Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

The believer with a personal sense of destiny functions in the sophisticated spiritual life

In the continuation of our study of the personal sense of destiny we are presently looking at the personal sense of destiny in context of God's grace policy. We left off in 1Cor 2:15-16; where Paul explains God's power for the spiritual life.

v15 But the spirit filled believer discerns all things, but he himself is discerned by no one. Net note 11

v16 For who knows the thinking of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we keep on having the mind of Christ (the word of God)."

The believer's function in this power is their offensive action in their new identity that is taught in 2Cor 5:17; "Therefore if any one is in Christ, (he is) a new spiritual species; the old things have lost their power; behold, new things have come to pass."

The baptism of the Spirit creates the new spiritual species at the moment of salvation. The new spiritual species is also mentioned in Gal 6:15; "For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new spiritual species."

As a new spiritual species believers have equal privilege and equal opportunity to execute the protocol plan of God for the Church that provides spiritual freedom.

John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Spiritual freedom also existed in the Old Testament under the same principle, Psa 119:45; "For I will walk in freedom; For I seek Your doctrines."

This spiritual freedom must be guarded. Gal 5:1; "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not again become entangled in the yoke of slavery."

The yoke of slavery includes: sin nature control of the soul, the function of the arrogance skills, the function of the arrogance and emotional complexes of sins and the trends that result from living in the lie.

The old things that have lost their power are spiritual death and the OSN. 1Cor 15:22; "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."

Human power has been replaced by divine power. The spiritual life runs on divine power rather than human power.

The new things which have come to pass refer to all of the unique characteristics of the Church Age including the portfolio of invisible assets and the forty things given at salvation.

The attainment of a personal sense of destiny is a landmark the spiritual life because it the where believers enter into the sophisticated spiritual life.

This brings us to a brief study of the sophisticated spiritual life within our study of the Personal Sense of Destiny. The concept of the sophisticated spiritual life is taught in Eph 5:15;

Sophisticated means technical refinement and refers to the status of being highly developed and complicated. In this study sophistication is used in the sense of altering or changing the believer through a unique system of power that is only available for the Church age.

The word sophisticated is derived from the Greek word "Sophia" that means skillful in interpretation, learned, or wise. A derivative of "sophia" is "sophiste" that is translated into the Latin as "sophisticus".

"Sophiste" means an expert, a master of one's craft, adept, skilled, wise, prudent, a statesman like person, a sage. In the Ancient Greek world a sophist was a teacher who gave lessons in many subjects. It describes a person who has been changed by education, by wisdom, by knowledge, and by prudence.

It refers to quality rather than activity and unusual knowledge rather than ability.

This is because quality is an absolute while activity or ability is relative. The spiritual life is quality because it can only be lived in one way but Christian service relative because it is activity that can be performed as either dead works or divine good.

The sophisticated spiritual life is quality that results in proper activity. Put the quality first and you will have the proper activity. "Good works" without doctrine are not correct because they do not have quality before God.

Activity is often the production of human power, human talent, and human ability, along with sincerity. The sophisticated spiritual life is correct procedure and accurate knowledge rather than human ability.

The term "Sophisticated" refers to a person who has been changed by cognition, by knowledge of the word of God. The spiritual skills produce thought and the application of thought produces correct activity. People are changed by thought, not by activity, human ability, or dead works.

We see from this that the word "sophisticated" describes the altering of the believer through the unique system of power that is revealed in the Bible doctrine for the Church Age.

The sophisticated spiritual life refers to the believer who has been changed through the utilization of this power. This divine power is the use of the two power options and the consistent function of the three spiritual skills.

For the first time in history the function of the spiritual life demands thought before action, cognition before service, and metabolized Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness before Christian service becomes valid as the production of divine good. It's God's way or it's no way.

The sophisticated spiritual life begins with a personal sense of destiny. A personal sense of destiny separates the adult believer from spiritual childhood and the winner believer from the loser believer.

Mastery of the technicalities of the power options and the spiritual skills results in attaining a personal sense of destiny and entering into the sophisticated spiritual life. Once believers have a personal sense of destiny they will move forward in the spiritual life and they will change based on doctrine in their stream of consciousness.

Since a personal sense of destiny and entrance into the sophisticated spiritual life is based on the utilization of the power options and the functions of the spiritual skills, it is the offensive action of the spiritual life that brings about victory because it is what establishes the believer in their new identity.

Correct offensive action begins with the filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit that is followed by his teaching ministry that results in the cognition or Bible doctrine that leads to proper thinking.

Offensive action of the sophisticated spiritual life is quality rather than activity and precise knowledge of Bible doctrine rather than human ability. The sophisticated spiritual life emphasizes how a believer thinks that starts with a personal sense of destiny.

Natural human I.Q. has nothing to do with this kind of thinking. 1Cor 2:14;

Activity without the filling of the Spirit, metabolized doctrine, and the problem solving devices is dead works, Christian activism, and evil. Rom 8:8;

In the sophisticated spiritual life there is a system of application that requires suffering for blessing. This testing advances the believer in the spiritual life.

This testing includes providential preventative suffering, momentum testing, and evidence testing.

The Lord Jesus Christ established the precedence for the evidence testing that is related to one's relationship with God in the four tests that are described in Matt 4.

 

© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights Reserved.  This document was created on 4/10/2011