Weekly Bible Study - April 28, 2014

Knowing how to glorify God, or how believers resist the will of God.

PLEASE READ FIRST

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV

[italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
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STUDY TITLE:

Knowing how to glorify God, or how believers resist the will of God.

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Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

Knowing how to glorify God, or how believers resist the will of God.


In relationship to our main study of ROM 9:19, we have been noting the will of God that most individuals choose to resist. Our next subject: “Knowing how to glorify God or knowing the glorification of God.”

Point 1. How the Believer Glorifies God.
The glorification of God by means of the Church (in EPH 3:21) occurs when the believer attains spiritual adulthood and moves on to spiritual maturity.

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (EPH 3:20-21)

Knowing how to glorify God, or knowing the glorification of God, is to take place in the Church. Glory to God also is to come down through all the generations through knowing how to glorify God. This means through the Church-age, the Tribulation period, all the way through the Millennial reign and eventually the eternal state.

For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; This means to be strengthen by His Spirit, not a worldly fleshly strength, but a glorious inner strength, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (EPH 3:14-19)

Knowing how to glorify God will cause you to reach out and experience the breadth, test its length, rise to the heights, and dig out and experience the depths! You'll be able to take in the extravagant dimensions of the love of Christ. Knowing how to glorify God will cause you to live full lives in the fullness of God.

There are different manifestations of knowing how to glorify God: 1) At spiritual self-esteem the believer has knowledge and self-confidence. 2) At spiritual autonomy (spiritually self-sustained) he does not depend on man. 3) Then at spiritual maturity, the believer has cognitive invincibility, and can be manufactured into an invisible hero. This happens when the believer glorifies God as he parlays the life beyond gnosis (EPH 3:19) into the life beyond dreams (EPH 3:20).

And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge [gnosis], that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think [the life beyond our fondest dreams], according to the power that works within us, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, (EPH 3:19-4:1)

Paul is saying, “Here’s what I want you to do: While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk, better yet, run on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere.”

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, (EPH 4:2)

Believers do this with humility and discipline, in acts of love for each other.

Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (EPH 4:3)

Knowing how to glorify God causes the believer to be alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; (EPH 4:4)

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (EPH 4:5-6)

You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Knowing how to glorify God causes us to recognize that everything we are, think and do is infiltrated with Oneness. But that doesn't mean you should all look, speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. (EPH 4:7)

The PPOG is divided into two categories: 1) The life beyond gnosis (EPH 3:19). 2) The life beyond dreams (EPH 3:20). The life beyond gnosis is epignosis which is the consistent function of perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine. Learning doctrine in the O.T. won't advance you in the life beyond gnosis. You must understand the mystery doctrine of the Church-age which is found in the N.T. Epistles, for they contain all the mechanics for the PPOG in this dispensation. The result is the attainment of spiritual adulthood. Then you begin to gather fantastic and dynamic momentum. Spiritual maturity parlays the life beyond gnosis into the life beyond dreams, which becomes the basis for glorifying God.

Point 2. What Does Not Glorify God.

Notice that left out of our first point is all your Christian service, sacrifice, and works. All this is wood, hay, and straw and it will all be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1CO 3:11-15; 2CO 5:10). The only Christian service and production that counts is the production that results from the filling of the Holy Spirit and the perception of Bible doctrine. Therefore, Christian service and Christian works are not the means of attaining spiritual adulthood or of glorifying God. Spiritual growth is not measured in works; spiritual growth is measured in momentum. When there is momentum, there will be production. That production will be gold, silver, and precious stones and it will be rewardable at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Point 3. The Pattern for Glorifying God in the Church-age.

The pattern of perception, metabolization and application of Bible doctrine is the pattern of the three R’s. Reception of Bible doctrine is the #1 priority. Retention refers to the metabolization of Bible doctrine, epignosis doctrine in the right lobe is the basis of momentum in the PPOG. Recall is comparable to the concept of wisdom; it refers to the application of doctrine. This results in understanding the ten unique characteristics of the Church-age:

1. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

2. The dispensation of the unique PPOG.

3. Unique equality in the PPOG.

4. The unique portfolio of invisible assets.

5. Two unique royal commissions for every Church-age believer.

6. The doctrine of the Church-age is the unique mystery doctrine.

7. The body of the Church-age believer is indwelt by each person of the Trinity.

8. The unique availability of Divine power.

9. The age of no prophecy.

10. The Church Age is the dispensation of invisible heroes.

Those ten characteristics are the basis for your standard operating procedure. This also results in the understanding of the ten problem solving devices for the Christian ay of life.

Momentum is based on solving problems, problems like handling suffering. There is X-amount of suffering for blessing involved in momentum, because this is the way you apply doctrine to your experience.

Glorification of God is the execution of the PPOG through the advance to spiritual maturity. This means advance through the three stages of spiritual adulthood. The pattern for glorifying God includes suffering for blessing, not divine discipline or self-induced misery under the law of volitional responsibility. Self-induced misery results in divine discipline, which is designed to cause us to rebound and recover life in the PPOG. However, only suffering for blessing has momentum. Therefore, when you pass these different tests you are qualified for blessing and therefore glorification.

Point 4. Glorification of God is related to the distribution of your escrow blessings for time.

That is when the life beyond dreams begins. Remember EPH 1:3 says, not blessed, but “eulogetos” means “worthy of praise and glorification.”

Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, says just as He (God the Father) elected us in Him before the foundation of the world (EPH 1:3-4).

Eph 1 teaches that the first thing God ever did for us is the means of glorifying Him, which is to receive the blessings He has provided for us. Billions of years ago, God the Father deposited into escrow, the greatest blessings that you and I can't even imagine.

And these fantastic blessings are tailored perfectly for you. Under the doctrine of election, God wills the highest and the best for you as a believer, only when you receive that highest and best do you glorify God. This is why every believer has a tremendous escrow account in heaven. People often ask what is God's will for my life? The answer is very simple: God's will is for you to glorify Him. God's will is for you to withdraw from your escrow account as much as you can. God has the highest and the best for you.

He has the greatest blessings, blessings that stagger the imagination. God's will for your life is for you to have the most phenomenal blessings. The very fact that some of you don't believe, and in reality you think God is fighting against you because of some area in your life, reveals that you have bought a lie from Satan. The fact that you do not have the most phenomenal blessings in time and eternity simply means that you're choosing to be a loser. It is making choices that makes us either losers or winners.

God not only wills the highest and best for each believer but, at the same time He provides equal privilege and equal opportunity to attain these blessings. Equal privilege means that you are in union with Christ and His church. Equal opportunity means that you have logistical grace support. There is no excuse for any believer in all of the history of the Church-age for not receiving phenomenal blessings. The reason is just plain old negative volition toward doctrine. It takes perseverance and positive volition toward doctrine. You can't be positive if you submit to negative feelings and depressions, or if you allow someone's personality to get in the way of your momentum. When you think doctrine doesn't work and you start to peel off and begin to miss vital doctrines, you've had it. All you do is cut yourself off from being able to withdraw from your escrow account in heavenly places.

So why are you here? You are here to glorify God!

“Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.” (REV 4:11)

“The people whom I formed for Myself, Will declare My glory.” (ISA 43:21)

Glorifying God demands understanding, and you will be kept alive by God long enough to have the opportunity to understand. You will be kept alive by God to fulfill His plan, unless you're a cosmic believer and you reach the point of divine discipline and become a loser.

Point 5. God's will for your life as a member of the royal family of God is to bless you.

In eternity past, God provided a fantastic plan which included His highest and best just for you. You glorify Him when you live in that plan and receive all the blessings he has designed for you!

EPH 1:3-6 says, Worthy of praise and glorification be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He (God the Father) elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

God had a reason for all He has done for you in your and this reason gives purpose to your life. Remember that anything God does results in His glorification. God does not depend on us for His pleasure or His glory. He enjoyed these things in eternity past when no one else existed. God doesn't depend on us for His pleasure and glory but instead He expresses His pleasure and glory toward us. Therefore, because God is to be glorified you and I are the beneficiaries of His blessings and divine provisions. God is not glorified by our system of human works, but is glorified by meeting our every need.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.