One Small Seed Newsletter – Edition #282, October 2024
Greetings in the name of Jesus,
Before the disciples were schooled by Jesus for three and a half years, they were schooled in the Law that God gave to Moses. The law was a roadmap for the Israelites, but it wasn’t as clear as the truth that Jesus taught. Since the law was a good foundation to build upon (which was a part of God’s plan) Jesus handpicked Israelites, who were morally based to be God’s chosen. When Jesus finished his teaching job they were filled to the brim with knowledge and then the Holy Spirit was sent from God to anoint the disciples.
The disciples were now born from above and became Apostles. The same process is worked in every soul that has been taught the laws and commands of God, through His word, into the natural minds of man. From this point, if faith is established, the natural mind will submit to the truth and the spiritual mind will take over. Then, the knowledge of the truth will make the spiritual mind wise and the soul will become an Apostle. A disciple means: one who is a follower of one who is wiser and a leader. An Apostle is one who has gained the knowledge and proven they are now more advanced in the truth, which qualified them to be a leader.
We must understand that when Jesus was speaking unto His followers He was also speaking to us. Notice He said in John 14:21, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”. In order to understand scriptures we must understand the plan, purpose and process of God’s will. There was no group of people that God loved more than another group but in in His process He established groups to represent the steps of His plan. So, what was His plan? His plan was to lead His most important part of Creation from mortality to immortality.
He started with Adam and Eve. He put them in the highest place that man could be in while in a natural setting. God’s plan was to get man from the natural setting to the spiritual setting and then they become the image of Christ. When God created Adam he created a perfect example of a man, but when the man was enticed by his own inventions he broke God’s command and then he lost the title of perfection. Why did he need to go a step or two down before he could go back up to the image of Christ? It was because God didn’t create anything that was imperfect or unacceptable. Adam couldn’t save himself, so he had fallen into a bottomless pit.
The cry of the Father is: Be ye holy for I am Holy. The cry of the Word is: be ye Holy for I am Holy, and the cry of the Holy Spirit is: Be ye Holy for I am Holy. The cry of the Kingdom of Christ is: Be ye Holy for I am Holy. So what does the word Holy mean? To some it means “perfect”, which they believe they can’t fill that definition. The word that is used quite often is sanctification. This word means, “set apart to God”. Notice John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy (God) truth, thy word is truth“. Then in verse 19 he said, “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth”. His point was stated in verse 14, “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world”. This means “set apart to God”.
In verses 21-23 of Chapter 17. Jesus made it clear where we stand as the Body of Christ and the Kingdom He has placed us in. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, are in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 and the glory which thou gave to me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that they world may know that though hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou has loved me”.
It never was in the plan of God for man (flesh and blood) to inherit the Kingdom of Christ and the things that happened from Eden to Pentecost were in the plan. God gave man thousands of years to learn and mature, but man was set on doing everything to sanctify his ego. Their question was, didn’t God give man the rule over everything natural? Yes, but he also put a soul in man that he wanted to serve Him. In the process, man wrestled with the natural side and the spiritual side. He allowed the natural side to become strictly carnal and on the Spiritual side he took everything to it’s highest extreme.
The Israelites were given the law by God and to remind them daily there was always a ritual to be performed. Why? Because Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall be no sign be given to it but the sign of the Prophet Jonah”. He was referring to his death and burial. The Apostle Paul made a simple statement about the Jews in 1 Corinthians 1:22, “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom”. This means that their religion was more about show; more rituals, like circumcision and every natural man-made rule in order to maintain control. The Greeks were bound to myths, old wives tales and also rituals.
But Christians don’t live by sight and made up rituals, they live by faith, the leadership of God’s word and the influences of the Holy Spirit. We all have a different position in the true Body of Christ, but the same command from Christ to glorify the truth in every word and deed. God is the source of our wisdom, and without him we are nothing. (James 1:27)
Christians are called to live by faith, guided by God’s truth and the Holy Spirit. The journey from disciple to apostle signifies spiritual maturity and alignment with God’s will, culminating in sanctification and unity in Christ. Through this process, believers glorify God in every word and deed, fulfilling His ultimate plan for humanity. God bless.
Your friend in Christ,
Rodney Roberts