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Household of Calhoun

Monday, July 30, 2012

The Veil, The Temple and the Lord

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Veil, The Temple and the Lord Scripture: Hebrew 6:19,20; Hebrews 7:1-3; 2 Corinthians 3:17 Greetings Kingdom Citizens The temple in Jerusalem was an earthly symbol to represent the Heavenly. In the temple at Jerusalem, there was a place called the Holiest of All that was separated by a veil from the Holy Place. Only certain people were allowed to go into this place. Before Christ, only those of the tribe of Levi could go because they were the designated priests to maintain and keep the temple. Now there was a veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. Now what is significant about this? Remember when the children of Israel would not come up into the presence of the Lord and be changed to sons of God and the Shekinah glory of God showed on Moses face and Moses had to put a veil over his face? The Law separated the children of Israel from being in the presence of God and being sons. Now God only designates the Levites as the priests but the covenant given to Abraham of sonship was not given to just the Levites, but to everyone who chose to be a part of the family of God. So the veil represented a separation of man from the true presence of God. In addition the veil hid the truths that could only be revealed by the Spirit. Now we have a slight problem and question: When Jesus came, because He was God in a man, could he go behind the veil in the temple at Jerusalem? The answer is no! Why? Because, He was not from the tribe of Levi but came through the tribe of Judah. And remember Jesus did not come to destroy the Law but fulfill it. But when Jesus died and rose, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom and this was symbolic of what happened in the Heavenly. Now that the veil was torn, now anyone who is a son of God can go boldly before the throne. Because of Christ and His sacrifice, the veil (The Law) which separated us from the presence of God to be sons has been taken away and we can become beneficiaries of the covenant with Abraham. I know this is a lot of talk so let’s look at the scripture, Hebrews 6:19-20. Of course in the subsequent scriptures here we see God sealing our sonship with an oath to Himself now in verse 19 we see this: Which hope (Jesus) we (sons) have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that (Presence of God) within the veil. Revealing!! Let’s keep moving to verse 20: Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an HIGH PRIEST forever after the order of Melchisedec. Remember, Melchisedec represented the character of the sons of God and that description would be given in Hebrews 7:1-3. Now let’s put this together to show how weird some people can be. Now before you were saved a veil separated you from the presence of God and sonship. Now that you are saved, Christ removes the veil and you can come boldly to the throne. Now, some sons of God want to teach you to put the veil back on and enter into the presence of God and deal with Him from behind a veil. Do you see how absurd that is? Do not be fooled by these self-righteous people, as Paul calls them. Live as a son, one who has the honor and privilege to approach the throne of grace freely and without a veil. Do not take what Christ paid for with His blood and make it to no effect by living under the law because the scripture in 2 Corinthians 3:17: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty! Do not become a free slave. Be a free son ruling with dominion and authority on the Earth. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Veil of the Law Part 2

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Veil of the Law Part 2 Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now in the last message we left off talking about those who desire to live under the Law in order to please (appease) God because they do what the Law says but let’s see spiritually what happens to them, especially those who are Kingdom citizens. Let’s start at 2 Corinthians 3:11. We see here a veil was put over Moses face so that the children of Israel could not look to the end of that which is abolished (Law). Remember a veil separates one thing from another and the veil separated the Shekinah glory of God that was on Moses’ face from the children of Israel because of its brightness. Now look at the result of what the Law did by putting this veil on in verse 14. It made them spiritually blind. Now we are all spiritually blind before Christ and we walked after the soul and not the Spirit. Not to get ahead of myself we further read in the same verse these words: FOR UNTIL THIS DAY REMAINETH THE SAME VEIL UNTAKEN AWAY IN THE READING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Now before I finish this verse, look at how prophetic that statement is. This same veil that separated the children of Israel from sonship with God is still over their faces today. Is this true? Yes! Because many are still waiting on the Messiah to come and He has already come, restored us back to sonship and ascended back to the right hand of the Father until the appointed time of His return. So for all of those who are living under the Law, they have a veil over their face that prevents them from seeing the glory of God face-to-face. But now look what Christ does in the last part of verse 14. Christ removes the veil. This is very important in understanding sonship. Because with the veil on, you were not a son but with the veil off you are now a son and Christ did that for us when he went to the cross, shed his blood, died and rose again and gave us the Spirit of Adoption who is the Holy Spirit. Now like I stated from a past message, we have some Kingdom citizens that believe we should live under the law and the Law put a veil over what Christ wants to reveal. This is very important to all of us who are Kingdom Citizens. The Old Testament are truths wrapped in shadowy veils and it is just enough for your soul to pick up and guide you. The Law is supposed to guide you to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Christ comes to take the shadowy veil off those truths and openly reveal them to the believer. But look what they are doing. They are reversing this process and teaching others to put the veil on that Christ removed. It also reverses your mind from son to slave. In addition it reverses your mind from free to bondage. Basically, you were redeemed by Christ, but now you want to be saved all over again because you want to live under the Law. Now there are some people who in the Spirit of Christ celebrate various festivals and other things. I have no problem with that. I am talking about those Kingdom citizens who criticize others who do not celebrate all of the holidays, special months and days that the children of Israel were to do under the Law. If you are a believer, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW BUT UNDER GRACE! Now if you sin, you have an advocate who paid the price for that sin in Jesus so that you are not condemned to death but if you are under the Law then you are sentenced to death. So why would we who are set free in Jesus name, want to be under the Law that condemns us to death??? Those who do this, are those who seek self-righteousness. Let me show you how this is true! Philippians 3:8,9 says that I (Paul) count EVERYTHING but loss for the knowledge of Christ. Now the good part in verse 9: And be found in him (Paul found in Christ), not having mine own righteousness (self-righteousness), WHICH IS OF THE LAW, but that which is through the faith of Christ, THE RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS OF GOD BY FAITH. Now that cannot be any clearer for those who live under the law, they are seeking self-righteousness and they try to impose their knowledge and criticize the saints following after the Spirit because they do not live under the Law. Kingdom citizens do not get trapped with people that try to get you to live under the Law! The Law enslaves, because you cannot possibly keep it, and it keeps you from realizing your sonship with God. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Veil of the Law Part 1

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Veil of the Law: Part 1 Scripture: 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now the first thing we need to understand is a veil is something that covers another. A veil is used in wedding ceremonies to cover the face of the bride before she is in front of her husband. In addition a veil was used in the temple to separate the place called the Holy of All from the outside world (we will revisit this in the next message). But today we will look at how the veil is used to separate the sons from the slaves and those under the Law from those under grace. Let’s start with our scripture 2 Corinthians 3:7! In this first verse we see Paul telling the church at Corinth that the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious. What? A ministry of death that was glorious? So before we go any further what is this ministry of death? It is found in Exodus 20. It is the Ten Commandments or the Law. How do we know? Let’s finish reading verse 7: “the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away”. This happened when they received the Law because they rejected the covenant of sonship by not going up into the mountain where the presence of the Lord was which would have changed them. Now we have some conflicting words in this one scripture and they are: Ministration of Death and Glory and both words are referring to the Law. Funny when you try to cover multiple scriptures God can talk from one and give you an entire message! Ministration of Death How was the Law a ministry of death? When God gave Israel the Law He wanted to lay out the expectations of what is permissible and what is not. Of course God was making them a nation and every nation has laws. Now inside these 640 laws given to Israel is a consequence for every broken law. Some consequences happened on a national level and others resulted in personal consequences. Now, the reason it was the ministry of death is because if you broke a certain law, the consequence was death. No ifs ands or buts about it. Now believe that God kept His part of this covenant even the requirement of death upon someone who broke the law. Now how many laws do we break daily in our countries, regardless if it is as small as littering to murder. We may not get caught in our countries but best believe you could not hide from God and His Law. But what made the Law unique was even though it was a ministry of death it also preserved their lives. How? There were dietary laws, tort laws, property laws and family laws. It gave them order to prevent chaos. But as we know whenever you do not obey God, you lend your life to chaos, stress and even death. But let’s look at the glory of the Law. How is the Law glorious if it also the ministry of death? The Law was glorious because it showed God’s goodness, mercy and righteousness. The Law was extended to them even in the midst of their stubbornness, selfishness and ungrateful hearts to do what they wanted to do. The Law provided order and guidelines that were established to preserve their lives. Now it only worked for those who obeyed the Law. The Law was glorious because it showed the righteousness of God. In order for you to receive from God you must be in right-positioning with authority and the Law kept the citizen in position by making them aware of what is right and wrong. But let’s look at what 2 Corinthians 3:7 says at the end: The glory was to be done away. Some versions say a fading glory. In other words it is not one that will last and believe this, that it is not the one God wants for you and let me tell you why: The Law does not: 1. Make Sons 2. Raise Sons 3. Educate Sons 4. Make a son aware of who he is. Now if God wants you to be a son then it is clear to me and hopefully to you that He does not want you to live under the Law. Living under the Law separates you from God. Many people do it thinking it pleases God and appeases Him to get something from Him and sad to say, if you are a born again believer, if you choose to go under the law it is as if you want to give up your freedom which Christ paid for with His blood to go back and be under the Law which enslaves you and takes your sonship and rights away. I know for some of you that may offend you but we will deal with this particular issue in the next message. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Slavery Under the Law and Freedom in Christ

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: Slavery Under the Law and Freedom in Christ Part 1 Scripture: Galatians 3:15-29; Galatians 4:21-26; Genesis 12:2,3,12 Greetings Kingdom Citizens I know we have spent a couple of messages on this subject of slavery vs. sons but today we are going to sum it up using these scriptures to prove two points: 1. God called you to be sons and not church members! 2. Those who try to teach you to live under the law are trying to make you a slave and make the power of the cross to none effect. Comparing the Two Covenants: Galatians 3:15-29 Now the letter to the church of Galatia at this point starts out by stating that the promise was made to Abraham (vs. 16). Now notice the promise was made to his seed and not seeds. The seed the promise was made to was Christ. This confirms that God made the promise of sonship to His Son, Jesus. Abraham was a third party beneficiary of this promise. Now in verse 17, God states that there is another covenant before God in Christ, which is the Law which was 430 later on Mt. Sinai. So we have confirmed this and proven this in previous messages. Now God goes on to prove the difference between the promise and the Law in verse 18. God did not give the Law to Abraham, he gave it to Moses on Mt. Sinai 430 years later. The promise of sonship was given to Abraham. Now the good part for all those who want to serve the law. God asks the question: “Wherefore then serve the law?” Now He explains in verse 19 why the law was made. The Law was made because of the sins UNTIL THE SEED SHOULD COME (JESUS) WHO THE PROMISE WAS MADE. So there is a change in season after Jesus has come! Now for all those who question whether the law now means nothing, God deals with this in verse 21. The Law was meant to show the righteousness of God but He shows us that the law CANNOT give life because if it could it would have. But all (the world) was under sin so that the promise (sonship) by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to those who believe. Who are those people? All who have called on the name of Jesus as Lord and believed in their heart that God raised Him from the dead. So we have transgressed from the Law to Faith. So the purpose of the law was to be a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified (Sons) by faith (vs. 23 and 24). Now the good part in verse 25: BUT AFTER THAT FAITH IS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A SCHOOLMASTER (THE LAW). Now God brings it home in verse 26 by this important statement: “For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.” Now how are we the children of God? Verse 27, by being baptized into Christ. In other words, being adopted into the family of Christ by being born again by receiving the Holy Spirit in our spirits. Now God explains this sonship to everyone to show who it includes. It is not exclusive to the Jew nor the Greek (Hebrew or the Gentile). Nor is it exclusive to those who are imprisoned or in servitude or to those who are free. It is not exclusive to the gender of male or female. In other words, spirits have not race, status or gender. So, anyone who wants to come to Christ and be baptized and adopted into the family of God by confession and faith can. And if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:2,3,12) and heirs according to the promise. I am going to stop right there because I want us to stay with this and not get an overload of information. God Bless You as you continue to study Sonship! At Our Father’s Service, Min. Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Slavery Under the Law

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: Slavery under the Law Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:1-5; Exodus 23:10,11; Daniel 9:2; Galatians 4:4-7 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now I know I have made numerous statements over the past couple of messages of how the law made you a slave today we will look at how. Because there are some sons of God, or Kingdom citizens that are trying to put you back into slavery after Jesus set you free. First, slavery is indentured servitude where one is controlled by a master and you have no rights. Sounds harsh but this is what the law did. On Mt. Sinai the children of Israel was given the Covenant of Law because they rejected the covenant of sonship (Deuteronomy 5). Now the Law was a covenant between two parties. The first party was God Himself and party two was the children of Israel. Now as we can see already, God was going to keep his part of this covenant and the Israelites were not because no one at the time could keep all 640 laws (630+10 commandments). So because they could not possible keep this then they owe God because they were reaping the benefits without fulfilling their part of the deal. The question should be now then how do you repay God? Well there were three ways to make it right: 1. Somebody else pay the debt for you! But since Jesus had not come: Not available to Israel 2. Forgiveness: The power to forgive sins was only given to the saints (John 20:20) so this option was not available to Israel 3. Assets seized: Now if you did not own anything and it belonged to God then the only thing that was left was yourself and when you have to give up yourself and your rights as a citizen then you are a slave. In ancient Israel, and maybe today, I am not sure, they had cities of refuge for those who owed something and could not pay, they would have to go there and serve as a slave until the debt was paid. Even in some European countries this is the case. If you owed somebody something and could not pay it, you are put into slavery, or the good word is indentured servitude, until the debt was paid. This is how the law made you a slave because you could not possibly keep all 640 laws. So for those of us, and I will show you in scripture in a subsequent lesson, who are Kingdom citizens and want to live by the law and criticize those who do not keep the Sabbath or keep all of the sacred days that were in the Law, you are teaching people to leave the liberty that God gave them through Christ Jesus and put them back into slavery under the Law. Now we said that God always wanted sons, not slaves. Well in order to preserve this, even though the Law made them slaves, and we will explain shortly, it also saved their lives. How? Because, the Law gives them prescribed consequences for certain offenses. If God had not given them the law then they would be completely wipe out and that would end the program. But because of God’s love, righteousness and covenant with Himself, the Law was put in place to make them aware of what is right and wrong. It also made them a nation with various laws and statutes to live by. It gave them an economy, healthcare and protection. Now there were consequences to the nation and personal consequences for breaking the law. One example is when the children of Israel did not keep the Sabbath year (Let the land rest on the seventh year (Exodus 23:10,11). But when they did not keep this then 70 years were owed under the law and they were put into slavery to the Babylonians (Daniel 9:2). This was a national consequence. Personal sins result in a consequence to that person. In the next message we will look at the difference between one who lives under the law and one who lives in the freedom of Jesus Christ. Two separate things but very important because we have people who are openly criticizing people who do not live under the law and what they do not know they are denying their sonship for slavery. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Israel Under the Law

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: Sonship and the Law: Israel under the Law Scripture: Genesis 14:18-20 and Hebrew 6:20- Hebrew 7:1-4; Isaiah 1:2-4 Greetings Kingdom Citizens To understand how different the nation of Israel was under the law, to what God promised in being a Kingdom of Priests and Sons of God, it requires us to take a small look back then come forward into the Old Testament. In a previous message we talked about the unique relationship between Abraham and Melchizedek. We are going to take a one step further and show just how different the law made the children of Israel from being a nation of Kings, Priests and Sons of God. Now Melchizedek and Abraham and their relationship represented the components of sonship, status and character. Abraham represents our status as sons because we are the inheritors of the promise of God which will make us Sons of God. Melchizedek represents our character as being Kings, Priests and an eternal creation within time and space. Now as sweet and majestic as that sounds, is that anything like the covenant Israel received from God on Mt. Sinai? Absolutely not! If anything the children of Israel were so frustrated and oppressed, but why? Did God let them down and just give up on them? Absolutely not! But when you make an agreement with God, best believe that God will fulfill all of His promises and He did. But there were consequences for going against the law and some of them were death. The children of Israel were slaves to the law because they were indebted to the law because they could not possibly fulfill every law. But let’s look at the significance of how different what the law made as opposed to the covenant of sonship. Abraham and Melchisedec represented the sons of God and the promised covenant fulfilled. These new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) are inheritors of the Kingdom and represent the Father in the Earth. They carried His image (Spirit) and His likeness as Kings and Priests. Because they were born from above they are in turn His sons, or offspring, or children. They carried the status of being a son, through the promise to Abraham and carried the characteristics of being a son, through Melchisedec. Now if this is the covenant of sonship revealed and Jesus was the covenant in flesh walking on the Earth then what did the law do? First, the covenant of law made the children of Israel a nation, but not a Kingdom. As we know God tried to show them how the Kingdom will function by being their King and they would be His people, but the children of Israel rejected by wanting a visible King and God asked them to pick a king from amongst them and of course they picked Saul. We know that eventually Saul would be an inadequate king and remember he was a person selected by the people. Then God reared David and he was God’s appointed King of Israel. Now we know David was unique because He was a King and a priest in a certain right because he was not a Levite. He was a worshipper and mighty King of Israel. He made his share of mistakes but he was a man after God’s heart. But still after all of this they were still a nation of laws and citizens. But let’s look at what Isaiah had to say about the actions of the children of Israel towards God, the one who saved them and delivered them from slavery. When we look at Isaiah 1:2-4 we see Isaiah speaking the Word of the Lord and this is how God describes the nation of Israel: A Sinful Nation laden with iniquity, Evildoers, Corrupters that have forsaken the Lord. Now not to put ourselves so above them, because we have some children of God, with the Holy Spirit acting the same way. But what separated them from us was the Spirit of God living in the spirit of man. This is the essence of sonship. And since they did not have the Holy Spirit abiding in them they were a nation of slaves to the law awaiting the promise of sonship. Of course we know the promise has come and ascended back to the Father but this nation of Israel exists to this day. They exist under the law and for many still have the veil covering their faces from seeing the glory of the Lord. They still live under the law to this day, recognizing the Sabbath on Saturday and abiding by the law of Moses and the other over 630 laws of the Old Testament. Sad, that many still do not believe that Christ has come and risen and given the promise to those who believe on His name. Now we currently have sons of God that want to still live like slaves. They want to be in-debted to a law that they cannot keep and God knows that they cannot keep every law. When Jesus came He fulfilled the law and gave us the promise that does not make us slaves but sons. When you view yourselves as sons of God and began to think in that manner, the very way you approach God changes because you come with humility like a child with unwavering faith knowing that He can do all things. The Law made slaves, The Covenant to Abraham made sons. Which covenant do you want to be under? At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Sons of God and the Law: The Two Covenants

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Sons of God and the Law: The Two Covenants Scripture: Romans 8:15,16; Hebrews 6:18,19; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 15:13,14; Exodus 19:5,6; Deuteronomy 5:1-5; Greetings Kingdom Citizens One thing we all will learn at some point in our lives, is that when we decided to go outside of the will of God and do what we think is best for ourselves, we prolong the arrival of the blessing. We in turn hurt ourselves. And in the next few messages we will see why it took over 4000 years for the Sons of God to be restored. But let’s start off with our scripture that confirms us as Sons of God and backtrack from there. Romans 8:15,16 clearly tells us how we are the Sons of God, by the Spirit of God living in us and testifying with our spirit. Now let’s backtrack. We know that this was not the case from Genesis 3 to the resurrection of Jesus. So, what separated us from God? Sin! Now, God made an oath with Himself (Hebrews 6:18,19) that He would have sons, so after making a covenant with Himself, He made Abraham and His descendents beneficiaries of this covenant. God promises Abraham that in his seed shall all the nations of the Earth be blessed (Genesis 26:4). Of course the seed of Abraham that will bring that will restore this covenant will be Jesus Christ. Now the covenant that Abraham was promised was a Covenant of Sonship. This is the covenant that will produce Sons of God. But as we know God also informed Abraham that the children of Israel would be in bondage and servants to the Egyptians for 400 years (Genesis 15:13-14). Now of course we should know the story that in the fullness of time (400 years) God sent Moses and God freed the children of Israel from the bondage and slavery in Egypt. Now here is a problem. When you have been a slave for 400 years, it is hard to think as a free person. Now that they are free, they now have the opportunity to fulfill the covenant of sonship that God had made with Abraham. Now remember you become a son when the Spirit of God lives within you or you come into the very presence of God because His very presence and glory will change you. But not to get ahead, God now offers the children of Israel the covenant in Exodus 19:5,6. He promised them that they would be a Kingdom of Priests. Did this happen? No! Why? The answer is in Deuteronomy 5:1-5. Remember it would be in the presence of the Lord in the mount that they would have been changed but because of fear, they did not go up into the mountain and this lead to them rejecting the first covenant and receiving another. And in Exodus 20 they received the other covenant, The Law! Now you may say well what’s the difference. This covenant was between God and the Jews. Now you should already know that God was going to keep his part of the covenant. Do you think that the Jews could keep their end? Of course not, because if so then Jesus would not be necessary. In addition this covenant was largely different and more over nowhere near the first covenant with Abraham. Let’s see how! God promised Abraham that they would be a “Kingdom of Priests”. In other words all of them would be priests. But in the covenant of the law, only the Levites of the 12 tribes were the priests. In addition, God’s covenant with Abraham produces sons of God. The Law produced slaves. How? Let’s examine it logically! God made a covenant with Israel to keep not just his 10 commandments but all of the other 630 laws. Now if you could not keep the promise then you are in-debted to the person you made the promise to, and that would be God. And because there was nothing you could really give God, you became in-debted to the law and the only thing left to give of you is yourself. So, if you give of yourself then you become a asset and property and that makes you a slave. This is very important to remember when we look later at the difference between sons and slaves and how the Law has be misused to entrap free sons, back into slavery. And finally the biggest difference was that God made Israel a nation and not a kingdom. He gave it protection, laws, and economy and health standards. All the things a basic nation would need. This is not what God wanted for His children but because they reject the original offer they were given the second option until the fullness of time and the coming of Christ. Sad for many in the nation of Israel today, they still do not believe Jesus has come and they still to this day keep the Mosaic law. I have had the privilege to meet Jewish Kingdom Citizens that have seen the light and are witnesses to being Kingdom citizens. In the next message we will take a small look back at the relationship between Melchizedec and Abraham and show how Israel became slaves to the law. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

3 Characteristics of the Son of God

Today’s Focus: Royal Priesthood: 3 Characteristics of the Son of God Scripture: Hebrews 7:1-4; Hebrews 6:20-7:4; Romans 14:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17,18; John 11:25,26; Romans 8:15; 1 Peter 2:9 Greetings Kingdom Citizens The three characteristics that we will be looking at are from our previous message about Melchizedek from Hebrew 7:3. Let’s break these down and understand how we are the sons of God like Jesus. Without Father and Without Mother Now we all know we have biological parents on this Earth. But this birth is not biological but spiritual. We are born from above. All of those who have confessed the Lord Jesus and believed that God raised Him from the dead are born again. So now your parent is God, the Father (Romans 8:15). What is He the parent of? You spirit. Your flesh will die one day and God is the God of the living. So it is your spirit that He is the Father of. Your mother and father are your fleshly parents. They have been given responsibility and rule over the children. So that does not negate their role in your life. No Genealogy Like I stated in the last message, the sons of God have no third and fourth generation. It is just Father and son. That’s it! No Beginning Nor End of Life The Spirit of God has no beginning nor end of life. God is known as the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7) he has no beginning nor end. He is everlasting and eternal. So just as God when we have received the Holy Spirit we no longer worry about death because it is just a transport from the realm of time and space to the eternal. We as believers will live forever because the spirit within us is an eternal and everlasting Spirit. With all of that said the sons of God are adopted into the Kingdom of God by choice, confession and faith. Choice because they have repented and decided not to be under the control of satan. Now as stated in the previous message about adoption, I would like to add this connecting question and point. How do you spiritually leave the family of satan to be adopted into the Kingdom of God? You must die. Adam left the family of God through sin and Christ redeemed us through His death and resurrection. To get a better understanding let’s look at the scriptures, Romans 6:4-5. “Therefore we are buried with him (Jesus) by baptism into death; that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, EVEN SO we also should walk in the newness of life” And to bring that scripture home look at this one, 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATURE, old things are PASSED AWAY (DEAD) behold all things have become new. It is by the death of the old man that you then can be adopted into the family of God because death is one way that you leave the rights a family has over you. So when you commit your life to Christ through the death of the old creature you now are available for adoption and this is why the scripture in Romans 8:15 speaks of Spirit of Adoption where we cry Abba, Father. We now, as believers are eternal creature within the realm of space and time. I pray that this has given you some insight to what happened to you when you are born again and why you are a son of God, A King and a Priest. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Royal Priesthood: The Order of Melchizedek

Today’s Focus: The Royal Priesthood: The Order of Melchisedec Scripture: Genesis 14:18-20; Hebrews 6:20-7:4; Romans 14:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17,18; John 11:25,26; Romans 8:15; 1 Peter 2:9 Greetings Kingdom Citizens I know in this ministry we have discussed and glanced over the term “Royal Priesthood” now the time has come to ask this question, Where did this order of the Sons of God come from? Now we have discussed that royal refers to King and priesthood refers to priest or spiritual representative. But even with that amount we should understand but if we are a little confused to how this can be then let’s back all the way up and start from the beginning with this person in the Bible called Melchizedec. In Genesis 14 we see Abraham going in to rescue his nephew Lot from the land of Dan (Genesis 14:1-17) and after this battle Abraham has a unique encounter with the King of Salem, Melchizedec (Genesis 14:18). Now Melchizedec was unique because Genesis 14:18 says He was the King of Salem who brought forth bread and wine and he was the priest of the most high God. In turn after blessing Abraham, Abraham gave him tithes of all he had. So here we have some man that is a King and a Priest. Ok we are all fine with that! But remember when Jesus came everything that was spoken in shadowy form in the Old Testament was brought to the light by Christ and explained in detail. So that means, in the New Testament there is some type of explanation for how or why this man was who he was. Let’s look at Hebrew 6:20! Here we see the statement being made the Jesus is made after the order of Melchisedec. The order is referring to being a King and a Priest. Jesus is the King of Kings and He is also the Great High Priest. Now in the letter to the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul goes on in Hebrews 7 to explain this mystery of Melchisedec. First, the meaning of His name is King of Righteousness. Ok who do we know is the King of Righteousness? Jesus! Next it says, King of Salem. In Genesis 14:18 it says that he was the King of Salem. Salem was another name for the city of Jeru-salem. So who is the King of Jerusalem (Revelation 21)? Jesus! Next it says his name also means King of Peace. Who is the King of Peace? Jesus! But an even more beautiful picture is what the combination of this is. Romans 14:17: “The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”. Now before we get someone confused Melchisedek is not Jesus! Let’s read on to find out. Hebrews 7:3 starts by saying that Melchisedek was without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Now for some that may seem like a weird scripture but let’s explain. The genealogy of Melchisedek is unknown and was not recorded for purpose and reason to illustrate the genealogy of the sons of God. We were all born of woman and have a mother and a father. All of us! We can trace our genealogy back some generations. Some as far as four or five generations. But look at the last statement in verse 3: “But made LIKE UNTO the Son of God.” So the Holy Spirit is confirming that Melchisedek was made like the Son of God by order. The reason why this is the case is because The Son of God has these characteristics: 1. Has no earthly mother or father 2. Has no genealogy 3. No beginning of days nor end of life This order of the Royal Priesthood, which the order of Melchisedek follows, shows the sons of God being Kings. By which Melchisedek was the King of Salem and a Priest because of the work that Melchisedek did. In closing I want to leave you with this thought to connect the big picture. In Genesis 14:18, Melchizedek brought forth wine and bread to Abram. Now when was the only other time that the priest of the Most High brought bread and wine? The Lord’s Supper! The bread for the body of Christ and wine symbolizing his blood. So, just as we have proven in the past two messages. Jesus comes to reveal those truths that were in shadowy form of the Old Testament and bring them to the light for the heirs of the promise. We will continue our study of the Royal Priesthood and the three characteristics of the son of God mentioned earlier in the next message. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Sonship Restoration

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: History of the Sons of God: Sonship Restoration Scripture: John 1:1-13; Romans 8:11-17 Greetings Kingdom Citizens After 4,000 years of history and the fullness of time comes the answer and the salvation for the world. One thing we have to understand about the Old Testament is that everything that was spoken was in shadowy form. It was like a veil covering the truth. See, since the Holy Spirit could not abide and live in men until the resurrection of Christ, God spoke to people in a form that their souls can understand and pick up. So back then the truth was spoken in shadowy form like a veil covering the truth. But here comes Jesus and in John 1:9-10 He was described as the true light. Now the word light has many different meanings but when we look at Jesus, He is the knowledge (light) or the truth all of mankind needs. See the opposite of truth is a lie and remember we were once children of darkness and now we are children of the Light. The arrival of Jesus is to unveil all of those shadowy words of the Old Testament and shed “light” and the truth of what they mean. But what was unique was the truth was not in word, but in a man walking on the Earth. Jesus is the Son of God, the last Adam, the one sent to restore the family of God. Now if you read John 1:12 it clearly states that anyone who receives Him and believes on His name they shall become the sons of God. So it is only by confession and faith in Jesus that you can become a son of God. But let’s make this much easier. Before you came into the Kingdom of God, you were a child of the devil. Remember God is the Creator of everything. Now the only way you can legally adopt someone is that they do not belong to a family. I cannot just come and take your child away and call him or her my child without you giving up your rights and releasing that child to me. But what is so unique is everyone who is born on Earth is born as a child of satan or disobedience. Now once this child has to decide that they no longer want to be a part of this family, but want to be adopted into God’s family. This is the legal spiritual document (confession and faith in Jesus) that allows you to leave one family and be ADOPTED into the family of God. So how do you now become a member of the household of God? By receiving the Holy Spirit in your spirit. And who gives you the Holy Spirit? Jesus! So the very first adoption was us into the Kingdom of God. So the whole theory of adoption came from the Kingdom. But let’s prove it in scripture. Let’s look at Romans 8:15,16: “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of Adoption, whereby we cry, Abba. Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the Children of God.” In two scriptures, that sums up everything that was said above. So how do we know we are children or sons of God? Through the Holy Spirit testifying and abiding within our spirit. This is the only way you can become a son of God. Jesus gave us the ability and opportunity to choose sonship in the Kingdom or to stay a child of Satan. God’s covenant is still in effect today and the Kingdom of God is open to anyone who wants to make their spiritual refuge there. Everyone has to make their choice for themselves. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Friday, July 13, 2012

History of the Sons of God: Twelve Tribes of Israel

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: History of the Sons of God: The Twelve Tribes of Israel Scripture: Genesis 25:19-25; Genesis 37 to Genesis 50 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now I will not spend much time on this because it is so lengthy but we will summarize how the bloodline of Christ was carried from Abraham through the twelve tribes of Israel and to Jesus. Many of our young people have no clue about this so we will keep it simple for everyone to understand. Abraham had two sons: 1. Ishamal (from Hagar the handmaid) and 2. Isaac (Sarai) Now God keeping His bloodline in order the next person is Isaac. Isaac had two sons by Rebekah, his wife: Esau (which led to Amalek) and Jacob Now per scripture we know Jacob’s name was changed to Israel and Jacob had a slight woman problem. He wanted to marry Rachel, the youngest daughter of Laban but ended up marrying Leah, the oldest daughter of Laban, per the custom of that time. Eventually Jacob also had children by Bilhah and Zilpah. The result of all of these children was the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob had 12 boys. So who do you think the bloodline of Christ went through? It went through Leah and through her son, Judah (Genesis 49:9,10). This is why Jesus is the Lion of Judah. But even with this, God’s bloodline runs through the first marriage of Jacob and then through Judah. Now back in our previous message we talked about the children of Israel being placed into bondage in Egypt for four hundred years. Well here we are! Because of envy and jealousy between the brothers towards Joseph who was the youngest at the time, they sold their brother into slavery and lied to their father about his whereabouts by telling him that Joseph was killed by an animal and died. However, God had a plan for Joseph. Joseph became a prince of Egypt, or ruler right below Pharaoh. Because Joseph had interpreted dreams for Pharaoh and informed him that a major famine was coming to the land and he instructed him how to prepare. While all of this went on in Egypt, the other 11 boys of Jacob began to see the famine and headed towards Egypt. The other eleven boys were brought into Egypt under the rule of their 2nd youngest brother Joseph. And this is how the nation of Israel ended up in Egypt. I know that was a very quick snapshot of Genesis 37 to the end. Even through oppression and slavery God will still maintain His covenant and ensure that He would have sons. And as we know God uses Moses and delivers his people from the hand of Pharaoh. Pharoah represented the god of this world who held the people of God in slavery until God sent His representative to set free His people. This is not different than what happened in the realm of the eternal. Our spirit’s were condemned to death and satan spiritually had us in prison in his kingdom until Christ came and gave us the choice and opportunity to become sons of God and restore our place in the family. In the next message we will look at Jesus and the role He played in the History of the Sons of God. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Abraham and the Great Covenant

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: History of the Sons of God: Abraham and the Great Covenant Scripture: Genesis 11:27-32; Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 17:1-8; Genesis 18:17,18 Greetings Kingdom Citizens In the previous message we talked about the family of Noah and how God started the human race again through him and his family. We also saw how the bloodline of Ham lead to the birth of one of the most evil nations, Babylon and how the bloodline of Shem will remain the bloodline which will introduce Jesus to the Earth. Now we will look at Abraham and let’s us first state that Abraham is a distant grandson of Noah. Based on the genealogy in Genesis 11:27-29. Now God tells Abram (before the covenant) to leave his country (Land of Ur) and follow the Lord to a land that He will show Him. Now before they even get started in this journey, God tells him in Genesis 12:2-3 that He will make Abram a great nation and God will bless him and make his name great and he shall be a blessing because in thee shall all the families of the Earth be blessed. Let’s stop and dissect this without going to fast. First, God said He will make Abram a great nation. This is through his bloodline and the nations (people) that will come out of this bloodline. Second, He promised to bless Abram. Blessing is not just physical in needs, but spiritually through joy, righteousness and peace where Abram went. Third, He promised to make Abraham’s name great. Abraham’s name would be great because of the covenant God will make with him and because of the faith Abraham had in God. Fourth, He promised that He would bless those who blessed Abram and curse them that cursed Abram. And finally the great promise, God promised Abram that in Him shall all the families of the Earth be blessed. This is referring to the seed God told satan about back in Genesis 3:15 which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the great blessing that will bless all families of the Earth. Is this consistent with the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3? Absolutely! Now God tells Abram about the affliction and slavery of Israel to the Egyptians (Genesis 15:13-14) and informed him that they will be there 400 years. But after all of this revelation and prophecy, God explains the covenant He will make with Abram. Now here is something you need to know Abram made some mistakes: 1. He lied to Pharaoh about Sarai being his wife 2. He had a child out of wedlock with handmaiden, Hagar which produced Ishmael (We will look at this in a subsequent series) Now number two is the one we want to focus on. Now God was not going to allow this bloodline to be corrupt with children outside of his ordained marriages. Sarai was the wife (one wife) of Abram. Now as many know God told Abram that he and his wife would have a child, even in their old age. Now Sarai reasoning in her own mind that she could not possibly have a child at her age she proposes that Abram have intercourse with her handmaid Hagar because she was of age to have children. And even after God had told Abram that this son will come from your own family, Abram listens to Sarai and commits adultery to make a child that Abram can call his own. Here is a lesson: “When God tells you He will do something, Let Him do it. Do not reason within yourself because your soul knows it can think independent of God.” Here is another thought who did God give the covenant to? Abram! But who did Abram listen to to try to make the covenant real and happen? Sarai. Ok! Who did God give the commandment in the Garden regarding the tree of good and evil? Adam. Who transgressed first in the garden? Eve. So Adam followed Eve and Abram followed Sarai. Same situations different people. God gives instruction to the head of the house and instead of following instruction from God, He listens to his wife which did not receive the instruction and caused them to err. This will be played out many times more in the old testament, especially with the spirit of Jezebel. But in Genesis 17, God makes the covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham (vs. 1-5). God tells Abraham that He will make many nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee. Now were there Kings that did come out of Abraham? Yes for example David and most of all, Jesus, the King of Kings. But who else? How about all those of the promise, the believers of Christ Jesus. Are we not all Kings? To prove let’s go to Galatians 3:29! “If ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” Now that tasted good. It is through Abraham, that we see the great promise of eternal sonship and royalty made. Abraham died having faith in the promise, Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God. We are privileged and honored to be able to be in the Kingdom of God on Earth and represent God in the Earth with the Holy Spirit abiding in us. Many have died and were persecuted and one paid the ultimate price that we may have life and have it more abundantly, let’s live like it! At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

History of the Sons of God: Noah Post-Flood

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: History of the Sons of God: The Family of Noah Post-Flood Scripture: Genesis 9; Genesis 10:6-10,19; Genesis 11:1-9 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Staring at Genesis 9, we see God making a promise to Noah not to destroy the Earth or mankind with a flood. As a symbol of this covenant, a bow, or rainbow is God’s physical symbol of this promise. Now we know when God promises something, He is true to His Word. Now after the flood you have the family of Noah with includes his 3 sons, Shem, Ham and Japeth. Now here is a statement that we as believer’s must understand. “Everything that God does, satan tries to mimic and twist in order to be glorified. Even in the birth of Jesus from a virgin, Satan has developed his own version and has fooled an entire religion and sect of Christianity as we know it.” Just as God has given directions to Noah and his family about the blessings they would encounter as starting the human race again, satan was developing his plan also and sad to say, he attacks the family of Noah to pull it off. Now not to confuse some of you, we know because we read the scriptures in Luke of the genealogy of Jesus that the descendents of Noah eventually lead to Christ but before I get too far let’s see what happens and how Satan gets his plot and plan put in action. Now I know the question is who did satan attack to corrupt one the bloodlines of Noah? Let’s see! Now the first clue is found in Genesis 9:18. Here God is telling us about the sons of Noah but noticed in the same scripture God calls “Ham the father of Canaan”. Now God is so great He goes on to tell you how in verse 21 and 22. Because Ham saw the nakedness of His father in verse 25 when Noah realize what had happen he cursed Canaan, the son of Ham. Now remember that God already declared Ham to be the father of Canaan. Now here is the uniqueness of the situation, this was the re-emergence of evil on the Earth through Ham and the Canaanites. But just as satan corrupts one part of the bloodline, God keeps His covenant and preserves the bloodline of the sons of God through Sem or Shem (Luke 3:35). So now it will be the bloodline through Shem which will overthrow the bloodline through Ham. But let’s not leave Ham yet because through him, one of the most evil nations comes to the Earth and it is the nation of Babylon. Now this leads us to Genesis 11. Now here in this chapter we see the people say to one another “let us make brick and burn them thoroughly”. Let’s not pass this so fast because it shows the desperateness of the people and the pace they wanted to move. In those times when you wanted to make brick instead of using fire the sun naturally hardened the brick, but they used fire! They wanted to build this city fast and in a hurry. Do not forget this. Next they say they want to build a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. Now to show the evil of the people’s hearts let’s look at another statement of the people. Remember it was the thought of independence from God that lead Adam and Eve to sin against God. Genesis 11:4. They said “let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad the face of the Earth.” They wanted to make a name for themselves. The spirit of the fallen angels are looking for glorification and they know the power of words because they wanted their name to be proclaimed throughout the earth. But because the nation of Babylon was under one language and because it was under one language there was no restraining them from whatever they wanted to do, God passed judgment against this un-holy nation and confound their language so that they could not understand one another. This did not stop them from building the tower because the scripture said after scrambling their language they left to build the city (Genesis 11:8). So to this point we have two bloodlines going in two different directions. The bloodline of Shem, or Sem which will result in righteousness and holiness and the coming of the Messiah and the bloodline of Ham which produced ungodliness, evil and false religions upon the Earth. We know the bloodline we want to continue looking at but we will return to see the result of Ham’s bloodline in a subsequent message. In our next message we will shift to Abraham and His significance to the history of the sons of God. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Adam, Eve and the Crucifixtion of Jesus

Today’s Focus: Adam, Eve and the Crucifixion of Jesus Scripture: Genesis 2:21-25; Ephesians 5:31,32; Hebrews 10:19-22; Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now you may ask how are these two events linked to understanding sonship. The two events are actually linked together scripturally and symbolically. Now we all know that man was created on the sixth day and Adam was created from the dust of the Earth and God breathed in him the breath of Life. Now when we look at the creation of woman we see a rib being taken out of Adam. And Adam made the declaration that she is woman because she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and because she was taken out of man (Genesis 2:23). So based on this we can say that before the creation of woman, woman and man was one. They were integrated. Now God makes the declaration in Ephesians 5:31-32 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh! They shall be one when they become married. Now this is directly related to the relationship of Christ and the Church. So now how does that tie into the crucifixion. When Jesus was on the cross and was pierced in His side blood came out of Jesus. This is a very important and symbolic meaning. Look at Hebrews 10:19,20. Now we have access to the Father by the blood of Jesus. Ok, we are fine with that. Verse 20, “By a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. The veil is represented by the opening in Jesus side where the blood was shed. This opening of the veil in the natural world had a corresponding meaning in the eternal realm. Now the body of Christ is open for all those who believe and seek salvation. These two events are linked together, the event of the cross where Jesus was pierced in the side and the creation of Eve out of the side of Adam. The latter symbolizes those who are lead to Christ, who are Christians who are the bride of Christ and salvation happens when the bride is inserted into the husband (Body of Christ). When man and woman marry, yes MAN AND WOMAN, this is symbolic of the union between Christ and His bride, the church. This is why the two become one. No longer are we separated but are one flesh. In turn, no longer do we have to be separated from Christ, because of the price He paid and His blood we can now be joined together with Christ and be saved. Revelation 19th chapter speaks of the marriage between the Lamb and His wife. God made a covenant with Himself that He would have sons. The Lamb being slain before the foundation of the world secures that guarantee and the preserving of the sons of God through the Old Testament unto Christ is proof that after the Holy One has come, all who freely choose to be in the family of God and become sons have that choice. The first Adam separated us from God and the last Adam (Jesus) redeemed us back into sonship. The veil that was opened on the cross is one that is still open to all who choose to come in to flee from the wrath to come because one day there will not be Adam and Eve in a separate state. We will be like Adam before Eve, one integrated with God. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

The Composition of the Son of God

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Composition of the Son of God Scripture: Genesis 1:26; Hebrews 12:9; Hebrews 9:27,28; Galatians 3:26-28; Romans 10:9 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now the question is, what is a son of God made up of? We are going to take intricate and broad view of that in this message. Now we understand the foundation of sonship to be the covenant of God with Himself (Father with the Son) to ensure that mankind will freely have the choice to become a son of God. He did that by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God before the foundations of the world and mankind. Now every son should want to be like their father. And every father wants their son to be like them. But what makes up a son and who or what is God the Father of? Let’s look at the composition of the son: 1. Image (Genesis 1:26) First, does anyone knows what God looks like? Ok! God is a spirit! So when God says “Let us make man in our own image..” He is not talking about the physical fleshly image. God is not flesh, He is spirit. So the image God was talking about was the image of our spirit. Our flesh will die (Hebrews 9:27,28). Now we know at the resurrection our bodies will be resurrected in immortality and be able to function the realm of the natural and eternal (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Just like Jesus, after the resurrection, was able to walk through doors and walls and still eat fish, so shall our resurrected bodies. So because God is not dead, His image cannot be our flesh, it can only be our spirit. 2. Likeness (Genesis 1:26) Genesis sums up the likeness of God and who we should be like when we are a son of God. We should be like God so we should have His Spirit (Holy Spirit). If you do not have God’s Spirit then you are not a son of God. We are to have dominion. Now there is more to the character of God than dominion but this is the most suppressed attribute because it is least understood. Dominion is the power and authority given to an individual to administrate or control an area. This lines up perfectly with what God gave us dominion over. He gave us dominion over Earth. If that is the case, then we have a problem because we let the world tell us what to do, instead of impacting the world with the dominion power given to us through the Holy Spirit. God wants His children to be just like Him, dominating a territory. So we looked at the image and the likeness of the sons of God so question still remains: If God is the Father of the sons and the sons are made of flesh, which will die, and God is not dead, then what is God the Father of? God is the Father of our spirits (Hebrews 12:9). So what that means is many people have misinterpreted Galatians 3:26-28. By this scripture which lines up perfectly with Hebrews 12:9 then the sons of God are all of the children which have the Spirit of adoption (Holy Spirit) given by Jesus to confirm they are children of God. God’s spirit has no race, ethnicity nor gender. So anyone who is a born again believer and Kingdom citizen are all brothers and sisters in Christ and sons of God. Our sonship is not measured by the flesh, but by the Spirit. God did not give you the Holy Ghost to make you better, He did it to confirm you as His own child and show your worth to the world. There is no amount of works you can do to get into the Kingdom of God and the family of God. Works do not do it, but only upon a confession of faith (Romans 10:9), reception of the Holy Spirit, and baptism by Jesus into the body Christ can one be called a son of God. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

God's Covenant With Himself

Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: God’s Covenant with Himself Scripture: Matthew 24:35; Hebrews 6:16-18; Greetings Kingdom Citizens In order to understand sonship, we have to know where it comes from and what is the foundation of sonship. In this message we will look at the foundation and understand where our sonship comes from. The first thing we must establish is that God’s words are true. They are absolute and not relative. You can count on everything God is saying to be true and will come to past. Let’s look at how sure we can be about God’s words. Read Matthew 24:35. Now here are some sure facts that we know: 1. The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the World (Revelation 13:8) 2. Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father (John 3:16) So based on those two facts we see a Father-Son relationship and we know that our salvation was secured before the world was even formed. But how sure are we of this? How can we be sure that we are the sons of God and we are saved? This is secured in the Words of God Himself. God knew that the being He was making was going to sin. No doubt. So, he secured His salvation and his ability to be saved through the sacrifice of the Lamb in Heaven. But what tends to be left out, is God wants man to make a choice and freely come into the family of God. God gave Him free will. It is one of the great aspects of God to show the demonic that He can love His children despite their short-falls and they will freely come to Him seeking to be a son and worship Him freely. But In order to do all of this, God made a covenant with Himself. To prove, let’s go Hebrews 6:16-18. If God makes a promise to Himself, you know it is kept because God does not lie. The hope that we have secures us and anchors our soul to that covenant of being the sons of God (Hebrews 6:19). So God enacted the covenant, the Father with the Son, before he created mankind. Can you believe that, before Adam all of this was happening just so that when you were born into this world, you would have the opportunity freely to come back home and be adopted into the family of God (Romans 8:15). What a mighty God we serve. God knows the end from the beginning because He is the Alpha and Omega. He knows what your spirit desires and longs for. Here is a true revelation about the lost: Every person who is not a citizen of the Kingdom or son of God is looking for the Kingdom of God. They are searching for power and the ability to control their lives. This is exactly what the Kingdom of God does for the unbeliever. This is why you should not preach nothing else to a unconverted soul but the Kingdom of God. God being all powerful knows your spirit and what their spirit is looking for power. It is natural inside every human being. They are also looking for control. The Kingdom gives them the authority and power to control their circumstances. This is why the Kingdom of God is so important and needed today in the world, because the lost is looking for the power in government and it has lead to wars, death and destruction. We as Kingdom citizens have to trust God’s word and stay anchored to the hope of knowing we as Kingdom citizens, are sons of God and we know we are saved because our salvation was secured before we were even placed here. It was secured by a covenant that God made with Himself and because we know God is no lie that we can rest assure that we are who God says we are. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

New Teaching Series: Understanding Sonship: The Lamb Before the Foundation of the World

Series Focus: Understanding Sonship Today’s Focus: The Lamb Before the Foundation of the World Scripture: Revelation 3:18; John 1:1-14; John 3:16; Hebrews 6:16-20; Matthew 24:35 Greetings Kingdom Citizens Now we know Jesus as the only Begotten Son of the Father. We also know Jesus as being the Son of God. So what makes us sons of God? I know we hear the phrase used but many do not know what makes us scripturally, sons of God? This is what we plan to look at throughout this series to understand how we are called the sons of God. So let us get a great foundation and pray for revelation on this important issue of the Kingdom. Now, Jesus was here before the foundation of the world. I know that is a large statement. Because some denominations believe the Jesus did not show up until the New Testament and that is farther from the truth. Now to prove this we must be scripturally sound. Let’s read Revelation 13:8! Here we see reference to the book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the World. Now let’s break this down a get some understanding. First, the Lamb! Who is the Lamb? Let’s look at John1:29. John the Baptist made this declaration to the people upon the arrival of Jesus. He called Jesus the Lamb of God, which taketh the away the sin of the world. Now we looked at this scripture to see that Jesus was the perfect sacrificial Lamb for mankind’s sins. No animal can take away the sins of the world according to Hebrew 10:3,4. So, Jesus is referred to as the Lamb of God. But now we have a dilemma! If Jesus is the Lamb of God and he died on the cross for our sins then why was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world? Now first you have to realize that you have 2 two situations happening but all for the same purpose. One sacrifice happens in the realm of space and time (natural and seen world) and the other happens in the eternal realm. But let’s look at the first sacrifice. Why was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, if the Lamb was going to come into the world and die on the cross for our sins? Well we have to remember that God being Father, Son and Holy Ghost all in one is the Alpha and Omega. So He knows the end from the beginning and God knew before He created Adam that mankind would sin against Him. So God made a covenant with Himself. A covenant is the promise of God’s grace and goodness extended to man. The covenant can be found in Hebrews 6:16-20. Now what is unique the first covenant could not be made with man because the Lamb as slain before the world so who did God make the covenant with? Himself. He makes a covenant to have sons and whoever becomes a son of God has a promise that is unmovable as the Word of God. Look at this! In Hebrews 6:17 confirmed it by an oath with Himself to have heirs. This is why God does not want you taking oaths, especially in these sororities, fraternities and secret societies because he knows you can’t keep them. But when God makes an oath, He keeps it. Matthew 24:35 states it best: “Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will never pass.” So the Lamb (Jesus) was slain before the foundations of the world as a promise of the redemption of mankind back to the Father to be sons of God. Now we know whatever happens in Heaven it also has to happen on Earth. Is there no coincidence that Jesus came to Earth to restore mankind back to sonship with God as Father. See this is why we have to stop making our message end at the cross. Because if it had stopped at the cross then the work is undone but it was not until Jesus gave mankind the Holy Spirit again and made them a new creature so that sonship is restored. Look at John 1. John 1:1-3 talks about the beginning and the how creation was made by God. Now let’s skip to verse 10. He was in the world. Who? Jesus! And the world was made by Him (Jesus) and the world knew Him not. He (Jesus) came unto his own (children and brethren) and his own received Him not. But as many as received him (Jesus) to them gave he (Jesus) power (Holy Spirit) to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. This set of scriptures lay out the foundation of how sonship is received. But it was only done by John 3:16. So just as the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world in the eternal realm, the same Lamb was slain on the cross and the blood was shed for the remission of sins in the natural realm. God made a covenant with Himself to have sons and ensure that every person has the ability to come back in fellowship with the family of God and receive their sonship rights. In the next message we will look at the crucifixion and what it means as it relates to Sonship. At Our Father’s Service, Elder Calvin Calhoun, Jr.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Promise of Sons

The Institution vs. The Apostolic Today’s Focus: The Promise of Sons Scripture: Haggai 2:9; Isaiah 49:22,23; 60:1-4 Greetings Sons of God: Haggai 2:9: The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace saith the Lord of hosts. Now it is clear and evident by the Lord that the glory of the House of God will be greater than that of the former house. We know the House of God is the sons of God and the Lord said in His family, His House there will be peace. Do we see the vital emphasis on understanding your sonship. Let’s examine some scriptures and see if further: Isaiah 49:22-23: Thus saith the Lord God, behold I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shallbe carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Isaiah 60:1-4: Arise shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And he Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. The Lord has promised that it is sons that His glory shall inhabit. It is the sons of God that shall have dominion and inherit the earth. It is not the institutional church that the glory of God will inhabit but the House of God. It is time to shift! It is time to evaluate where you are and whether you are really growing. You do not just want to play the harp for Saul but you desire to be restored to dominion and to the House of your Father. The time is now and the season is the season for the anointing of Sonship. Peace, Love and Grace from the Father, Calvin Calhoun, Jr.