“AWESOME JOURNEY OF FAITH & OBEDIENCE, AWESOME SCRIPTURES, AWESOME OPPORTUNITIES!”
By:J.Farrell Fisher, June 19-21, 2018
The “Living Word”, IN AND THROUGH Christ Jesus, never fades or grows old or uninteresting or uninviting , but actually every new day of coming to the Throne of the “Living Word”, enlarges its understanding while maturing it’s hungry disciple, expands one’s horizon of spiritual-hunger resolved, and advances one’s calling and mission as they “lean not to their own understanding, but are willing to obey, adopt, and adapt” as they appropriate the ‘meat’, the ‘Bread’, and the ‘fruit’ of the Spirit of the Word in their daily journey of the ‘walk’ of faith and obedience!
In Matthew 7:21-27 King Jesus spoke loud and clear! He said: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, BUT HE “WHO DOES” THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
CONSIDER: “Stars birthed, Stars radiant, Stars temporarily enlightening, Stars falling, Stars dimming fast, Stars gone!” AND, THAT’S “temporary ‘stars’ of a religious or governmental faith that ‘shine’ for a while but “fall away” because they are, yes, ‘in love’ with the “best of their religious devotion and political persuasion” but becoming blinder and falling faster spiritually because of the very height of their “falling away” – from the height of God’s Eternal Glory to the darkness, grime, and dirt of Satan’s eternal Hell with “flesh” in the middle!!” Yes, some ‘leaders’ miss out on allowing God to be God through them!
How interestingly, how clearly, and how in Spirit-conviction Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about the “unbelievers”! He said, in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10, “which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that YOU may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; since it is A RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled (Disciples troubled? Beyond any doubt!! Then, and at times ‘now’ across the world!!) rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
IN FLAMING FIRE taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed (or Trusted, or Relied upon!).”
Did you catch Paul who said “accompanied God” in administering “God’s Righteous Judgment”? Paul said that the “Lord Jesus would be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.” (I’ll never forget years ago traveling in India with Duane and Leslie Weehunt. On an India street, I saw visibly at least a 10-foot angel, if not taller, and maybe Jesus Himself, standing before us as we prepared to preach on the streets. I turned to Dwayne and Leslie saying, “Did YOU see that visible appearance of the angel?” They both said, “Yes”; and I responded, “Get ready! This is going to be an awesome conference!” AND IT WAS!!).
Later, in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, Paul powerfully wrote: “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; (Is that mystery of lawlessness still at work across every continent?), only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish,
Because they did not receive the love of truth, that they might be saved. And FOR THIS REASON God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, (the lie? You can sin and not die!), that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
How many do you know who have no love of the truth, but whose lives are addicted to “pleasure in unrighteousness”? It’s amazing to me the number of people nation-wide across America today opposing President Trump without a tiny ‘grain’ of submission to the ‘governing authorities’, especially a Donald Trump! RECEIVE ROMANS 13:1-7!!
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” (And one becomes a part of a ‘civilized society’ whether your particular country honors God or not! At least in most nations there are degrees of civility whether the nations are submitted to God or not! If a ‘nation’ is not submitted TO God, judgment day does come around!).
It amazes me when I read in Ezekiel 13:1-10a the following ‘word of the Lord’ to Ezekiel: And the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’” Thus says the Lord God: “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.
They have envisioned futility and false divination, saying, “Thus says the Lord!” But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word may be confirmed. Have you not seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken the false divination? You say, ‘The Lord says,’ but I have not spoken.” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the Lord God.
“My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God. Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, “’Peace!’ when there is no peace”.
“Peace” is not “man-made-best efforts” at pleasing God, but God’s BEST, His eternal blessing of the Indwelling Christ upon the convicted, confessing, trusting life in the Lord’s “finished work” at Calvary and His victory over that sin and death also through His Resurrection and Ascension to the Throne of God where He everlastingly reigns to God’s glory!
In John 14:1-18 we read about Christ’s Way, the Truth, and the Everlasting Life, from the lips, mind, and heart of Christ Jesus! He said: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” [That’s no ‘best effort’! That’s no ‘flesh trying to overcome one’s old sin-nature”! That’s not ‘striving to climb the mountain of ‘faith’ but “resting” in Him Alone!].
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. [But the Christ IN YOU DOESN’T DO the WORKS THROUGH YOU, because you’ve “discerned for yourself”: ‘Try your best’?]. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [trusts in Me, relies upon Me, adheres to Me!], the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
It breaks my heart at times to hear some ‘professing people’ at times expounding about their “best efforts” in seeking to supposedly honor Christ when it is nothing more but “pumping their flesh” in admiration of their “supposed Christ-likeness”!! I wonder if they’ve ever read the Book of Ephesians!
In Chapter One Paul, by the Holy Spirit, unveils the identity of true disciples of Christ! Notice Ephesians 1:3! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places IN CHRIST!” What is Paul telling us?
Ephesians 1:4 “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world”! Verse 7, “In Christ we have redemption through His blood…Verse 9, which He purposed in Himself! Verse 10,He gathers together in one all things in Christ! Verse 11, “In Christ” we’ve obtained an inheritance! Verse 12, because we TRUSTED IN CHRIST, we should be to the praise of His glory!
Verse 13, Having trusted, we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise”, the guarantee of our inheritance!
Ephesians 2:1, “And YOU He (Christ Jesus) made alive, who were dead…”, (‘spiritually dead’, alienated from God,) BECAUSE, Verse 2, you “once walked according to the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now walks in the sons of disobedience,” Verse 3, “…were by nature children of wrath…,” and when one reads that with an open mind and a convicted heart, he/she asks, “Is there any hope for, yes, “sinners” separated from God”?
Examine Ephesians 2:4-10! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For WE are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created IN CHRIST JESUS for good works, which GOD PREPARED BEFOREHAND that we should walk in them.”
In the old “Broadman Hymnal”, published in 1940 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, there’s an old hymn entitled “Heavenly Sunlight”! It says:
“Walking in sunlight, all of my journey, Over the mountains, through the deep vale; Jesus has said “I’ll never forsake you,” Promise divine that never can fail.
Shadows around me, shadows above me, Never conceal my Savior and Guide; He is the Light, in Him is no darkness; Ever I’m walking close to His side.
In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing, Pressing my way to mansions above; Singing His praises gladly I’m walking, Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.
Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight, Flooding my soul with glory divine; Hallelujah, I am rejoicing, Singing His praises, Jesus is mine.” Amen?
Are YOU daily “singing His praises”? I close this chapter with Ephesians 2:11-19!! It says: “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time you were without Christ (every naturally birthed child WAS birthed without Christ! Don’t ever forget it, Mom or Dad!), without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For He Himself is our PEACE, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father (Kingdom of God Presence!!). Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Glory! Glory BE to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, the Three in One, who graciously allows us to be one through Christ’s shed blood in the “household of God”!!