“To the degree you are able to receive”

 Paul said this to the Philippians that he presses on to lay hold of why Christ laid hold of him, that “if I may by any means attain to the resurrection of the dead.” Something end time seekers think is impossible.  To attain to the resurrection before his departure. That is what Paul strove for, and so should we. As he said “to as many as are mature have this mind”. And so we do. Anything short of this is a truncated gospel. For even the 12 tribes strove night and day in hopes to attain the resurrection too. (Acts 26.7) If you can learn to understand this then maybe you can see why Rehab laid the wood out in order in the attic where she hid the messengers.

    So it is the gospel that teaches us by degree we grow. We put Christ in in this way, including the resurrection. To the degree that we believe “let it be according to your faith”. And “to the degree” does not refer to a temperature like 80 or 90 degrees Fahrenheit but it still shows us that by increments, that as our faith grows and we walk in His light we apply new revelation to our conscience and our minds. This is our transformation and Transfiguration now. Paul said not that he has attained but he “reaches out to lay hold of why Christ laid hold of” him. Of which he said in the next chapter, that it was for equality to “let this mind be in you”. And it’s not just let it be in you but develop it by degree from one revelation to another, which is the unveiling, the pulling back of the curtain “for the eyes of your understanding to see” that we and all mankind were made in the beginning to show the likeness of God. From this we fell, to this we are restored. And it is through  the gospel “by degree” that we are fully restored.

   So when scripture says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ” it shows that salvation is not a once saved always saved and it is not a 2nd coming act from Christ.  Salvation is definitely not a down payment as you sit and wait for another coming of another Jesus at a Rapture for a future resurrection. That my friend is the Pharasitic belief that Paul was to graduate from through various degrees to find himself to have the same mind as Christ, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

  And when God made Adam in the beginning with him, there was equality. This is why scripture says that by salvation “we are joint heirs with Christ”.  And also “in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead body, and “you are complete in Him who is the head over all powers and principalities” already so He need not come back to do so.

   It is by revelation of the word in the mind, and then the trial by fire in our lives that “brings us forth as gold” testing  the things of “hath God really said?” That we may be found of pure faith. This is what it means to be to a saint, and called to be holy. We are talking about putting on invisible attributes and not religiously Pious activity, behavior or attitude.

  Now when Christ was coming back down from his Transfiguration the disciples asked “why then do the scribes say Elijah must come first? And Jesus Christ answered them “Elijah has come if you’re able to receive it”. And it is in this way that Christ showed that if they were able to believe in to see and understand, they would move forward and receive the promise that was spoken “to the degree ye are able to attain” by implimenting your faith.

It is also said to “follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises”?  Yes. These are invisible attributes that we talk about. Think of it like “the coat of many colors” of Joseph for that is what the coat portrayed. For is it is not a patchwork of fibers or fabrics, but a collection of truths and invisible realities we cloak ourselves with.

  You see Gods fulfilling of the promises are not dispensed by time as many think. They are not to be put on a calendar then wait for the event. It was the slothful steward who said; my lord delays his coming. Scripture says “you observe days, months, seasons and years. I am afraid that I have labored for you in vain.” And in this way 2nd coming end time fascinations hold you “in vain”.

But for us, we see with the eye of our understanding and receive by faith, then trial by fire, and presto. You get the thing that was promised. Which is? Another aspect of the nature of God given to us. You get it, then you move on to the next attribute to be attained by degree. So “to the degree you are able”? Yes, one revelation at a time for the full acquisition of the things that God said in His Son to become like Him. A perfect person in the likeness of His Son.

  This is proof that the gospel is progressive, and that Pauls messages map out for us his transfiguration for ours. “He who receives a righteous man receives a righteous mans reward,  he who receives a prophet receives a prophets reward” and he who is least in the kingdom is greater than these” and we say if you have been received into the Kingdom,  then you stand on the works of these men who are the foundation of the kingdom.  And maybe you can walk down from this high place with your own tidbit. This is our journey into the promise land, the land of faith.

And Paul’s main obstacle” “If I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

   So you can realize Elijah can come for you today. Elijah represents the spirit or teaching of Elijah, and a perspective of the messenger that takes you up by degree in the spirit of Elijah, and to restore the hearts of the children to the father’s, not their dads but the father’s of faith like father Abraham.

In this way we can say, Paul must first come before the kingdom because you have to follow the spirit of His teachings to where Paul says “you are no longer strangers but fellow members and saints of the household of God. But Paul didn’t always see that. He used to believe in a future kingdom but he learned it in one of his consecutive revelations. Eph 3.3 “by revelation God  made known to me this mystery. “

 Elijah is said to  restore the sons to the father? That is what that spirit and teaching does. and has greater interpretation then generally understood. It is us, his offspring,  being restored to God the Father. Is not that the whole purpose of the gospel? “I plead with you therefore by the mercies of God that you be reconciled to the father” and with these words we say Amen.

 So we put on Christ, we walk in the things that he is showing us and given us and we go up by degree, pictorially speaking of ascending to the throne, or going up to Jerusalem “by degree”. And when Jesus Christ said “I and the father are one” He was showing for us that equality with the father is possible while we are incarnate, that Resurrection with him is possible while we are here on earth, that the Jewish belief of the future resurrection of the future time is at odds with those of us who are called to come up hither. So we do.

   So if you are able to receive these words then let it be according to your faith but even if not I’m sure God will show you that too.

It was Paul who was to deliver a gospel that would walk out for us a transition from a Pharasitical Resurrection and future Kingdom mindset to being resurrected with Christ and accept our new national status of being “fellow citizens in the Kingdom  and members of the house hold of God” now.

   Like Isaiah said “with His dead body our dead bodies will rise”? He bore our sins and “by his stripes we are healed” to what Adam Lost In the Garden of Eden. For those of us who believe? Some bear fruit, 10 fold some 20 and some 100-fold. It is in this way we grow by degrees and by increment to become more and more christ-like, more Godly more god-like.

The revelation of Jesus Christ is not at a one-time so-called public offering by a Second Coming but by a continual bathing in the Revelation through the word for He was the word that became flesh so that we in the flesh would become word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God”. We inherit all things in Christ. Everything that he has is ours including this mind that is equal with God. That is why Paul said “we go on to perfection, to a full stature and full measure of the son of God”. And it is because Paul had to transition from a physical resurrection and mindset to the correct resurrection and mindset. And he had to do this by degree. That he had to lay hold and teach to us as he showed us through his Epistles, the transitions. And this is why the more current or recent writings of Paul are more powerful and more clear and less Pharisaic then his first writings and preaching.

    So next we will talk about John the Apostle and show how his preaching is greater than any of Paul’s because Paul was to speak of things “yet to be revealed” and he chose to go up by degree, but John describes the full package. He talks about the overcomer and those who have overcome the world by faith and need not a second coming Jesus. In John the transition is complete therefore he has a greater message.

   It is here that we will conclude our messages of Paul and the resurrection

   The kingdom of God is at hand