August 29, 2023
1 John 2:18-27 (NIV) Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is
coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.[a] I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
It’s very interesting when I read and pay attention to the chapter above that titled ANTICHRIST, there is one ‘feature’ that the author gives regarding the existence of the antichrist himself in the nineteenth verse. Look, THEY COME FROM AMONG US, BUT DO NOT REALLY REMAIN WITH US, BUT THEY STAY WITH US, BUT DO NOT REALLY BELONG WITH US. Let me try to simplify the sentence: They are people who physically want to be with us, but don’t carry the same spirit. It’s like oil trying to mix with water, they are together but can’t mix.
I firmly believe that God is rising the ministry of the body of Christ, which is a pattern of service that is not oriented towards individualistic life, but a joint movement to complete God’s agenda as one body. For this reason, we are taught and shaped by leader who brings divine patterns and build ourselves to be temples of His Holy Spirit.
Pay attention to the fact that there is an antichrist spirit behind many of the world’s teachings and philosophies that are being spread. If we are keen, we will find that what this world says is very conflicted to God’s truth. The example is very obvious, this world will continue to mold our minds to pursue personal success! That is the thinking of the antichrist that is contrary to the truth and God’s work plan, namely the ministry of the body of Christ.
If the spirit of antichrist or individualistic continues to embed in us, then we will find that there are people who ‘claim to be from’ among us, but they are not really with us, not even belong in us! They want to be together but don’t want to move together! Be aware, if we belong to that group of people, because it means that the spirit or mind of the antichrist have become our mind. That’s what is called CONFORMED TO THE WORLD and the only way is there must be RENEWAL OF THE MIND.
Romans 12:1-5 (NIV) Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
My prayer this morning is that the hearts of those who have been with us become thirsty and hungry for the word. So the corporate word that they receive can be followed up by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will make the renewal of the mind happens, from an individualist attitude (worldly mold) to a corporate mind as one body of Christ. The work of the Word and the Spirit (the anointing) will teach them how to merge and function as one body of Christ. There is no other way, if they want to be part of the body, then THAT ANOINTING (the work of the same word and Spirit) must enter and work on their lives. I also pray, let them willingly take off the mold of the world that they have been maintaining, so that they can present themselves as a living sacrifice to function as one body to accomplish God’s will!
Ps. Steven Agustinus
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