LIGHT OF CHRIST

What is your Crown? And how can someone take it? First, what is our Crown? I believe that there are FIVE things that this crown represents and will give us insight into How to "Hold Fast What we Have" The CROWN given to believers in Jesus represents Position Perseverance Power Prize People Hopefully these Five words will help you remember what your crown is and equip you to run this race, casting off every hindrance that would be laid in front of you as a trap. Today I believe that God wants to uncover traps that have been set for you, that you can see them clearly avoid them and walk straight ahead into the calling He has for you! 1. POSITION : Holy and Righteous By Position, I mean your Position in Christ! Your Position is HOLY and RIGHTEOUS. Your Position is What you have Received in Christ and stand in Him. You must be Totally Secure in the understanding of your Position in Christ to be able to stand against the trickery of men and the devil. Holiness and Righteousness are NOT something that you work toward. But something that is Given to you in Christ. We have a shadow, a picture of this gift of Holiness in the Old Covenant. The First Crown in Scripture is the Crown of Holiness. And we see it in the Priestly Crown made of pure gold that was placed on Aaron, the High Priest. Exodus 39:30 "Then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD." NOT ONLY IS YOUR POSITION HOLINESS TO THE LORD, YOUR POSITION IS : RIGHTEOUS !! Holiness: Means that you have been set apart for God, totally other than the world Righteous: Means that you have been made FLAWLESS in the Eyes of God. God will not count your sins and failures against you, but ONLY sees the perfect obedience of Jesus when he looks at you. 2 Timothy 4:8 "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." Now let me be clear. No one can TAKE your Holiness or your Righteousness away from you as though someone could steal your salvation. BUT You can allow someone to deceive you into believing a lie about What you have been given in Jesus, and then you can begin to live in a manner that Denies the very gift you've been given. It is what happen in Galatians and it is easily Happening to you if you allow it!! Galatians 1:6-8. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 3:1-3 "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOU ARE NOT BEING CONTINUALLY LIED TO BY VOICES AND PEOPLE AT EVERY TURN, SOME IGNORANT, AND SOME BY DECEITFUL PLOTTING, TRYING TO LURE YOU AWAY FROM CHRIST TO TRY TO MAKE YOU PUT CONFIDENCE IN YOUR OWN ABILITIES, FOR YOU TO PUT CONFIDENCE IN MAN-MADE SOLUTIONS AS APPOSED TO THE LIFE OF CHRIST DWELLING IN YOU. Do not be moved away from the Simplicity and Sufficiency of Jesus, for your joy, for your favor, for your righteousness, for your peace of mind. THERE IS NO PEACE OF MIND LIKE THE MIND OF CHRIST!!! 2 believe many American Christians fail to receive because they are running from all forms of difficulty. There is a Fellowship with Christ that is only Received through suffering--This is The Crown of Thorns before the Glory. Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone." Are we greater than our Master? Are we more important than Jesus? Are we owed Greatness and Glory on this earth? I do not mean that we should aim our lives to grovel in the dirt and purposefully try to suffer and grit our teeth through it for the 'glory of God'. But we can rejoice in Suffering. We can be confident that all suffering is working in us a sweet fellowship with Jesus, if we allow patience to have its work in us! James 5:10-11 "My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" DON'T SET ASIDE THE CROWN OF PERSEVERANCE BECAUSE OF TRIALS AND SUFFERING . 3. POWER : Ruling Authority By POWER I mean the governmental ruling authority that God gives his Children to administer the Kingdom of God. The Crown also represents this Authority that every believer is called to walk in. He has Made us Priests and Kings. Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen." Jesus calls us to Walk and demonstrate His Authority in the earth. Satan is always apposing the Church, trying to convince her that she does not have Authority and trick her into believing lies. THE AUTHORITY THAT JESUS HAS, HE GIVES TO THE CHURCH. The main Tactic of Satan is to pressure you into a position of SILENCE. We overcome the devil by the BLOOD of the Lamb and the WORD of our TESTIMONY. That is a living testimony of proclaiming the faithfulness and goodness of God. You have Authority when you are Not ashamed to speak the WORD of GOD, the word of the Gospel. Do not let any man take your Crown by silencing you from proclaiming the Testimony of GOD. Let no man Trick you into thinking that some human means will give you authority. Authority comes from submitting to Authority. Satan and his minions will try to convince you that Authority comes from challenging God given authority In the Garden, Satan stole Man's authority, convincing him of a lie that Exaltation could be achieved by going around GOD's authoritative command. I could say much more on your Power and Authority but we must move on! 4. PRIZE : the Honor and Reward of faithfulness to Christ There is great reward to those who follow Christ to the end! God is delighted to place honor and on His beloved. Those who hold fast His testimony through every difficulty. I Corinthians 9:24-2724 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Paul goes as far as to compare the race of Faith to that of a competition for a prize. And that thinking is not wrong! But What is Paul competing for? The Context is that Paul is competing to fulfill his call too preach the Gospel willingly that he might win as many to Christ as he possibly can. The imperishable Crown is a reward of Faithfulness to the Person of Christ and Faithful to the calling He has paced on your life. DON'T SELL YOUR CALLING TO SOMEONE ELSE. GOD HAS GIVEN YOU A MANDATE IN THIS LIFE THAT YOU CANT PASS OFF ONTO SOMEONE ELSE. THERE IS GREAT REWARD IN BEING FAITHFUL WITH WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN. YOU CAN'T BE FAITHFUL WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S CALLING, ONLY YOUR OWN. You can allow someone to take this Crown of Reward by moving away from Connection to Christ, The HEAD by placing your faith in anything other than Christ himself for your joy, happiest, peace, provision, satisfaction, healing, and source for Life. Colossians 2:8-10 "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. ...18Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 5. PEOPLE: the People of God Finally we come to the last but certainly not least representation of the Crown: The Crown is the People of God that God has placed you in relationship with within the Body of Christ to be accountable for the benefit and growth of Their Faith. God has placed every believer in a local Body of Christ to which they are responsible to love and build up the faith of those fellow believers. In Philippians, Paul calls the Believers themselves his crown: Philippians 4:1 "Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved." 1 Thessalonians 2:19 "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? To Paul, the believers that were in connection with him, those whom he was leading and influencing and fellowshiping with, THEY WERE HIS CROWN! Not prizes of money or fame, but people, brought into the presence of God at the Lord's coming! People are a prize worth competing for. A prize worth sacrificing for. Worth fighting for. A prize worth disciplining your life to make yourself as useful as possible to the Lord FOR. HOW CAN YOU ALLOW SOMEONE TO TAKE THIS CROWN? You can allow someone to take this crown by allowing people to sow division in your heart toward the body of Christ. By listening and allowing gossip and slander toward other believers and toward the leaders in the church. By allowing division and offense to fester, you can allow your connection and responsibility to love and build up your bothers and sisters to be cut off. DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE LOCAL BODY OF CHRIST, AS YOUR CROWN OF GLORY? ARE YOU HOLDING FAST TO WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN IN CHRIST? With all that we have seen of what the our Crown represents: Position PERSEVERANCE Power Prize People I want to now read the Context of the our first verse in Revelation 3:7-13 TO THE FAITHFUL CHURCH : PHILADELPHIA , THE CURCH OF BROTHERLY LOVE 7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ Are you Holding Fast to What you have been given in Christ Are you abiding in your Position as Holy and Righteous Are you persevering through trials, without reversing your Testimony? Are you walking in the Power and Authority that God has called you to, not being silenced by pressure or control? Are Connected to the Head, Christ, or have you been lured away to put confidence in anything else BUT JESUS? Are you contending for the unity of the body of Christ, holding the people of God as your crown , and fighting for their Faith? CROWN, n. G., L. 1. An ornament worn on the head by kings and sovereign princes, as a badge of imperial or regal power and dignity. Figuratively, regal power; royalty; kingly government, or executive authority. 2. A wreath or garland. 3. To honor; to dignify; to adorn. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor. Psalm 8. 4. To reward; to bestow an honorary reward or distinction on; as the victor crowned with laurel. 5. To reward; to recompense. Shell crown a grateful and a constant flame. 6. To terminate or finish; to complete; to perfect. 7. To terminate and reward; as, our efforts were crowned with success. crowned CROWNED, pp. Invested with a crown, or with regal power and dignity; honored; dignified; rewarded with a crown, wreath, garland or distinction; recompensed; terminated; completed; perfected.Him My new name.“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ Are you Holding Fast to What you have been given in Christ Are you abiding in your Position as Holy and Righteous Are you persevering through trials, without reversing your Testimony? Are you walking in the Power and Authority that God has called you to, not being silenced by pressure or control? Are Connected to the Head, Christ, or have you been lured away to put confidence in anything else BUT JESUS? Are you contending for the unity of the body of Christ, holding the people of God as your crown , and fighting for their Faith?