AN OUTREACH OF IOM AMERICA | INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF EXCHANGED LIFE
November 12, 2014 - In This Issue:
INFORMATION ON JIM FOWLER

Jim Fowler has been a pastor at the Neighborhood Church in Fallbrook, California for the last twenty-three years. His wife, Gracie, and their five children (Philip, Charis, Kirsten, Sarah and Sandi) have been very supportive in Jim's teaching, preaching, and writing ministries.

Jim's educational background includes Manhattan Christian College, Friends University, New College-University of Edinburgh, Bethel Theological Seminary, Palomar College, and Jubilee Theological Institute.

In recent years, Jim has spent much of his time writing, as can be viewed within the resources of his website. He is currently researching and writing several other articles and books.

 Feel free to contact him at jimfowler@christinyou.net 

 
Practical Studies
"The purpose of Jesus' incarnational advent and His ministry here on earth as a man was not to establish a new religion, nor to inculcate a new teaching, nor to lay down a new morality system. Jesus came to bring Himself, the presence and dynamic of His own divine being, expressed in the humanity of one perfect man, so that He might be expressed as divine, eternal life in the humanity of all men. The gospel that Jesus brought was entirely Christocentric. There is no message of "good news" apart from the ontological reality of the very Being of God in Jesus Christ who is the essence of Christianity. Christianity is Christ!" - Jim

 Learn More About Jim's Studies:
"This book details the primary discussion of this year's World Grace Summit. I considered the discussion of "Dialectic Formatting" to be of the highest priority of dispelling Universalism in its attack on the true Church of Christ."  
"When Christians say the Christ-life is in them, they do not mean simply something mental or moral. When they speak of being "in Christ" or of Christ being "in them," this is not simply a way of saying that they are thinking about Christ or copying Him. They mean that Christ is actually operating through them..." ("Mere Christianity" Macmillan Publishing. 1978. pp.64-65). -C.S. Lewis

HISTORICAL CHRISTIAN BIBLES 
For over a decade now, Jim Fowler has been collecting Bibles for an exhibit that shows "The History of the Christian Scriptures." A new website has been developed to show featured items in this collection. View at www.fowlerbiblecollection.com.   
Spirit Union in Your Spiritual Life
By Jim Fowler

Spiritual Life   

 

The exchange that allows for "spirit-union" with Christ is an exchange from spiritual death to eternal spiritual life. This "eternal life" we receive in Jesus Christ is not some "thing" that we possess; rather, "eternal life" is a Person, Jesus Christ, with Whom we have spirit-union. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25); "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12). In 'spirit-union' with Christ we have "passed out of death into life" (1 John 3:14), for 'Christ lives in us' (Gal. 2:20), and "Christ is our life" (Col. 3:4). This spirit-union of eternal life in Christ is also a partaking of immortality. Immortality is not something we are waiting to participate in after physical death. 'God alone possesses immortality' (1 Tim. 6:16), but He has "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Tim. 1:10). Our spirits and souls are not essentially immortal as evangelical humanism indicates, but we derive immortality and eternal life from the presence of Jesus in "spirit-union."

 

Spiritual Light   

 

The Christian in "spirit-union" has exchanged darkness for light. The risen Lord Jesus told Saul that his mission was to convert people from darkness to light (Acts 26:18). To the Colossian Christians, Paul wrote, 'He (Jesus) delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son' (Col. 1:13). "Called out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9), Christians are "saints in Light" (Col. 1:12), "sons of light"n(1 Thess. 5:5), and "children of Light" (Eph. 5:8), for "the life was the Light of men" (John 1:4).

 

Spiritual Identity   

 

Spirit-union is such an integral and intimate union that the identity of the Christian is based on the presence of Jesus Christ. Spirit-union is an identity-union. The deepest sense of any person's identity is in the realm of the spirit. A Christian is a Christ-one, identified by the presence of Jesus Christ Who forms the basis of his/her identity. It is of utmost importance that a Christian understands their spiritual identity, accepting and affirming "who he/she is in Christ" - their derived spiritual identity based on their spirit-union with Christ. If we do not know who we are, then we will never be able to behave like Whom we've become.

 

Christians are "sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus"

(Gal. 3:26). We are ... Read Full Article
 

Permission obtained from writer to republish Spirit Union in Your Spiritual Life. Copyright � 2014 by James A. Fowler. Articles or portions of articles may be used only with written permission from James A. Fowler. Editorial changes by IOM America approved by author.

 

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, � Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

 

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright � 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

 

Parentheses within Bible verses are for clarity. 

 

Jim Fowler
P.O. Box 1822
Fallbrook, CA 92088-1822

e-mail address:

jimfowler@christinyou.net 



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