The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

As I study what the Apostles preached in Acts, I see that everything they preached concerning salvation was preached in the context of the GLORIFICATION and EXALTATION of Christ. Even the message of the cross was preached in this context. They preached the cross FIRST as the means by which Christ himself was exalted! The cross was about HIM first, US second! We skip that part all too often. Because of his obedience unto the death of the cross Christ was EXALTED and given a name above every name!!

We cannot preach salvation without preaching the EXALTED Christ! He has been MADE both LORD and Christ! His blood can't save us apart from the authority he has been given due to his exaltation. We act as if his blood is alive and has a mind of its own! Yes, Christ justifies and saves us on account of his blood, but that is the point, HE does the saving. He saves us by (on account of) his blood only when we submit to his Lordship.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

Very good.

The more and more I study the preaching of the Book of Acts the more and more I see the missing ingredients that would help bring revival if only they weren't missing!

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

Mostly preaching Jesus as an exalted man it seems.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

What meanest thou?

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

As Jesus suffered, died, and brought forth life in His death, so must we follow Him, and strive to do as He did. While we will never stop having to strive with our flesh, we can live victorious overcoming lives in the victory won for us through His death.

The scripture that has been going over in my mind recently is this... let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus... what was the mind of Christ? What was His mindset as he lived his life here on earth? It was to obey the will of the Father, and he set his mind to die, so that he might purchase eternal life for all those who follow in his footsteps. Even as Christ lived to die, so must we.

This is the real message of the gospel. It is in death where the greatest life we will ever have will truly begin. Death to flesh... death to self, brings forth life eternal in Christ.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

I think the missing "ingredients" you mentioned, would first be death. Our flesh wants to skip the death part, and skip ahead to the exaltation. But... as He died, so must we. There is no short cut, no easier way, even though many think and proclaim they have found it.

As Christ lived to die, so must we. It is only then we will experience the exaltation that we desire to have in Him.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

There does seem to be a blow by it and "get to the good stuff" attitude toward Jesus ACTUALLY DYING.

I've recently been conversing with a friend who admitted they were focusing all their efforts in the wrong area (Oneness, speaking in tongues) instead of preaching repentance.

I tried to help him to realize that, in most cases, a person who has thoroughly repented will obey any commandment of the Scriptures and will receive the Holy Spirit with relative ease.

If people were to embrace the real death of the Messiah, much would change in the movement, I think.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

I notice a severe lack in the doctrine of the Ascension.

Much is made of Jesus experiencing "lift-off", but not much is ever said why He left (except maybe to say the Holy Spirit couldn't come without His departure).

Not much is ever said about Christ's role of High Priest in the heavenlies, ever living to make intercession for us at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

The Psalm 110 prophecy is often ignored, too.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

Repentance is a good place to start, but it is much more than repentance that is needed within the ranks of Christianity as a whole. The gospel that Jesus brought first involves death, and then life. Our flesh want to circumvent that death to flesh, and self-will, and jump ahead to the life and overcoming power. However, without death, there is no life. Without a seed buried in the ground, there can no life come forth. Without submitting your life, and self will completely to the Lord, and dying to your self will, you will not be able to skip ahead to overcoming power that is promised us in Christ Jesus.

Re: The Exaltation as Part of the Gospel
 

great thread.

When I see/hear statements like "Repentence is a good place to start, but..." it makes me cringe a little. I say this because preaching on repentance used to make me feel angry because I felt it left out a lot of things that were necessary for salvation (being self-righteous as I was). I now realize true repentance, which cannot be faked, will produce the fruit/works meet for repentence (proving/showing true repentance).

We all need to do a better job explaining all that happened during the death, burial, and resurrection as well as God's love for us. If we focused on helping people to fully understand those concepts, we'd see more people truly repenting and living the lives He'd expect out of his disciples.