Loving the Christ-life!

By Tammy Lacock

“There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1 KJV)

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17 KJV)

In this week’s podcast of “Christ, the Seed,” Warren Litzman dives into Paul’s epistles to help us understand who we are now as believers in Christ: brand new creations, having absolutely nothing to do with who we were before. We are growing up in Christ now, learning about Him and our new life in Him, learning to not know humans by their flesh, not even Christ. We are to know no man by what they do in their bodies. We are not to know even Christ in His flesh, only by His Spirit, which now lives in us. Through Him, we can now be free to love others unconditionally in spirit, rather than by their good or bad behaviors. We can now see others as one Body of Christ because it’s with Christ’s eyes that we see. Paul states this clearly in Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation for those which are in Christ Jesus.”

As believers, we have Christ, God’s seed, placed in us by our Heavenly Father. God replaced our sin nature with His nature through Christ in us, making us bona fide sons and daughters of Him by His seed. We now have a place in His heavenly home.

The Apostle Paul explains our new status throughout his epistles and tells us that it is only by the Son that we have become sons and daughters of God. And as His sons, there’s nothing we can do or not do that will take back Christ’s seed in us. There’s nothing that will separate us from Him. He lives in us, and He is our new life!

Taking Paul’s message further, Warren explains that getting to know Christ in our spirits now is all that matters. We no longer need to know Christ in the flesh, only in spirit. Now that He lives in us and is our new life, we can rest, and be free to live Him through us. We are free to let go and let Him be our new life. We are free now to be who God created us to be: Complete in Christ.

Warren urges, only by learning Him in us, getting to know Him and love Him, will we truly be able to rest in the knowledge of who we are now. By Him, we are joint-heirs, bona fide children of God!

By Tammy Lacock

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” (Galatians 3:16, KJV)

“Being born again, not of the corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:23, KJV)

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:9, KJV)

In this new study of “Christ, the Seed,” Warren Litzman explains the importance of believers knowing what actually happened to them when they believed and what it means to be born again.

When we believe in Christ as our Savior, by His death, burial, and resurrection, our Heavenly Father, in an act of love, literally (not figuratively) places in us Christ, God’s seed. The old sin, Satan nature, the corruptible seed, is replaced by the incorruptible seed of Christ. Jesus shares this truth with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and ruler of the Jews, when he says, “Ye must be born again. (John 3:3, 7). We become an entirely new creation, partakers of the divine nature, Christ, the seed, birthed in us (1 Peter 2:4).

The seed has to do with who we are now. When we understand just what took place when we believed in Christ, we can get a better understanding of who we are and ultimately a better understanding of Christ, who is our new life. Before the foundation of the world, we were chosen in Him (Ephesians 1:4). We were in God’s plan before he created anything. He knew that the only way we could live a new and eternal life was by the giving of His Son’s life. He loved us so much and wanted us to return to Him that He took a part of Himself, called Him His Son, and died so that we too would die to this life. And in dying to this life, awaken and arise again with Him to an entirely new life in Him. Out with the old life and in with our new life in Christ. By God’s grace, our slates are wiped clean and we our brand-new creations.

The problem is that because we had been living with that corruptible seed of Satan for so long, allowing him to rule and reign in our souls, our minds (our thinking) have become a battlefield between letting go of our old selves and allowing the seed of Christ, our new life, to bear fruit. We bear fruit as we grow in our understanding of Him and who we are now in Him. We grow as we allow the Holy Spirit to help us understand that we are total and complete in Christ. We are no longer subject to the law, what we must do or not do to be sanctified. We begin to realize that the battle is not between Satan and God, as we know God always wins, but a battle in our thinking.

We must know now that we are saved and going to heaven, our Father’s heavenly home. However, Warren explains, through Paul’s epistles, that it’s of utmost importance to know who we are now. When God birthed His Son in us, we had power beyond description. His seed gave us new life! Yet we didn’t know it. He likens it to a natural birth, where the seed of a father is placed in a woman and yet she’s unaware that any change took place in that act of love, and only aware of her outward feelings and emotions. It’s not until sometimes eight weeks or more later when she knows she has a new life, the seed planted in her. It’s the same with the seed of Christ. Once we know and understand what took place when we believed, we can really start to grow up in Him. Our new life is in the seed of Christ! We can finally begin the love affair He desires with us.

In 1 John 5:12 (KJV), John tells us, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he who hath not the Son of God hath not life.” By the help of the Holy Spirit in our minds, we can now understand our new birthing. We can now understand that our new life comes only by the seed of Christ placed in us, and which can never be taken away.

In order to grow in our knowledge of Christ and therefore, alleviate the battle in our minds, Paul tells us we must “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 KJV)

We must give our minds over to Christ so that His seed in us will begin to bear fruit through us and we can truly live our new life in Him.

Life is in the seed. Life is Christ.

By Tammy Lacock

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1 Peter 1:23)

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakes of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (1 Peter 2:4)

In Part 2 of this new study of the Birthing, Warren Litzman explains what he calls “the Liberating Secret.” He explains that in a natural, human birth, the father’s seed is what brings forth a birth, a new person, a new life. A mother cannot produce the seed, she can only bear it. And yet, it takes time before a woman knows she’s pregnant. She can go months before she discovers she’s pregnant. The father planting his seed in the woman is one simple act.

The same goes for our new spiritual birthing in Christ. Our Heavenly Father places the holy, incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23) of His Son, Jesus Christ, in everyone who believes in Him. It’s that simple. We need only to believe for our new birthing to take place. By God’s grace, we become brand-new creations, born again into a new, eternal life in Christ. Our old lives no longer matter. We don’t produce this new seed, and there is nothing we can do to produce it. It has to come from a father, our Heavenly Father. When this happens, we are miraculously made a brand-new creation, a new race of people. This is what it means to be born again. This is what it means to be saved. We no longer are subject to the confines of this world, to the sin nature. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we were brought to life, and out of this corrupt life, by the sacrifice of His life.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

The liberating secret is that simply by believing, by the grace of God, we are saved. The person of Christ, God’s seed, is placed in us making bona fide children of God, joint-heirs with Christ.

Warren goes on to explain that religion has been dancing around this ultimate truth for thousands of years. As a result, most Christians have no idea who they really are. Christians have come to believe that they are sanctified by what they do or don’t do, while they are already complete in Christ by our Father birthing His Son in us. It’s an act of love, a gift, and cannot be aborted. The Life is in the seed of Christ, the person of Christ, and we now have His Life in us!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believers in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 KJV)

The liberating secret, the mystery revealed, is that the incorruptible seed of Christ has been placed in believers. Christ now lives in us! We are partakes of His divine nature now and throughout eternity. We are born again into a new life, the eternal life of Christ.

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27 KJV)

By Tammy Lacock

“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be Holy and without blame before him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4, KJV)

In this new study, Foundation Set 1, Warren Litzman uses Apostle Paul’s writings to lay the foundation for us to understand what Paul calls "the mystery.”

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27, KJV)

For over 4,000 years before Christ, God withheld the mystery from man, until the Holy Spirit revealed it to Paul. God chose Paul to bring this liberating secret to the world. Paul tells us this liberating secret is “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and this secret was in God’s mind before the foundation of the world! It was then God decided to take a part of Himself, His Son, and place Him in every born-again human. When we believe in Christ as our Savior, we go through a new birthing, when the incorruptible seed, Christ, is placed in us, making us brand new creations, not just a better version of ourselves.

Jesus introduced this mystery with Nicodemus, the leader of the Pharisees and Jews during that time in John 3:3 when he said “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Being born again means a brand-new creation. We are no longer of this world; we are a heavenly people. And this can only be by Christ being our new life. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we died in Him and arose with Him to a new life in Him.

“Before the foundation of the world,” God chose us humans to be placed in Christ. God’s plan of our redemption and reconciliation back to Him in Christ is no longer a mystery according to Paul.

John also wrote of this mystery in John 14:20, years after Paul’s death, when he shared Jesus’s words, “At that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.”

Mystery revealed!

By Tammy Lacock

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman really emphasizes again the radical mind change that the Apostle Paul had and had to have when coming into the “excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:8). By revelation of the Holy Spirit, Paul was not just a believer in Christ as his Savior, he was a knower.

It was revealed to Paul that, by God’s Amazing Grace, we are saved by just believing in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. By just believing, we are made “new creations,” and our old lives no longer matter. As believers, we too died with Christ at the cross and arose to a new life in Him.

Christ now resides in our spirits making us one Spirit with Him. We are perfect in Spirit.

However, Paul knew there must be a radical change in our soulish area—where our minds, wills, and emotions reside—if we are to come to “excellency of the knowledge” of Christ in us as well.

Through Paul’s epistles, Warren goes on to list four points that take place in our minds as we draw closer to Christ in us and deepen our relationship with Him. He emphasizes that only by the work of the Holy Spirit can this radical mind change take place.

The four truths are these:

1) Accept yourself as one forgiven by God of past, present, and future sins. We can’t afford to carry that load any longer. We must accept that our old lives of sin are no longer who we are.

2) We will learn to do without the approval of others when we know God approves of us.

3) Knowing of who we are now in Christ will manifest in our feelings towards others. We feel towards others as Christ does. We are no longer a product of our upbringing or who somebody else taught us to be or think we are. We know who we are now. We are bona fide children of God by Christ’s dwelling in our spirits.

4) We are never to see ourselves as one wearing rags. Warren uses the story of the prodigal son who approached his father in rags and said, ‘I’m not worthy.’ Because his father’s seed was in him, just as our Father’s seed of Christ is in us now, he welcomed his son home and prepared him a feast. Our Father continually forgives us and loves us unconditionally.

As we grow in Christ and deepen our relationship in Him, may we continue to have a radical mind change of who we are now in Christ. May we heed Paul’s “excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus” and his prayer for us to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

By Tammy Lacock

“But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10, KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman further explains what the Apostle Paul means when he says in Philippians 3:8, “The excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.” He explains that knowing Christ was Paul’s ultimate goal, the ultimate prize.

Through 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Warren shares that Paul had a radical mind-change here. He is telling us that everything before coming to Christ doesn’t matter, it falls away as we grow in Christ. Perfect is Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as an atonement for our sins and perfect is Christ who now lives in each and every one of us who believes. Perfect is Christ as our new Life. That’s the “excellency of the knowledge” of Christ that Paul speaks of in all of his epistles. He knew Christ now lives in every believer, not figuratively but literally.

Paul was raised up by Christ Himself to bring this final gospel to the world. His commitment to Christ kept deepening and he wanted nothing more than to know Him and love Him more. In his radical mind change, the Holy Spirit revealed to Him that all gifts and ministries are not that of the believer’s but Christ’s gifts and ministries coming through the believer. Paul knew he was nothing without Christ. He wanted nothing more than to dwell in His love and deepen his love affair with Him.

The purpose of Paul’s gospel is to tell us Christ in us presents us perfect before God. Paul knew the only way was to reveal to us the great mystery, that Christ literally lives in every believer. That we are made perfect by Him. That we are now complete in Him. That we are now the sons and daughters of our Father in heaven.

Paul knew “that which is perfect is come.”

Are we ready for our old lives to be buried with Christ? Are we ready to arise to a new life in Him and be presented perfect before God? Then let us follow Paul and press on to the goal of knowing Christ, the perfect Christ living in each and every one of us who believes.

By Tammy Lacock

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman continues to explain Paul’s deepening commitment to Christ. Paul’s commitment was a work in progress. In Philippians 3:13-14, Paul tells us to forget the past. He urges us to forget our old identities, the ones before coming to Christ. Paul was born into a wealthy family, a Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and a Roman citizen. He counted all of this as “dung” so that he may “win Christ.” Christ was all that mattered to him anymore. Christ was his prize, the ultimate prize. All he wanted, moving forward, was to know Him and love Him more and more.

Warren reminds us that Paul was able to forget his past by the continual renewing of his mind by the Holy Spirit. Warren explains that the mind is the connection between our old lives and our new lives now in Christ. It is a constant process of renewing our minds so that we, too, may let go of our old identities in order to deepen our relationship, our love affair with Christ, who now lives in us. By allowing the Holy Spirit to renew our minds, we can let go of our past and not be doomed to repeat it. Through this renewal process, we are now able to live our new lives in Christ. By giving our minds over to Christ, He can now live through us. Our love affair with Him supersedes everything, including our pasts.

And lastly, but certainly not least, Paul tells us in Philippians 3:17, to follow him. This is one of eight verses where he tells us to follow him as he follows Christ.

But why should we follow him?

We follow Paul because he was the only man Christ raised up to preach our salvation by His death, burial, and resurrection. He was the only one who knew who we are now as believers in Christ. We are Christ-persons.

Christ now literally lives in us. Christ told Paul so Paul would tell us! We are brand-new creations at salvation. A whole new race of people. We are born again, bona fide sons and daughters of God in Christ. Our new life in Christ calls us to forget the past, bury the “old man” and commit to Him, just as Paul did.

For he knew the ultimate prize is found in us, right here and right now: Christ alive in us.

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, we step away from Warren’s teaching to celebrate our 100th podcast with a chat with Robbie Litzman, wife of the late Warren Litzman, who founded the Christ-Life Fellowship! Robbie shares a little about Warren’s background, his passion for the simple message from Paul’s epistles, and Christ-life’s current work since Warren’s Home-going. Warren and Robbie have published the in-Christ message to the world for over 50 years, and this glorious message is meat to thousands of hungry souls worldwide. Robbie shares two of her favorite foundational verses for living in Christ and understanding who we are in Christ are: Galatians 2:20 and Hebrews 4:12.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20, KJV).

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12, KJV).

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman continues detailing Paul’s deepening commitment to Christ and the “excellency of the knowledge” of Christ who now lives in him. He explains that Paul’s commitment was at a level of kenosis, the emptying of himself for Christ. If by “suffering the loss of all things” he will win Christ, then by all means, whoever he thought he was before coming to Christ means nothing. He counted it but dung. Nothing else mattered but knowing Christ, the Christ who lived in him. It’s in this personal relationship with Christ where Paul deepened his commitment, his love affair with Him. Paul tells us throughout these few verses in Philippians 3: 7-13 just what he did in this commitment. By the help of the Holy Spirit, he had a radical mind change, and then the mind of Christ was at his disposal. It is here, in the mind, he says, where we make a choice to “suffer the loss of all things to win Christ,” to know him and the power of His resurrection, to fellowship in His suffering, to die with Him, and to love Him. It’s a choice and he’s made up his mind to love Him and do whatever He needs to do to deepen his love affair with Him. In fact, in verses 12 and 13, Paul tells us that although he’s already perfect in his spirit, where Christ resides, he continues to be made perfect in his soul, in his mind and heart. It’s here where he’s continually growing and deepening his love affair with Christ.

In a world where humanity is now focused on what God can do for us, Paul reminds us to focus on what God is doing within us. He reminds us that we must empty ourselves completely (kenosis), letting go of who we think we are, our old identities, so that we can deeply commit to Christ who now lives in us. Let Christ be our new identity, our new life.

Paul knew that all it takes for salvation is believing in Christ as his Savior. He didn’t have to do anything more. Yet, in his revelation of Christ living in him, he couldn’t help but want to know Him more. He couldn’t help but to commit to Him. He couldn’t help but to love Him. He chose to keep his mind and his heart open to the Holy Spirit whose sole mission is to reveal Christ in us.

Committing to Christ is a choice.

Loving Christ is a choice.

God initiated the love affair by giving His only Son to us … now it’s our turn to accept His gift and to choose to love Him in return.

How far will we go to know Him and to Love Him more?

Will we “suffer the loss of all things”?

Will we fellowship in His sufferings?

Will we empty ourselves?

Will we die and be buried with Him so that we will know Him and the power of His resurrection, His very Life within us?

Will you make that choice?

By Tammy Lacock

In this week’s podcast, Warren really dissects the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 3:10 (KJV):

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering, being made comformable unto his death.”

Warren reminds us here that Paul has had a radical mind change; and this is a mind change that we all need if we are to live as true Christians, Christ-persons. Paul, in his epistles, prays that we, too, will have this mind change, which can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit.

It was revealed to Paul that Christ is alive and well, alive and well in him and through him. The real Jesus now lives in us. Paul’s only desire was to know this Christ who lived in him. In fact, Paul welcomed suffering if it meant knowing Christ in that suffering. He knew it was only through Christ’s suffering and death that he was made alive. That he was made new. He knew that God works out of death.

Warren explains it simply: The Devil takes what is alive and destroys it, yet God takes what is dead and brings it to life. Through Christ’s death, we died too. And in His resurrection, we were brought to life, a new life in Him. We died to our old lives and arose to a completely brand-new life in Christ. Nothing else but his new life in Christ mattered to Paul. His mind was changed, and it was made up!

“Being made conformable into His death," Paul was ready to become nothing so that Christ would be his all, his only life. He “suffered the loss of all things” to win Christ. He wanted to suffer as Christ suffered, and he wanted to die as Christ died, in absolute obedience to God, so that in his suffering and death, he would know and love Christ more.

Paul was ready to die, but he wanted death only to come when he had done all he could in his love affair with Christ. His only desire was to know and love Christ, and he knew that meant he would need to give up his own life, his own identity, his own goals and ideas. He’d need to die to his life, make himself "a living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1) to give himself to Christ within to live through him.

Paul’s epistles help us understand who we are now in Christ. We are one with Him. We are married to Him. It’s a love affair. Paul challenges us to a deeper relationship with Christ, a fellowship with Him that blossoms out of our sufferings and an intimacy, a new life, that can only come when we suffer the loss of all things and give ourselves completely over to Him.

He states this clearly in Galatians 2:20 (KJV), “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”