We're all in this together. I think that's one of the most important truths that the majority of people seem to miss. Because all we seem to want to do is build walls. Draw lines in the sand. Make everything "us against them." Members Only club. And I understand where a lot of that comes from--it comes from a place of wanting to belong. Wanting to be accepted. Wanting to feel special. And what's more special than me being in when someone else is out? But what I've noticed is that people who feel this way tend to push people away. Because people who feel this way don't feel special. They feel as if they need to protect themselves. So while its backwards--isolating yourself because you want to be accepted... by pushing away the people that you think don't accept you--it seems pretty common. We sabotage oursleves and end up alone. That's no way to live though. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. And in order to love... you need something (someone) to love. In order to lay your life down for your friends... you need friends. Its not good for man to be alone, right? We are fitly framed together, we are builded together, and we grow together. Look at 1 Corinthians 3:9, "For we are labourers together wtih God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." And don't get stuck on that word "labourers." We're not talking about works and labor (which don't work). The phrase "labourers together with" is number 4904 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "a co-laborer, that is, coadjutor: - companion in labour, (fellow-) helper." Basically what Jesus was saying in John 14:12, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." We're not trying to live Jesus' life. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. We are experiencing His life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. We are doing the same works He did, and greater works, because He is working in us! We are co-laborers in the sense that He did the work but we get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. The fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. He literally laid His life down for His friends--for all of us--and now we can do the same thing, in a sense, by esteeming others higher than ourselves. By giving everything we have and everything we are even though it seems like the more we love the less we are loved. Instead of pulling back and isolating ourselves... we love anyway. Because its all about love. Its all about relationship. We are connected. Whether we believe it or not. Whether we want to be or not, in some cases. But its always better to love. No matter what. Because we are all in this together. One for all and all for one, as the three muskateers say. Measured through the chief cornerstone. Growing together into the temple that we are. God's husbandry. God's building. Builded Together.

Let's talk about the cornerstone today. Because, as any carpenter will tell you... that's the important one. That's the one that everything else is measured off of. Let me say it in another way, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). As He is, so are we in this world. We measure ourselves according the chief cornerstone. And not in the sense of "Look how perfect Jesus is, and look at how... not... I am." And I know that's how a lot of people see it. And that breaks my heart. Jesus is not a window into what could (or should) be. Jesus is the mirror in which we see how things really are. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus is our true identity. He is the inner man. The hidden man of the heart (who is no longer hidden when we let the love inside come out). We don't try to live Jesus' life--nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus--we simply let Him live His own life in us, and through us, and as us. So when we measure ourselves, we don't do it in the sense of "He's so holy and I'm such a dirty, rotten, sinner." We do it in the sense of, "By finding out who He really is, I find out who I really am." When you know who you are--who you really are, which is who you are in Christ, which is who Christ is in you--you can stop trying to be someone you're not. You can grow into the temple that you already are. Perfect doesn't mean you never mess up, like Mr. Perfect in old school pro wrasslin. Perfect means mature. Learning and growing in grace and love. Understanding that we are all fitly framed together, lined up from the same cornerstone. He was the firstborn among many brethren. Brethren that are the same as Him. Not necessarily in appearance, or in what we do... but in HOW we do it. Because God doesn't want robots. When we were conformed to the image of His Son, that didn't erase the things about us that make us... us. It simply put God's super on our natural to create something supernatural. I always use myself for an example. Because that way nobody gets their feelings hurt. And I'm a writer. Always have been. When I'm writing, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm doing what I'm meant to do. It just feels right. But before I knew who I really was, I wrote things that I called "popular fiction" and my grandma (lovingly, I hope) called "trash." It wasn't until I started writing about Jesus that things started to come together. Now I've published a whole grip of books. And while I'm not rich and famous, its still progress compared to half-finished manuscripts collecting dust. So I'm still ME, I just do what I do... in love. For love. With love. Because of love. I measure myself not AGAINST the chief cornerstone, but THROUGH the chief conerstone. I know who I am. And that allows me to stop trying to be someone I'm not. It allows me to grow up into who I am. Who I've always been. The maturation process is a PROCESS, right? The name itself says so. So let's cut ourselves some slack and work together--builded together--to come into the reality of who we are!

Let me quote my passage of Scripture again. Because I really want to pull some stuff out of it in this Rant series. Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." So much good stuff there. Continuing to kind of work backwards though, I want to hit the phrase "groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." And I want to start with 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Did you catch that? We ARE that temple of God. That's not something that needs to happen. That's something that already happened. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross He drew all men into Himself. He planted Himself in all men. Revelation 21:3 in the Message Bible says it like this, "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: "Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They're his people, he's their God." God moved into the house that the carpenter Jesus built. The house that you are. He moved in, and He's never moving out. He swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. He's right exactly where He wants to be. All throughout the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the cry of God's heart was for Him to be our God and for us to be His people. Now, through the cross, that's the way things are. The veil was rent from top to bottom, getting rid of any separation that could have possibly existed between God and man. God lives IN man. And we live in Him. But its something that we have to, in a sense, grow into. Remember when we talked about milk and honey? How milk is good for babies because it gives them strong healthy teeth and bones. Equips and empowers them to speak and stand because the milk is righteousness. And we ARE the righteousness of God. Even on our worst day. What you do doesn't define who you are. What you believe defines who you are. And what you do flows from what you believe. When we get our faith right--having faith in God--everything else reveals itself to be in Divine Order. So we ARE the temple, right now, but we are also growing into that holy temple. WE. Together. It is not good that man should be alone. We're all in this together. We need each other. That's relationship. And I'm not talking about using each other to get what we want, anything like that. I'm talking about esteeming each other higher than ourselves. Giving ourselves to each other. Laying our lives down for our friends. Giving everything we have and everything we are to God... by giving everything we have and everything we are to each other! Loving God by loving each other. Fitting together as we understand that we are builded together. Growing together. Learning together. Living together. Loving together!

Jesus was a carpenter, right? I think that's important. Because out of all of the professions in the world... our Lord and Savior was someone who built things. We think of God as an angry, distant diety sitting on a cloud waiting to strike us down. But that's the opposite of reality. Because in reality, all He has ever wanted to do is build us up. Show us who we really are--by showing us who HE really is--so that we can stop trying to be someone we're not and BE who we really are. Who we really are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. Now watch this, because this is my focus for the next few days: We are the house that Jesus built for Himself to live in. Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." I know there's a lot there, but we're going to unpack it. And I want to start at the end and work my way to the beginning. The word "habitation" is number 2732 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "A dwelling place." To me this connects directly to 1 John 4:16, "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." We are the house that God lives in. The house that LOVE lives in. You can't live without loving because they are the same thing. You can't dwell in God without dwelling in love because they are the same thing. But the key is not US trying to dwell in HIM. The key is understanding that HE dwells in us. We love because He first loved us. You can't give what you don't have, right? So God had to first give us love if He wanted us to be able to give Him love (by giving love to each other). God has never expected anything from us that He didn't first supply. He wanted a house to live in... so He built one. And you're looking at it when you look in the mirror. When you look at your neighbor. One more memory verse to build the foundation of this Rant series: "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit" (1 John 4:13). That whole passage in 1 John 4 is worth a read, but I want to really hit home the fact that we live in Him... because He lives in us. In Him we live and move and have our being. And the reverse of that is also true. In US He lives and moves and has HIS being. There is no separation between us and God. No separation between us and love. As He is, so are we in this world. As LOVE is, so are we in this world. Love lives inside us. And He comes out of us as we know and believe that He's in there. As we let Him love us. We are His house. He built us (together... all of us) to HIS specifications. Getting rid of things that didn't belong, or didn't fit, so that we might be fitly framed together. But, again, I plan on getting into all of this. So stay tuned!

The thing we seem to miss about what Jesus said in John 11:25, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" is the part after "and." The part where Jesus said, "I am the resurrection AND the life." He wasn't talking about afterlife. He wasn't talking about life after death. Well, in one sense He was. He was talking about the new life that came after the second death. The death OF death. Which took place on the cross, when Jesus defeated death by dying, and being buried, and rising again. So, I guess, if you want to look at it that way, this IS the afterlife. The days of heaven ON earth. Heaven isn't just where you go when you die. Heaven is where you went when Jesus died. Because His death was our death. And now His life--His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love--is our life. We experience it by letting Jesus live His own life--because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus--in us, and through us, and as us. Its not us trying to be like Jesus. Its Jesus showing us who we really are, by showing us who HE really is (one more time) in us, and through us, and as us. Jesus being Jesus in us is how we be who we really are. Because who we really are is who we are in Christ. And who we are in Christ is who Christ is in us. Jesus is God in the flesh, love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's what it means to be who we really are--to do what we do in love. Because of love. When people ask me for help making decisions I always default to: Do what is in your heart to do. Let love lead the way. The Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, right? And the Word is Jesus. The Word is love. If we can stop waiting for a resurrection and understand that we have already BEEN resurrected--quickened, brought back to life--then we can start to enjoy the gift of life that we've been given. The gift of love that we've been given. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other because they aren't just connected... they are the same thing. Coming back to life (after being dead in our trespasses and sins before the cross) means coming back to love. That return to the Spiritual truth. The ultimate truth of the universe that says, "God is love and He loves you." And because He is love, because He loves you... you can love. You can love Him back by loving those people that you come into contact with. You can live a life of love when you know and believe that you are loved. You can give what you've got when you know what you've got. What's inside--or, more accurately, what you BELIEVE is inside--WILL come out. So when you know and believe that love is inside... love will come out. The old song says, "What you got if you ain't got love? The kind that you just want to give away." Because that's what love is: Love is giving. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Giving what you've got. Sharing it. And in that way experiencing it. Experiencing life. Living. Now. Today. Because of the resurrection that occured 2,000 years ago!

Here's what we're talking about: Resurrection. Number 386 in Strong's Greek Concordance. "A standing up again, that is, (literally) a resurrection from death, or (figuratively) a (moral) recovery (of spiritual truth)." I love that. Because THE Spiritual truth--the ultimate truth of the universe--is that God is love and He loves you. Love is what picks us up when we stumble and fall. It is through love, because of love, by love, that we CAN stand up again. We've probably all heard Proverbs 24:16, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." But the thing I want to say about it is... love is what makes the just man just. We fall down, and love lifts us up. And, I believe, eventually we will understand what Jude 1:24 is talking about, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." We will break the cycle of falling and getting up, falling and getting up, falling and getting up... and we will let God--let LOVE--HOLD us up. Because when God--when LOVE--is holding you up, nothing can drag you down. You will truly be able to see all things under your feet, and operate in that truth. You'll be able to get over it, if I can say it another way. Walk in newness of life. Stand firm against whatever comes you way. Because we WILL go through stuff, but we don't have to let stuff go through us. We don't have to let stuff wreck us. We don't have to listen to the lie that the world shouts at the top of its lungs; not when we know the truth. When you know the truth you can ignore the lie. When you know you're alive--because you know and believe that you are loved by God, and you love Him back by loving others with that same love--you can stop acting like you're dead. Stop acting like you're on the "highway to hell." But I think we desperately need this moral recovery of the Spiritual Truth. You can't believe what you don't know. So even though the resurrection IS in your past--it happened 2,000 years ago on the cross, and really it happened before anything else happened because the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world--if you don't know that it happened you'll keep on acting like it hasn't happened. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God. The Word. Which is Jesus. Which is love. That's what we stand up for. Love. That's what we stand up in. Love. Its all about love. Before the cross we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Because of the cross we are alive. Our sins have been forgiven, and forgotten, and washed away. They can't hold us back any more... if we don't let them. If we lay aside the sin and the weight that so easily besets us. It doesn't have to trip us up anymore. That old man is dead. A New Man has come forth. Come forth to live a life of love. To experience Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives His own life of love--loving others... giving away what He's got--in us, and through us, and as us. Letting the love inside come out by knowing and believing its in there. Standing up and loving people no matter what because we know the truth. Not laying in a grave as if dead, but walking... living... by faith. Faith in God. Faith in love!

All I want to say in this Rant series (and all I think I've been saying) is that the resurrection is not in your future. Its in your past. Eternal life doesn't start when you die. It has always been and will always be. And we jump into this river of living water (so to speak) through the waters of baptism. But lets really take a minute and define what we're talking about here. Because I think you all know by now that I don't believe in a cosmic elevator that either takes you up (if you've been good) or down (if you've been bad). I don't believe the God who IS love subjects the people He created TO love to eternal torment. I think LIFE is more important than afterlife. Jesus said it in John 10:10, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Jesus came that we might have LIFE. Not an afterlife. And, again, I'm not trying to take anything away from anybody. I believe that absent from the body is present with the Lord. Beyond that, I'm not too concerned with what happens when my body dies. I know its a change. I don't need to know into what. I think we have this life, and we shouldn't waste it robbing ourselves of the gift we've been given. We shouldn't wait for--or, worse, work for--something that has already happened. We know that we HAVE passed from death into life because we love our brothers (and sisters, and mothers, and fathers, and friends). Love is the difference between death and life. When you know (and believe) that you are loved... you can love. And that means you can live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. See, before the cross we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were trying to earn something that can't be earned. Earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. But you can't earn a gift. Jesus is the bread of life, and He gave Himself to us. Freely. Willingly. So instead of trying to earn, we need to learn to receive. Receive and release. Receive BY releasing. Release by receiving. We need to stop sleep walking. Stop acting like we're dead, and just waiting for life to come. Life came! God gave us His life when He gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus gave us His life when He laid it down on the cross and then took it back up again. When He wrapped us up in Himself. He drew us into Himself when He was lifted up on the cross. And now we're in Him because He's in us. He LIVES in us. And through us. And as us. We can experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it. Because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. But if we will be still and know that HE is God... then we can experience His life. We can experience the gift we've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. Sharing our lives. Sharing our love. One more time: Receiving it and releasing it. Love IS giving, right? So you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. That's what the resurrection did--it put us in a position where we could live and love. Live BY loving. It put us in a position where we can stop trying to be someone we're not in order to get something we think we haven't got... and we can just be who we are. Who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us!

The resurrection is not in your future. Its in your past. Jesus didn't say, "I will be the resurrection in the last day." "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). And that's the truth that I want to hit today--though he were dead, yet shall he live. I think its so important that we understand the difference that the cross made. My mom says it like this, "Either the cross changed everything or it didn't change anything." So let ME say it as strongly as I can: Before the cross we were dead. Because of the cross we are alive. Look at Ephesians 2:1, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." That right there is the trick. As long as you think you're dead--remember I said the other day how much it breaks my heart when people talk about how "I'm going to hell anyway, so what does it matter?"--as long as you think you're dead you're going to act like a dead man. You're going to walk according to the course of this WORLD. But when you know that you have been quickened--resurrected--then you can walk in newness of life. You can experience the days of heaven on earth. I said it yesterday: Heaven is not just where you go when you die. Heaven is where you went when Jesus died. When He rose again both in us and as you. Its not in your future. Its in your past. And you HATH (past tense) He quickened. I wrote a book called Six Steps to the Throne, detailing what happened on the cross. Jesus (and us in Him) was crucified, died, buried, quickened, raised, and seated. Now He (and us in Him) sits at the right hand of the Father. A memory verse I quote a lot is 1 John 4:17, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." But in order to BE as He is, we need to KNOW HIM as He is. That's why He came in the same flesh that we have. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in our flesh. Love in our body. He didn't come to show us some faraway, angry, vengeful God, sitting on a cloud somewhere waiting to strike us down when we messed up. He came as a human. With love in His heart. That's how He showed us who God is. That's how He showed us who we are. Men and women... with love in our hearts. And when we know and believe that it (HE) is in there... it (HE) comes out. Naturally. We stop walking according to the world... and start walking by faith. We stop trying to fit in, and we let what's inside come out! We stop waiting for a resurrection, and we rise up and walk. Like the lame man who looked at Peter hoping for a handout... and Peter told him to rise up and walk. He was convinced that he was lame. But he just needed to hear the good news in order to be who he really was. To do what he was truly capable of doing. We are capable of so much more than we think we are. But we're waiting for God to move. He moved on the cross! Now WE can move. Now we can love. Now we can live!

Now, before we even get started with this Rant series I'm going to put out a disclaimer: I'm not going to say everything there is to say about the resurrection in five daily Jesus Rants. I think a preacher could probably preach his whole life on the resurrection and barely scratch the surface. So having said that, I DO want to focus on one very important aspect of the resurrection: Its not in our future, its in our past. Look at John 11:23-25, "Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." And this is what I've been trying to say for it feels like a long time. Before the cross we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Through the cross we were quickened. Brought to life. And not just any life, but Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. And I say the cross, 2000 years ago, but in reality the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. The cross was simply the manifestation of what had always been true. The same concept of our heart being awake even when we were asleep. See, Martha had the mindset that a lot of religious folk have: "It'll all be good in the hood on some glad morning when Jesus comes back." The resurrection at the last day. That's the "glorious hope" that a lot of people hang onto. And, to be sure, I don't want to take that away from anybody. I just want to say... what you're waiting for has already happened. Martha was waiting for Jesus... while talking to Jesus! Because Jesus didn't say, "I WILL be the resurrection in the last day." He said, "I AM the resurrection. Right now. I'm literally about to go resurrect somebody! And then, through the cross, I'm going to resurrect EVERYBODY!" He said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die" (John 12:32-33). When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He drew us all into Himself. He planted Himself in us all. When He died... we died. So that when He rose again (the resurrection), WE rose again! He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave His life TO us. He said, "I am the resurrection AND the life!" Can I just say it? Jesus didn't come to give us an "afterlife." He came that we might have LIFE, and that more abundantly. And, again, I'm not trying to take anything away from anybody. I'm just trying to show you that heaven isn't only a place where you go when you die. Its where you WENT when Jesus died. Its where you're AT right now. The days of heaven on earth, right? That's not something to wait for. Or hope for. Or try to earn. That's soemthing to experience RIGHT NOW. The resurrection took place. We have been resurrected. We don't have to wait for life to end for eternal life to start. Think about it. Eternal life has always been, and will always be. It doesn't end... or start. It simply is. And we simply are... a part of it. It is us experiencing that abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love as Jesus lives it in us, and through us, and as us!

"Waketh" appears two times in the King James Version of the Bible. We used one of them, Song of Solomon 5:2, as our key verse for this Rant series. "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." So to end this Rant series we'll use the other one. Psalm 127:1, "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." And that's the whole point of the whole thing: Jesus came to wake us from sleep. Its not what WE do, its what HE does in us, and through us, and as us. Unless God--unless LOVE--is involved, all is vanity. And that's what He woke us up to--Himself. Love. No matter what WE do, unless we let HIM do it (one more time) in us, and through us, and as us... its no good. We don't try to live Jesus' life. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. Our true identity is who we are in Christ. Who Christ is in us. That's what our heart knew, even when we were asleep. The deep calls out to the deep. Real recognizes real. The light in me responds to the light in you. The LOVE in me responds to the LOVE in you! That's what it means to get woke. That's what it means to awake to righteousness and sin not. It doesn't mean we have to sin not in order to awake to righteousness. That's backwards. WHEN we awake to righteousness we WILL sin not. And not by trying really hard to be good either. We will do it naturally. When we understand our true nature--the love nature--everything we do will flow from that. Labor and works (which don't work) will be taken out of the equation, and we will flow in the living water of God. The living water of love! So here's what I'm trying to say: Its all love. Its all Jesus. HE came to wake us up. To rouse us from sleep. To bring us out of death and into life. And the difference between life and death... is love. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love each other. Love is the proof of life. But when you're just going through the motions--or worse yet, chasing it... trying to earn it--you miss it. And sometimes you've settled for so much less that you don't even realize what's missing. You don't even realize what's available to you. There's a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. So don't try to build the house by yourself. Let the Carpenter build it (and, as always, I know carpenters build furniture, but its a still a pretty good turn of phrase). Don't try to keep watch without letting the Lord keep the city. Do whatever you do because its in your heart to do it. Because love made you do it. Do whatever you do because you're resting, and letting Jesus do whatever HE wants to do. Wake up to who you really are, and stop trying to be someone you're not. Generally speaking, when you're awake, the light is shining. The light of the world. Which is Jesus. Which is love. Which is YOU!