In whatsoever scenario we wish to consider on a personal basis, the main point is for you to treat each monthly newsletter as my personal contact with you, and it is never meant to be another “mass produced document.” Each issue that is mailed to you, or posted on my website, is like my personal interaction with you; over coffee, tea, or relaxing in your living room. This means that you are never out of my thoughts and prayers, and you are never neglected or forgotten all year long. This is my personal contact and conversation with you on a monthly basis. Thank you and be blessed! Bro. Kennedy.

As we continue this study, we are going to examine the true meaning of being “IN CHRIST.” We have already observed the saying, that we were chosen IN CHRIST before the world began. This term has a greater meaning than being saved, having received the Holy Ghost and has been ordained to the ministry. As we turn to another of Paul’s letters we read: “For we are his workmanship, (or his handiwork) created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before (that is before the foundation of the world) ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. We are given an orderly and deliberate outline of God’s plan for salvation as we are involved, before time began.

I like to emphasize this part of redemption since such a large percentage of Christians and their ministers take issue with the concept of God dealing with us, to the point of ordaining us to the ministry before we were born. It seems to me that at large, the ministry with which we are familiar is content to accept the childhood calling of Jeremiah, but by the same token prefers to brand it “an exception to the rule, and not the rule itself –much like an anomaly. In this chapter of our study, we are going to fix our thoughts and minds to consider the term “in Christ.” The general accepted term or understanding of the term means to be in Christ by the Holy Ghost in the transaction of the new birth.

Much of that concept is correct: but our purpose in this case, is to look at the practical application of the term and how it is figured substantially in our position in Christ and how that relates to us being in the family of Christ in the most profound way. For years, in sermons from the pulpit I have emphasized the fact that if we were created IN CHRIST as noted in Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship (his handiwork) created IN CHRIST JESUS unto good works, which God hath before (before the worlds began) ordained that we should walk in them.”

My belief is that whenever Jesus Christ came into being, we came into being also. And him being the Word, who was with God and was God, we came along in the true vein of the divine order. We can say that if any man be “IN CHRIST” he is a new creation. We can also say that the law of the Spirit of life “IN CHRIST JESUS” hath made me free from the law of sin and death. These are all truth that is undergirded and substantiated by scripture without argument or controversies. But in this chapter of our study, I want to introduce you to a concept that must have been overlooked, ignored, or thought of as being miniscule truth, to which we can refer in passing. However, we intend to bring this term to the top of the list, because of its dire importance to the whole concept of our salvation, and our redemptive place in the family of Jesus Christ.

The enormity of the process of us being created IN CHRIST JESUS causes us to reevaluate the personage of the Christ before time began. “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1,2. Thus. linking this truth to the truth in Ephesians 2:10; that we are God’s workmanship created IN CHRIST JESUS, means that we were created IN GOD (For the Word was God.) This means, in all practical terms that we were not an “after thought” on God’s part. It is not like baking a cake or bread and toward the end of the process there is a small amount of mixture left over: and instead of throwing it out, you decide to make something else that was not intended in the first place.

          David puts that notion to rest or to flight in his assessment of his very being—of whom he really is. We said this before, but it is worth repeating! “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works and the my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect (being undeveloped) and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:14-16. David added: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels or lower than el-o-heem or a little lower than the gods. Paul added this thought: “As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” (or next of kin, like your own son or daughter) Acts 17:28. From before the foundation of the world, God had already determined to replicate himself in us (the work of is hands) thus ensuring that his witnesses will be true, not only in what they say, but who they are: the embodiment of himself.

As we become part of his body, we are told that we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. Ephesians 5:30 Let us take a sort of side trip to investigate a truth that, for the most part, has remained obscured by all the abundance of other Christian doctrines. This concept is totally “spiritual” but to glean its proper effects and place ourselves within the confines of its truth, we must be practical in our understanding of the ramifications that are hereby engaged. We are told in Hebrews 7: 9,10: “And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father (his great grandfather) when Melchisedec met him.”

Levi the great grandson of Abraham, and the writer of Hebrews returned to the scene back in about B.C.1913, when Abraham, on his way back from the slaughter of the kings in which he rescued Lot. In the process, we read: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed by the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.” Genesis 14: 18-20. The writer of the Hebrews, rehearsing the story that happened almost 1913 years earlier, said that on that day, when Abram paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi did too; because he was in the loins of his great grand father when the incident happened.

          This is not a mere philosophical exercise that is able to generate a haughty debate. Like we said earlier, this is a highly spiritual scenario, but it can only benefit us to the maximum when understood in a practical manner. In other words, Levi was really in the loins of Abram when he paid tithes to Melchizedek: and by that dynamic connection, Levi paid tithes hundreds of years before he was born—and that is not mere fiction. But what if we carry that important concept forward in time, and apply it to the New Testament Church? As we just observed, although spoken in simple terms, its profound realities were carried forward to the time of the writing of the Book of Hebrews. Although almost a thousand years had elapsed, the reality and essence of the marvelous connection between Abraham and his great grandson followed a silver cord of redemption that enveloped the New Testament Church.

For instance, here is what we are told by the Apostle Paul in one of his personal letters to the Ephesian churches. Please pay attention to the term “in Christ” since it connects with Levi being “in the loins of his father—great grand father, when he paid tithes to Melchizedek. Paul explained: “for we are his workmanship  (or his handiwork) created (or fashioned) in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before (that is before the foundation of the world) ordained that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10. Based upon this biblical truth, since we are God’s handiwork created IN CHRIST JESUS, we cam seriously and honestly conclude that when Jesus Christ came into being, WE CAME INTO BEING ALSO—IN HIM.

By saying this, we are not “Flying in God’s face.” We are by no means taking liberty and elevating ourselves to a plateau on which we don’t belong. I like to follow up with another supporting scripture, that only serves to bolster the truth that we are now discussing. Paul, writing to his son in the gospel, Timothy, shared this thought, speaking of the power of God: “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace , which was given us IN CHRIST JESUS (there is that term again—(IN CHRIST) BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN. 2nd Timothy 1:9. Let us bring harmony to our study in equating one event with another to document the same truth.

We have already learned that Levi was in the loins of Abraham when the latter paid tithes. We have also shown from the chronology of scripture, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and before time began, we were God’s workmanship or handiwork in Christ before the world began. Notice the ongoing theme where we are concerned, that we did not show up unannounced with no specific purpose in the global scheme of things where God is concerned.

It is God who opened the door for us to see how he worked by calling and ordaining a child to be a prophet to the nations “before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5. I remember a certain minister I met and fellowshipped with some years ago, in south Florida, who strongly objected to the idea that we existed with God before we were born. But in the case of the child Jeremiah, God was not simply thinking about him, and planning that one day, after he is born, he would ordain him to be a prophet. That was done before the child was born, and God knew him as a real person.

 Paul was well versed and well informed in that concept, and he put it on paper for us to read today, almost 2,000 years sine the apostle wrote. He explained it this way (and we have gone over these scriptures many months hence, but it is worthwhile doing it again) “For whom he did foreknow, (that means knowing before they were born) he also did predestinate (or predetermined) to be conformed (made like, fashioned after) to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; or the firstborn among a family of many brothers.

The process is explained by the apostle ever further for clarity and perfect understanding. God did not stop at the process of predestination before birth—he went even further in producing the caliber of people that he foreknew before time began. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Romans 8:29,30. It is evident and underscored in scripture that our natural birth and our salvation were orchestrated by God himself, before he said: “Let there be light.” Not one single iota in any minute fashion was left to chance, with the hope that one day, if the stars are aligned with the sun and moon in their proper order, it would work out alright.

God offers a personal testimony on his own behalf, saying: “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” Isaiah 46:9,10.  Let us apply a New Testament truth that can serve in like manner. Paul insisted: “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Ephesians 5:30. Many people, even among prominent members of the clergy say that the church is the mystical body of Christ. I do not subscribe to that concept whole heartedly, for on the Damascus Road, the risen Christ told Saul of Tarsus that it is he (the risen Christ) that he, Saul was persecuting even though he was persecuting Christians. Yes! So, it was! Jesus was saying the people you are persecuting constitute my body. THEY ARE ME! THEY ARE NOW MY BODY!!

Can you get a hold on that? Christ became embodied in his disciples, and that made them exactly like him. In fact, Paul reasoned the truth this way: “For we are members of his body, (not referring to membership at our local Assembly) of his flesh, and of his bones.” Ephesians 5:30. “For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body¸being many, are one body: so also is Christ.” This is not my own concoction! If we understand what we read, we should have no difficulty making the proper and correct connections. Paul was so understanding and accepting of the concept that he reckoned to have died with Christ on the cross. Listen to his public comment and testimony of the truth. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

 The truth of being in the loins of our ancestors and in the loins of Jesus Christ, was so significant and well established in the structure and mindset of the early apostles, that Peter used the concept as a major part of his sermon on the day of Pentecost. Listen to Peter’s orator ship in this major sermon that would begin the age and prominence of the “Apostolic Church.” He began this way! “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Jesus (from the dead) to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection (not the second coming) of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” Acts 2:29-31. Thus, we can see how important the concept of being in the loins of Jesus Christ really is. This brings us back to one of our favorite scriptures that underscore the concept of the importance of our oneness with Christ. “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he in not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”  Hebrews 2:11. BE BLESSED MY FRIENDS!!