The theme of the day was “OREO COOKIES.” Yes, you heard it correctly. To enjoy an Oreo cookie, it must include at least two cookie wafers and some delicious icing in the middle...double stuff is even better. Also, to enjoy it properly, it needs to be dunked in whole milk so you get the crunch of the cookies and the sweetness of the icing all mixed together. Oh my!!!
The point I was making with Sunday’s message is the two cookies on the outside represent a starting point and an outcome or ultimate expression. The starting point (Oreo cookie) to the kingdom includes the original divine design and the created order of the design (how it operates successfully and efficiently). The other cookie or ending point is the ultimate outcome that was envisioned before creation even began. Yahweh created with intention, purpose, and an expected outcome that expresses the essence of His being and reveals the glory of His existence. Presently, we are positioned and operating between the two cookies, and there doesn’t seem to be enough icing in the middle.
In other words, like with a GPS app on your phone, if you don’t know where you are and you’re not sure where you are going, it’s going to be quite difficult to navigate a path between two unknown or undeveloped points. Yahweh didn’t begin until He finished, and that’s why Yahshua had to come to the earth...to make all things NEW. He’s a redeemer, and He’s reconciling everything to the beginning so that it will accomplish all for which it was designed and determined.
The sweetness of the middle icing of an Oreo cookie is produced in a believer’s life by a process known as SANCTIFICATION. This process is directed by the Holy Spirit and purifies one from everything that has corrupted our spirit, soul, and body, then prepares us for every good work as we partner with Christ Yahshua. See 1 Thessalonians 5:23. The sanctification or consecration process begins with fully identifying you with Yahshua the Christ and bringing you into the original version of who you were before time began. As you grow and mature in the Spirit, you are equipped with gifts, graces, callings, and anointings that are given by the Holy Spirit and are unique to you and you alone. As Christ is formed in you, you begin to transform from the previous lowly body, and through the presence and power of the Spirit, you are conformed to Yahshua’s heavenly and glorious body. You are seated in a seat of authority and set in the place you were always designed to flourish and prosper. Consequently, many times in the sanctification process, things in one’s life are rearranged and are not set in place according to the divine arrangement, thus making them deranged. Today, many are out of position, and there doesn’t seem to be a flow to life, with no peace, and we live anxiously responding rather than leading.
The two outside cookies are in place, and Yahshua the Christ came to redeem the middle and bring all things together as ONE...delicious cookie. Where’s the milk?
Scriptures:
• 1 Thessalonians 5:23
• Hebrews 2:8-11 – But we see Yahshua, for it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of ONE.
• 1 Timothy 2:9 – adorned – arrange, to set in order according to the original design, to beautify, to furnish. The Greek word for adorn is a variation of Cosmos (for Yahweh so loved the cosmos – John 3:16). It’s actually the word from which we derive “cosmetics.” However, the word refers to the arrangement and not just the outward appearance. Samuel said about Jesse’s son, David, when he was chosen by Yahweh to be king of Israel, “Man looks at the outward appearance, Yahweh looks at the heart.” Many people “adorn” themselves outwardly to cover up for missing elements Yahweh supplies in them inwardly (spiritually).
• Revelation 19:5-10
• Revelation 21:1-7
Discussion Questions:
1. When facing a dilemma in any expression of life, have you first asked Yahweh if He originated and authored this expression? If so, have you ever sat down and asked Yahweh what His original vision of that with which you are dealing was, and what He expected it to produce in the long term? Have you considered its origin, its design, how it’s supposed to work, and what it looks like when it works?
2. Beautiful adornment on the outside reveals proper alignment on the inside. Babylon and religion are not capable of producing outward glory from the inward presence of Yahweh. Describe ways you personally/individually engage the presence of Yahweh for proper “adornment.”
3. This matching and merging of the inside and outside involves a process called “sanctification.” It begins with a purifying of the old and a preparation/equipping for the new. Explain how this process has unfolded over the years of your engagement with Christ.
4. Another image we did not introduce on Sunday along with adornment is the parable of Yahshua when the ten virgins were not prepared for the Bridegroom’s return, and when they trimmed or arranged their lamps to view Him in the night, there was no oil or Spirit to reveal they belonged to Him. The wise and the foolish are defined by their preparation for Yahshua’s return for His bride, the ecclesia (the church). What is your present relationship to Yahshua’s ecclesia (church)? Is the glory on the outside generated by the presence of Yahweh on your inside? Or, are you having to “cover-up” with cosmetics because you are out of position and have stalled the sanctification process from the lowly body to Yahshua’s glorious body?
5. Children: Begin now to explain and demonstrate the transformation that must take place from Adam’s fleshly family to Yahshua’s spiritual family, body, and bride.
Declarations and Appropriations:
Release the cry of your heart toward Yahweh with deep contrition and true repentance. Position yourself by yielding to the lordship of Christ and allowing Him to set you in the place He has prepared for you. Prophesy over yourself according to the Word that comes from your time in His presence and receive by faith all the resources He has appropriated for you. Also, verbally repudiate anything that raises itself up in your mind or heart that competes against the revelation of who you are IN CHRIST so that the Christ anointing can authoritatively and powerfully flow through you.
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