Church of God That is in Christ Jesus

International Ministries

Authority and submission

In the universe God is the source of all authorities. All authorities on earth are set up by Him. As such, they represent God’s authority and even possess God’s authority. God Himself has set up systems of authorities for His expression so that when man meets these authorities he will meet God Himself. When the presence of God is available, man can know God through His presence. When the presence of God is absent, man can meet God by meeting His authority. In the garden of Eden when God’s presence was there, man could know God. When God was not present, man could remind himself of God’s commandment, which was the prohibition concerning the eating of the fruit. This was another way for man to know God. It is not often that man meets God in the world. (This, of course, does not include the fact that in the church, when man lives in the spirit, he can contact God all the time.) God’s manifestation is seen most frequently in His commandments. Only the foolish vinedressers need the personal appearance of the owner of the vineyard. In reality, the servants and the owner’s son were enough to represent him (Mark 12:1-9). Some are set up by God to give commands and to be authorities for God. All those in authority are ordained by God. Hence, all authorities that God has set up should be honored. Today God has entrusted authority to man. After entrusting man with authority, many on earth have been set up by God to manifest His authority. If we want to learn submission to God, we should know to whom the authority of God is entrusted. If we understand God’s authority as being only in Himself, it is very likely that we will offend God’s authority more than half of the time. How many people are there in whom we see God’s authority? There is no such thing as making a choice between God’s direct authority and His deputy authority. Not only do we have to submit to God’s direct authority, we must also submit to His deputy authority because there is no authority that is not from God. Concerning earthly authority, Paul gave not only a positive word about submission, but also a negative warning that resisting authority is the same as resisting God’s personal commandment (Rom. 13:1). For man to reject God’s deputy authority is for him to reject God’s own authority. In the Bible authority bears only one nature. There is no authority that is not of God. To resist authority is to resist God. God will not overlook this. Those who oppose will receive to themselves judgment. It is impossible for us to rebel without being punished. Hence, for man to resist authority is to incur death. In the matter of authority there is no choice.


Prayer

Prayer does not alter that which God has determined. It never changes anything; it merely achieves what He has already  foreordained. Prayerlessness, though, does effect a change, because  God will let many of His resolutions go suspended due to the lack  from His people of prayerful cooperation with Him.  “Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall bind on earth  shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever ye shall loose on  earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt.18.18). We are most familiar  with this word of our Lord, yet it should be realized that this word  has reference to prayer. And it is immediately followed by this  statement of Christ’s: “Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall  agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be  done for them of my Father who is in heaven” (v.19).  Heaven Governed by Earth  Here is clearly stated the relationship between prayer and God’s  work. God in heaven will only bind and loose what His children on  earth have bound and loosed. Many things there are which need to be  bound, but God will not bind them by himself alone. He wants His  people to bind them on earth first, and then He will bind them in  heaven. Many things are there also which should be loosed; but  again, God is not willing to loose them alone: He waits until His people loose them on earth and then He will loose them in heaven.  Think of it! All the actions in heaven are governed by the actions on  earth! And likewise, all the movements in heaven are restricted by 10 Let Us Pray  the movements on earth! God takes great delight in putting all His  own works under the control of His people. (Yet it should be pointed  out that these words in Matthew are not spoken to carnal people, for  such are not qualified to hear them. Let us be very careful here lest  the flesh come in, for in that case we shall offend God in many  respects.)   

Discipleship

We have believed in the Lord and have received a new life. But there are many habits which we acquired before we believed in the Lord. Many character traits and aspects of our disposition were part of us before we believed in the Lord. Those habits, character traits, and disposition have now become a frustration to the expression of the new life. This is the reason many people do not touch the new life or experience the Lord when they meet us. Often, others touch our old person. We may be very clever, but our cleverness is an unregenerate cleverness. We may be very warm, but that warmth is an unregenerate warmth. We may meet someone who is very gentle or very quick, but their gentleness and quickness are unregenerate gentleness and quickness. These old traits frustrate others from touching the Lord.From the day we were saved, the Lord has been doing two things in us. On the one hand, He is tearing down our old habits, character, and disposition. This is the only way for Christ to express His life freely through us. If the Lord does not perform this work, His life will be frustrated by our natural life. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is creating a new nature and a new character in us little by little, with its new living and new habits. The Lord is not only tearing down the old but also constituting us with the new. There is not only a negative tearing-down work, but also a positive constituting work in us. These are the two aspects of the Lord's work in us after our we are saved.

Christian Life

The believers in Christ were created by  God according to His image as tripartite men with a spirit, a soul, and a body to be God's vessel for containing Him, expressing Him, representing Him, and reigning for Him over all creation. At the time of creation, God did not put His life and nature into man; He only created a spirit in man so that man could receive with his spirit the pneumatic God into him as life. But man fell under Satan's temptation. He did not obey God's commandment; rather, he was corrupted by Satan, bearing Satan's evil nature and being constituted a sinner. Because of this, God sent his Son to became a man and put on the flesh of fallen man. This man's name was Jesus Christ, who in His flesh died for man and redeemed man from his sins, thus terminating the sinner himself together with Satan, the world, and the old creation. After His death, His whole being was resurrected, and in resurrection He was transformed into a life-giving Spirit. As such, He enters into the sinners who believe in and receive Him and becomes one with them, thus regenerating them to become God's children and His members, making them one with Himself, and constituting them His organic Body, which is the church, His fullness as His corporate expression.

These sinners who believe into Jesus Christ are called the Christians, the followers of Christ, those related to Christ. They were of God's old creation but have become God's new creation through regeneration by believing into Christ, possessing God's life and nature, walking by God's life and His Spirit, and living and working for God. They are being built up together in spirit to become the church of God, which is God's house, the Body of Christ and the fullness of Christ, and are waiting for Christ's return,. Those among them who after their salvation are willing to live an overcoming life by the overcoming life of Christ and by the resurrection power in the Holy Spirit,                                                                  Who we saw that it is possible for every Christian to have a life that is perfect . It is possible for him to have a pure conscience, a clean heart, and to be anxious for nothing. It is possible for his mind to be single and undistracted. It is possible for him to obey God and love Him absolutely. It is possible for him to overcome whatever peculiar physical constitution he has, and to present his members as weapons of righteousness to God unto sanctification. Every Christian can reach the point where he can say that he is crucified with Christ and that it is no longer he who lives, but Christ who lives in him. This is possible and attainable. Today we believe in the way to obtain the overcoming life.

Bible

The Bible is the inspired word of God The Bible is not only a book with words or letters printed on pages of paper. The very nature of the Bible is Life The Bible itself is always spiritual. The Lord Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." The Lord's words are spirit. The Bible shows us what God has done for us in the past and what He has said. It also shows us the ways that God has guided men in the past. In order to acquaint ourselves with the riches and vastness of God's provisions, The Bible is a book of mystery, containing at least five main mysteries—God, the universe, man, the church, and the future. Any thoughtful person would be puzzled by these five mysteries. Many have wondered, “Does God exist? Who is God? What are God’s attributes?” The Bible reveals the mystery of God, the mystery of the universe, the mystery of man, the mystery of the church, and the mystery of the future. 

Baptism

Baptism is an open declaration that one has come out. "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved." We should consider the salvation here to mean a personal salvation of the spirit.. In the Bible, salvation signifies a deliverance from the power of sin, and deliverance from world. You need to realize that you were originally in the world and that you were an enemy of God. Since you have come out, you are saved. You need to confess before God and before men that you have come out and have nothing to do with that corporate body. You are through with it. "Be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This was the main teaching on the day of Pentecost.  

Study and Minstries the Word of God

Everyone who reads the bible must approach it with his spirit; It must be read with the spirit. The spirit that we are referring to is the spirit of every regenerated person. We call this spirit the "regenerated spirit. "Not everyone has this spirit. Therefore, not everyone can read the Bible well. Only those who have this spirit can read the Bible well; those who do not have this spirit cannot read it well. This spirit is needed to worship God. This same spirit is needed to read the Bible well. Without this spirit, a man cannot know God. Without this spirit, he cannot know the Bible either. Perhaps we were born into a Christian family. Before we were regenerated, we probably had read the Bible already, but we did not understand it. We understood the history and facts recorded in the Bible, but we did not understand the Bible itself No matter how clever and well educated a man is, as long as he is not regenerated, this book is a mystery to him. A regenerated person may not be that cultivated, but he is more qualified to read the Bible than an unregenerated college professor. The former has a regenerated spirit, while the latter does not have such a spirit. The Bible is not understood by talent, research, or intelligence. Since God's word is spirit, only a man with a regenerated spirit can understand it. The root, the very nature, of the Bible is spiritual. If a man does not have a regenerated spirit, he cannot understand this book; it will be a closed book to him. God's present speaking is based on His past speaking. When God speaks to others through us, He does so through His established word. We must let the word of God dwell richly in our hearts so we can hear His speaking today and before He can make us ministers of His word.     

Reach the Lost

When God’s people understand who they are and they begin to operate in their  identity, they begin to receive the cry and the passion of the Lord. Prayer is about calling forth the will of God that is in God’s heart in order that His will may become manifest on the earth, in the nations and in the cities of the world. God is longing to bring deliverance, healing and salvation, for this is His will. Jesus came to bring freedom to the nations through the message of the gospel.  Action speak louder than words, When a nonbeliever met a christian to reach that believer is to touch the spirit of that believer. That mean letting the Holy Spirit work through you so they see that good work of God.

The Gifts of Holy Spirirt

Now the positive thing I want to say  that it is right to stress the experiential reality of receiving the Spirit. When you read the New Testament honestly, you can't help but get the impression of a big difference from a lot of contemporary Christian experience. For them the Holy Spirit was a fact of experience. For many Christians today it is a fact of doctrine.Surely the Charismatic renewal has something to teach us here. In sacramental churches the gift of the Holy Spirit is virtually equated with the event of water baptism. In Protestant evangelicalism it is equated with a subconscious work of God in regeneration which you only know you have because the Bible says you do if you believe. It is easy to imagine a spiritual counselor saying to a new convert today, "Don't expect to notice any difference: just believe you have received the Spirit." But that is far from what we see in the New Testament. The right to stress the experience of being baptized in the Spirit. Jesus says in Acts 1:5 and 8 that baptism in the Spirit means, "You shall receive power . . . and you shall be my witnesses." This is an experience of boldness and confidence and victory over sin. A Christian without power is a Christian who needs a baptism in the Holy Spirit. I am aware that in 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul says that baptism in the Spirit is an act of God by which we become a part of the body of Christ at conversion, so that in his terminology all genuine converts have been baptized in the Spirit. But we have done wrong in limiting Paul's understanding of the baptism in the Holy Spirit to this initial, subconscious divine act in conversion and then forcing all of Luke's theology in Acts into that little mold. There is no reason to think that even for Paul the baptism in the Holy Spirit was limited to the initial moment of conversion And for sure in the book of Acts the baptism in the Holy Spirit is more than a subconscious divine act of regeneration—it is a conscious experience of power (Acts 1:8).The fourth reason we should stress the experience of baptism in the Holy Spirit is that in Acts the apostles teach that it is a consequence of faith not a subconscious cause of faith.  I believe with all my heart that the grace of God precedes and enables saving  As a convinced faith. We do not initiate our salvation by believing. God initiates it by enabling us to believe (Ephesians 2:8–9; 2 Timothy 2:25; John 1:13). But this regenerating work of God's Spirit is not the limit of what Peter means by baptism in the Spirit. In Acts 11:15–17 Peter reports how the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius just as on the disciples at Pentecost. "As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized in water, but you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us, when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I should withstand God?" Notice that the gift of the Spirit, or baptism in the Spirit, is preceded by faith. The NASB correctly says in v. 17 that God gave the Holy Spirit after they believed. So the baptism of the Spirit (v. 16) or the receiving of the gift of the Spirit (v. 17) cannot be the same as the work of God before faith which enables faith (which Luke speaks of in 2:39; 5:31; 16:14; 11:18; 15:10; 14:27). The baptism in the Spirit is an experience of the Spirit given after faith to faith.

The Blood

To redeem us, therefore, and to bring us back to the purpose of God, the Lord Jesus had to do something about these three questions of sin and of guilt and of Satan's charge against us. Our sins had first to be dealt with, and this was effected by the precious Blood of Christ. Our guilt has to be dealt with and our guilty conscience set at rest by showing us the value of that Blood. And finally, the attack of the enemy has to be met and his accusations answered. In the Scriptures the Blood of Christ is shown to operate effectually in these three ways, Godward, manward and Satanward. There is thus an absolute need for us to appropriate these values of the Blood if we are to go on. This is a first essential. We must have a basic knowledge of the fact of the death of the Lord Jesus as our Substitute upon the Cross, and a clear apprehension of the efficacy of his Blood for our sins

Spiritual Warfare

Satan is a prince of this world and the head of an hierarchy of evil—ruling countries by means of his dignitaries (Dan. x), and entering into, or controlling, the fallen race of Adam by means of multitudes of wicked spirits known as demons.We must clearly distinguish between Satan as "the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience," and the actual inhabiting of men by spirits of evil. In the one it is the prince of the power of the air influencing and working in men through the lusts of the flesh, and of the thoughts, and in the other it is a wicked spirit—or it can be many (Matt. xii. 45)—entering in, and manifesting direct Satanic control of the man.

Until we recognize the strong man "fully armed" at the back of all darkness of thought, and blindness to the Gospel, we shall not do much toward bringing men out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And until we know how to take heed to the Lord's warning and "FIRST bind the strong man," the attempts we make to "spoil his goods" will only enrage him, and enable him to strengthen his armour, and guard his palace in peace.We need to know also HOW to "bind the strong man" as "prince of the power of the air," filling the atmosphere where the people gather to hear the gospel, or the children of God meet to pray. "What things so ever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven...if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask" (Matt. xviii. 18, 19), said the Lord to His disciples. The prayer of two fused into one desire, will "bind the strong man." "One shall chase a thousand" of the hosts of evil, but two put ten thousand to flight! (Deut. xxxii. 30) Hence the "strong man's" attempts to divide the children of God, or keep them from united prayer. The spirit of division, not necessarily openly manifested, stifles aggressive prayer and blocks victory

Firstly, it is a spirit fight, pure and simple. The powers of darkness must be met on their own ground. We may reckon ourselves "dead indeed unto sin," and yet give the strong man much advantage by walking after the life of nature, i.e., our own thoughts, our own interpretations, our own plans, our own energy. The natural cannot contend with the spiritual  It may appear to do much, and the enemy will go so far as to cause apparent "fruit" if by such means he can keep us striving on a plane where the results are only exterior and bereft of spirit life.Secondly, to carry on a perpetual warfare in the spirit, by the power of the Holy Spirit, against a spirit foe, we must set ourselves to know our enemy and discern his workings. Power to discern comes (1) by knowledge that Satan can hinder; (2) by observing the objective of the hindrances; and  by close observation of his methods (wiles, see Ephes. vi. 11) along this line. The devil is practical, and we must be practical. If need be, we must be willing to unlearn, and to withdraw the stakes of limitation and unworkable theory driven into the edifice of our lives, and willing to learn, through fire, the real schemes and workings of Satan and how to contest them. This is an education in the spirit, and must be as patiently mastered as any other subject. We must be content to go one step at a time, to have our minds open to all truth, and closed to all error, and use the light we have, in prayer, testimony and other aggressive service against the Powers of Darkness, otherwise the ignorance that binds us will never be dispersed (John viii. 32).


Sin,sinner and flesh

There is something within us that motivates and forces us to have certain spontaneous inclinations; it compels us toward the way of lust and passion. According to the Bible this something is sin (Rom.7:8,16-17). But not only is there this sin within us that forces and compels us, there are also the individual sinful acts, the sins, which are committed outwardly. In the Bible sins are related to our conduct, while sin is related to our natural life. Sins are that which are committed by the hands, the feet, the heart, and even the whole body. Paul refers to this when he speaks of the practices of the body (Rom. 8:13). But what is sin? Sin is a law that controls our members (Rom. 7:23). There is something within us that compels us to sin, to commit evil, and this something is sin. Sins have to do with our conduct. Hence, the Bible shows us that for our sins we need forgiveness (Matt. 26:28; Acts 2:38; 10:43). But sin is that which entices and compels us to commit sinful acts. Hence, the Bible shows us that we need to be freed from sin (Rom. 6:18, 22).  We are all sinners by constitution According to God, we are sinners by birth, and we are those who sin by profession. Because we this we believed all have sinned and come short of the Glory.of God.  


The Second coming of Christ

Jesus is coming and we believed that the church must be ready.

The Covenant

The Christian view of the New Covenant is a new relationship between God and humans mediated by Jesus which necessarily includes all people,] both Jews and Gentile, upon sincere declaration that one believes in Jesus as Christ and Lord The New Covenant also breaks the generational curse of sin on all children of Adam if they believe in Jesus is the Christ after people are judges for their own sins, which is expected to happen with the second coming Jesus Christ.