The Cup Of Christ

There’s a whole lot more that God wants for us , but somehow it’s gotten lost in our ways. This is why we’re here. We’re on this journey together, even though God has a different plan for each of us, we journey. And somehow we need to get back the hearts God gave us.

The reason most people fail in their daily walk is simple, we ignore what should be deepest and truest to our heart, our relationship with Jesus Christ. We end up trying to produce external changes , through emotional experiences, or through feel good books, instead of doing what is required of us.

John 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. 12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13- "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.

If we believe that Jesus is God, and He and the Father are one, then we need to obey Him. Which requires of us to live differently than the world, to live as if we have God within us, a living tabernacle is what we are.


We are called to live a life different from the world, to drink out of a cup, that few get to drink of. We are called to fight the good fight. Remember Jesus said this , in John 15:16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, appointed for this moment in time. Arise and fulfill your purpose, don’t set back and become like the world, live bravely, live freely, live as if you know what tomorrow holds, for we know the one who holds tomorrow and should not fear what it has in store for us.

God tells us this , in Micah 6:8 b “ And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? “

1Corinthians 16:13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done with love.

1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.


Ask yourself do you love Mercy? We should it has been shown to us among all people, do we walk humbly with God? Or do we walk in front of God? Do we watch the way we live, are we brave, strong, ? Do we live all of life out of love? Do we pursue righteousness, godliness, ? Or do we pursue our own self centeredness?

The Lord requires of us to lives as we are called, to whom much is given much is required, just like the Old Testament patriarchs, and the Apostles we are called to drink from a cup, with Christ.

Luke 12:47 "And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 "But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.


Remember Indiana Jones going after the Holy Grail the cup Christ drank out of,? That is what the world wants, but without Christ. They want the blessings from the cup, but not the life of obedience we are called to. We need to be the opposite , we need to be like Christ, with Christ, that is what made David a man after God’s own heart and that is what separates us from the world.

Luke 22:14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 "for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." 17- Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 "for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19- And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.


In a traditional Jewish Passover feast, there are four cups used. The first is the cup of sanctification, which recalls God calling His people to Himself and delivering them out of slavery. The second is the cup of plagues or judgment, reminding God’s people of the ten plagues in Egypt. The third is the cup of redemption and blessing. The fourth is the cup of praise and God’s kingdom.

The third cup, is the cup that Jesus shared with His disciples. This is the cup that Jesus also pleaded with His Father to take from Him in the garden, but drank it out of obedience. Matthew 26:39“My Father, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will”.

As disciples of Jesus we all drink of the cup of redemption, for we are redeemed by the blood of the lamb, just as the Apostles, drank this cup when they went out from Jerusalem to the ends of the world obeying the Great Commission.

It is this cup of remembrance, the communion cup observing Jesus’ sacrifice. This cup also bears the name the cup of obedience , for we must be doing our Father’s will, whatever the cost. No exceptions, this is character and integrity displayed by God’s chosen throughout biblical history.

Not to many , are obeying our Lord and Savior’s Great Commission, we don’t want to drink from the cup God has given us, that is why Divorce is rampant in the church, that is why Idolatry is rampant, that is why programs fail, and people leave, not to many are willing to , forsake money, status, or a lucrative career, to join the Sainthood of Christian men and women.

We are Saints after all, men and women who are linked throughout biblical history by a common thread. The blood of Jesus Christ, before the cross they looked to the coming Christ and put their faith in what God told them, and after the cross we look back to that moment when Jesus Christ cried out It is Finished, and gave up His Spirit, and died. Only to rise again on the third day, and be seated at the right hand of God.

Every one of them and us have come to the point where pure faith and total trust in God have collided with our broken and hopeless spirits, we have had to lay down our own selfish ways for His cause, His truths, and His will. It is this Sainthood to which we are called to be protectors and defenders of the Body of Christ. It is Sainthood we enter at the point of salvation and when we spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is this Sainthood we are to live our lives.

Each soul has it’s own story just as the Saints of old each of us have started as cowards, connivers, thieves, liars, and murderers.

We think of the Old Testament as a time far from here, from an unreachable era in history. Even though it did take place in a different time, the impossible challenges that Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Esther. ,Ruth, Elijah, Daniel, faced and we still face now. Even when Jesus ministered and the early church grew things may have been different culturally, but every situation, everything they faced where the same hurdles we must overcome, the forces of deceit, cruelty, heartlessness, and evil are still the same forces on the earth today.

But even greater than this Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever, and He says to take heart for He has overcome the things of the world, and that means as His, we can overcome them when we put our complete faith and trust in Him.

　

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."


Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."


In each and every case, we Saints that drink this cup, risk losing our lives and spilling our blood out of obedience and integrity.

And just like the saints of old, we cannot take our faith for granted, or ever get comfortable thriving in God’s grace,. We are called into Sainthood, as The Bride of Christ, His holy church.

We are going to be under relentless attacks more each day for each day brings us closer to the end of days.

Children of God are being led astray in worshipping the golden calves of our day. Anti-christs are everywhere.

No place is exempt, and no one is exempt from these attacks, our homes, our schools are being infected, our children , we are standing against the world’s and all it offers spiritually, culturally, and vicariously.



We have to live boldly and effectively as we witness for Christ. We can stand firm against the tides of change, and face today’s version of the philistine’s , baal worshippers, and evil rulers.

We need to stand strong in the protection of our families. Defend the purity of Christ’s church. And be obedient to Jesus Christ among all else.

When Jesus was referring to John and James the sons of Zebedee when they asked to sit in glory at His right and left. Jesus told them in Mark 10:38-39“You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptized with ? They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

All of us will drink the cup that God has place on our tables before us the cup of redemption and blessing, but in that cup is the drink of obedience,sacrifice and servant hood. When we drink of this cup there is no turning back, it is the cup of eternal life

　

1Peter 5:6 NKJV - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 - casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8- Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. - Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11- To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

In Christ

brian