are not living your spiritual life.
What determine your attitude in spiritual advancement? The answer is your attitude toward Bible doctrine.
All glory belongs to God - the glory for anything and everything accomplished in our lives. What we allow Him to accomplish in and through our lives will be rewarded accordingly and will glorify Him.
What does providence means? It means that God has provided all things in your life (both that which you like and dislikes) for the purpose of reaching spiritual maturity.
What does it means to love God?
To focus on self or problems and whatever that makes you unhappy is manifestation of not loving God. To focus on your problem is to reject or ignore the grace of God.
What does worry or anxiety means? Worry or fear is an accusation against the grace of God. Fear or worry is saying in effect:
How do you get rid of fear?
The providence of God will accomplish 3 things with or without you?
God will accomplish His perfect plan regardless of your opinion or volition. God will accomplish His perfect plan with or without you. God will use your positive volition or negative volition to glorify Himself (Psalm 76:10).
All incidents in our lives are according to God’s perfect plan, not according to human plan or to subjective arrogance. For every circumstance, situation, or event that God allowed there is a perfect purpose such as:
God is the primary cause of all things. People and situations are just part of the primary cause.
Why makes complaining an evil? Every time you complain against a person or situation (secondary cause) you are complaining against God (the primary cause) of all things.
Where you are now is exactly where God wants you to be in order to become who you can be in the PPOG. What you are going through right now is from God, whether you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ controls history or not.
What you have gone through, or going through right now, or will go through tomorrow is what you need to become a spiritual winner.
When it comes to God’s plan, God is respecter of no person because all are linked to God by grace. When it comes to human freewill, God respect your volition, He respects your decision.
There are things that you need to go through… · By way of correction · By way of discipline · By way of instruction · By way of application of Bible doctrine
The more you understand Bible doctrine, the more you have to apply doctrine to life’s situation.
The spiritual learning process is not complete until we have applied it. Spiritual growth and maturity is not determined by how much doctrine you know but by how much doctrine you have applied.
God will never violate human freewill in order to bring into fulfillment His purpose. God will be glorified whether His elect accepts or rejects His highest and best.
God is not monotonous; He works in both adverse and peaceful circumstances.
Why God allowed thing (those you like and dislike) into your life?
Do not join Satan in questioning the character of God by questioning what He allowed to happen.
Changes transpire in human history from two opposing perspective:
Changes impose upon you by force, legalism, manipulation or pressure is not a genuine change. Real and eternally lasting changes starts from the soul in partnership with the Holy Spirit and human spirit.
When you see a wrong action, do not attack the wrong action. Every wrong action is produced by wrong thinking and wrong motivation or attitude. Every right action is the results of right thinking and right motivation.
There is no one in the world that you need to impress in order to be successful in the spiritual life. Attaining rapport with men means losing rapport with God. Attaining rapport with God with also give you rapport with men.
The genuine things in life grow slowly. The weeds grow faster than the eggplant or tomatoes. A day by day progress should be more fully accomplished than pseudo rapid growth.
Though men means things for evil against you, if God allowed it, He has done so far for His good purpose. Those who refuse God’s solution are allowed to suffer the outcome or consequences of their doubt.
Providential perception is the anti-thesis of anxiety.
James 2:10 For whoever will keep the whole Law yet will stumble in one [point] has become guilty of all.
The day you realize and appropriate your providential perception is the day you begin to glorify God.
The believer flunks the test when he magnifies the situations, problems, or adversity over the providence of God.
God does not waste our time; we waste our time by not seeing His plan in the present situation or circumstances.
Do not mistaken defeat as being not the will of God. In most situations, God choose to be victorious through the defeat and affliction of His people. God’s purpose is often carried out in a way we least expect.
We have to realize several things:
J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
AC 68: pressing the Advance
Phil 3:12 Not that I already obtained or have already been perfected, but I press forward, if also I shall lay hold of [that] for which I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13 Brothers [and sisters], I do not consider myself to have laid hold, but forgetting indeed one [thing], the [things] behind, but reaching out to the [things] ahead. Phil 3:14 I press forward toward [the] goal, for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s objective was conformity to Christ in his living and dying.
Paul’s definition of his life:
The Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t just want to share what He has but also what He is. The apostle Paul has enjoyed in his life what the Lord has prepared for him in the eternity past and will continue to enjoy everything in the presence of the Lord (2 Peter 1:3-4).
The high calling of God refers to: · “Much more” grace blessings after salvation · Believer’s positive decisions in time making himself available to greater blessings, greater glory, and greater rewards.
The very first thing a believer must do to grow beyond where he is at the moment is to be honest with himself. He has to honestly evaluate his spiritual standing and accept the needs for advancement.
The term “obtained” from lambano which means “to take to oneself” refers to the act of self evaluation.
The phrase “have become perfect” (teleioo) meaning, not having attained spiritual perfection. Teleios in the early church refers to martyrdom. A martyr was said to be perfected by the sword. The day of martyrdom was call the day of perfecting the saints.
Paul was saying; “I am not yet qualified for martyrdom, I have not yet attained the status of being a friend of God. The apostle was saying, “All the events in my life are unfinished, incomplete until this last event had taken place”.
As long as we are alive in this life, we have to advance to the next step forward and upward. You have not reached your objective until the last event has taken place.
The word “press on” (dioko) which means to pursue or to strive denotes two things:
How? The apostle Paul shows us what to do:
Paul’s personal sense of destiny drove him for the finish. There are basic things that you must draw from your metabolized doctrine in the soul:
To win the race (Hebrews 12:1-2) is to set your undivided attention on the goal. Do not focus or concentrate on yourself, teammates, competitors, adversaries or difficulties but on your goal.
Undivided attention or full concentration is a mental attitude of endurance. Concentration is the strenuous pursuit of the objective. Concentration demolished complacency, apathy, boredom, laziness, indifference or arrogance.
The word “regard” means count up and weight out all the reasons. Philippians 3:11 is occupation with the person of Christ. Paul was saying; “I have considered everything as incomplete until I have finish all things the Lord Jesus Christ had set for me, I intend to win this crown and all the fabulous blessings that he laid for me”.
The secret to lasting success is to keep lasting. The invisible assets are designed to make the Church Age believer continue his momentum until the goals are attain.
There are three basic decisions of the volition that you have to make your success lasting: · You have to set aside everything else except your goals. · You have to decide what the priority of your life is and keep focus on it. · You have to cast aside everything that stand in your way and carry on with the things that are not hindrance.
In the spiritual realm, the believer makes positive decisions from the point of strength and the God the Holy Spirit executes the actions that produce changes, results and attain goals.
In the believer’s upward and upward climb, carry on with the essential and beneficial things (things which does not hinder your momentum) and lay aside the non-essential and non-beneficial to your relationship with God.
The terms “things” and “I do” were not in the original text but supplied by the translators. The original term is “hen de” translated as “but one”. The apostle Paul was saying; “I don’t consider myself the ultimate winner yet as powerful and the most advance as far as spiritual maturity and impact, but one…
The statement is concise, there is no verb in the Greek original text since it is not necessary. Two things are expressed here:
The words “lay hold” means to grasp, and “apprehended” (katalabano) means to lay hold of in order to make one’s own”. It was used of someone coming into possession of inheritance.
Every believer is laid hold of by the Lord Jesus Christ to receive tremendous blessings:
Every Church Age believer (member of royal family of God) has a personal responsibility to drive on toward the goal to take hold of the purpose and destiny with Christ took hold of Him. How?
The word “forgets” (epilanthanomai) means to forget completely. How do you forget the past?
Disregard every memory that comes in importunate moments in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is possible only through residence, momentum and function inside the divine dynasphere.
When you are focus on Christ, you are not distracted by the past failure, inflated by your own past success. The victories of yesterday cannot sustain us today. You need to win your victories today. The grace of God must be sufficient for each of us, right now, right here.
The term “reaching forward” (epekteinomai) shows the manner of life.. The believer has to set aside self to achieve in the spiritual realm. Pressing on the advance does not depend on people, circumstance, situation or anything.
Psalm 90:12 So3651 teach3045 us to number4487 our days,3117 that we may apply935 our hearts3824 unto wisdom.2451
“Teach us” instruct us in the spiritual path through conflict and competition. “To number our days” assign to them certain values.
Endurance comes by pressing beyond our present limitations. Each day is a gift from God’s grace. Every gift of grace presents us with opportunity to grow and advance in the plan of God. Every day is another opportunity in the plan of God to utilize the divine power system and resources.
The most secure investment in this life is in the spiritual matter not material.
There are three types of believers going to heaven:
“Goals” (skopos) literally means to keep your eyes upon. “Prize” (brabeion) refers to spiritual rewards. The “upward call from God” refers to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. “I hope” (elpizo) means to wait with full confidence. Confidence means safety, security, or stability.
Spiritual stability comes from metabolized Bible doctrine overcoming all forms of distraction. Allowing distractions in the spiritual life is not only perilous but fatal.
How do you live the life that God has destined for you?
When you have enough Bible doctrine, you are bound to do two things:
Spiritual momentum means:
“Let you character has its proven worth”. Proven worth speaks of character that has been forged in the fire of adversity.
In your momentum there must be:
What we need to see in the life of the Church age believers today is the true willingness to follow God’s plan and unconditional desire for the will of God.
Is your life a testimony to the grace of God? The grace of God will fill every deficiency in your life, if you let Him. Grace will conquer every ounce of human inability, deficiency, frailties, or flaws.
From the sphere of possibility, you have to set it down firmly in the sphere of reality. In the cosmic system everything is possible but nothing will materialize into reality.
How to move from possibility to reality?
Note: you do not have to throw away the non-essentials; God will do it for you. If you continue in your PMA of BD, God will take care of the following:
The life of the believer is either:
You may have all of Him but Christ may not have all of you. At the moment of salvation God has provided everything in Christ to you (including the 40 gifts of salvation) but the believer has to use those resources and assets in order for Christ to have all of him.
For every human viewpoint status symbol or human celebrityship that you have, there is a corresponding positive decision that you have to make. Every decision will either put you in position to receive or not to receive the blessings of God.
5 Points applications:
At the moment of salvation, you have overcome the flesh (OSN) eternally, after salvation; you have to overcome the flesh experientially.
J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
AC 69: The Conflict of Grace
Phil 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my righteousness, the [righteousness] from [the] Law, _but (alla) the [righteousness] by means of faith in Christ, [which is (dia)] the righteousness from God on the basis of faith;
The issue of the believer’s volition is slavery to the law, or freedom in grace.
The word “found” (heurisko – the root word of eureka) which means to discover, the idea is related to miners finding precious stones or gold.
What the blind leading the blinds means? The blind leader is trying to lead the blinds in 4 settings:
The CAB does not have to “advertise’ the truth. The truth sells itself to those who are truly hungry and thirsty for it. Do not be a commercial model for the truth adding humanistic viewpoint in order to sell it.
“A righteousness of my own” refers to relative self-righteousness, arrogance and dead works of the believers.
Why it is called dead works? · No ability to produce life or righteousness · Cheap substitute for the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ · Produce by a spiritually dead
Isaiah 64:6 But we are1961 all3605 as an unclean2931 thing, and all3605 our righteousnesses6666 are as filthy5708 rags;899 and we all3605 do fade5034 as a leaf;5929 and our iniquities,5771 like the wind,7307 have taken us away.5375
A filthy rug (menstruation rugs) refers to garments of human good. All human good (altruistic endeavors) in the energy of the flesh are rejected by God. The production of human good is not basis of relationship with God.
There is no life in the gospel of human good. Spiritual life do not exist where there is no faith in the work of Christ. The finished Work of Christ is against every human good work of man.
The phrase “that which” (dia) literally by means of the righteousness which (comes) from God (imputed by God on man) on the basis of faith.
Paul uses the enantios (the opposite comparison):
Righteousness from God is dikaiosune which has three implications:
Righteousness comes:
Note the following:
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who bewitched you* [so as] not to be obeying the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed among you* [as] having been crucified? Galatians 3:2 This only I want to learn from you*: did you* receive the Spirit by works of [the] Law or by hearing with faith? Galatians 3:3 You* are so foolish! Having begun in [or, by] [the] Spirit, are you* now being completed [or, perfected] in [or, by] the flesh? Galatians 3:4 You* endured so many things for nothing! If indeed [they were] really for nothing.
The Greek word “katargeo” is the termination of all interaction with someone. The reversionistic and legalistic believer has terminated his association with God, with the plan of God, the Holy Spirit and from Bible doctrine while maintaining fellowship with those who have rejected Bible doctrine. Such separation is not biblical but demonic and the manifestation of reversionism.
Legalistic reversionism destroys spiritual growth, spiritual momentum and the spiritual life as a whole.
Legalism is when you combine faith with human works resulting to execution of the satanic plan. To cease spiritual growth simply adds to your faith. Satan has successfully hindered the spiritual growth of most believers by motivating them to add works to the grace of God.
The believer who falls into legalism is rendered spiritually:
There is nothing in the life of legalist that pleases God, no matter how much it pleases the legalists. The legalists are not beneficial to the local church except they are use by God for people testing of the advancing believers. No spiritual truth is beneficial to the legalists since they have rejected it and have fallen from grace.
There are nine things related to falling from grace (Ephesians 5:1-9):
Adversity is inevitable and necessary in life; however, allowing it to enter your soul and become stress is optional and unnecessary.
What prevents pressure from becoming stress in the soul? The answer is the utilization of problem solving devices (PSD10).
What happen when pressure becomes stress?
Fear nullifies the believer’s equal privilege and equal opportunity to glorify God.
If you love God, you will not allow the people around you to dictate your behavior and lifestyle.
Whenever the Church age believer concentrates on the problems, he will forget the power of God and missed the ability to apply BD when under pressure. God allows the problems in our lives in order to test our concentration on Him.
Jeremiah 17:10 I589 the LORD3068 search2713 the heart,3820 I try974 the reins,3629 even to give5414 every man376 according to his ways,1870 and according to the fruit6529 of his doings.4611
Why God test our emotions? God tests our emotion to find out if you are going to employ divine power and trust Him or not (Rev. 2:23). When the emotion overtakes the soul, you will not be able to utilize whatever Bible doctrine that you have. When the emotion is out of line controlling the soul, it results to irrationality and complication of the issue.
Concentration on the problems means that you have complicated the problems, you have failed to execute the PPOG, and you allow the things you fear to gain power over your life. Fear is the proof that you have degenerate mind.
The only purpose of emotion in the spiritual life is for enjoyment of blessings. Emotion is not to rule dictate or lead us into a lifestyle of fear (2 Timothy 1:7).
Fear keeps increasing until the person is totally panic-stricken and intimidated by life itself.
Whenever the CAB faces the adversities with MBD from his soul, it strengthens his life. Whenever faces the adversities apart from MBD, he is deliberately destroying his life. The spiritually mature believer faces any adversity without any fear while the spiritually immature believer faces adversity full of fear.
Courage is mastery over fear, resistance to fear and ability to face it squarely. Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to execute the power and resources from God in facing it.
The brave has controlled fear, and knows how to handle it. The coward has fear in control of his life.
We all need the strength to endure the things which we cannot change. We need the courage to change the things we should change.
The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart. In spiritual momentum, it is the continuous advance without becoming emotional.
Fear is a mental attitude sin, the worst insult to God. Fear is the indictment against the grace of God. It reveals your lack of trust or confidence in Him who provides. Fear prohibits the grace of God to bless the believer.
In fear, the panic-stricken believer disabled himself to apply Bible doctrine. In courage, the fully concentrated believer is in full ability to apply doctrine into life’s problems.
To handle fear we need something stronger than pressures that assault us. The only thing stronger than all the pressures in this world is Bible doctrine.
Remember, our enemies (Satan, demons and their human advocates) will try to intimidate you from time to time, but God can take any evil plot against you and turn it into blessing. When your enemies try to curse you, God will turn their curse into blessing only when the believer operates inside the divine dynasphere (2 Cor. 13:8, Matthew 25:40).
The believers are mandated not to be intimidated by fear (Isaiah 35:4), and instructed not to take revenge (Romans 12:19).
What are you going to do if a fellow believer robbed you? (1Thess. 4:6, Prov. 20:22, 2 Tim. 4:14)
J. R. Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries
AC 70: The Workout of Spiritual Power
Philippians 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you* always obeyed, not as in my presence only, _but_ now much more in my absence, be working out your* own salvation with fear and trembling,
“Work out “is a program designed to develop strength and stamina” in which you need:
Before we can have proper action, we have to have proper attitude. We need the mind set of humility which is in the Lord Jesus Christ’s humanity.
Philippians 2:4 Stop being concerned each one about the things of themselves, _but_ each one also [about] the things of others. Philippians 2:5 Indeed, be letting the frame of mind [or, attitude] be in you* which [was] also in Christ Jesus,
Apostle Paul called the Philippi believers as “my beloved” (Philippians 2:12) refers to one who is highly esteemed as expression of virtue personal love.
“Always obeyed” (hupakouo) literally means to hear and obey. Hupakouo means to be under the sound of an instructor’s hearing. Hearing is something that demands response, to comprehend the message of God in faith and then respond in obedience.
Hupakouo means to hear with the ear, comprehend with the mind, and obey with the will. “Have always obeyed” refers to consistency, they were positive in the presence or absence of Paul.
Integrity is consistency of character.
The phrase “work out your salvation” means to keep carrying your salvation its ultimate objective. Salvation in this sense is not deliverance from eternal condemnation. Salvation (sozo) is deliverance not from the Lake of Fire but from the life’s daily struggles:
Right thinking plus right motivation results to right decision action. As long as the believer is alive, he has to be continually striving to bring to fulfillment that which he has learned.
As member of the royal family of God:
The deeper your understanding of Bible doctrine, the greater the goal set before you. The more you understand the plan of God, the more you have to apply.
Philippians 2:16 holding firmly to [or, offering] the word of life, as my right to boast in [the] day of Christ, that I did not run [fig., exert myself] in vain, nor did I labor in vain.
Do not impose your own standard of spiritual growth on others. Why? The growth of each believer is variable in certain areas of the spiritual life. One believer may have advance in certain aspects but still failure in some other aspects. Another believer may have victories in some aspects where others are still failure and vice versa.
We have to live according to the standard we have attained, not on what others have attained.
In each believer’s growth, we have to consider several factors for variable momentum and advancement:
Work out is katergazomai which means to keep on bringing what you have learned to fulfillment.
“Working out our salvation” means to accomplish your deliverance from danger of the cosmic system without fear and trembling.
Phil 1:3 I give thanks to my God upon every remembrance of you*, Phil 1:5 because of your* fellowship in [or, contribution to] the Gospel from [the] first day until now,
Philippians 1:3, 5 leads us into the production of external action that is consistent with it.
Phil 1:13 with the result that my bonds have become known [as being] in Christ in the entire fortified palace and to all the rest,
Here is the divine enablement in our spiritual life. Work is energeo literally it means energy, divine energy, effective work. In the ancient world field of medicine, energeo refers to effective medicine, and in military field, it was use for effective combatants who were trained and skillful.
If the believer is consistent in his intake of BD, the more effective is the energeo of the Holy Spirit in his life.
The Holy Spirit can accomplish more than what the believer permit Him to do in his life. The effectiveness of God the Holy Spirit in your life is dependent on your attitude and responds to BD.
Positive volition believer plus filling of the Holy Spirit with metabolized Bible doctrine equals energeo. When the Holy Spirit and BD link up in the life of the positive volition believer, then the divine outworking takes place.
God the Holy Spirit is at work in energizing the spiritual believer’s desire to advance overcoming his inability, helplessness, weaknesses and flaws. The Holy Spirit changes the positive volition believer’s:
Any divine work, spiritual service that is part of the believer’s life is a result of God’s work first within us. Anything that comes forth in the way of service or ministry is the result of God the Holy Spirit working first within the soul. It is the Holy Spirit who is “at work in us” both making us willing and energizing us effectively toward His good pleasure to accomplish His perfect will.
Right thinking plus right motivation plus right action results to execution of the Christian way of life (CWOL).
7 Evidences of divine outworking of energeo (Philippians 2:13-18)
First: Spiritual progress which is the spiritual activity in the inner man. Spiritual progress is a journey into Christlikeness, a day by day progress. Your spiritual progress is the most important of all things.
There is no one you need to impress in this world in order to reach spiritual maturity except God. Either the believer become a Christ-centered, God pleaser or self-centered, man-pleaser individual.
Do not measure your growth by evaluating or comparing yourself with someone else. Our sole role model in the spiritual life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anything that is great grows slowly. The genuine and precious things in life grow slowly. The weeds and everything with no significance grows faster. Do not compare yourself with the growth or advancement of others. Pace yourself – just keep moving forward and upward. The spiritual life is not a matter of who the fastest runner is but who finish the race. Everyone who reaches the finish line is a winner (Hebrews 12:1-2).
We cannot afford even one step of retreat in the plan of God; the time left is too much short.
Second: Serious minded intensity about the will of God – the evidence reverential fear and trembling.
“Fear” in this aspect refers to reverence toward God, the utmost respect for God. “Trembling” is an awareness of our frailty, the realization that you lack the power to deal with life victoriously.
There are two basic categories of fear:
The positive fear motivates and enables the positive volition believer to draw near to God through consistent reception, retention and recall of BD.
Third: Spiritual certainty – the tranquility within and spiritual unity without.
Where there is disunity, discord and personality conflict, the Spirit of God is not working.
“Grumbling” (gongusmos) is the low pitch murmuring and grumbling, the silent, sophisticated, and sullen rebellion of discontent. |
