Our starting place with God!  Pt.1   By James Lantz

       We all must start at the same place when we approach God! The scriptures say that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Some have misunderstood what God said through the prophet Isaiah about not giving His glory to another.  Isa. 42:8  I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven images.  God is telling us that He will not accept us having any other god beside Him. All the glory belongs to God because He is the one and only true God!  Isa. 44:6-8  Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.  .  .  .  Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.  Ex. 34:14  For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God    God is not saying that he will not put His glory on His servants and on His people. He meant that everyone is to recognize that He is the great God of Glory and everywhere glory is seen it is because He brought it! The fact is that God crowned Adam with glory and the glory on him served as his clothing or protective cover. The angels were astounded when God created man and saw the glory and honor and attention God placed on His man. One angel asked, What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man that you visit him? You made him a little

What is so special about man that you crowned him with glory and honor!

while lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor and placed him in charge of your creation. Then Jesus himself became a man and tasted death (3 days and three nights in hell) so that every fallen human being could become a son of glory. (see Ps.8:4-6  & Rom. 3:23  &  Heb. 2:5-10)  God did the impossible for fallen man and paid for our sins with the blood of Jesus and suffered for us. We see example after example of God blessing His children with glory. The glory of God includes the manifested presence of God, the manifested power of God, and the manifested goodness of God (Exodus 33:18-23 & Acts 10:38).  Laban’s sons referred to Jacob’s wealth as glory! Joseph told his brother’s to tell his father of all his glory in Egypt. The glory of God,s presence was seen on the mountain as a cloud and a devouring fire. The glory of God was so powerful that Moses face did shine when he came down from being with God on the mountain. God said to make the priest’s holy garments for glory and beauty. David declared how God’s house must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory. When Solomon was dedicating the temple, the glory of God rolled in like a cloud!  2 Chron. 5:14  So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.  This ministration of righteousness, that we are privileged to be a part of, is to be much more glorious than what Moses experienced on the mountain and the priests who helped dedicate Solomon’s temple saw. We are the temple of God today! Jesus brought the glory that Adam forfeited back to God’s people!  1 Cor. 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  Our heavenly Father is referred to as the Father of glory! There is a wave of God’s glory that is here now! The prophet Haggai referred to the wealth that would come into the church in these last days as being greater than in the former house (Solomons temple).  Haggai 2:9  The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.  The church is awakening and starting to see that this is our day and our finest hour! Minds our being renewed how God wants the wealth brought into His house so His purposes may be accomplished. He wants the world to see His goodness so they will repent and believe! Faith is precious! We can not receive anything from God except by faith. We are saved through faith. We can not please God except through faith. We are commanded to live by faith. We are to walk by faith and not by sight. We receive the gift of Holy Spirit baptism through faith. We are healed through faith. We are to fight the good fight of faith. We are to contend for the faith! By faith we overcome the world! Faith comes by hearing the anointed word of Christ!  Rom. 10:14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?   We are still on the subject of our starting place with God. The starting place with God is recognizing that He is the Almighty and that we are in need of mercy for our sins. The very first doctrine of the church is the doctrine of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. John the Baptist came preaching repentance to prepare people for Jesus ministry. True repentance means change. Repentance includes being sorry that we sinned but it also means to change. The gospel empowers us to change and conform into the image of Christ! John the Baptist preached that the salvation of God, which delivers from eternal death, must be accompanied by fruits consistent with our repentance.  Luke 3:8 amp.   .   .   .  And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up descendants for Abraham.  John told them real straight, everyone needs to repent, and you need to repent right now. Your lifestyle must show forth the change that took place on the inside. If you have two coats, share one with he who has none. Do the same with your food. Tax collectors are not to collect any more than has been appointed. Soldiers, never demand or enforce by terrifying people or by accusing wrongfully, and be satisfied with your rations and wages. You might be thinking, I like Jesus preaching better, good, He preached repentance and a changed lifestyle as well.  Mt. 4:17  From that time (after the Holy Spirit came upon him) Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Jesus told the woman caught in adultery that he did not condemn her and that she should not do that any more. Paul also preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)   Repentance is a gift from God! 

Repentance is the starting place for God to treat you as if sin never happened! 

2 Tim. 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Those of us who have come to God through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus still need to maintain our relationship with Him. When we were born again we did not confess every sin that we had ever committed. It was a self evident fact that we were a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness. Our attitude and approach to God had to be one of sorrow for sin, but our confession was that we  made Jesus our Lord (Rom.10:9&10). Now that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ, any time we sin, we must confess our sin in order to be cleansed.  I John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Here is a tip! As we purpose to do what God told us to do and get to it we will not continue to stumble over the same stumbling stone (sin). God is not like people who continually point out your sins and mistakes. However, He does warn and exhort us (christians) to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts so we be not double minded. We can not serve God being lukewarm.  James 4:5-10  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.  .   .   .  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.  .   .   .    When we realize that God, in the book of James, referred to some of His own children as sinners, we need to examine ourselves and see if we are the proud one he is referring to. The proud christian is the one who thinks God exists to do their will instead of finding out what God’s will is for their life. The proud prefer their own ideas over what God says in His word. Complacency must be repented of in order to experience the glory of God!