The Spirit Is Crown of the Heart: Growing in the Grace

By Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

In case you asked me the most important topic in this book I would answer that the topic about praying. This book positions you to present your prayers directly to God with confidence that your prayers are received by God rather than sending your prayer request to a clergyman. Everything inside this book will equally benefit the reader. You do not want to miss my teaching on how to be baptized, filled and led by the Holy Spirit; also how to overcome temptation and biblical illiteracy. Gods assignment to the Church: the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit. In the last chapter of my book, I give my emotional testimony regarding the terrors of the murderous regime of Idi Amin and how God saved me and how He taught me practically to forgive. Learn the necessity of forgiveness.

I decided to dedicate this book to my beloved dad, the late Israel Kyeyune, my beloved mother Milly Muganzi, and the Church (body of Christ). The cry of my heart is for the unified body of Christ. Christ is coming for the Church without color and wrinkle. I believe that the wrinkle of division must be ironed out of our fabric before we think about meeting our Bridegroom. The answer is found within the spiritual mutuality of all believers.

Special thanks go to my family in particular my wife and my love Elizabeth Kyeyune. I want to thank also those people who have been of such great encouragement to me in different ways in particular the Multicultural Family Fellowship in South Bend where I am the pastor. God bless.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9781463403614

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune is currently the senior pastor of the Multicultural Family Fellowship Church at South Bend IN U S A. He is the author of several books including The New Generation of Worshipers; The Spirit is the Crown of the Heart; The Acts of the Holy Spirit; When God Calls a Man; The Legacy of the Hero; A miracle at Prairie Avenue; Devotional Journal Living; Imparted Wisdom in Troubled Times, Making a sense of the senseless situation; Today’s Prayers – Praying through the Scriptures; Securing the Never Ending Peace in Times of Trouble; A series of books > Shaping the Society – Culture vs Christianity. You can order now at AuthorHouse 833.262.8899. Or contact me @ stephkyeyu@hotmail. Com. Telephone – 574- 8851014.

Book preview

THE SPIRIT IS CROWN OF

THE HEART

Growing In The Grace

Pastor Stephen Kyeyune

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© 2013 Pastor Stephen Kyeyune. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse: 8/21/2013

ISBN: 978-1-4520-1612-2 (sc)

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Contents

Growing in the Grace

Introduction to Spiritual Growth

The Praying Factor

Self is a Contributing Factor

Biblical Illiteracy

The Faith of the Believer

Temptation and the Tempter

Submission

Meekness

The Impact of Witnessing

The Holy Spirit

To Be Filled by the Spirit

Baptism of the Holy Spirit

The Ministries of the Holy Spirit

Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit of God is Given in Love/Operates in Love

The Spirit of God Transforms the Character of a Believer

Growing in the Grace of God

Jesus the Way, the Truth and the Life

The Sign of Identification

Forgiveness the Core of the Christian Faith

How God Taught Me to Forgive

This book is dedicated to my father Israel Kyeyune,

my beloved mother Milly Muganzi Kyeyune,

and the Church (body of Christ).

Growing in the Grace

From my desk:

We live in the corrupted physical and spiritual world because of the curse of sin. You don’t have to hunt for evil because it is everywhere on display. Destroying evil means destroying the entire human race. As one writer insinuated that –—but the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956). That is why we must run to God for spiritual and physical redemption. It is for the same reason Jesus came from eternity to redeem mankind from the spiritual darkness and the physical corruption.

Spiritual rebirth is necessary because of the inherited spiritual death. The spiritually dead people have no eternal life. The Bible calls the lifeless heart of the non-regenerated person ‘the heart of stone’. Jesus breathes life in the dead situation. In this case the Hebrew word we translate breath is the same word we translate as spirit in the Genesis creation story. At creation, the Holy Spirit hovered on the waters because elsewhere was void. The same Spirit that breathed life in the hopeless situation at creation breathes life in the hopeless people regenerating them into new creations.

After regeneration, spiritual growth is essential to every Christian. The Holy Spirit brings order in the disorderly situation. He searches for the deep things of God. The redeemed are resurrected to a new life of Christ and are required to embrace the heavenly principles in everything they do on earth. Spiritual growth involves dying to the old corrupt nature constantly and allowing the manifestation of the new life. God feeds us on the spiritual food (His Word) in anticipation of spiritual growth. In this book, I have been led to identify the specific areas necessary for a believer to experience the spiritual growth.

God ordained us to live the Christ centered life in a chaotic world. This is possible by focusing our hearts and minds (affections and emotions) on the spiritual reality of heaven. The love of the world (worldliness) kills the spiritual growth. The Bible warns us against the danger of lusting for earthly things.

Christ is our image and identity: We are one mind and one body of Christ. Spiritual maturity is discovering our identity, security and purpose in Christ. We are called to focus on Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, this being our position of authority and security. The calling to spiritual maturity is imperative. Lacking in spiritual growth is one of the factors hindering the readiness of the Church hence delaying the return of our Lord.

The total man is a triune (spirit, soul and body). It takes death to separate the parts making up the total man (spiritual or physical death). Spiritual and Physical death dismantles the total man. Spiritual death disables the spirit. The curse of sin (spiritual death) brought about the physical death. The spiritually dead man requires regeneration to restore his communication with God. The regenerated spirit is the new nature born in a believer. To be a Christian is to believe in the gospel and having the presence of Christ in us and with us by His Spirit. God intended all believers to find their identity in Christ. Failure to find your identify in Christ results in identifying yourself with other worldly things like religions, culture, power, politics, material things, jobs or even relationships, and pursuing the same things for fulfillment. This significantly limits your spiritual maturity.

Spiritual growth is the process of maintaining the spirit on the throne of the heart to guide and to lead. Intriguingly, in some denominations the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and human spirit has either been written off or ignored even among some evangelicals. The denominations we have propagate selective believing of the Scriptures. Against this and kindred skeptical notions, I have sought to furnace an antidote recognizing at all times, that there can be no true philosophy of human nature, without the recognition of the Bible as the true interpreter of the suggestions of reason and the teaching of nature. I suggest that we read the Bible and follow what it says without being biased against some Scriptures. The major cause of division in the body of Christ is due to biblical illiteracy. There is no need for divisions because Jesus has spiritually reconciled us to God and other believers. Love has been made perfect in us. It means Christians from all the diverse types of backgrounds on earth to live harmoniously together as one body here on earth and in heaven (forever). The glory of God abides in us; we are His temple. The same objective of love and unity can be achieved by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and to lead you by His Word.

We can fellowship in different locations when united. The early Churches fellowshipped in small groups (in homes) under the leadership of the local bishops as overseers but were considered to be a family of the same community of believers without fragmentations which we witness today. They had the same goal and purpose. The word ‘community’ is a combination of two words ‘commune and unity.’ The same word is not applicable to today’s congregations that are characterized with numerous divisions functioning independently from each other. Intriguingly, there are pastors of the same denomination but leading different congregations, occupying the same block, who look at each other as strangers; they rarely talk to each other! It is as if they are in competition. Have you pondered why there so much disunity?

Perhaps if you are from the countries, which were formerly colonized by the imperial powers, it is easy to relate the ethnic divisions created by the colonialist to the nature of divisions we have today in the body of Christ. The devastating impact of the colonial era is evidently witnessed in the disputes and divisions among the people of the same race within the former colonies of the Western countries. The divisions were deliberately caused by the rulers (colonialists) to their advantages. Division is the age-old strategy that was used by slave traders and colonialists to subjugate Africa – that is giving trinkets to some chiefs in exchange for cooperation. They tactically adopted "the divide and rule" phenomenon because it was impossible to manipulate people when they were united.

The devastating impact of the colonial division was experienced ethically; not only socially and politically but spiritually as well. The pinch of the religious division in Africa today is a spill of the political division in Europe in the past. By talking to the Christians of different denominational backgrounds you can tell that the hate of other Christian sects (who do not share their views) is deep under their skin. In this case it is not unbelievers hating believers but people hating each other because they believe in Jesus. I mean, Christians believers claiming to be born of the same Father, yet treating each other like outcasts. As much as it sounds strange, it is the practical reality.

Undoubtedly, the evil of division is the deadly vice making silent rounds among believers. Satan is the architect of divisions. Hate and division are related because people disassociate themselves from what they hate. The essential element of love is replaced with hatred in both hate and division. Remember that love and hate are both strong passions and rather than being opposites, they can shade into each other with little warning. Hate knows no boundaries. That is why there are divisions within members of the same congregation under the same pastor; there is division between different congregations belonging to the same denomination and under the same doctrine; there is division among independents (nondenominational) Churches who claim to strictly observe the truth of the Scriptures as opposed to embracing any religious dogma. It seems that people are looking for reasons and excuses to disagree.

Various rival religious groups within the same body of Christ protect their flocks from others, calling their opponents the devourers, yet when all claiming to be children of the same Father. There are different versions of the gospel out there each claiming to be the true gospel of Christ. The picture is not different from the secular world in particular the Arabs and the Jewish conflicts whereby there are adversities between the Arabs/Jews when they are all children of Abraham.

There seems to be so much disagreeing among Christians it leads you to wonder if there’s anything they actually do agree on. Others justify disagreement as long as it is done in love. There has been an increase of contention because we are living in the prophesized end times. There are so many non-Christian people claiming to be Christians. The new age teaching has infiltrated the Church. Intriguingly, the same wrong characters seek to unify the Church when propagating the incorrect teachings of Universalism and Religious Pluralism and Tolerance. They pretend to proclaim the true gospel when in reality they are promoting the doctrine of men. There’s nothing wrong with searching for answers. But we should look for answers from the right source. Remember that even the best answer is a waste of time if we’re trying to solve the wrong problem.

The tragedy is that we are losing where we are supposed to be winning. There is an urgency need to return to the values handed to us by the Apostles. When we truly know Christ, as our Lord and Savior, we must live in unity with the same truth, and we should love one another and have humility toward others. Then we will fulfill the Scripture: All the believers were one in heart and mind (Acts 4:32). There can be no unity unless we agree regarding the truth. The Bible says that, Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? (Amos 3:3). Paul appealed to the Church in this way, I appeal to you brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought (1 Cor. 1:10).

We (Christians) are called to be the salt of the world to preserve it and to add flavor to it. Jesus warned of the possibility of losing our saltiness. That can happen when we ignore the divine essentials extended to unify us. Also the uncalled-for craving for the things the pagans worry over like the world, the economy, the political upheaval, the false and the questionable doctrines of men. The more we are divided the more we become vulnerable to the external forces seeking to weaken us. Of course the greatest external enemies are religiosity, humanism, secularism and Islam. Religions (not faith) offer a strong sense of worldview, overriding the truth of the Scriptures. Then, the urgency need to protect and advance the same beliefs.

We are called to be world changers rather than to be changed by the world. There are two broad approaches to seeking to shape values in society. At times the Christian community may feel it needs to confront a particular value, decision or priority adopted by the community. But the Christian community is also able to influence values day in, day out through bringing a distinctively Christian approach to the people we come across as we go about our daily lives. This is what we mean by being salt and light in the world (Mt 5:13, 14), where by living distinctively Christian lifestyles we seek to influence those around us in a contiguous manner.

The unifying central theme of the Bible is the glory of God through the advancement of His kingdom. Getting God’s kingdom into you is salvation. Getting God’s kingdom out of you is commitment. God’s will is for us to hallow His name by seeking and expanding His kingdom. Salvation involves a personal relationship with Jesus Christ but it is never a private life. We are saved from sin and for God’s glory. We are called to manifest the glory of God by fellowshipping with one another. Christianity is not a life lived in isolation (alone) but a life lived together (shared with others). We have been reconciled to God together as a unit body of Christ.

The inconsistencies (flaws) manifested by the people claiming to be believers contradict the ostensible purpose of the Church, which is love and unity. By embracing division we are starving the body of Christ to death, most probably in the same manner the people that killed Jesus, they thought that they were doing God a favor not knowing that they were rejecting God. I believe that God can forgive and heal us if we repent of the evils causing division. The last revival following the return of our Lord is going to involve the unification of the body of Christ. It is time for the pastors who are praying for revival to wake up and smell the coffee of love and unity.

In my book I have tried to deal with the cause of division rather than the sin of division. Division among Christians is a horrid evil, fraught with many evils. It is anti-Christian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ; we practically make Christ appear as if He is divided against Himself. The cause of division is the lack of spiritual growth. The division existing among us is a reflection of the malnutrition within the body of Christ. Reflecting on the given thoughts, one naturally comes to the conviction that division is dysfunctional in Christ’s body. It is abnormality as opposed to normality.

This book is primarily focused on the main thing that matters most in the Christian life: how to experience and manifest the spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity involves serving God without checking out of His program. I believe that the conscience of a born again believer is programmed in the righteousness of God. It is his duty to stay programmed and to act as he is programmed.

I believe that there are many good books out there written on the same subject. However, I suggest that you consider reading my book from cover to cover because it will help you to be an over comer in the areas that have been holding you back from blossoming. This book leaves no stone unturned on the dos and don’ts of the standard moral discipline and God’s provision for you to meet the same standards.

It is generally believed that a little knowledge is dangerous. The tragedy is the failure to evaluate how little the knowledge is because it may lead into over-exaggeration. As a responsible person with a vision, this book can help you evaluating your performance. Knowledge can be discovered and exploited. After taking a comprehensive knowledge inventory of your mind, you would probably discover that you know more than you thought you knew. On the other hand, you would probably discover deficiencies in areas where you thought you had knowledge. Either way, there is always room to know more.

In my book I clarify and speak about the reality that spiritual immaturity is the major cause of deficiency and malfunctions in the body of Christ today. I do not mean to paint too wide brush strokes but open your minds to know better what you are supposed to know. I mean your obligations as a believer, equipping you to be an over comer that God intended you to be. I give the valid information you need in order to assess your knowledge concerning the truth, allowing you to assess your divine purpose and destiny. This book will help you to discover who you are and amend your private and public character. It is about starting well and finishing well. When it comes to deciding what we ought to do and what we ought not to do, most people use a standard far below the law of God. The reality is that we do not move God into our direction but God is willing to guide those who are willing to move in His direction. God never lowers His standard of righteousness but He gave us the ability to meet His standard.

God made everything good, beautiful and true; these being the three elements which we must seek to manifest in our daily living. God is infinitely the source of all the three elements. Jesus specifically said that God alone is good. The world should be able to see the goodness and beauty of God in us. The Bible says that, Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8).

Writing is good but it also has its pitfalls. I have been often challenged to write small books. Some are struck not by the candor of the book but with the size. I know we have a poor reading culture. There is a controversial belief that if you want people to forget what you said then write it. I encourage you to read this book in its entirety; you will never be disappointed with lack of life in it. I usually say that fear is the key element of courage because courage is the ability to do what you are afraid of. Use fear for your advantage by taking courage to read big books because it pays to read.

I want to emphasize that the Bible is our source of the truth. It is the unchanging truth in the changing world. The fundamental truth is that regardless of one’s belief, Jesus is the only Savior and the Scripture is the only divine authority. The Bible answers how we can escape the eternal wrath of God as result of our sins. There are spiritual principles laid out by the Scriptures which must be followed regardless of our opinions. Deliberately refusing to comply is a deliberate sin of refusing to know. This book is not a substitute of the Bible.

This book was written and edited by Pastor Stephen Kyeyune (Revised version - 2o13)

* Introduction to Spiritual Growth

* The Praying Factor

* Self a Contributing Factor

* Biblical Illiteracy

* The Faith of the Believer

* Temptation

* Submission

* The Impact of Witnessing

* The Holy Spirit

* To be filled with the Holy Spirit

* The Ministries of the Holy Spirit

* The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

* The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

* The Spirit of God Transforms the Character

* Growing in the Grace of God

* Jesus the Way and the Truth

* The sign of identification (The Jewish Feasts; The Fourth Commandment)

* Forgiveness the Core of Christian Living

God practically taught me to forgive: My Testimony: Traumatized by the tragedy that followed the abduction of my father

Introduction to Spiritual Growth

In the natural, growth is acquainted with increase. Natural growth is the progressive process that implicates the presence of life. We plant seeds in anticipation of growth. A dead seed (without life) cannot grow. There are different seasons for planting, for growing and for harvesting. Farmers target the favorable seasons for planting in anticipation of abundance harvests. Today, farmers make use of meteorological seasonal forecasts to select appropriate crop variety to grow within the season, Land degradation management, and better practices for managing soil (terracing, mulching and crop rotation). All these maneuvers are intended to secure good growth and harvest.

The Bible says that: While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22). The seasons are transition periods designed to bring about changes even in the lives of the believers. Regeneration is the divine act on a soul rebirthing a sinner into the family of God. The requirement is for a person to invest his or her faith in Jesus Christ after repenting. This is the saving faith that takes him to heaven. A saved person is justified before God and is required to trust God to navigate his life day after day (sanctification). The experience is called spiritual maturing. A believer is planted in the Word of God to bring forth good harvests. The Word (gospel) becomes the seed planted in us in order to be planted in others.

Total obedience to the Word involves embracing the full gospel; it is yielding to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. [Jesus] must have control not only in the big things, but in the little things also; not only over what we do, but how we do it. We must submit to Him and His way as He has been pleased to reveal it in the Bible; and if what we do does not conform to this pattern, it is an assertion of our will, it is disobedience, and as repellent as the sin of witchcraft. - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The fruit is the evidence of the maturity of a plantation. The objective of planting is to harvest the fruit. Growth is necessary in order to ensure the harvest. The readiness of the harvest is implicated in its maturity. Growth is development or improvement toward a goal called maturity (or, in the Bible, perfection). When one is born again as a child of God, he is spiritually immature. As time passes, he should develop the qualities or abilities which the Bible says characterize the mature. Spiritual growth is allowing to be changed by the Word of God. It is a process of conversion after transformation that yields the fruits of the Spirit perpetually. Again spiritual maturity is about growth in relationship with God. The same growth must be manifested in our relationship with our neighbors. It is renewed accountability to God and to neighbor: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

The Bible says that, And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). Jesus had a growing sense of purpose as he grew older. While he would apprentice in Joseph’s carpenter shop, Jesus felt the pull to be about his Heavenly Father’s business (Luke 2:49). An Old Testament passage that was associated with Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple later in his ministry reads, Passion for God’s house burns within me. That passion was with him even at 12 years old. Spiritual growth must result in improvement of our physical capabilities. I mean intentionally making a resolution to grow every day. This is the process intended to change us and our circumstances. As John Maxwell says that everything gets better when we get better. The process involves personal growth. That is when we practice every day to become better.

Spiritual maturity is evidently seen in prayerful life. Everything we do must be dedicated to God in prayers. A spiritually mature Christian humbles himself or herself before God in prayer. Prayer is beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul. Man is at his greatest and highest when upon his knees he comes face to face with God. ― D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Spiritual growth is acquainted with increased knowledge of the Scriptures and application of the same knowledge into life style. The kind of knowledge that is ordained by God begins with transformation and then illumination of the minds. Natural knowledge alone cannot yield to spirituality. It is not an intellect issue because it is possible for somebody to be academically mature but spiritually immature. I have met people with such great knowledge of the Bible but who are spiritually bankrupt.

A couple of years ago, I was watching a secular television show contest involving memorizing. Among the people who participated in the competitions was a very brilliant young man who claimed that he memorized the entire book of John. His audience challenged him to quote certain verses from the same book. He successfully squashed every challenge by giving the right answer. He was portrayed as an icon by the audience for emulation. But after the contest the interviewer asked him what inspired him to memorize the book of John. The young man proudly said that it was because of his strong religious background. When the young man was asked if he was born again, he replied back with this question: What do you mean by the term to be born again? After the interviewer explained to the young man what it means to be born again, the young man, listening attentively replied that: In reference to your explanation, I am not born again." His answer fractured the idyllic picture. His capability to know was intellectual without necessarily experiencing spiritual transformation.

Life outside Christ is life of darkness without a valid relationship with God. Worldliness is the worldly way of thinking of a non-regenerated person. It is the revelation of God that brings spiritual enlightenment. The purpose of God revealing Himself to you is to reveal to you your inadequacy so that you can continually depend on Him for knowledge. Adam traded the revelation for intellectuality. Jesus restores the revelation that mankind lost in Eden. Jesus works by His Spirit to reveal to us the Scriptures. The revelation of God begins when the Gospel is preached and continues by reading the Scriptures. The more you see God, the more you see how unholy you are. When heaven opened up to Isaiah and he show the train of the glory of God, he said that: Woe to me for I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips and dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King and the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:5).

Whenever God reveals Himself to you it is not because you are holy but it is because He wants to show you your dirt (un-holiness) and cleans you up. You are always undone before God and need cleaning all times till you leave this corrupt body and this corrupt world. The more you see God, the more you want to be like Him. The process of wanting to be like Him continues until glorification. Spiritual growth begins by being humbled by God and continues in humility. The more you see God, the more you are humbled. Humility is manifested humbleness. Humbleness is brokenness; the more you are broken the weaker you become and the more of God’s support you need. Humility is the conviction that brings guilty with hope of restoration. It is the conviction towards the righteousness God that is revealed by Jesus Christ (the Word in demonstration). That is the way (avenue) to spiritual maturity.

The holiness of God eradicates the pride of man. Pride is the first sin that was committed in heaven. Satan, driven by pride wanted to be the center of focus. Pride makes you to focus on your holiness rather than the holiness of God. If all you can see is your holiness then you have not seen God but yourself. All that you have is self-exaltation and self-righteousness. I often hear Christians making ridiculous statement that they cannot sin. Pride is the greatest sin that led to the collapse of Lucifer. Spiritual growth is seeing the need of God’s help to overcome sin and His cleansing power at all times. Pride sees sin in the lives of others other than self. One preacher said that pride cannot see God because it looks down at people all the times; the culprits keep their eyes down on the floor all times rather than up to heaven. Heaven is symbolic of God’s dwelling place.

I want to emphasize that God alone is holy. The holiness we have is of God through Jesus Christ. Dr. R C Sproul defines the word "holiness in this way: The earliest traceable form of the Semitic root of the word holy, reaching to a Canaanite source, carried the meaning to divide. Anything that was holy was divided or separated from all other things. This meaning pointed to the difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary, the common and uncommon, the average and the great. In religious terms, the word holy divides God from all other things to put Him in a category that is sui generis (in a class by Himself). The Holy One is the One who possesses the supreme perfection of being. He transcends or is divided from all things creaturely. He is the most majestic, most exalted, most awe-provoking being. Since He is both marvelous and wonderful in His very essence, the creature—when contemplating the Holy God—responds in marvel and wonder because of His greatness."

It is ok to envy the holiness of God and desiring to be like God but not to be equal to God. A person that confesses not to be a sinner denies the grace of God and basically claims equality with God in his fallen nature (1 John 1:8). Seeking to be equal to God is the fallen nature of man and desiring to be like God is the new nature of a born again person. A new creature is as holy as God. In this case As is a comparison conjunction meaning that our imputed righteousness is as holy as God’s righteousness because it is of God. But we are still in the process of sanctification (not yet glorified). That is why we need the grace of God. Even at glorification, we cannot reach the holiness of God because He is infinitely holy. When we say that God is infinitely perfect, we mean that He has all perfections without limit. As one preacher said, God is immense and eternal, an ocean without shore or bottom, the unchangeable Being that only Himself can fully understand: Of his greatness there is no end (Ps. 144:3) –- God cannot be better, holier, or more perfect than He already is. He is at the acme of perfection, the uncreated, the Infinite.

By His grace He perfects our faith to the required standard of holiness. The new nature loves to obey the commandments of God and resists breaking them because the commandments of God reveal His holiness. I was listening to one broadcasting station when it was mentioned that less than twenty percent of American youth population believe that the Law of God is relevant. What a tragedy!

I call it tragedy because it is impossible to be accountable to God without the Law. It is not possible to be committed to the Word of God without having reverence to His statues. The commandments of God are part of the Word of God and cannot be separated from the Scriptures. It is therefore impossible to be committed to God without becoming committed to His Word. The Scriptures are the Law to life; the Bible is the manual of life. The relevance of the Bible demands obedience to the whole truth (entire Bible). We need not more or less of the already revealed truth (Scriptures) but the whole truth (full-gospel). The Scriptures are holy and true. We cannot add on or subtract from the Scriptures.

I said that the commandments of God make us accountable to God. We live in the culture that propagates the free world. According to the culture of today freedom means to do what you want regardless of the will of God and the impact of your actions to others. I believe that freedom means to do what is right even in the eyes of God. The commandments of God set the standard of right and wrong. The Holy Spirit guides the believers into all truth. To be spiritual is to allow the grace of God to guide you by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit brings conviction towards the righteousness of God. Because we have the contradictory spirit (spirit of deception) within us, the Word of God is given to us as the standard of God’s righteousness.

The riches of the Kingdom of Heaven are handed to mature Christians. God does not trust the riches of His Kingdom to premature Christians in the same manner I would be nervous to lend my car to a non-experienced driver. This book is good for those seeking spiritual growth.

The word growth stands for multiplication. People want to excel in whatever things they are doing. In accordance to the principles of nature it is only the absence of life that can stop growth. Every living thing has potentiality to grow and increase. In the secular world success is defined by the accumulation of wealth and earthly power. Contrary to the world, the spiritual increase is attained by empting yourself of the earthly gains, wealthy and power and focusing on the spiritual things. In the physical and natural life we live in anticipation of dying but in the spiritual realm we die daily in order to live eternally. We die to the old desires and resist the influence of the god of this age.

In the modern world where quality, quantity and time matter, increase can be secured by increased knowledge in particular in science and technology. By adjusting to the modern and advanced techniques and equipment, things can be done much faster with great accuracy. However, modern technology is not a solution to the decaying values (immorality). Modernism cannot correct the flaws of mankind. Brother James Ikuya puts it in a better language. He wrote that: The present humans can traverse huge distances in a short time without shifting a leg, whether by sea, land or air or even in the tunnel through the earth. Their wondrous technologies are effortlessly performing great feats in churning out products which make man peculiarly adept at wresting extravagant life from nature as well as being the most lethal adversary for the enslavement of all other species. In the relatively short time that man has been dominant, there have been unprecedented spectacular exploits. From it also has arisen man’s base self-conceit. People began the belief that the world can be made by man solely by his wishes, rather than by his acting according to the rules of nature that are discoverable. In this mind frame, man assumed that he is the primary motive of the existence of other things––-Development of things is not occasioned by man alone as such. Even man is himself a development of things. Nature itself is pregnant with development because development and change is inherent in the natural forces.

Every natural thing is limited by the natural laws. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest medieval theologian, distinguished four basic types of law: 1) Eternal Law (the justice of God, which is almost identical with His reason), 2) Natural Law (the Eternal Law implanted by God in nature and in the human mind), 3) Divine Law (God’s overt revelation of His will), and 4) Human Law (derived from Natural Law).

Mankind is supposed to be perfect by yielding to God’s perfect laws which were directly inspired by God and written and preserved for all time in the sacred books containing His revelations—the Old and New Testaments. Unfortunately, mankind, on his own cannot excel beyond his natural capabilities to reach the perfect nature as demanded by God. He is finite by nature (limited by minds). According to philosophy, the consciousness of freedom is itself only possible on the grounds of overcoming, in Absolute Knowledge. Man’s best was lost in corruption. Mankind is doomed to constantly fail whenever he tries to reach the holiness of God on His own.

Spiritually, full growth is measured in eternal perfection. Completeness is within the eternal plan of salvation and cannot be worked out or achieved; it can only be granted by God by and received by faith in Jesus Christ. If it was possible to attain righteousness on our own then there would have been no need for the Father to send His Son to die for us. The grace of God allowed God to step out of eternity into our natural lives (space and time) to help us to implement His divine purposes. Absolute knowledge of God depends on intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said that, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples (John 8:31). The word ‘indeed’ means really. His true disciples are those abiding in His Word; they read it and they obey.

God created man with the idea of multiplication in His mind. He blessed Adam and instructed him to multiply. The corruption of man interfered with the divine plan. Jesus said that He came to give us life in abundance. This is a quality and quantity of life reflecting the divine character. It is the kind of life that God designed for us (mankind) to live. Life lived outside Christ is life lived in rebellion. Life in Christ is the fullness of God’s manifested glory.

Spiritual growth is measured by our ability to maintain our perfection in Christ momentarily, day after day as long as we are living. Embracing the divine plan allows us to be over comers of the trials of this world. This is our blessed hope. It means to be at peace with God and neighbor in spite of the irregularities and circumstances surrounding you. The overcoming involves the sanctifying work being the joint work of both the divine and the human resources. Sanctification is the process of growing in the holiness of God that comes after justification. This book brings awareness of the divine provision and the human contribution in the process of sanctification. Salvation is of/by God. However, the Bible instructs us in this way: Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

I want to say that our enemy is not the natural world and its people but the ideologies and systems controlling the world (worldliness). Paul argues that we are worldly because we think like the world, that we are in essence slaves to our unexamined assumptions about life and its purpose. All of your tormenting problems started as corrupt ideas. We cannot fight the same ideologies with guns. There is basically no natural force that can nullify the corrupt system and purify the world. That is why God sent His Word (idea) to counteract the ideas of the world (John 1:1). Paul says that the exit out of worldliness is by renewing of our minds by acquiring the minds of Christ. This is a life-time process of putting to death the mind of the old man, and putting on the glory of Christ, by His power and for His glory (Romans 12:2).

God demands the change of the human hearts (transformation) that is accompanied with the change of behaviors (conversion). The required change is not about feelings (emotions) but the change of the heart that affects the thinking. Change is within human instinct and it is inevitable. There is a popular saying that a wise man changes; he is flexible to circumstances. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over in the same way with expectation of different results. Life is choice driven. Positive change involves making a wise decision. The reality is that there will always be good people and evil people but people have a choice to be good or to be evil depending on the available information. The means of getting the right information to people is called education. It is inevitable for people to change; whether it is a change from bad to good or from bad to worse it is still a change. The knowledge we lack in the world is obtained from God. The truth is that we need God to transform us to the required change involving His standard of perfectness. After transformation, we have the responsibility to stay perfect.

In order to understand this topic, we must understand the creation of the earth and the major characters involved. We must scrutinize the responsibility of each character. According to the biblical story of creation, in the book of Genesis, the world was void. God did not recycle the void earth but He spoke into existence the new world. The magnificence creation of the earth is the work of God the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The Bible says that: In the beginning God created heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1). The Hebrew word used for God in the above verse is Elohim and it is plural. In the same chapter, the Bible says that, And God said, Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1: 26).

Again according to the above verse the conference of creation was attended by more than one persons of the Godhead (it is not let me make but let us make). There is a common will among the persons of the Godhead. It is neither a permissive request nor a consultation of one of the Godhead to the other to create man but it is the proposal of all of the three persons of the God head (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) to create; it is a declaration that let us create or let us do it. Remember that in the perfection (completeness) of God there is no lacking. The doctrine of the trinity is true but hard to understand. The reality is that you can lose your soul by denying it and you can lose your minds by accepting it. It is better to lose your minds by accepting the incomprehensible than losing your soul by denying the truth.

There is oneness and agreement between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit regarding the work of creation. The idea of God is to create the perfect man in the perfect environment. God finalized the work of creation on the sixth day and rested on the seventh day. The Seventh Day is a sign of completeness and rest. God declared the Seventh Day holy.

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made (Genesis 2:2). At the time of creation, God marked the world good. After creation God marked the world very good. The seventh day (Sabbath) was given as a sign of completeness in perfection. God rested and demanded resting in honor of the same.

The resting of God was disrupted by the fall of Adam, when he joined Satan in rebellion against God. God resumed working in order to restore man to His image. When Jesus was accused of not honoring the Sabbath in accordance to the Jewish customs, He answered that His Father works so does He (John 5:17). The reason of working is to restore mankind to the glorified person as He created him before the foundation of this world (His image). Jesus honored the Sabbath by doing what is good: He healed the sick and preached the gospel of His kingdom.

The fall of man did not take God by surprise. When God created man, he had plan B in his minds. The Bible calls Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). God embarked on the second plan involving the restoration of man to his original glory. The process is called redemption (redeeming mankind from his mess). So far we have seen that God resumed to work after the fall of man in order to restore him to his original glory. This world was declared by God to be in the state of darkness after the fall of man due to the corruption of man. The reason is because the earth functioned contrary to the direction of God; it drifted from the orbit of the righteousness that God created it to be. The rebellious act of Adam denied God an opportunity to be the source of light to this world; he embraced the artificial light of Lucifer. The Bible warns that Satan has posed as the angel of light. Jesus came to rectify the abnormity.

The entire Bible (apart from the first two chapters of Genesis) is about God tracking down man to bring him back into His presence. Again, as it was at creation, God (the trinity) works in agreement and oneness to redeem the lost glory of Man. In the beginning, God (Elohim) created heaven earth. The same characters involved in creation are involved in redemption. The new birth is the redeeming and the restoring of the image of God that was distorted by sin and lost in Adam. Redemption is getting rid of sin that separated man from God. The gospel in accordance to the book of John introduces Jesus as the Word that was with God and the Word that was God and that all things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1:1-3).

John introduces Jesus as God that stepped out of eternity and stepped into time and space, put on human flesh in order to save man. The highest perfection of God, and the deepest mystery of Godhead, is His holiness. In it righteousness and love are united. God (the Holy One) hates and condemns sin because it blunts His glory. Salvation is the redemption of the glory of God in mankind. The glory of an object is - that in its sort its intrinsic worth and excellence answers perfectly to all that is expected of it. That excellence or perfection may be so hidden or unknown, that the object has no glory to those who behold it. To glorify is to remove every hindrance, and so to reveal the full worth and perfection of the object, that its glory is seen and acknowledged by all. Jesus came to glorify the Father. He gives a believer the ability to glorify God. Peter wrote that, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you (1 Peter 5:10).

Jesus alone qualified to save mankind because He had the divine and human natures. The Savior had to be holy in order to become an acceptable sacrifice to God and to mediate between God and man; He had to have human flesh in order to satisfy the justice of God by paying the penalty of sin. He had to be Spirit in order to dwell in all believers so that all can share in His nature: Born of flesh; die to the flesh; raised Spirit. His holiness was imputed on those whom He saved.

Pastor Jack Graham gave a story that can illustrate better what Jesus did for us: "A story is told of a judge who presided over a case where a poor man had stolen food for his starving family. As the attorneys completed their final statements and looked at the judge for his decision, tension filled the courtroom. There was no way this man could pay the $1000 minimum fine, so he would have to face jail time instead.

So the judge sighed and said, I find you guilty of theft. But just then, the tall judge stood up, threw off his long black robe, and stepped around his bench toward the poor convict. Glaring the prosecutor straight in the eye, he said, But as a citizen, I’m going to pay the $1000 fine for this man.

It wouldn’t have been enough for that judge to pay $500 or $999. He had to pay the full price, or else the man would have gone to jail. And that’s just what Christ did on the cross. When he died, he paid the price for all of our sin so that, as David wrote in today’s passage, there would be no iniquity counted against us! If there was one bit of sin held against you or me, we would be doomed. But in Christ, all of our sins are fully paid for and are never once counted against us. So as you remember that, thank God for his grace and love that he showed in Christ!"

Jesus saved us from the consequences of our sins. We need to hear the doctrine of hell in order to appreciate what Jesus saved us from. As for the non-repented sinners, they need to hear the teaching of hell in order to know where they are heading to. The Justice of God cannot be eluded. God is a good paymaster; He will pay the wages for every sin committed on earth.

We have discussed that God (the trinity) worked in unity to create and to save the world. The Father gave His only Son to redeem the world (John 3:16). At creation, the Holy Spirit was involved in activating what was being created. The Bible says that, And the Spirit of God moved (brooded) upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). To get the clear picture regarding the proper meaning of this scripture, we must read it within the context of the entire Bible. I am going to quote the words of Jesus concerning Jerusalem: Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets and stones them that are sent unto you; how would I have gathered your children together as the hen gathers her broods under her wings, and you would not! (Luke 13:34). Jesus used the allegory of a hen brooding over her kicks in reference to His messianic work (assignment) towards Jerusalem. The work of the Holy Spirit is the same at creation and recreation (regeneration). The Bible used the word ‘brooding’ concerning the Spirit of God moving on the water (Genesis 1:2). In our local English dictionaries, the word brooding defines the act of the mother hen sitting over her eggs to cause them to hatch into baby chicks. The same word stands for the activation of the entire process to maturity.

Jesus used the same word ‘brooding’ in Luke 13:34. He was referring to His intended work towards mankind (Jerusalem). In this case Jerusalem the city of God symbolized the nation of Israel, which represented the lost world in corruption. All prophets were rejected and killed in Jerusalem. During His early times of His ministry, Jesus sent a message to Herod informing him that no prophet dies outside Jerusalem (Luke 13:33). Jesus at the same time pitied Jerusalem for rejecting His Messianic work by which they would have been redeemed, comforted, nourished and protected to maturity in the same manner the mother hen does to the little kicks under the wings.

Let us look at the parallel between Genesis 1:2 and Luke 13:34. At creation the Holy Spirit was brooding over the face of the waters because the earth was without form and void; and there was darkness covering upon the face of the deep (Genisis1:2). The devastating result of the rebellion of Adam was the alienation of the human spirit from God making the human race void and without form. Jesus (full of grace) moved around Jerusalem in the same manner the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters at creation because the earth was void. After His resurrection and ascension, on Pentecostal day the Holy Spirit was given to the Church; His Spirit is brooding over the Church because the rest of the world is void and is covered with the darkness upon the deep.

The work of the Holy Spirit at creation was that of activating, motivating and accomplishing the work of creation; it is still the same work of recreation (regeneration) in the Church today. There are two missions of the Holy Spirit today: The first one is the finishing of the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ by taking His glory to the utter-most ends of the earth. The second one is that of the restoration and of preparing the body of Christ (Church) into maturity. He makes the bride ready (without color or wrinkle) that He may present her to the bridegroom.

The body of Christ involves all believers (whosoever believes). Jesus was sent to the Jews first. He said that: I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). Jesus also claimed responsibility to bring in the lost sheep that are of different sheep fold: "And the other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (John 10:16). The key words here are that they shall be one fold, and one shepherd. The Jews are the sheep of the first sheepfold. The Gentiles are the sheep of the other sheepfold; Jesus brings the Gentiles in to make one sheep fold with the Jews. In Jesus we are one; there is no Jew or Gentile (Galatians 4:28). We are one sheepfold consisting of born again Christians.

Christianity is different from the rest of the world religions in such a way that it is only in Christianity that God comes down from heaven to the earth in search for man and provides Himself as a sacrifice to save man. The miracle of incarnation is not comprehensible to human brains. Jared Wilson wrote that, The doctrine of creation and the doctrine of the incarnation always constituted a problem in connection with the immutability of God … However this problem may be solved, it should be maintained that the divine nature did not undergo any essential change in the incarnation. What we see in the wonder of the God-Man is a miraculous extension, not reduction.

The rest of the world religions try in vain to reach out to God in heaven by their own merits and by their own sacrifices. Regarding salvation, Christianity stands alone in a unique position isolated from the rest of the world religions. All religions of the world apart from Christianity stand together in the same boat of humanism. But Christianity proclaims salvation by faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ: Salvation is of God and is by God.

Man has nothing to do to make himself worthy of his salvation because God provided for it at His own expense. A believer’s salvation is sealed up to the day of glorification. A redeemed man is however accountable to God and is responsible to maintain his spiritual righteousness until the day of glorification. We are not saved by good works but for good works. Sanctification is growing in the good works pleasing to God (godliness).

Spiritual growth involves steady, sustained living when guided by God. It is basically a flesh free zone whereby somebody is constantly led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:16-17). The resurrected life of Jesus becomes the new life of the believer. The new life is subject to growth. The new life does not mean life without trials but it means overcoming life with hope. Frank Wilson wrote that, Jesus does not invite us into a spiritual hothouse, but out into the wind and weather of life where souls grow strong with effort and exercise.

The believers find fulfillment in Christ: If you are seeking love, peace, joy and hope you will not find them until you find Christ. If you seek holiness, you will not find it but if you seek Christ you will find holiness. If you seek God you will not find Him but if you seek Christ you will find God.

Conscience is the result of our being made in the image of God and the law of God being implanted in our nature by creation. It either accuses us or defends our actions in light of God’s inner law (Rom. 2:15). The conviction of the conscience depends on how it is programmed. A believer’s conscience is programmed in the righteousness of God. Paul said that, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness (is enlightened) in the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1). Conviction is the inward perception of the Spirit (Romans 9:1). Paul’s words mean that his conscience is in agreement with the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is about being guided by the Spirit of God to live a life that does not violate the principles given by the Scriptures.

There are so many factors that could run one’s life but I think the most important factor is God. God reveals Himself to you so that you can know Him and know yourself. The prayer of every person should be that: Dear God, please teach me to know you more and to know myself more. A redeemed man is spirit, soul and body. The canonical order matters. The spirit must be first or in lead in a believer’s life. The spirit guides the minds by illumination. Reasoning is the voice of the natural mind. A redeemed person has the renewed mind of Christ that is subjected to his conscience. Conscience is the voice of the spirit. A redeemed man’s conscience is programmed with the commandments of God (righteousness of God). Feeling is the voice of the body. A redeemed man refuses to be motivated by his natural feelings because they are corrupt. He constantly subjects his emotions to the spirit. The spirit is the redeemed part of man that communicates with God.

There is no time when mankind is left without a motivating power. Whenever there is lacking in spiritual maturity, the corrupted old nature steps up its influence to lead and to guide. In such situation there is no manifested glory of God. People doubt the salvation of the believers who fall in this category because they do not manifest any power of transformation. Such believers end up doubting even their salvation. Satan cannot steal your salvation but he can weaken you to the extent of causing you to doubt your salvation. Consequently you are denied an opportunity to walk boldly to the throne of God even in prayer. A believer overcomes Satan by repenting. Repenting is required everyday even among believers