"But I guarantee you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not resourced by man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." So Paul in Galatians indicates the source and content of the gospel he preached and taught. This revelation of Jesus Christ is what is preached and taught in this book, Give Me Christ.
The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians, "But what things were gain to me, those I reckoned loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I reckon all things loss for the excellency of the intimate knowing of Christ Jesus my Lord; for whom I have endured the loss of all things, and do reckon them as dung; that I may gain Christ." This is a revelation of that Christ, what God has revealed through the spirit of His son. The power and purpose of these revelations is to cause the reader, who spiritually hungers for more, to gain Christ.
After the spiritual birth takes place in the heart and life of a person, once they have first believed unto Jesus Christ, all that remains is to grow in an understanding of the reality of this new presence of God in their life; to become in reality what was birthed within; to mature into God's calling. This new spiritual reality, which did not and can not begin by our own efforts, also can not mature and develop by our own efforts. What is begun by God's own effort must continue by God's own effort, and that effort is accomplished only in Christ.
This singular pursuit of Christ, first revealed to the world by the apostle Paul, is continued in Give Me Christ, and is the first of three books with that same singular pursuit of Christ. Whether just beginning on the spiritual journey, in the midst of a more mature spiritual growth, or simply interested or intrigued by the possibilities offered by the Word of God, there is enough in this book to bring the reader into a closer relationship with God by gaining more of Christ.
There are thirty-two studies in this book, and they can be read, studied, meditated on either alone or in a small group. They can be read in order (and there is a rhyme and reason to their order) or out of order. The truths they reveal will be as rich and rewarding with their twentieth reading, perhaps even more so, as they will be with their first reading. These are studies rich with the revelation of Christ, and not meant for a one-time superficial reading. With an ongoing exposure to the revelation of the glorified Christ, the reader can grow up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
