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    The Mystery of Christ: A Radical Truth... Lived
    The Mystery of Christ: A Radical Truth... Lived
    The Mystery of Christ: A Radical Truth... Lived
    Ebook217 pages2 hours

    The Mystery of Christ: A Radical Truth... Lived

    By Shay Meckenstock

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    About this ebook

    Two kingdoms are in conflict: the power of evil and the kingdom of God. The Lords Church has been given a message of authority and powerthe gospel of the kingdom of Godto take to the world. With this message, the church overcomes the rule of Satan and establishes the righteousness of God. She is not alone; her companion, the Holy Spirit, flows through her as a river to bring life out of death, demonstrating the gospel in power.

    The river of life flows from the throne room of heaven according to Gods eternal secretthe mystery of Christ. At the counsel of the Trinity, thousands of years ago, an eternal plan was established to put forth the image and likeness of God upon the earth. The chosen vessel, mankind, would be dwelt by the resurrected Christ, the Son of the living God, thereby manifesting the glory of God before the whole earth. His reign in heaven is now manifested on earth through his body, the Church. For this reason, you have been redeemed that God may live in you.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateOct 10, 2012
    ISBN9781466949508
    The Mystery of Christ: A Radical Truth... Lived
    Author

    Shay Meckenstock

    Shay Meckenstock has been involved in healing and discipleship ministry for 27 years. She is a graduate of Wagner Leadership Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She currently trains and equips lay people for House Church ministry. She lives in Hays, Kansas with her husband Bobb. They have three married daughters, and eight grandchildren.

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      Book preview

      The Mystery of Christ - Shay Meckenstock

      © Copyright 2007, 2012 Shay Meckenstock.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      isbn: 978-1-4669-4951-5 (hc)

      isbn: 978-1-4669-4949-2 (sc)

      isbn: 978-1-4669-4950-8 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012913797

      Trafford rev. 11/05/2012

      7-Copyright-Trafford_Logo.ai

      www.trafford.com

      North America & International

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      phone: 250 383 6864 • fax: 812 355 4082

      Contents

      Dedication

      Acknowledgments

      Preface A Radical Truth… Lived

      Introduction

      PART I

      The Wisdom Of God In a Mystery

      1 Before Time Began

      2 Two Kingdoms in Conflict

      3 Family Secrets

      4 What’s In A Name?

      5 God’s Mystery in Prophesy

      Part II

      The Mystery Manifested by Jesus Christ

      6 The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

      7 Inheriting the Kingdom of Christ

      8 The Kingdom of God and His Righteousness

      Part III

      The Fellowship of the Mystery

      9 Christ in Us

      10 The Hope of Glory

      11 The House of God

      12 River of Life

      End Notes

      Bibliography

      Dedication

      To the House Fellowships of Hays,

      Thank you for pressing in with me to discover the truths that set

      us free. Without you, none of this would be possible.

      And to my husband Bobb, who has been my faithful companion,

      ardent supporter, friend and lover through all it takes to

      be the person God wants me to be.

      Acknowledgments

      Special thanks to Karen Rigler for writing the study guide that accompanies each chapter.

      To Matt Bennett for suggesting the study guide as a benefit to the book.

      To Rebecca Krehbiel for her creativity in designing the cover.

      "Historic Christianity, biblical Christianity,

      believes that Christianity is not just doctrinal truth,

      but flaming truth… a truth that can be

      verbalized and then lived."

      Francis Schaeffer

      The Great Evangelical Disaster

      Preface

      A Radical Truth… Lived

      Jesus counseled the latter day Church to buy gold, white garments and eye salve¹. The gold is for faith, the white garments are for righteousness, and the eye salve is for vision. I discovered that faith without righteousness will not get one very far, but a defect in spiritual vision will lead one down the wrong road to begin with.

      The Church today needs all three—faith, righteousness, vision—but must begin with a correction in spiritual vision. And just as Jesus in His time spoke truth about Who He was but the revelation of that truth came by way of the Holy Spirit; so it is in this day. The Word speaks the truth and the Holy Spirit brings the light of revelation upon the Word.

      There is a church emerging in these last days all over the world that lives a radical truth. I know because I see it emerging around me in a generation of 20-somethings. This first book is not so much about their journey as much as it is about the radical message that Jesus proclaimed in His gospel of the kingdom of God. Two thousand years ago that radical message transformed lives by changing a person’s spiritual vision. Today, that same radical message demands for a similar decision that will change a person’s spiritual vision, which will then transform lives.

      It Begins at the Bottom

      I do not believe the current Church is undergoing revival or reformation but is instead being radically revolutionized. I am not the first to voice this opinion, but I may be the first to say that it is not being revolutionized from the top down, but from the bottom up. I say this for two reasons:

      1) The bottom is where the foundation is.

      2) The bottom is where all those whose lives are shattered, broken and in bondage sit and wait for the church to provide real answers for life’s real problems.

      In regards to the first, unless the foundation of the church changes, all we will have at the end of the day is the current model of church with new titles and re-formed programs. This is already happening. Regarding the second, people are getting tired of waiting and the problems of life are getting more difficult and oppressive. Is anyone listening to their cry?

      I hear the same message today that Paul had for Timothy—

      For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.

      Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, [nor of Paul His prisoner], but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

      2 Timothy 1:7-10

      The gospel according to the power of God. A holy calling according to God’s own purpose and grace, founded in Christ before time began.

      Why is there a need for starting with the correct vision? Or the right message? Because what you see and hear is what you pursue. If you see and hear a message that God loves you, saves you, and wants to bless you, then this is what you will pursue—His blessings. You will see and hear that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding on your behalf, to obtain the things you need or long for. Here is where we got it all wrong.

      Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf for the purpose of the Father, not for the purpose of man.²

      So what of the Father? The Bible speaks of His inheritance in the saints. What, then, is God’s inheritance in us? The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.³ What then is the Father’s will?

      Paul says it is a mystery—a secret—hidden from generations but now revealed.

      The generations past heard of the prophecies regarding the Messiah, the Christ.

      So what was hidden from them that the Church is to proclaim to the world, and even to make known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places today?

      This is the radical truth—God’s secret—that is to be lived. Not just known, but lived!

      It is a truth greater than the Messiah has come, His name is Jesus the Christ, and He saves as well as heals and delivers. This message was not a mystery to the early church for it had been prophesied. So too had the kingdom of God. In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.⁴

      What is God’s mystery that Paul was called to preach and teach, not in word only but in the power of the Holy Spirit? Therein lies a clue—the Holy Spirit.

      What we are talking about is a Spirit-revealed gospel of the living Truth.

      If you see and hear a man-centered gospel, then that is what you will live out.

      If you see and hear a God-centered gospel, His eternal purpose, this again, is what you will live out.

      The radical truth is about a God-centered gospel, His eternal purpose, as revealed by the Holy Spirit even today.

      My prayer for this book is that it might be the salve for the eyes of the body of Christ so that she may see again that which God purchased for Himself with the blood of His own Son. It is not what He bought for us. It is what He bought back for Himself that He now puts in us. To know this truth is radical for today. To live it, will require the life of another—and this is the Mystery of Christ.

      "God, who has saved us and called us with

      a holy calling, not according to our works,

      but according to His own purpose and grace

      which was given to us in

      Christ Jesus before time began,

      but has now been revealed by the appearing of our

      Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and

      brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."

      2 Timothy 1:9-10

      Introduction

      The Church today is engaged in a war over reality. What we see and hear in the New Testament scriptures is not what we see and hear in the reality of our lives today as Christians. We could argue whether or not we should today, but when hurting people are turning aside from the church to find answers elsewhere for life’s real problems, one must begin to ask, If God is real, where is He? Where is the glory of God in the church today?

      The gospel message of salvation and eternal security, though true, has not addressed the brokenness and captivity that the people of God find themselves in today.

      About twelve years ago, as I studied the scriptures to find God’s answers to the cries for help, I noticed two things: first, the gospel message that Jesus preached and Paul took to the Gentiles was different than the gospel of salvation we hear in our churches today; second, wherever this gospel of the kingdom of God was preached, healing, deliverance, signs, and miracles followed.

      In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he wrote—

      My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.¹

      What is this hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages? And how was it for our glory? I began to sense that we were missing something that was meant to be vitally important to our life in Christ Jesus.

      Different Gospels

      When we turn to the modern church to find the answers for our troubles lives we hear a message that says God loves us and saves us for eternity. Its central premise is that man was created for utopia, the Garden of Eden; man fell out of relationship with God because of sin, and through the redeeming work of Jesus Christ is once again able to inherit the eternal security of heaven. But is this the full wisdom of God? Is this His full counsel?

      When Paul wrote Timothy that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ,² he was telling him and us several things:

      1. We are saved and called with a holy calling.

      2. Neither the salvation nor the calling is according to our works, but is according to God’s own purpose and grace.

      3. This salvation and grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

      Salvation and the holy calling are two separate things. We know what salvation is, but what is a holy calling? We know that we are saved by grace and not by our works, but what does it mean to be called according to God’s own purpose? And why is it important to know that this purpose and grace was given before time began?

      I am suggesting that the modern gospel of salvation by grace has reduced the gospel of the kingdom of God in half. We are left holding on to a man-centered gospel vs. the God-centered one called the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

      A Holy Calling

      A holy calling is more than salvation. Salvation by grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what God provides in order that mankind may once again stand in the presence of God as he was in the day Adam was created. But it does not answer the question, "For what purpose did God call man forth after He created him? God’s purpose and destiny for man does not begin in the Garden of Eden with man’s fall and subsequent need for salvation. God’s purpose and destiny begin in the heart of the Godhead before the creation of man. The call of man is to put forth the image and likeness of God upon the earth.

      God’s Purpose

      DeVern Fromke wrote in Ultimate Intention,

      Perhaps nothing has so blighted the vision and growth of believers as the false assumption that Adam in his innocence and sinless state was all that God ever purposed him to be. It is this error which leads many to believe that God’s highest intention is to restore man’s lost paradise. This kind of reasoning is the fruit of a wrong starting point.³

      When restoration becomes our end goal, then our needs become the reason for Jesus’ sacrifice. We turn aside from God’s purpose to live ours with the expectation of His blessing upon our self-rule. When, in fact,

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