Loving the Christ-life!

By Tammy Lacock

“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)

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.” (Galatians 1:1–16, KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman explains how Paul, the Apostle of Grace, is the only writer in the Bible who reveals God’s final gospel to humanity. This final gospel, what Paul calls the “mystery” is revealed to us throughout his epistles. His gospel is grace, God’s grace. Paul tells us we are currently living in the Dispensation of Grace.

“If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).” (Ephesians 3:2-4, KJV)

And by His grace, we need only to believe in Jesus Christ to be recipients of this great mystery. The mystery is revealed to us over 146 times throughout Paul’s and John’s writings. The mystery is this: Christ literally living in believers. We are no longer subject to our satanic sin-nature passed down by the curse of Adam. We are no longer bound by this world and the law. Paul tells us it’s time to move from law to grace. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we moved into grace. When Christ died, we died too. When He arose, we too arose to a new life in Him. Our old lives died. We are born again by Christ’s seed now planted in every believer. We are brand-new creations by His unrelenting, amazing Grace.

“Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, KJV)

Paul tells us we are literally saved from the inside. He knew Christ lived in him, and he knew Christ in Spirit more than anyone else in the Bible. He tells us that by the Cross, there’s no longer a need for us to be saved by our outer works. Christ did the work on the cross and by His death, burial, and resurrection, we now have His very life in us. This is the mystery. This is what it means to be born again. No other writer — except John in his later years and after 30 years of getting ahold of Paul’s writings — tells us of the great mystery of being born again in Christ. The law was so strong in the disciples and other writers that they never preached the cross and God’s grace given to us by the cross. In fact, in the 2,000+ years since, the churches haven’t caught on to Paul’s gospel of grace.

We need to understand, by the Holy Spirit renewing our minds, that God no longer accepts us by what we do or don’t do. He sees Christ in us, our new life.

Paul was the only one raised up by Christ, Himself, to reveal to us the mystery of Christ now living IN us. And he tells us, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). NOW is the time to spread this final gospel of God’s grace to humanity.

Simply put, it’s an inside job!

By Tammy Lacock

“For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.” (Ephesians 3:1-2 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman makes it clear that the Apostle Paul is the apostle of grace because he tells us throughout his epistles that we are now living in the dispensation of grace.

Christ raised up only Paul to preach God’s grace. He knew, by revelation, that in this new dispensation, which started at the cross, we are no longer bound by the law (the previous dispensation), but we are saved by God’s grace through the planting of Christ in anyone who believes in Him. There is nothing we can do or not do to be pleasing to God. He is pleased by our being born again to a new life in His Son.

By His Grace, we need only to believe!

Our old life was crucified with Christ, and we arose with Him to a new life in Him. We are brand new creations in Christ. In fact, Paul tells us many times in his epistles that we are now in Christ, our old lives have passed away.

“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)

“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)

Warren lists the five previous dispensations as:

1. Innocence (Adam and Eve),
2. Consciousness (Cain and Able),
3. Human Government (Noah),
4. Promise (Abraham), and
5. Law (Israel).

Each time, God gave man a new chance at relationship with Him; and each time man failed, ending each time with judgement. In this current dispensation of grace, we are seemingly also failing because the churches aren’t preaching grace. Rather, they are commingling law and grace. Even the disciples and New Testament writers like Peter, James, and John were preaching the law of the previous dispensation, and at times commingling law and grace. They hadn’t moved fully into the dispensation of grace Paul tells us we are in now. Paul was the only apostle who preached God’s grace. He tells us in Ephesians 3:1-2 that Christ revealed to him that this dispensation of grace, God’s next attempt for human beings to be who He wanted them to be, is upon us and he is sharing it with us.

So why aren’t churches preaching grace? Why aren’t they preaching that we are only saved by God’s grace and not by anything we do or don’t do in an attempt to be pleasing in His eyes? Why aren’t they following Paul’s lead?

“Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:11)

It’s taken us over 2,000 years for us to finally begin to know and understand Paul’s gospel of grace. We have been living by the law, rather than by God’s grace. Paul tells us that no longer is God depending on us to be redeemed. By His grace, we need only to believe in Christ to be saved and born again. We are saved only by His life, the seed of Christ now living in us.

The more we dive into Paul’s epistles and allow the Holy Spirit to continually renew our old minds from the law to the amazing grace of God and His Son who literally now lives in us, the more we will know and understand who we are and what God is doing today. Paul’s gospel tells us that the seed of Christ is now in us, and we are brand new creations. By God’s grace, we are His bona fide children! We are now complete in Christ and free to be who God created us to be.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV)

“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

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

“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman explains the practical characteristics to live by that are in the seed of Christ that now lives in each one of us who believes on Him. These are the things that will give rise to our thoughts and will renew our minds. He emphasizes that we must give our minds over to Him, by the help of the Holy Spirit, if we are to ever truly understand who we are now by His seed. The problem is we still have the mind of the incorruptible seed governing us. Now that we are born again of the the incorruptible seed (Christ), we must let Christ take over our minds.

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

The battle is between our minds and our flesh as we grow up in Christ. We must allow the Holy Spirit to constantly renew our minds so that we are able truly know the Christ who now resides within us by His seed. We must be rooted in His seed if we are to bear His fruit.

Warren tells us of 7 things in the seed of Christ by which we can live and put our minds to as we grow up in Him:

1) The seed is offended by our sin and, therefore, brings a deep hurt to our entire being. Christ in us is offended by sin and anything that is contrary to who we are now in Him.

Two rampant and accepted examples in our society today are abortion and homosexuality because they are contrary to life and Christ is life.

2) The seed is always striving against the flesh. The voice of the Spirit of Christ is constantly warring with our flesh and wanting to break through, come out through us and live freely. It’s so important that our minds give way to Him, that we hunger and thirst for Him and nothing outside of us, so He can come through.

3) The seed draws us constantly to the Grace of God. The seed itself is within us by the Grace of God. God has the power to turn a bad person into a good person, but He didn’t do that. He kept us the same person and by His grace, put the seed of His Son in us. It turns out God is not pleased by how good we are. He is pleased by His Son who now lives in us. We are a brand-new creation because of Him. We no longer live. He is our new life. We are saved by His Grace. Now we can grow up in Him.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9 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.” (Gal. 2:20 KJV)

4) The seed within us loves believers. The hardest ones to love are our own brethren. Our enemies are within our own body of believers. Christ’s enemies were his own brothers, His own family! We love them because Jesus, His seed, now living in us loves them.

5) Constant Godly communion is within the seed. The apostle Paul said to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:16-18). He meant that by the seed of Christ, in our daily walk, we are one with Him and therefore, one with the Father. There is no separation between us. There is a constant intimacy available to us in every moment, no matter what we may be doing. Give thanks and rejoice in Him throughout our days, in all circumstances.

6) The seed within us is constantly looking for the coming of the Lord. In fact, the Apostle Paul thought the Lord was coming in his day. By His seed, his coming is also in our thoughts so that we may ready for Him.

7) The seed causes me to persevere in this life until the end. Every day in our walk we come to a greater knowledge of Christ and who we are now in Him. He is our hope. He is our strength. He is our very Life, here and for eternity.

Only by giving our minds over to Him can we truly know Him and love Him and grow up in Him.

At his dying moment, even the Apostle Paul, who knew Christ more than anyone said:

“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” (Phil. 3:10 KJV)

It’s a mind thing!

By Tammy Lacock

We must first understand what took place in us as believers before we can understand what’s in the seed. And yet, we must understand what’s in the seed in order for us to understand what God is doing in our lives and who we are now.

By just believing in Christ as our Savior, we are born again. When Christ died, we died too. Our old Satan-nature (passed down by the curse of Adam) was replaced by Christ’s nature. The gospel tells us that He came into us as a seed.

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

In Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we died, were buried, and arose to a new life with Him and in Him by His seed. God literally, not figuratively, planted the incorruptible seed of His Son in our spirits giving us a completely new life.

Christ tells us in John 12:24 that there must be a death for life to come forth. This is the deepest truth of God. Just as Christ’s death brought life to many, we too must go through a death to ourselves, in our souls-minds, our flesh, so that the seed of Christ can break through our hard shell and bear much fruit through us.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24 KJV)

The problem is the gospel for today isn’t being preached. Most believers don’t know what took place in them. They don’t know that Christ is now their new life by His seed. They don’t know that they are now complete by His seed. They don’t know who they are. We continue to identify by what we do rather than who we are now: born-again children of God! Christ is our life now. In Him, we are complete.

“Ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:10 KJV)

It’s by the revelation of the Holy Spirit through our circumstances and situations that we come to this knowledge of Christ now in us. And it’s through the sufferings in these circumstances and situations where we begin to grow up in Him, acknowledging Him in all things and through all things. This is where the fullness of who God created us to be comes to life, the seed of Christ breaking through our old identities and mind sets. This is where we begin to truly understand what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 (KJV):

“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.”

By Christ’s Seed in us, God’s work is finished…we are complete! Now go on and live like it!

By Tammy Lacock

“Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8 KJV)

In Part 2 of “What’s in The Seed?”, Warren Litzman keeps us focused on God’s Seed, Christ, planted in our spirits as believers. To understand what God is doing in our lives, we must first understand what’s in this seed.

In Part 1, Warren showed that new life is in the seed, Christ. By Christ’s seed, we are born again. At salvation, Christ’s nature and traits replace the sin-nature passed down by the curse of Adam. Christ is our new life; we are partakers of His divine nature.

Warren explains with Hebrews 5:8 that we begin to truly learn and experience our new life in Christ through our hurts and suffering just as Christ learned obedience through His suffering and death. He knew that new Life only comes by His suffering and death. When He drank of the cup in Gethsemane, all of our sins and transgressions went into His body so that when He died, we died, too! He loved us so much that He suffered and died so we would be free from the sin and bonds of this world. When He arose to a new life, we arose to a new life in Him, by placing His seed in our spirits.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:10 KJV)

It’s by the sufferings in our circumstances and situations where we begin to develop a personal relationship with the Christ that now lives in us. In it’s our sufferings where we break through the hull of Christ’s Seed so He can flow through. There’s no other way to grow closer to Him. We must first know, however, who we are now!

We need to understand and know now that we are birthed children of God! Our old lives died, and we are born again into His family.

We are here to get to know our new family!

God’s intention for us is completed by the Seed of Christ in our spirits. We are spiritually complete in Him, while our souls are presently being transformed as the Holy Spirit works in our minds to help us understand who we are now.

Now in God’s family, His fruit of His Seed begins to come through us now. It’s His love, His joy, His peace, His goodness, His kindness, His gentleness, His self-control, His patience coming through us.

By our sufferings in our circumstances, we begin to see and know Christ in every situation.

Over 100 times, the New Testament tells us we are “in Christ,” we are one with Him.

Put your confidence in Him. Give yourself over to Him. All that we need is in Him, His seed that is planted in us now. Let Him take over and come through you in your sufferings.

He doesn’t give us strength; He IS our strength!

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthen the me.” (Philippians 4:13 KJV)

Life is in the Seed

By Tammy Lacock

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:24 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman begins by emphasizing that if we don’t know what’s in the seed, then we may never fully understand who we are in Christ.

In John 12:24, Christ reveals what our Heavenly Father did through the gift of His Son, the Seed of Christ. By His death, we too died with Him, our old lives buried. In the moment we believe, the Seed of Christ replaces the sin nature passed down by the curse of Adam. By His death, God’s plan of placing Christ’s seed in humanity is finished. Simply by believing we are saved by His seed.

We are complete by His seed. Once planted, Paul tells us throughout his epistles, we are bona fide children of God! We have Christ in us. He is our new Life. By His Life, we are freed from the bonds of sin and this world.

However, the Seed of Christ will lie dormant like an “old man in a rocking chair” as Warren puts it, if we don’t give Him our minds. Here’s where we can nurture the Seed of Christ by getting to know Him. Make it personal. Just like the seed needs the right soil as well as the stresses of heat, cold, rain, and wind to break through its hull and bring forth life, we too need the right soil, toiled by the stresses of our circumstances and situations to break through the hull of the seed of life (Christ) in us so He can come forth. Through our sufferings, we begin to let go as we develop our trust in Him. Our sufferings are the means by which we grow to depend on Christ in us, give Him our minds, and allow Him to live through us. By His seed we have everything we need, we have the answer to every question right here, right now inside of us. He is our strength, our joy, our peace, our very life.

Life is in the Seed, the Seed of Christ now in us!

By Tammy Lacock

Warren emphasizes two scriptures this week for the very purpose of understanding what God is doing in our lives now.

“Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.” (2 Corinthians 1:10 KJV)

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

Warren explains that the writer of Hebrews is presenting a new gospel, one that must divide our understanding of soul and spirit if we are to understand what God is doing. The Word of God, who is Christ, is so quick and sharp and powerful that He even distinctly divides soul and spirit.

As we explored in last week’s podcast, soul and spirit was used interchangeably in the Old Testament. Now, by Christ’s death and resurrection, we are to divide soul and spirit to understand Him and who we are now as believers.

By just believing in Christ, we had an exchange of nature: Satan’s sin nature is put out, and Christ’s divine nature is put in. This is what it means to be born again. This exchange of nature takes place solely in our spirits. As a tripartite being (three parts: spirit, soul, body), only our spirits are now perfect by Christ’s nature in His seed planted in us by God. However, our souls (where our minds, wills, and intellects reside) are maturing in the knowledge of Christ now. It’s an ongoing process as we get to know our new Christ-nature and, by the help of the Holy Spirit, let go of our old sin-nature minds. The Apostle Paul calls this the renewing of our minds. In fact, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:10, that our spirits are delivered by Christ, our souls are being delivered (presently in our lives) and our bodies will be delivered on the resurrection morning. These are three distinct deliverances.

We must understand this separation of soul and spirit so that being born again (in spirit), we realize God’s complete work in our spirit and His ongoing work in our souls (minds). We are delivered and perfected by God’s work and not by something we do or don’t do to please God. Christ did the work on the cross. He is our salvation. We are perfect in God’s sight by Christ joined to our spirit, by our new birthing. We cannot sin in our spirits. Our souls, however, are perfecting (maturing) as we grow up in what Paul calls “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ,” who now lives in us. This takes place in our minds, the soul part of us. While we may sin in our souls, by our new birthing of Christ in our spirit, we are spiritually secure. We are continually forgiven by the righteousness of Christ in us.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)

With the separation of soul and spirit, Paul tells us that by Christ in us in spirit, we stand perfect before God now. This exchange of our old sin nature to Christ’s nature in our spirits is where we stand as perfect, eternal children of God. It’s in our souls where we grow up in Him. This is where we get to know Him and develop our love affair in Him. By this growing love affair, Christ flows out of our spirits where we are perfect and grips our souls where we are becoming perfect.

By Tammy Lacock

Warren Litzman starts off this week’s podcast by explaining that the true gospel isn’t being preached today. Today there is a commingling of gospels in the Church. One that says we must live by the law (what we do or don’t do) to be saved, and one that says that, as believers, we are saved by God’s grace through Christ. Because of this, there is not much distinction between the law and Christ today.

In fact, there is much confusion!

The Apostle Paul (believed to be the author of Hebrews) set out to make this most important distinction in the powerful verse of Hebrews 4:12, where he highlights God’s Word as dividing soul and spirit. As believers, we must understand what takes place in our souls and what takes place in our spirits as we grow up in Christ.

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

By the Word of God, Who is Christ, our souls and spirits are now divided. In the Old Testament, there was never a distinction between soul and spirit. They were used interchangeably. But now, after the pivotal work of Christ on the cross, soul and spirit are separated.

This division officially took place on the Day of Pentecost. It was then that after His death, burial, and resurrection, Christ returned to the Father and a new body was formed called Christ. By Christ sending the Holy Spirit, those who now believed in Him would instantly be saved in their spirits. There was an exchange of nature that took place in our spirits. Just as through one man, Adam, all of humanity was cursed by him believing Satan, so too are we saved from this curse (death) by believing in one man, Jesus Christ. As believers, our sin (Satan) nature is replaced by Christ’s nature in our spirits. There is never a dual nature in man; either Satan is operating, or Christ is operating. God created us for this void to be filled by the simple simple act of believing.

“For by one Spirit [the Holy Spirit] are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit [Christ].” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

However, we must understand that there are three tenses of deliverance. In 2 Corinthians 1:9-10, Paul speaks of the tripartite (meaning three parts) man, which is made up of body, soul, and spirit. Although not separate, we are very much distinctive, and each is delivered at different times.

“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death [in our spirits], and doth deliver [in our souls]: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us [in our bodies].” (2 Corinthians 1:9-10)

Paul says we are saved (from death by the curse of Satan through Adam) instantly in our spirits by God placing in us His holy seed, Christ (our new life; our rebirth), yet our souls are continually being saved presently through the work of the Holy Spirit in our minds, wills, and intellect, and our bodies will be saved on the resurrection morning of Christ’s return.

Paul tells us through his epistles that our souls (man’s mind, will, and emotions) need God’s ongoing work transforming and maturing us for deliverance from old knowledge and old identity. Yes, we are saved, born-again, by the birthing of Christ in our spirits. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we too died and arose to a new life in Him here, now, and for eternity. We’re going to Heaven! We’re bona fide children of God now!

Yet the deliverance of our souls (mind renewal) is an ever-present journey in our lives. Through the circumstances and situations of life and by the help of the Holy Spirit, we will have our minds renewed if we give ourselves over to Christ. We will get to know Him more and more. And as we do, we will inevitably love Him more and more.

And knowing and loving Him is what life is all about!

Christ, Our Only Life

By Tammy Lacock

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28, KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman’s objective is for us to see that not only is Christ life, but He is our only life.

He explains that, as believers, being born again means that we are a brand-new creation, a new creation race. Our old lives, our old identities, no longer matter. Only Christ matters. And as we move on in Christ, we come to realize He is the only life we now live.

As believers, we may see Christ as life, but the Holy Spirit revealed to the Apostle Paul that Christ is our only life!

“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)

The role of the Holy Spirit is to continually reveal to us, as we allow Him, the things of Christ (John 14:26). Although, the Word of God and our understanding of it is endless, the Holy Spirit has revealed to us, through the Apostle Paul, that Christ now lives in us in spirit. He is our new life, the only life we now live. There is no separation. Christ briefly revealed this to the woman at the well that there will come a time, and even that time is now, that we need not worship Him in a building, but in truth and in spirit (John 4:24). We can worship Him where we are and as we are because He lives in us. We are just now understanding what Jesus meant by this.

Yet the Apostle Paul wrote about this “mystery” revealed to him throughout all of his epistles. John, outliving Paul at least 30 years, grasped this understanding as well.

In fact, his gospel is very different from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. While theirs recounted the historical account of Christ, John’s message of Christ speaks of Him in a spiritual context.

He wrote very little about Christ historically. He realized the true gospel, that if we wanted to know God and what he’s doing today, we need to go back to the beginning, starting at the Father level.

“In the beginning was the Word [Christ] and the Word [Christ] was with God, and the Word [Christ] was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)

John spoke of Christ as spirit. We no longer are to know Him in the flesh. We are to know Him as life, our only life.

“He that hath the Son hath life; and He that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:12 KJV)

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 5:15 KJV)

And Paul said it precisely in 2 Corinthians 5: 16-17 (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.”

As believers, we are born again into a new life in Christ.

May we continue to grow in Him and our understanding of Him by the help of the Holy Spirit in our minds.

May we see Christ as life, our only life., for “all things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3).

By Tammy Lacock

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

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman emphasizes the keen distinction between the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit to help us understand the “Mystery of Godliness.”

In Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God clearly makes a distinction also between our souls and our spirits, the areas in which the ministry of the Holy Spirit (in our souls) and the ministry of the Christ (in our spirits) are divided!

Warren explains that in John chapters 14 through 16, Christ defines the role of the Holy Spirit. Specifically in John 14:26, He tells us, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Christ is clear that the Holy Spirit’s role is to teach us of Christ, to renew our minds of Him. The Holy Spirit works in our souls, our minds, wills, and emotions. He not only gives us knowledge of Christ, but He also helps us understand that knowledge so we grow closer to Him.

Christ tells us here that if he doesn’t go to the Father (seated at His right hand) now, the Holy Spirit will not come. And he must come so that we will not know Him in the flesh any longer.

We must know Him in Spirit.

The Holy Spirit teaches us all things about Christ. It is only by revelation of the Holy Spirit that we come to an understanding of where Christ is and who He is.

Paul explains this revelation throughout his epistles, that Christ now lives in him, in his spirit. He makes it clear that we no longer live, Christ is our new life, our only Life. One of many examples is 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.”

For us to know Christ in Spirit now, to know Him as our new life, our only life, we must allow the Holy Spirit to teach us this new knowledge (as he did with Paul) and allow Him to give us understanding of this knowledge. This is where we begin to understand in our own lives the “Mystery of Godliness” as Warren puts it.

The “Mystery of Godliness” is revealed to us at our level of understanding. The understanding by the Holy Spirit, that Christ now abides in us and we in Him (John 15:4), produces a spontaneous living in our lives. We begin to understand that Christ‘s ministry of salvation is to abide in our spirits, joined to Him in one Spirit. And yet Christ is also seated at the Right Hand of the Father, a mystery that we may never comprehend while we are here in our bodies.

Warren helps us understand that although we must see the distinction of Christ’s work and the work of the Holy Spirit, they are not separate. They are always in agreement and work hand in hand because they are both parts of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit reveals to us Christ and all things Christ. As we grow in our understanding of who He is now in us in Spirit, we begin to live lives where Christ comes through us spontaneously.

As believers, we are not separated now from Christ. We are one in Him. In fact, Christ in us is who God sees now. He no longer sees us by what we do or don’t do in our bodies. He no longer sees our lives, He sees Christ. From the moment we believe, by God’s Grace, we stand righteous before Him because our new life is Christ. Our old lives have been “crucified with Christ, and we no longer live.” Christ is our only life.

As we grow up in Him, the Holy Spirit will reveal more of Him to us in our minds (our soul area), giving us even more of an understanding of who we are now: bona fide children of God!

Joined to Christ in one Spirit!