Jesus' Recipe for Popcorn (Part 3)

Jesus has a special unique recipe for POPCORN – and it involves us!

WE RECEIVE JESUS’ GRACE THROUGH FAITH

Because we know Jesus is seated in His unique place of absolute divine authority, we can fully trust Him to work on, in, and through each of us, so that we are able to proclaim fully “thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ’s victory], and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God in every place.” 2 CORINTHIANS 2:14

The apostle Paul tells us in a different passage in EPHESIANS 4, how God has been bringing forth His perfect will, since completing His inauguration of the New Covenant in the great work of Jesus’ ascension:

EPHESIANS 4: ⁷ Yet grace (God’s unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and bounteous] gift.

⁸ Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on humanity.

In his very first sermon, on the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Pentecost (just 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, as prophesied in the Old Testament and by Jesus Himself), Peter confirmed this for us:

ACTS 2: ³³ Being therefore lifted high by and to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promised [blessing which is the] Holy Spirit, He has made this outpouring which you yourselves both see and hear.

Jesus not only put the devil and all his minions under His feet by His overwhelming triumph, but our Lord also has given to each of His followers His Holy Spirit, to fill us and to gift us as we may have need to accomplish His tasks necessary to bring His Kingdom into the earth.

Even as the devil has been thoroughly defeated, and is only able to mount rearguard actions as his territory is being diminished, we are being transformed from glory to glory, to become more and more like Jesus, through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit within us.            (2 CORINTHIANS 3:16–18, 4:6–7)

God is calling us to fix our eyes on Jesus as He continues and completes that process, so that we are allowing that lifelong transformation to also be the ground of great and mighty deeds, which He has planned for us to walk in each and every day:

EPHESIANS 2: ¹⁰ For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His own workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

We are walking our spiritual journeys out daily, by being led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14-16), keeping in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25), and continuously opening ourselves and being filled and re-filled by the Holy Spirit (EPHESIANS 5:18-20).

In so doing, we are empowered and enabled by God in so many ways.

Neil Uniacke
Executive Director