the revelation of righteousness

we had a visiting pastor come preach this week, jimmy mutebi from uganda, and he delivered a message on righteousness. one of the purposes of this blog is for me to make sense of what i note in sermons, so i'm sifting through it now to get some more revelation out of his message. this is God's Word, from jimmy's word, in my words:


revelation. you need it. what you do that is devoid of revelation will not profit you. if you need encouragement to pray, you have not had revelation of how important prayer actually is. we are called to do everything in light of revelation. think about it. you don’t struggle to eat - you don’t pray, “God please give me the revelation of eating”, and yet prayer's just as important as eating!

for this, time spent with God is absolutely crucial. you cannot know how your journey with God is progressing if you are not talking with him. you cannot know what He is saying to you if you are not reading his word. the word of God is a mirror to us, so we can use it to make adjustments. it is meant to challenge the way we think.

HEBREWS 5:12-13 - In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

so first we need to understand this elementary truth of righteousness. righteousness is a gift from God, not something we earn by dint of our own actions. we are called to be skillful in righteousness, and this must be done by practising it constantly, so that we may become mature. maturity is not something gleaned from ageing, but rather what you get by obeying the word of God.

okay.

yet many Christians fall victim to their situation because they only practice on the day of the trial, so they lack the spiritual stamina to overcome the challenge. but remember...

1 PETER 2:23 - When they hurled their insults as him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

...never once in jesus’ life was there a challange that he did not rise to, was he the victim instead of the victor, even the death on the cross was a divine setup to disarm the devil and render him ineffective. so why then should we, in aspiring to be more like Jesus, so readily accept failure, so easily shirk away from challenges presented to us. we shouldn't! we should face and overcome them, with confidence!

HEBREWS 4:16 - Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

we are established in righteousness so that no weapon formed against us will prosper. when we are established, we have anchorage. the things that used to move us, we now move them!

ROMANS 5:17 - For if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

those who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall rule and reign in life as kings, through jesus christ. we are made in God’s image, so we are to be the move of God. so do it. be the move of God.

JOHN 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
LUKE 8:11 - This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.

every seed produces of its own kind, and we have the seed of God. that means that as we grow we are to become more like Him. we are to become like God, as was originally intended for us. jesus said You shall move mountains - not ask God to move them for you! thanks to God's gift of righteousness, we can now reign in life. but it's not automatic - you have been made righteous, but now go practice righteousness!

ISAIAH 32:17 - the fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

quiet confidence. trademark of someone who's acting on revelation.

peace out.
dan.