Once You Are Born Again, Then What?

Being born again is the first step toward fulfillment, and there are many more steps needed.  That is why the Bible says that we walk in the Spirit.  It says that we go from glory to glory and faith to faith.  It says that our path shines more and more.  We walk because we are moving from where we are to the Kingdom of the Heavens.  We walk from a world of lies to a Kingdom of reality, and it just keeps getting better and better.  The Kingdom of the Heavens is reality.  All that is not the Kingdom of the Heavens in unreal--that which is false and phony--lies.  Lies bind us.  They make us slaves of the liar, Satan.  Truth, reality, sets us free.

Truth always comes by a Word from God.  God speaks to us in many ways: through the Bible, through our consciences, through His creation, and especially through all that He has given to us in His Church.  The real, genuine Church is the Kingdom of the Heavens, it is Zion and Jerusalem of prophecy.  It is reality.  This does not at all mean that everything that is falsely called "church" is the Kingdom of Heavens.  Most of what is called "church" is a lie, unreal, and irrelevant.  The true Church moves by the Spirit of God according to all the pattern that is in the Bible. It is the move of the Spirit.  When God speaks, faith comes by hearing Him, and faith works the work of God by God's grace.  Some of these words, like church, grace, and faith, have been so distorted by worldly religious people that we need to change our understanding of them to even have any idea about what God is doing.

There is a war with many battles, and this war is with Satan, the liar.  We have weapons for this warfare, and these weapons are all truth, reality.  1 Timothy1:18  We cannot win this battle without these weapons.  1 Timothy 4:14  Every one of these weapons is necessary, since these are really parts of reality, and the completeness is what is really real.  The weapons are parts of the Church.  When all the parts of the Church are assembled according to the pattern of Scripture by the Holy Spirit and when they are functioning in perfect order in total submission to the same Holy Spirit, then we will see the complete Glory of God fill His Church just as His Glory filled the Temple in Israel when it was built according to the pattern.  So we have these gifts, these weapons of warfare, and their purpose is to free us from Satan and bring us into unity with God.

Each person who is born again becomes a ministry in the Church, a particular member of the Body, a stone in the Temple.  2 Corinthians 3:18  The members have no meaning or purpose outside of the Body, but they have a vital function in the Body.  If you were able to separate your finger from your human body and keep it alive somehow, your finger would have no purpose outside of your body.  So it is with the members, the ministries in the Church.  1 Corinthians 12:11-30  They must function under the headship that God has provided and in the order that is laid out in Scripture.  They must minister by the power of the Holy Spirit, because they must have life.  The ministry is not the person but it is the Christ in the person, which is growing to fullness.  They must be an unveiling of Jesus Christ coming in His Body.  So the members of the Body, the ministries, are the first weapon of our warfare.

We have many gifts, many weapons, many tools for building.  We have the Bible.  We have prayer.  God gave apostles (prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) to the church, and these are there for a covering and to equip the members.  Ephesians 4:11-16  They govern the universal Church.  3 John 1:9-10  They receive the revelation of the meaning of Scripture.  These apostles are either traveling elders or traveling deacons.  Once we are saved, we can be baptized in water, which is very powerful.  Once we are saved, we can be baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is also very powerful.  Once we are baptized in the Holy Spirit, we can pray in the unknown tongue, the tongue of angels, and what a powerful tool this is for building ourselves up in our own spirits!  Through the laying on of hands of the presbytery, we can be given greater authority in our ministries, and gifts of the Spirit can be imparted.  These gifts of the Spirit are vital to the Church and have great spiritual power and authority.  God also gave local elders and deacons to govern the local churches and to teach the apostle's doctrine.  The offices of local elder and deacon are responsible for taking away barriers to the ministries of all the members.  God gave the order of worship so that every joint supplies and everyone ministers and builds everyone else up. Every gift is needed.  None can be left out because the goal is completeness.

As each one ministers, it works this way.  God speaks to the member.  In the soul (which is the same as mind), the member hears God's voice.  At the same time, the liar, Satan, speaks (whether through the flesh, demonic influence, or some person speaking by the human spirit).  The member chooses to yield to the voice of God, and faith comes.  Faith gives access to grace, which is the power of God for righteousness.  Grace comes in, and the member yields his or her body (mouth, hands, feet, emotions) to the Holy Spirit of God.  Then Grace does the work of the ministry through the member.  God does the work.  Righteousness is a free gift and that is the way it works--by grace, which is through faith.

Whatever in not of faith, whatever is said, done, or thought by any means other than faith, is sin.  Such sinful thoughts, words, and deeds are phony and unreal.  They are lies from a lying spirit.  Lies bind us to Satan.  The truth sets us free.  That which is of faith is truth. All ministry is truth.  False ministry is a lie.  God must direct true ministry.  Many Christians and non-Christians have run when they were not sent.  The wheat and tares (poisonous plants) grow up together with the good plants.  True ministry comforts, encourages, and builds up.  True ministry is of faith.

And this ministry, Christ in you the hope of glory, can be active in you in every moment.  While others may go into the workplace as earthly creatures, you can be at work as a citizen of the Kingdom of the Heavens.  While others may drive their cars in the flesh, you can drive yours in Christ.  While others try to have a home by the human, you can make your home into the Kingdom of the Heavens right here on earth.  Others may go to a man-made church order, but you can go to a church where one has a song, one has a prophecy, one has a revelation, but all is done to edification.

When you minister by the Holy Spirit, it builds you up.  When you receive the ministry of others, it builds you up.  True ministry builds up the member who ministers.  Receiving the ministry of another member, seeing Christ in the person, also builds up the one to whom the member ministers.  1 Corinthians 12:2-3  In Scripture, a member is also called a ministry.  The ministry is Christ in the person.  The Biblical word for building up, edifying, is the same as building a structure.  This building up constitutes a change in the soul (mind) of the person.  This change is permanent, not that it cannot be undone through disobedience to the truth, but it is a renewing of the mind.  The word, repent, means literally, "Have a new mind."  The renewing of our mind changes what we are.  It could be called an anointing of being or becoming.  It is holiness.  It is stability.  It is faithfulness.  Righteousness is something you do (actually that God does in you).  Holiness is something that you are.  Holiness in us begins the work of transfiguring us, changing us into the same image of Jesus.  We begin to be like Him as we see Him in our brother and sister in Christ.  We are changed into the same image from glory to glory as we recognize what is order and what is disorder in the Body of Christ.  We begin to be like Him when we see Him as He is when we discern the difference between a true apostle and a false apostle.  The path of the just is a shining light that shines more and more until that totally complete (perfect) Day.

There will be a totally complete (perfect) Day, and until that Day, we experience some measure of redemption.  We are redeemed, and the final redemption will be the redemption of our bodies.  This redemption of our bodies, sometimes called the adoption or the manifestation of the sons of God, will  take place among the first fruits company.  Blessed and holy are those who take part in the first resurrection.  When that which is perfect (totally complete) has come, then that which is in part will be done away with.  1 Corinthians 13:9-12  That is, all divisions will cease when the fullness is revealed.  These first fruits members will enter into glory and glory will come upon the earth in the great day of the Lord.  The Head will be fully joined to the Body and will rise up as one totally complete man in a unity that we cannot now visualize or conceive in any way.  That will be the measure of the fullness of Christ.  The fullness of Christ is Christ the Head fully joined to His Body and His Body in perfect unity and order without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing.  This will be a Body fully prepared to rule and reign in the Kingdom of the Heavens here on the earth, to work as co-workers with God.

These sons of God will rule over those Christians who have not been faithful, who have chased entertainments, who have chased worldly pleasures or activities, who got tied up with extra-biblical forms, rituals, works, orders, etc.  God will have to say to the immature Christians, go away  from me.  I never knew you.  The government of Christ will rule throughout the world.  Isaiah 9:6-7  The manifested sons will minister to these with love and with a ruling hand.  The animals will no longer kill.  Nothing will hurt nor destroy throughout the land.  Not only the earth but also the heavens will be made new and redeemed.  Eventually, all of creation will be brought into harmony and unity with God.  He will redeem it all to Himself and we are having a part in it.

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There is so much more for you. This is what you have been missing. Don't let anyone deceptively keep you from fulfilling your destiny and God's purpose for your life.

God has established the pattern of Scripture, for life and for the Church.

You can feel free to use the Contact Form further down on this page to ask any question regarding this pattern of Scripture. The Church, the Body of Christ, and discernment of this Body, is the method that God is using to finish the work in His Body. The Body of Christ, God's Temple, is built up by that which every joint supplies, building each other up in love, and the Temple must be built according to the pattern of Scripture.

We believe the Holy Scriptures teach:

• The 5 apostolic ministries (Ephesians 4:11)
• The nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8-10)
• Local congregations overseen by elders and deacons (Titus 1:5)
• Every member having and being a ministry in the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:11)
• Being led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14)
• The gathering together of the Body of Christ (Genesis 49:10, John 17:21)