Fullness In Christ

Well, I hope you all are having a good day today. I know I am. It's really hot here, but we're working on this barn renovation. But I wanted to share a brief message about fullness. And the fullness I'm speaking of particularly is the fullness that we can discover in God. And this is what the front of this barn is going to look like. It's really wonky, but we just tried to make it look less wonky. And obviously you can see that metal on the roof came off because of that strong storm. But in Philippians chapter 3, I believe it's verse 9, Paul talks about how he counted all things but loss. Like what things were gained to me, these have I counted as loss that I may gain or win Christ. Now the interesting thing is that Paul already had Christ. Christ was in Paul. Christ was living his life through Paul. Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. So what did he mean by that I may gain Christ or that I may win Christ? In Ephesians chapter 3 it talks about Paul's praying for the church of Ephesus and his unceasing prayer for the church, for them, was that they would be strengthened with all might in the inner man by the Spirit of God. Why? This is the amazing thing. Why is Paul praying that his unceasing prayer for them is that they would be strengthened with all might in the inner man? It's because, he says, that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. Now the interesting thing is that Christ was already dwelling in their hearts through faith. They were saved by grace through faith. Paul planted that church. Christ was living in them and living his life through them. But what did Paul mean when he said that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith? And that he's praying for them to be strengthened with all might by the Spirit of God in their inner man so that Christ could dwell in their hearts through faith. It's because there's a fullness that we can experience in Christ. Paul was praying for the fullness. And he goes on to say that ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the height, the depth, the length, the width, to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God. You think that's possible to be filled with all the fullness of God? Think about it. Imagine what that would look like. Imagine what it would look like if we were filled with all the fullness of God as a church. Raising the dead. Casting out devils. Healing the lepers. Turning people from darkness to light. God adding daily those to the church who would be saved. Walking in the holiness and the fear of the Lord. Walking even as He walked. But what does it mean by fullness? Is fullness more than that? Imagine. Think about it. Is it possible? Well, Paul said, now unto Him, the very next verse says, now unto Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ever ask for or think about. Unto Him be glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. So, Paul's praying for the church of Ephesus. He says, I pray, my unceasing prayer, what's burning in my heart for you is that you would be strengthened with all might in the inner man by the Spirit of God so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. Christ was dwelling in them and living His life through them, but Paul was praying that they would be strengthened with all might from God through His Spirit in their inner being. Because there's a fullness to attain, friends. There's a fullness in Christ. Like John the Baptist described Christ, for Him giveth the Spirit of God without measure. There's an immeasurless experience in Jesus Christ. There's an immeasurless wisdom and power and glory that is in Jesus Christ. And Paul was praying because he knew what he needed to pray for in order for this church to experience this, is that they would be strengthened with all might in their inner being through the Spirit of the living God. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, that was living inside of them already, that the Spirit of God would strengthen them more. That they may be able to comprehend what is the height and the depth and the length and the width. That they may be able to grasp on a tangible, intimate level the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. That they may be filled with all the fullness of God. And that's what Paul said in Philippians 3. He was like, The what things were gained to me, these I count as lost. I count it as done. That I may gain Christ. That I may gain what I already have. Because he knew that the riches of Jesus Christ were insearchable, indescribable, as he put it. And there's a fullness, friends, but it's only through the Spirit of God. We can hear a message like this, we can read it in the Scriptures, we can come to understand what he was saying, but it's not something we can just assert ourselves. And boom, we're in. It doesn't work that way. We can't fast our way in it. We can't pray our way into it. We can't do everything we know that is on a religious level. It's not by the will of man. A man can assert himself in prayer. A man can assert himself in fasting. A man can assert himself in the things of God and try to attain the fullness of God in his own strength, but it's not his own strength. It's through the Spirit of God strengthening man and the inner being. That's the only way, friends. Isn't that good news? Isn't that amazing? You know, there's so many people, you know. And I haven't really thought this, and I don't think anybody really thinks this about themselves, but we can kind of like come to this place where we've been walking the narrow way looking for the print of Christ's footstep throughout the pages of Scriptures that we may follow hard after Him and walk where He walked in this life. And we can think that we've been doing this so long that we can not maybe think about it, but we just kind of drift or sit or rest in this place where we're like, been there, done that. Yeah, I already know about that. Friends, there's a fullness. There's a fullness in Jesus Christ. There's a fullness of Jesus Christ for the saints of the living God to experience. But it's through the Spirit of the living God dwelling inside of us, empowering us, inspiring us, infusing us with His strength and life that we may have the capacity, that we may be able, that it may be possible for us to experience and to understand the fullness of God. Friends, that's good news. The Christianity is never a boring life. There should never be a boring moment in Jesus Christ. We're talking about the Creator of all things. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made and in Him was life. And He said that life that He came to give us was abundant, friends. Abundant. An abundant life. We ought to have more joy than anyone else in this world. Our sins have been forgiven. We've been spared the wrath of God for all eternity. We've been made partakers of the divine nature. We're new creatures created in Christ Jesus. God is living His life through us. And there's a fullness. It's not over. It's never been there or done that. There's something new under the sun because of the fullness of Christ. Friends, I encourage you, humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord because it's only through a dependency upon the Spirit of God inside of us, effecting this inside of us, producing it, effecting it, inspiring it, birthing it in the deepest part of our being that we could ever even tap into the fullness of God. With God, all things are possible. Every disciple that is perfectly trained shall be as his teacher. But you have an anointing from the Holy One and He knew all things and as that anointing has taught you how to abide in Him. You see, that's how the Scripture talks. Friends, I encourage you, humble yourselves in the sight of God. Recognize that this is not possible without Him. You can't force your way into it. You can't manufacture it. You can't produce it. We are utterly helpless and dependent 100% fully upon the Spirit of God empowering us, strengthening us, enlarging our capacity to comprehend what is the height and depth and length and width to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge that we might be filled with all the fullness of Him. Yes. Lord Jesus, yes. Just work this birth, this desire in our hearts, Lord, in all Your people. We should never have a boring moment, a dull moment, a moment where we don't know what to do. It doesn't mean we're always striving and laboring and we can be resting, but it's because the Spirit of the living God brought us into that place. We have to walk as He walked. He said, I can do nothing of myself. What I see my Father do, I do. I can of my own self do nothing. My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me. The words that I say unto you today are not mine, but the Father's which sent me. That's fullness, friends. That's fullness. We can do that. That's what we're called to. Those are the works that we've been ordained before the foundation of the world that we should walk in. Praise God. It's good news. God bless you all.