The Jesus MeetUp Jesus’ Original High Spiritual Concept Week 12
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN the BAPTIST!
Thank you, John, for your choice to serve Jesus and prepare all living in the land in your time here in the flesh with the clarion call that, “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” We honor you now as the Chief Executive Officer of The Four and Twenty along with Adam and Eve who watch over our world making careful decisions for our spiritual welfare. Much love to you John ~ your little brothers/sisters now living in your home-world, 606/Urantia!
John the Baptist birthday March 25.
135:0:1 [#4] “JOHN the Baptist was born March 25, 7 B.C., in accordance with the promise that Gabriel made to Elizabeth in June of the previous year. For five months Elizabeth kept secret Gabriel's visitation; and when she told her husband, Zacharias, he was greatly troubled and fully believed her narrative only after he had an unusual dream about six weeks before the birth of John. Excepting the visit of Gabriel to Elizabeth and the dream of Zacharias, there was nothing unusual or supernatural connected with the birth of John the Baptist.” ~ a Midwayer
So, we can confidently ascertain from this passage that when the occasion calls for it on our world angels can/do make visits to humans as we see here with Elizabeth, and of course Mary with Gabriel’s announcement of Jesus’ birth as well. This makes it quite easy to explain how our Urantia Book came to be also. These visitations, starting early in the 1900s were important and it was well over 100 celestial friends from all over the master universe who came to Jesus’ world to help us grow spiritually. They are all working for Jesus and our Father. [this study is week 52]
Our Revelators now tell us that…
170:5.19 Sooner or later another and greater John the Baptist is due to arise [ascend] proclaiming “the kingdom of God is at hand” — meaning a return to the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer — and doing all this without in any way referring either to the visible church on earth or to the anticipated second coming of Christ. There must come a revival of the actual teachings of Jesus, such a restatement as will undo the work of his early followers who went about to create a sociophilosophical [social groups of people just talking about truth or good advice] system of belief regarding the fact of Michael’s sojourn on earth [Christianity]. In a short time the teaching of this story about Jesus nearly supplanted the preaching OF Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom. In this way a historical religion [Paul’s religion] displaced that teaching in which Jesus had blended man’s highest moral ideas and spiritual ideals with man’s most sublime hope for the future - eternal life. And that was the gospel of the kingdom [Jesus’ True Religion].
Let’s do some definitions:
return: intransitive verb To go or come back, as to an earlier condition or place. To revert in speech or thought.
dominant: adj. Exercising the most power, control, or influence.
transcendent: adj. exceeding usual limits: surpassing: extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience or material existence [in other words >>> that which is spiritual]
The Latin verb scandere means "to climb", so transcend as Jesus is teaching us has the basic meaning of climbing so high within your heart/mind that you cross a boundary. A transcendent worship experience with Jesus and your Father is one that takes you to the outer boundaries of spiritual consciousness within your mind where your indwelling Thought Adjuster now lives. This is a REAL SPIRITUAL PLACE that can be experienced. Here you are dominated and convinced by His Spirit that you have a larger life or existence; in this sense, it means a "spiritual" existence, experience and capacity that can be enlarged with the direction and help of God Himself. Doubt not that He WILL help you. This is the original high spiritual concept that Jesus was talking about when He encouraged all of us to “seek first His righteousness” to “seek first the kingdom of God” within you. We are to return to this! Unfortunately, Peter changed this very gospel on the day of Pentecost to the mere material fact of “The risen Lord Jesus Christ and His Father” which went directly into a social project created by Paul [Christianity and the churches] rather than Jesus’ intention of the true religion OF God to and with the individual. We are here now to correct this.
Jesus’ original high spiritual concept
103:9.12 There is a reality in religious experience that is proportional to the spiritual content, and such a reality is transcendent [goes beyond] to reason, science, philosophy, wisdom, and all other human achievements. The convictions of such an experience are unassailable [undeniable]; the logic of religious living is incontrovertible [absolute]; the certainty of such knowledge as superhuman [beyond human power]; the satisfactions are superbly divine [spiritual insight], the courage indomitable [unshakable], the devotions unquestioning [without doubt], the loyalties supreme [highest level], and the destinies final [unalterable] — eternal, ultimate, and universal.
If you desire to know God as a friend/a Person then Jesus says you must WANT IT!
1:6.5 Some degree of moral affinity and spiritual harmony is essential to friendship between two persons [and know that GOD IS A PERSON]; a loving personality can hardly reveal himself to a loveless person. Even to approach the knowing of a divine personality, all of man's personality endowments must be wholly consecrated to the effort; halfhearted, partial devotion will be unavailing.
This original message of the high spiritual concept of Jesus, who proclaimed that the kingdom is the will of his heavenly Father dominant and transcendent in the heart of the believer, is not to be overthought or made difficult.
There are 6 simple steps to achieving this original gospel message
experience that Jesus taught:
1 ~ Possess wholehearted desire and devotion for true righteousness: Your Paradise Father!
2 ~ Make time in your schedule for this isolation of silent worshipful meditation and follow through.
3 ~ Balance your body with clean habits to provide stabilized mind energies (remove mental poisons).
4 ~ Prepare your mind with child-like faith, a thankful attitude and reflections that bring love to it.
5 ~ Hold your mind with patience in suspended, balanced and motionless poise and wait for Jesus and your indwelling Thought Adjuster/Paradise Father to work with and within you.
6 ~ When harmony of body, mind and spiritual Powers are lost repeat this process as many times as needed. We all will do this many, many times over as we slowly make spiritual progress.
Jesus says: Persistence!
144:2.3 “Prayer is the breath of the soul and should lead you to be persistent in your attempt to ascertain the Father’s will. If any one of you has a neighbor, and you go to him at midnight and say: ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has come to see me, and I have nothing to set before him’; and if your neighbor answers, ‘Trouble me not, for the door is now shut and the children and I are in bed; therefore I cannot rise and give you bread,’ you will persist, explaining that your friend hungers, and that you have no food to offer him. I say to you, though your neighbor will not rise and give you bread because he is your friend, yet because of your importunity [demand] he will get up and give you as many loaves as you need. If, then, persistence will win favors even from mortal man, how much more will your persistence in the spirit win the bread of life [spiritual nourishment] for you from the willing hands of the Father in heaven. Again I say to you: Ask and it shall be given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door of salvation [spiritual life] will be opened.” ~ Jesus
In the future we will offer the opportunity for the baptism experience for those who would like to make this public expression of their commitment to Jesus and our Paradise Father.
Please give to your leader any questions that you have so that we may address them in future meetings.
Now, is a good time for you all to pray The Lord’s Prayer together to formally close the meeting.
Please give The Lord’s Prayer sheet back to your leader so we may use them again and save on paper/ink.
Keep this teaching on Jesus’ High Spiritual Concept for your educational files
as our gift to you. ~ David
Next week we celebrate Week #13: In Truth He Has Risen
