Eph 769 3/18/88
A. How the Believer Glorifies God.
1. The glorification of God by means of the Church (Eph 3:21) occurs when the believer attains spiritual adulthood and moves to spiritual maturity. Then the believer is said to be “filled with all the fullness of God,” Eph 3:19.
2. There are three categories of spiritual adulthood.
a. Spiritual self-esteem is cognitive self-confidence.
b. Spiritual autonomy is cognitive independence.
c. Spiritual maturity is cognitive invincibility, when you are manufactured into an invisible hero.
3. The believer glorifies God when he parlays the life beyond gnosis (Eph 3:19) into the life beyond dreams (Eph 3:20).
4. The protocol plan of God is divided into two categories.
a. The life beyond gnosis, Eph 3:19.
b. The life beyond dreams, Eph 3:20.
5. The life beyond gnosis is epignosis, the consistent function of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation.
6. This is tantamount to cognition of Bible doctrine through perception, metabolization, and application of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age. Learning doctrine in the Old Testament won’t advance you in the life beyond gnosis. You must understand the mystery doctrine of the Church Age which is found in the New Testament epistles, for it contains all the mechanics for the plan of God in this dispensation.
7. The result is the attainment of spiritual adulthood. Then you begin to gather fantastic and dynamic momentum.
8. Spiritual maturity parlays the life beyond gnosis into the life beyond dreams, which becomes the basis for glorifying God.
B. What Does Not Glorify God.
1. Notice that left out of point one is all your Christian service, sacrifice, and works. All this is wood, hay, and stubble; it will all be burned at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
2. The only Christian service and production that counts is the production that results from perception of doctrine.
3. Therefore, Christian service and Christian works are not the means of attaining spiritual maturity or of glorifying God.
4. Spiritual growth is not measured in works; spiritual growth is measured in momentum. When there is momentum, there will be production. That production will be gold, silver, and precious stones; it will be rewardable at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
C. The Pattern for Glorifying God in the Church Age.
1. The pattern of post-salvation epistemological rehabilitation is the pattern of the three R’s.
a. Reception of Bible doctrine is the #1 priority. Therefore, your #1 priority is the daily reception of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age.
b. Retention refers to the metabolization of Bible doctrine, so that epignosis doctrine in the right lobe is the basis of momentum in the protocol plan of God.
c. Recall is comparable to the concept of wisdom; it refers to the application of doctrine.
2. This results in understanding the ten unique characteristics of the Church Age. Those ten characteristics are the basis for your modus operandi. (See the doctrine of the Uniqueness of the Church Age.)
3. This results in the understanding of the ten problem solving devices for the Christian way of life. Momentum is based on solving problems. Momentum is based upon handling the problem of suffering. There is X-amount of suffering for blessing involved in momentum, because this is the way you apply doctrine to your experience.
4. Glorification of God is the execution of the protocol plan through the advance to spiritual maturity.
5. This means advance through the three stages of spiritual adulthood.
6. The pattern for glorifying God includes suffering for blessing, not divine discipline or self-induced misery under the law of volitional responsibility.
a. Self-induced misery results in divine discipline, which is designed to cause us to rebound and recover life in the divine dynasphere. Only suffering for blessing has momentum.
b. There are three categories of suffering for blessing.
(1) Providential preventative suffering.
(2) Momentum testing.
(3) Evidence testing.
7. Glorification of God is related to the distribution of your escrow blessings for time. That is when the life beyond dreams begins.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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