 The View from Heaven Now
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Christian discipleship is all about the Lord leading His disciples to grow in knowing more profoundly the depth of their sins AND the height of their salvation in Christ.
Ephesians 2:6-7 (above) is a majestic description of the height of salvation by God's grace.
Ephesians 2:5 says that we, who were dead in trespasses, were made alive together WITH CHRIST! This is the truth of God uniting us spiritually in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. By God's grace, He made us alive in union with the risen Christ!
And now we have been raised
and are seated in the heavenly realms in Christ!
We, as disciples of Christ, must prayerfully ask the Lord, "What does this mean?"
One thing we can know it means from God's Word is that it is past tense. Ephesians 2:6-7 reveals that God has already "raised us up with Christ" and He has already "seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms."
Many of us Christians focus on dying and going to heaven in a future physical sense. However, God is revealing that, more foundationally, we have already died (with Christ on the cross) in the past and we have already gone to heaven (in union with Christ) through a past conpleted action by God that is eternally in effect.
Oh how we must know that the spiritual sense is the most literal sense. For example, your spiritual crucifixion with Christ and your spiritual raising with Christ is not theoretical, but is absolutely literal! It is literally true.
Hebrews 11:3 reveals that the physical things of this world were made from the spiritual. There is an underlying spiritual reality that we must know.
So, how can we grow in knowing what these profound truths practically mean in everyday life? Following are two perspectives to meditate on. Be challenged in your thinking! Be encouraged!
VIEW OF GOD
(After His resurrection),
Jesus was received up into heaven,
and sat down at the right hand of God.
(Mark 16:19)
If we are seated in the heavenly realms with Christ, we are also seated at the right hand of God the Father!
This means that we have a profoundly intimate and close relationship with God the Son and God the Father through God the Holy Spirit!
Whether we feel this truth or not, God is calling us to walk by faith, not by feelings.
And as we focus on Christ in our daily walks, we will grow in experiencing the reality of the intimate relationship we already have with Him!
VIEW OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Be not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
(Romans 12:2)
Christian discipleship includes God exposing the lies in our minds and then God renewing our minds to His truths from His Word.
Many Christians fall for the temptation to view God through circumstances. As a result, we foster a distorted view of God and, consequently, of ourselves and others.
However, God is transforming us to view circumstances through Him, that is to say, out of our intimate relationship with Him! This truly is renewal in thinking!
And this is repentance, which means to "re-think" in ways that are 180 degrees from how we used to think.
In a profoundly real sense, we are above our circumstances with Christ, not in bondage to our circumstances without Christ.
CLOSING
I've heard it often said, "Some Christians are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good." The focus on this statement is on the physical.
However, through these verses in Ephesians, I see now that the opposite is true, i.e., "Some Christians are not yet heavenly minded enough to realize the fullness of Christ in them on earth now."
If we truly believe that our real "citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20), we can grow in knowing and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ as "aliens and pilgrims" here on earth (1 Peter 2:11).
Your fellow pilgrim,
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About 
Discipleship through
Counseling
Teaching
Training
Gregg Gibbons
Pastoral Director
Michael Chalmers
Training Director
Kellie Boggs
Fellowship Director
Joy Gibbons
Ministry Assistant and women's ministry coordinator
Carole Blyth
Board member and women's ministry coordinator
Paul Crews
Board member and Pastor Mountain Creek Baptist Church
Florence Colby
Board Member and Exec Assistant
at US Endowment of Forestry
Dave Loser
Board Member and Chaplain with Corporate Chaplains of America
Carolyn Kennedy
Staff discipleship counselor
Randy Garrick
Board Advisor and
CFO Engineered Systems Inc.
Dawn McClendon
Board Advisor and
school teacher in Durham NC
Marty Price
Board Advisor and Pastor
Pendleton Street Baptist Church
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Partnership
I believe with all my heart that ministry is through relationships.
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you for your partnership in the gospel (Philippians 1:3, 5).
YouTube link below of my ministry commissioning service that included testimonies from several partners, including Bobby Richardson, former 2nd baseman for the NY Yankees.
Please contact me to learn more about partnering with me. I'd love to hear from you!
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Ministry News
Gregg is teaching at the Haven of Rest mission in Anderson on Monday evenings.
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Archives
Link for Rest Stops
since August 2010:
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Contact Info
JOURNEY IN CHRIST, INC.
655 Fairview Road
Suite H-188
Simpsonville SC 29680
(864) 483-3201 (Gregg cell)
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