AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?“EARTHLY VOICES OR HEAVENLY PROCLAMATIONS OF DIVINE TRUTH?”

Has there ever been a moment in your life when you hear or read something, and you ask yourself: “Is that man’s thoughts, his interpretations, her opinions, or is what I heard, read, and, maybe, wrestled with: “The Proclamations of Divine Truth?” And, of course, those questions, doubts, hesitations, have to be answered, responded to, or just denied a response: “Who cares?” God cares how you respond because He understands your wrestling with earthly voices or His heavenly proclamations of divine truth, your struggles with fleshly acceptance of others or divine approval of God, or even your desire to know only eternal truth or drawn by the powers of darkness to his devilish philosophies! And our world is filled with “earthly voices” that has no resemblance to the Voice of God or His proclamations of Divine Truth!

“Earthly voices”, yes, bound by the first opposer to Divine Life and Divine Truth, “the devil or Satan”, or as Genesis 3:1 entitled him, “the serpent”, cooperate with all new-born life in the ‘flesh’ without God, encouraging early in Adam and Eve’s life, “You will not surely die,” but they did – Why? “Because the wages of sin IS death” though the devil denies it! He told Eve in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it (forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Oh, God may “know” of “good and Evil”, but His choice is that you know Divine Life apart from good and evil! But the devil, unbelievers, ‘pretenders’, even some ‘preachers’ without regenerated hearts through the birth of the Spirit, affirm with their earthly voices, “Accept your good and evil, you will not die”, yet “The wages of sin is death!” Do YOU, with the devil and earthly voices around you, accept that ‘good and evil’ is OK?

The devil, the powers of darkness, the deniers of the reality of even God’s existence, the compromisers of Holy Truth, the inventors, perpetrators, even, yes, ‘liars’ about the need of hearing, receiving, and certainly not walking in any claim of the need of obedience to “the God of uneducated, brain-dead believers”, has gotten to the day and time of ‘scandalous, nonsensical claims’ about Christ Jesus and salvation by grace through faith! Many men, women have “washed their hands, minds, and hearts of the need of God in our lives!” You’ve seen them, heard them, witnessed them ashamedly make light of, yes, the only Lord and Savior who IS “the Light of the world”, but they call Him ‘darkness’ through their own blinded eyes!

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-20 we read of historic proclamations as to the reality of Christ Jesus and our relationship to Him. Paul wrote out of the overflow of his own heart under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saying, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME.

Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NOW if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – in in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW Christ IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Though dying and dead and buried, three days later, “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose, He arose, Hallelujah! Christ arose!….Death cannot keep his prey – Jesus My Savior! He tore the bars of death away, Jesus our Lord!”

But “earthly voices are still influenced by the devil himself or his demon forces”! This is why in Ephesians 6:11-13 Paul instructs and inspires us saying: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

True disciples understand the necessity of daily equipping and dressing one’s self in the full armor of God to withstand the strong assaults from the world, the flesh, or the devil that we once belonged to and entertained! The devil doesn’t cease his attacks because you surrendered your allegiance to Christ, but the brother of Jesus said in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That’s more than just resistance to temptation, but the active, alert, aimed resistance to the devil’s attempts to open any window or door in your ‘house of a redeemed, blood-bought life’, yes, devoted to Christ and His honor alone!

Your faith in Christ’s resurrection and His ascension to the right hand of God on Heaven’s throne as YOUR INTERCESSOR means more than most Christians have been discipled in – ‘sins forgiven’, yes, He watches over you, but according to N.T. Wright, in his strong book, “The Day The Revolution Began,” (p.5), “According to the book of Revelation, Jesus died in order to make us not rescued nonentities, but restore human beings with a vocation to play in God’s purposes for the world.” WOW! Are YOU a ‘rescued nonentity’ or a true disciple of Christ, a soldier in His army, yes, fighting the good fight of everlasting faith? If so, you’re busy daily being equipped in the “great warfare” against Satan and the powers of darkness!

FIRST, WHAT DID PAUL TELL US IN EPHESIANS 6:11? PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD! The reason? In order “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In Ephesians 6:16 Paul told us about “taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

“Fiery darts of the wicked one”? It begins in the home faith-filled or faithless; it extends to, yes, the school rooms and universities, where godless teachers become tools of Satan to spoil minds, wills, and emotions concerning loyalty to the God who made them, lost them, then bought them with a price, the blood of the Lamb of God, even to neighborhoods or city gatherings where “your God isn’t welcome here!”, or even national governments that spurn God’s word and spin their ‘godless rhetoric’, or even, biblically criminal pastors and churches who promote their religious opinions rather than the eternal Truth of the Holy Word!

And dare I tell you that ONLY “the whole armor of God” withstands the wiles and wickedness of the devil and the powers of darkness? Sad to say, but even “Hollywood” accepts, promotes, and uses “the wiles of the devil” to capture, to trap, and to ‘entertain’ with the devil’s intent of overcoming the Godly truths, Godly lives, and Godly intents of “the Kingdom of God on earth” – they prefer the kingdom of flesh, darkness, and the devil!

SECOND, DID THE BELOVED JOHN INFORMS US AS TO HOW SATAN ENTICES THE GODLESS TO BECOME HIS SLAVES OF DARKNESS? OF COURSE! And – In 1 John 1:5b-6, the beloved John wrote: “… God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

In 1 John 2:15-17 the Holy Word through John exposes the ‘traps’ Satan uses to turn men from God to his kingdom of darkness and kingdom of slavery to the devil’s passions and evil ways! “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world (AND the kingdom of the devil’s darkness!) – the lust of the flesh (or sin-nature), the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

A slave of darkness is a prisoner of the kingdom of religious indifference! In 1 John 2:22-23 the faithful John declared: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges (or gives Jesus His rightful place as Lord and Savior!) the Son has the Father also.” And THIS TRUTH does cause major or minor religions across the entire world serious trouble because Christ Jesus is not a partner with their deception! Jesus said: “I AM the way, the truth, and the life – no man comes to the Father but through Me!”

THIRD, DIDN’T PAUL EDUCATE TRUE DISCIPLES ABOUT OVERCOMING WHEN SATAN ATTEMPTS TO SWAY ONE FROM THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT INTO THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS? That’s 2 Corinthians 10:3-6! Paul trains us as true soldiers of Christ against His enemy and ours – Satan! He said:

“For though we walk in the fleshly body, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal BUT MIGHTY IN GOD FOR PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Oswald Chambers wrote powerful words about our spiritual warfare against the devil’s onslaughts against true believers! In his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (pps.185-186), Chambers wrote:

“Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise. (v4).

It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience (or step!) of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.”

FOURTH, AND LAST, YES, THERE MUST BE THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF EXERCISING THE WILL OF OUR LIVES TO HONOR HIM, NOT SATISFY ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE THAT WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST! Back to 2 Corinthians 10:4-5! “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…!”

2 Corinthians 1:9 clearly states: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…!”

Arguments against God’s thoughts or submission to Christ’s Truth, fleshly speculations or the Savior’s eternal remedy, world accusations or the redemptive knowledge of God, high things of lofty philosophies or eternal truths of divine revelation, ‘my thought life’ or the Savior’s offer of “new life in Him”?

There’s possibly or probably that every day you live satanic invitations will come for you to ‘satisfy’ your flesh nature, OR, you can clothe yourself in the Savior’s presence, purpose, and power, to daily honor and give glory to God alone!

There may be assaults by Satan and the powers of darkness, but if Christ is in you, you can rest in His eternal presence, promises, and power! “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

In Philippians 4:6-9 we read: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Yes, thank God for the God of peace who is able to keep you, even against the wiles of Satan himself! Martin Luther wrote the old hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. The first verse only says: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Does seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.”

But out of Heaven to earth came the Conquering King, Jesus, and His truth and His kingdom IS the forever conqueror over sin, over Satan, over death itself! In Christ, yes, “we are more than conquerors – we’re sons of the conquering King Jesus!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?

THE KINGLY REIGN OF CHRIST!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY? …………..THE CONFIDENCE OF COMPLETION!”

……………………..CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

………………… “ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR

APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“CAPTURING THE VISION!”

BY J.FARRELL FISHER

Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

“Falling short or finishing my course?” It’s really interesting, challenging, convicting, that Paul tells us in Acts 20:22 that he was going “bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there…,” but he clearly understood, by the testimony of the Holy Spirit in him, “that chains and tribulations await me.”

And, notice, in verse 24 Paul said, “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the grace of God.”

But is it possible that there are those “followers of Christ” who do not finish the course ordained of God for them? Paul said in Acts 20:29-30, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

In 2 Corinthians 6:12 Paul challenged the ‘church’ at Corinth, “You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.” Did some listen but others didn’t? Did some become blinded to the faith rather than eyes fixed on Jesus? Did some become “unequally yoked together with unbelievers?” Did they willfully try to share the “fellowship of righteousness” with “lawlessness”? Did they choose to try to walk in both ‘light’ and ‘darkness’? Were they ‘OK’ with “idols”?

Of course, you are aware that some “professors of faith” in Christ have done nothing more than attempt to be a ‘Christian’ apart from repentance toward God and faith alone in the finished work of Christ – to them, ‘churchianity’ is highly appealing, and with the best efforts of ‘natural individuality’ they attempt a walk of holiness, yes, apart from the “Healer” and the “Helper” – and ‘flesh’ always tires, falls short, or turns aside from the goal!

“Falling short”? Isaiah 26:3 tells us, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” But rather than “stayed on God” there are those who “stray” from Him, rather than being continuously quickened there are those who consciously quit, rather than ‘remember’ they forget, and rather than ‘zoned in’ there are those who zero out!

In fact, in John 6:66 we read, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” Do you remember Luke 9 where three different people ‘talked’ about following Jesus, but all three came up with excuses or explanations and Jesus said in Luke 9:62, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” I’d say that’s a serious indictment!!

And what brings on that spiritual rebellion, spiritual indifference, and a spiritual departure? I sense in my spirit that Paul wrote Timothy with tears as he told him, in 2 Timothy 4:10, “..Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world.”

I have no doubt that you know and remember Galatians 5:1 as Paul instructed the church then and now to stand in the “Christ-given liberty.” “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” But “entanglements” can and do become a forfeiture of faith, fellowship, and ‘follow-ship’! ‘Yokes of bondage’ are not figments of one’s imaginations but strong bonds of self-destruction! If a man is “sowing to his flesh,” [that’s his old sin nature], he “will of the flesh reap corruption.” [Galatians 6:8].

But in our Lord and Savior we are no longer “helpless sinners” but truly “hope-filled saints” set apart to honor our Lord and Savior through a life fully yielded to the King of kings and Lord of lords! Our walk of faith is not “performance-oriented” but is eternally based on our “position” of oneness in and through Christ alone! This is why Paul wrote in Romans 5:17, “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”

“Abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness”, but you ‘struggle’ to try and live a godly life? It’s not our ‘struggle’ but our surrender to the Indwelling Christ that gives us victory, it’s not our fleshly ambition to be a spiritual man or woman, but the “blood Atonement” of Christ Jesus, it’s not ‘manly effort’ but the Master’s inclusion of us ‘in Him’ ON THE CROSS!! He died on the Cross and we were “crucified” with Him! Oswald Chambers wrote: “Our Lord took on Him our human flesh and transfigured it, and it has become for every saint the temple of the Holy Ghost.” Glory!

Do you realize how many professing Christians are “trudging toward God-likeness” when in Psalm 46:10 He tells us: “Be still, and know that I am God!”?Chambers, in his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.37], also wrote: “There are times when it seems as if God watches to see if we will give Him the abandoned tokens of how genuinely we do love Him. Abandon to God is of more value than personal holiness. Personal holiness focuses the eye on our own whiteness; we are greatly concerned about the way we walk and talk and look, fearful lest we offend Him. Perfect love casts out all that when once we are abandoned to God. We have to get rid of this notion – “Am I of any use?” and make up our minds that we are not, and we may be near the truth. It is never a question of being of use, but of being of value to God Himself. When we are abandoned to God, He works through us all the time.”

I have no doubt this is why Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 11:2-3! “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” What a powerful revelation! “The simplicity that is in Christ!”

The Apostle Paul also had to confront ‘deception’ in the Galatian letter. In Galatians 3:3 he wrote: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” The simplicity that is in Christ? Do you really know that, received it, and you walk in it? The author of Hebrews tells us about our great High Priest, “who has come, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life.” That’s Jesus, but you yield to the “best” of your human flesh that He judged worthy only of the Cross?

I’m sure you remember the story in Mark 10 as Jesus counseled ‘the rich young ruler’ who came to Him with the question, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus confronted him with biblical commandments that are there to expose our own law-breaking, bringing us to, not a place but a Person, who can redeem us from the curse of the Law! The young man declared he’d kept all the law. Jesus told him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” The word says, “But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” [Do you know any who substitute who they are and what they have over oneness with Christ?]

For you, is it “performance” apart from “saving grace and mercy of the Cross”? For you, is it “promotion” of who you are and what you’re capable of doing in the best efforts of fallen flesh or are you fixed on “Jesus Only”?

You do understand that spiritual ‘history’ in all ages and all places, even including the “church” itself, lives with a ‘dark cloud’ of counterfeit allegiance apart from the desire to be one with God, God’s Way, in and through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ alone! It’s in most men’s minds and hearts to decide whether or not they are even interested in the things of God. ‘They’ will leave open or close the door, they think, themselves!

But they better look to the God who is still seated on His Throne because when He arises they may not be interested in what He is up to when His “Judgment Day” comes! ‘Mortal ills’ will prevail for a season, and then the “mighty fortress” arises, and He prevails! C.S. Lewis wrote in “The Great Divorce”: “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Your will be done,’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right, then, have it your way.’”

I pray you’re a man who knows about taking off your shoes because you’ve sensed, faithed, recognized, “holy ground” that you’re walking on! In “Aurora Leigh” [Book VII,l.821], Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God. And only he who sees takes off his shoes, The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” As YOU look around at fallen humanity, do you see faces covered with the blackberry-stains?

“Falling short or finishing the course?” I remind you of John 3:19-20! “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

If a man loves darkness rather than light, if he loves ‘practicing evil’, if he refuses to ‘come to the light,’ he does so because he ignores conviction of sin, accepts his self-induced ‘respectable goodness,’ looks only unto himself for his rescue, refuses an arousal of the guilt of sin, and denies God’s grace, mercy, and love. He believes, “I am able to resolve my own ‘heart-problem’,” and have no need of God’s divine intervention!

But one who “comes to the light” because he knows the darkness of his own heart? Galatians 5:24 tells us, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” They, yes, have accepted God’s judgment of their sin – they willingly ‘deny themselves’ and “rest” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross! Denying your self is understanding that God’s presence in you is better than justification of your old sin nature!

“I die daily?” Why? “I take the sentence of death unto myself that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in my mortal flesh.” Oh, really? “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Are you sure that’s YOUR path?

Is it your pastor’s major emphasis, not only by his pulpit preaching, but by his daily example, Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Are you aware of God’s deep and passionate desire that you be brought into “Oneness” with Him with you surrendering all of your rights under His Holy Sovereignty?

What was Jesus’ prayer in John 17? Look at verse 22! “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…” Does that mean ‘one in nature and character’? Does that mean ‘one in intent and purpose’? Does that mean ‘one in obedience, even the Cross’? Does that mean ‘one in the Spirit’ with death to your flesh, your old man, your old sin nature’?

What did Paul say in Galatians 6:14? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” But not all have severed ties with a fallen world but battle within at times for allegiance only to their Lord and Savior or allegiance to the sinful nature of a world of sin, wrongness, deception, darkness, unbelief, even spiritual madness!

“Falling short or finishing the course”? Romans 1:25-32 says, telling us that there are those “who exchanged the truth of God “FOR THE LIE” [you can sin and not die!!], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen….

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due….

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,…

Backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

“Falling short or finishing the course”? Some are so unwilling to leave a past life of debasing sinfulness and rest in the finished work of Christ, because they understand in Christ the past life of sin IS OVER and resurrection life in Christ begins! Though one sinned and fell short of the glory of God, “In Christ” those who repent, trust in, rely upon Jesus are “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” That’s Romans 3:24!

And now, because of His saving grace, mercy, and love, we become “new creations” with the old life dead through Christ at the Cross and the new life beginning because of His Resurrection! Because of our Savior and Lord, whatever we do, we “do all to the glory of God”!

Have you appropriated His “divine forgiveness”? Have you been told, John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”? No more slavery to Satan, no more bondage to an old sin nature He put to death, no more prison shackles to your old life, no more shame of the old things so opposite of the nature and character of God, no more ‘brazenness’ of “look at me, at who I am, of what I’ve done” – NO, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”! “Look at the Christ within!!”

If you don’t know it now, you will soon: I Peter 4:12-14 says, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you…” Amen?

Oh, I know: There are the “blessed people” (?) – that’s all they know! But the walk of true faith is discipleship, following Christ, even to our crosses, our sufferings, and our ‘faith’ is obedience to the King of kings and the Lord of lords with a willingness to “die” ourselves for the honor of His Name! And we will “FINISH” our course gladly even if pain, tears, and execution for His Name awaits us!!

“Finishing the course”? “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me!” “It pleased God…to reveal His Son in me.” “I am a son of God…through faith in Christ Jesus.” “As a son, I am an heir of God Through Christ.” “I stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made me free.” “I live in the Spirit – I walk by the Spirit.” “In Him I trusted – and was sealed with the Holy Spirit.” “The eyes of my understanding have been enlightened by the knowledge of Christ.” “Though once far off from God, I’ve been brought near to God by the blood of Christ.” “Through Jesus I have access by one Spirit to the Father.” “I’ve been built together through Christ for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” “Christ Himself dwells in my heart through the gift of faith.” “Through Christ I can do exceedingly abundantly above all I ask or think.” “I have put on the new man created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” “I walk as a child of light.” “I am a bondservant of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.” “Yes, I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” “I am confident that He who began the good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “I have been filled, by the grace of God, with the fruits of righteousness.” “Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.” “It has been granted to me on behalf of Christ to suffer for His sake.” “My tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” “God works in me both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” “I hold to the word of life because in me and through me it shines as lights in the world.” “I rejoice in the Lord.” “I count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” “I desire to know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, yes, being conformed to His death.” “The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guards my heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” “My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” “The hope of heaven is laid up for me – my place secured in Jesus’ Name!” “God has delivered me from the power of darkness and conveyed me into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” “I am more than conqueror through Him who loved me and gave Himself for me.” “I am complete in Christ.” “I have been raised with Christ, sitting at the right hand of God, so I set my mind on the things above, not on the things of this earth.” “I daily put on the new man that is renewed in the knowledge of Him according to His very image and likeness.” “Whatever I do in word or deed, it’s my desire to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus and for His honor and His praise.” “I was approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel of God.” “My hope, my joy, my crown of rejoicing? It’s all who’ve come to know Christ through the ministry world-wide God gave to me.” “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord.”

By J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 13-15, 2017

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 reveals so much about folks who are deceived and, yes, true believers who have been enlightened. The Word says, “Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” But SOME do!

It was in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 that the Apostle Paul highlighted the difference between ‘fleshly determinations or divine discernment” when he wrote: “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”! Have YOU been brought into a state of life of obedience to King Jesus our Lord and Savior and Master of our redeemed lives?

Did Paul mention ‘warfare’? I was just a small boy when the Second World War broke out. I was under the care of my grandparents from three years of age to about twelve. And I’ll never forget Papa Lemons glued to his radio in his main chair listening intently because he had two sons in Armed Services, one a “flight engineer” for a bomber and the other a “top turret gunner on a bomber”! My granddad was intent about learning all he could about warfare because he knew his sons could be killed – he did know about intercessory prayer!

But some around us are aware of national warfare more than they are the warfare between Heaven and hell, even unaware of the demonic warfare for the captivity of one’s soul under devilish domination – they’re blind and deaf about their separation from God as they give themselves fully to the natural, the fleshly, the worldly without a thought about why Christ took them to the Cross to be crucified with Him, then resurrected from the dead spiritually to a “new creation,” a “new life”, and an “eternal hope”!

Fleshly lives, living by fleshly determinations, yes, are enraptured with ‘fleshly imaginations and every fleshly thing that exalts itself or one’s self from the true knowledge of God’!

In Hebrews 2, having amplified ‘bringing many sons to glory’, the author unveils the intent of Christ, in His coming, AND His willful offering for our salvation though He knew the pain and trouble involved in crucifixion! Hebrews 2:14-18 tells us, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil (or Satan!), and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

But, if the Lord Jesus “suffered” because of Satan’s temptations, modern believers even in the reality of Christ’s “suffering”, see no place for “modern Christians today ever believing they’ll be tempted by the same devil or having to suffer to overcome”! All I can say is, “They are not students of the Holy Word of God or they excuse Jesus not meaning what He said”! “In the world you’ll have great tribulation,” “In the world of a disciple’s walk there will be demonic opposition,” “In the world of ‘churchianity’ be careful of the false teachers who resent My Word,” “In the world of ‘Christian professionalism’ be alerted to the, yes, false teachers and preachers who deny the devil and his demons – they are foreign to the mind, heart, and spirit of the Living God and the Resurrected Christ and the Holy Word” especially of Revelation 12:7-17!! The Holy Words says:

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and the angels fought with the dragon (or Satan); and the dragon and his angels (demons) fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, WHO DECEIVES THE WHOLE WORLD; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the ‘accuser’ of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has COME DOWN TO YOU HAVING GREAT WRATH, because he knows that he has a short time.”

Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

But remember, and never forget or overlook, Hebrews 2:14-15, because it illumines ‘fallen mankind’ in need of the Deliverer! “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Unbelievers without Christ are dominated, controlled, instructed by the devil who operates in and out of the power of death – and unbelievers don’t even know they are tools of Satan, from the highest intellectual PhD professor to the lowest slave of darkness, all under his subjection to bondage, godlessness, and faithlessness!

“Fleshly determinations”? Just how big do you see this problem in the church, in the minds of those who’ve never truly been disciples in the Spirit of Christ who faced ‘warfare’ with the devil and won?

Paul instructs us wisely in Colossians 2:18-20 & 2: 23-3:6 “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly PUFFED UP BY HIS FLESHLY MIND, and not holding fast to the Head (King Jesus), from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations –

Chapter 2:23-3:6 then says, These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. 3:1-6 then says: If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears (manifested or unveiled!), then you shall also appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (and it’s also the very nature of the devil!). Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.” Be assured: A SELF-IMPOSED LIFESTYLE IS THE VERY RESIDENCE AND THRONE OF SATAN AND HIS DEMONS!

Let’s shift gears!! If the Holy Spirit of God “guides us into all Truth”, if Satan is out to “deceive us” who are in Christ, then what does Satan do to turn us away from a true walk in Christ?

FIRST, SATAN TWISTS BIBLICAL TRUTH, EVEN ENCOURAGING COOPERATION AND PARTICIPATION WITH GOOD AND EVIL, BUT HIGHLY OPPOSED TO HOLY TRUTH, PRODUCING COOPERATORS WITH THE DEVIL BUT NOT DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF HOLY GOD! Look at Genesis 3:1-24, the whole chapter! It says:

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’? [Casting doubt on the Word of God!]. And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” SO when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. [A ‘covering’ does not convert, transform, or make new – it only promotes pretense, self-illusion, and clouds one’s vision of the need of the Savior and Lord!].

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves ( and unbelieving men and women are still “hiding themselves” from divine reality!) from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (I call this man-made “Fig-Leaf Religion”!).

Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” [That’s the eternal clear calling to every man, woman, boy or girl – WHERE ARE YOU?]. So Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” [Where are YOU hiding yourself right now as Holy God calls your name?].

And God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” [Blaming behavior?]. And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

So the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than any beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

To the woman God said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.” [If you didn’t know, husbands ‘ruling over their wives as well as wives ruling over their husbands’ is an anathema – if a husband is the ‘head of the wife’ it’s because he has chosen to walk as the servant of Christ! Jesus said, “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to lay down my life as a ransom for the many!” True biblical marriage is “mutual submissiveness in the will of God”!].

Verse 17, Then God said to Adam, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it,” ‘Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.’”

Verse 20, And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. [Tunics of skin? Why not the robes of righteousness? Because Adam and Eve were not righteous! Why not clothed with salvation? Because Adam and Eve fell away from Holy God! Why not clothed in blood redemption? Because Adam and Eve walked with closed ears to spiritual Truth! Why not clothed in blessed assurance? Because, remember, in Luke 8:2 Christ Jesus met a certain man from the city “who had demons for a long time. And he wore NO CLOTHES, nor did he live in a house but in tombs.” He didn’t know what to do about Jesus, but Jesus knew what to do with him!

In Verse 30 Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”, because many demons had entered him. And they (the demons) begged Jesus that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. (For them, a herd of swine would do! So they begged Jesus that He would permit them to enter the swine. He did!).

The scene changes dramatically! Verse 35, Then the city went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus, AND FOUND THE MAN FROM WHOM THE DEMONS HAD DEPARTED, SITTING AT THE FEET OF JESUS, clothed and in his right mind. And his fellow citizens were afraid. They even asked Jesus to depart from them “for they were seized with great fear.” They departed further away from Christ Jesus as men still do today!

Jesus told the man set free from his demons: “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” Are YOU telling what great things God has done for you through Christ?

SECOND, YOU MUST SEE HOW SOME MEN LIVE IN THEIR IMAGINARY ‘SELF-CLOTHING’ APART FROM THE GIFTS OF HOLY GOD – FLESHLY DETERMINATIONS APART FROM DIVINE DISCERNMENT AND HOLY INSPIRATION! It’s so awakening to discern what happened to, yes, religious Jews when the Apostle Paul “stripped” Judaism of its pretense and ‘play-acting’! In 2 Timothy 3:1-7 Paul wrote: “But know this, that in the last days (of Judaism! Not ‘end-times’ as some allege!) perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! [A form of godliness is not godliness!].

For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these men also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.”

Oh, but then there are “the few” as Jesus told us: “Few there be who find it, or find the only Way, the only Truth, the only Life in Christ Jesus alone!”

In 2 Timothy 3:14-17 we learn about “divine discernment and holy inspiration”! Paul wrote: “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

THIRD, ONE MUST COME TO “REST”, NOT IN WHAT HE OR HIS FALLEN WORLD AROUND HIM DETERMINES AS ACCEPTABLE, BUT “RESTING” IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS, LIFE BURIED, THEN RESURRECTED IN THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST!

In Galatians 5:24-25 Paul wrote: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

I love Oswald Chambers’ wisdom and enlightment in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.256), “It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God’s best. To discern that natural virtues antagonize surrender to God, is to bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. (But, Chambers then said:), “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh” – it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something. Jesus said – “If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself…”. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” Amen?

FOURTH AND LAST, THERE MUST BE A WILLFUL, FULL SURRENDER OF WHAT THE “OLD MAN LOVES” AND WHAT ,YES, CHRIST JESUS DEMANDS! There’s an inspiring Verse in Psalm 138:8 when David, King David, wrote: “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me,” and we can rest assured, “In Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Master of our lives WILL PERFECT IN US THAT WHICH CONCERNS HIS NAME, HIS MISSION, HIS PURPOSE”!

Prior to Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, He prayed for His disciples then AND even NOW! John 17 unveils Christ’s intent for, yes, every single disciple: Verse 6, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world…”

Verse 8, “I have given them the words which You have given Me…”. Verse 9, “I pray for them…”. Verse 17, “Sanctify them by Your truth. You word is truth…” Verse 18, “I have sent them into the world…” to be salt and light! Verse 20, “I pray for those who will believe in Me through their word…”. Verse 22, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them,” – Are YOU living in, under, through, around His glory-cloud? [A glory hidden in the privacy of one’s proud heart, or a glory shared to the needy world around you?]. Verse 23, “that the world may know that You sent Me, and have loved the world as You have loved Me.”

I believe it’s time for, yes, every disciple to begin praying, “Lord, what is Your eternal, perfect, Christ-honoring purpose for my life? It was George Eliot who once wrote: “It is vain thought to flee from the work God appoints us, for the sake of finding a greater blessing, instead of seeking it where alone it is to be found – in loving obedience?”

It’s so clear! In John 4:34 Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” Can you say, as Jesus did, before His crucifixion, John 17:4, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. Verse 5, AND NOW, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

Can you take yourself back before the world was and see God’s planned intent, ministry, and way of glorifying Himself through YOU? It’s time!!

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV. 21-22, 2017

In addressing, affirming, and alerting the young disciples of Corinth, and us ‘young disciples’(?) in our modern-day, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, Paul wrote: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? FOR YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. As God has said:

‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” That’s collectively all the truly repentant, faith believing and trusting, all the “soldiers of the Cross”, and individually, yes, “the least of these”!

As a result of awareness of one’s true repentance, then exercising the gift of faith by the Holy Spirit, yes, CHOOSING to “rest” in Christ alone, in 2 Corinthians 7:1, Paul also said: “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Do YOU see yourself as a Foundation Stone of the Holy Temple of Christ?

Come with me to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21! Buckle yourself in tight to Biblical Truth about our identity “in Christ”!! It says: “Therefore, if anyone in IN CHRIST, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become NEW. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION.

Now then, WE (In Christ!) are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ”? God’s ministry to us and through us? In 2 Corinthians 4:3-7 Paul lays a strong foundation upon which “true temples” are birthed, survive, and prosper! He said: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Are YOU aware of “commanded light shining in you and through you to reveal to others ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ as The Holy Spirit, yes, “forms” Christ in you by your submission and obedience to the Living Word”?

A foundation stone of the Holy Temple of Christ’s presence is a “blood-bought vessel”, and Paul says the ‘treasure stone’ is your earthen life, an earthen vessel, (2 Corinthians 4:7), “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” And, “a bondservant”, as His earthen vessel presence, radiates “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ”!

You’re aware that early disciples were of Jewish descent, and, no doubt, were looking or hoping for a new physical tabernacle to be rebuilt, because of prophecy, they knew the “Temple” in Jerusalem would soon be destroyed, but, immaturely, they hadn’t seen themselves as the True Temple of the Resurrected Christ! In Hebrews 8:1-2 we read: Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest (Christ Jesus), who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary AND of the true tabernacle (or Temple) which the Lord erected, and not man.”

Have YOU ever considered the “revelation-truth” that redeemed, born-again lives, become, by His grace, His mercy, His eternal intent, that “redeemed lives” become holy temples with each new man or woman of faith being a “foundation stone” of the ‘over-all structure of His abiding Presence in us’ as “true temples”? It’s THROUGH YOU, man or woman of true faith, that the Light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who IS the image of God, should shine in you and through you!

Reflect upon Hebrews 3:5-6! “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house (Is that the ‘wilderness’ tabernacle”?) as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, BUT CHRIST as a Son over His own house, whose house we are IF we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”

YOU must examine the Holy Word and reflect upon whether or not you are a true son or true daughter in God’s Holy Family! The Hebrews author continued expanding understanding about “Holy Temple soundness”! In Hebrews 3:7-19 we read, examine, and determine to what or Who we are truly committed!! It says:

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, IF you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” THEREFORE:

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another DAILY, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, DO NOT harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

For who, having heard, rebelled? Did the Hebrew author speak of those who possess evil hearts of unbelief and willfully depart from the living God? Did he also alert us to mind, will, and heart-hardening through the deceitfulness of sin? Oh, and is there also the tragedy of hearing the Word, knowing the Word, but it didn’t and doesn’t profit some because of “Not being mixed with faith IN those who heard it”? Remember, Jesus said to some, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, BUT you do not do what I say”??!!

Do you see “obedience to the Word of God in Christ” as evidence that one has been born again? In Romans 16:25-27 we read, “Now to Him who is able to establish you (or ‘make you to ‘stand in Him’ completed, obedient, and Christ-honoring!!) according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, FOR OBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH – to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”

You do understand: “obedience is not an option disciples of Christ hold”, but it is the outward expression of Who healed us, honored us by choosing us for Himself, and Who reminded disciples then and disciples now: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, BUT you do not do what I say?” Do you do what Jesus says as His earthly mediator between Holy God, King Jesus, and His Holy Spirit to the unredeemed around you, even to your own family and friends?

In Colossians 1:9-18 we’re given another ‘wake-up call’ to true disciples. Paul was concerned that some in the Colossians community had very little understanding of the “preeminence of Christ in them”. It says: “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience (or steadfastness) and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has QUALIFIED us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image (exact likeness!) of the invisible God, the firstborn over all (new) creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (I’d be amiss, off-track, deceived, uncaring for you, if I didn’t ask you: “Does Christ Jesus have preeminence in you, over you, through you, leading you to let Him have His way in your heart and life?”).

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ?” And those are “living stones”, but so valuable in unveiling Christ to all those who come in contact to the “Holy Temple of Christ,” YOUR redeemed, born-again, Spirit-filled life, walk, and personal testimony! I’m sure it’s why in 1 Peter 1:13-16 we read as a “wake-up call” in our Spirit-Kingdom Presence: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober (or serious minded!), and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation (or unveiling) of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also BE HOLY IN ALL YOUR CONDUCT, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” AND THAT’S NOT AN OPTION YOU HOLD BUT A VISIBLE DEMONSTRATION OF AN INWARD REALITY OF THE WORKING OF SOVEREIGN GRACE AND MERCY!

“Foundation Stones of the Holy Temple of Christ?” Continue in 1 Peter 1:22-2:10!! It says: “SINCE YOU HAVE PURIFIED YOUR SOULS IN OBEYING THE TRUTH THROUGH THE SPIRIT [Can’t you hear the ‘naysayers’ rising up? “That’s ‘salvation by works’!” NO! That’s obedience to the Word because one has been ‘born again’ by faith in Christ’s Work at the Cross and empty tomb!] in sincere love of the brethren, love one another with a pure heart, HAVING BEEN BORN AGAIN, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God WHICH LIVES AND ABIDES FOREVER, because

‘All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, BUT the word of the Lord endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”

1 Peter 2:1-10 follows, convicting, educating, and inspiring us: “THEREFORE, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, and evil speaking, (That, my friends, IS what true, born-again, yes, maturing children of True Faith DO!), as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that you may GROW THEREBY, IF INDEED you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.(“IF”? Does that mean true discipleship is ‘conditional’?).

Coming to Him AS A LIVING STONE, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, AS LIVING STONES, are being built up a spiritual house, (THAT IS, “a holy temple, an earthly kingdom of grace and mercy and love, Holy God’s spiritual family of “blood-bought faith”), a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Therefore it is also contained in Holy Scripture: (Isaiah 28), “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!), He is precious, but to those WHO ARE DISOBEDIENT, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” (Psalm 118), AND “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. (2 Timothy 2:19!). BUT you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but ARE NOW the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now HAVE OBTAINED MERCY!”

There’s an old, old hymn that was written by Julia H. Johnston, who entered high school in about 1865, but started writing hymns and songs when she was about nine years of age. It was 1911 when she wrote the following hymn: “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt, yonder on Calvary’s mount out-poured, there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide, what can avail to wash it away! Look! There is flowing a crimson tide; Whiter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe; you that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive?

Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.”

It was Dwight L. Moody who once preached: “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” And to the ‘fully consecrated man’? In Ecclesiastes 2:26 the “wise man” wrote:

“For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; (That’s the man whose daily aim, ambition, and faithful desire IS to Please God!) but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good (or godly) before God.” HOW SWEET IS THAT?

By J.Farrell Fisher, July 19-22, 2017

The reason some pastors, churches, individual believers, or ‘denominations’, do not major on ‘militancy in evangelism or missions’ is that their ‘brand’ of church faith or a disciple’s personal calling exempts them from caring about a lost and dying world around them! Their faith, their preaching, their ‘calling’, to them, is not worth the time or effort to touch the world around them with a militant approach to extend the Christ within them to the needy world around them – they’re content to show up in ‘Sunday worship’ and let the world around them “Go to Hell”!

Pagan hearts miss out on the “Amazing Grace” of God if there are not loving hearts willing to share as “witnesses” of Christ’s redeeming love and awesome power to raise them out of spiritual death into the Oneness in Christ of forgiveness, redemption, raising them out of death into life everlasting, and being commissioned as His “messengers”, being “equipped” by caring pastors who trains every new disciple in his/her calling!

In the infancy of the New Testament church, before His Ascension, what did Christ Jesus tell that early assembly of believers in Acts 1:6-8? Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or season which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Luke gives us even a clearer picture when in Luke 24:46-49 he recorded Jesus’ words: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, AND that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. AND YOU ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

There’s an interesting verse in Romans 13:11 when Paul the Apostle wrote: “And do this, KNOWING THE TIME, that NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep…”, and do you think that, as it was then in Paul’s day, it can be in our day that far too many pastors and disciples and churches are ‘asleep’ when it comes to “Militancy In Evangelism and Missions”? And, I say to you, without a doubt it’s true – certainly not of a number of churches crossing denominational lines, but true of too many who never develop and train their church members in the ministry of extending Christ’s life, proving His love, and expressing His power through “blood redemption” of the spiritually unborn! (This just may be why some ‘churches’ see baptismal pools as unimportant to their ministries!).

How clear was Paul when he wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”?

But not all men are true, born-again, Christ-honoring individuals! Oh, we know that the justified, living through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s blood redemption through His Cross and empty tomb, live in and under “blessed assurance”, but unbelievers, ‘sinners’, the self-proud in all their flesh offers them, centered in the world or one’s old sin-nature, and, yes, Satan’s control, have no awareness of Christ Jesus’ intervention!

This is why Paul continued in Romans 1:20-23 saying: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image (or images in men’s minds) made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

All men, past, present, and future, are not born ‘blind’ to God, but because they are birthed with the old sin nature, they will suppress the Truth, crucify it, or bury it in the darkest regions of their brainlessness existence so they can choose their own ‘fleshly destinies’! Examine the Holy Word of God from the beginning in the Garden until the present day, and you’ll not be shocked but sorrowful that fallen men deny the Truth, gripped by a blindness to moral truth, descending away from God not toward Him, and intentionally rationalize for themselves what “satisfies” their self-promoting darkness getting as far away as they can from the only True Light!

Oh, it’s true! Fallen men KNOW God! Psalm 19:1 declares: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork,” King David continuing in Verses 2-6, “Day unto day UTTERS SPEECH, and night unto night REVEALS KNOWLEDGE. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He (Holy God) has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

What did the Lord Jesus say in John 8:12? “I AM the light of the world. He who follow Me shall never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” That Light of Life is Resurrection Life in Christ, Resurrection Power in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and Resurrection Hope in Christ Jesus’ abiding words, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”

But, sadly, Paul was deeply moved, disturbed, heart-broken after his conversion because he understand that there was and would be those who desire no part with the life and ministry of Christ. Come back with me to Romans 1 and let’s examine what the inspired Word of God has to say about unbelievers! Follow Romans 1:21-32!!

“…although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. [Let me pause right here for a moment! Does that mean ‘foolish hearts, darkened by self-will, can never be enlightened’? No! A thousand times, No! There IS the mercy, grace, and love of God that can be extended if a darkened man wants the True Light!]. Paul went on: Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

And the result? Verse 24 and following: “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, (“The Lie of Satan? “You can sin and not die!”), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason…

(Verse 26) God gave them up to vile passions…, (Verse 28-32) God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

And if you “stand out” after reading what you just read, is there any hope for you, for me, or for any man or woman, boy or girl, that the Word just exposed? “Rest” in the Apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 1:9-18!! “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers on the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him AND FOR HIM.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consists. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINENCE.”

Are YOU personally “LIVING” under the “PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN ALL THINGS”? And that relates personally to who you are “in Him” and what you’re to be about! It relates to whatever ‘path’ He opens for you to walk in. It relates to every decision you have to make in your personal life, asking as others already have, “Lord, what would YOU have ME to do? What’s my calling in life? Who is Your chosen mate for me in dating, in marriage? And, Lord, make clear to me Your “open doors” or “closed doors” because I desire to walk only where and in what You choose for me to walk!”

Oswald Chambers wrote in his book “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.170), “Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the diving up of your life by the influence of friends or circumstances; beware of anything that is going to split up your oneness with Him and make you see yourself separately. Nothing is so important as to keep right spiritually. The great solution is the simple one – “Come unto Me.” The depth of our reality, intellectual, morally and spiritually, is tested by these words. In every degree in which we are not real, we will dispute rather than come.”

Belonging to Christ Jesus does not mean He frees us to do as we desire, at times, but to be fully committed to His present, perfect, eternal will in the here and now, as daily we choose to take the sentence of death to our fleshly desires, desiring only to please, honor, and give Him His rightful place as Lord and Savior in us and through us!

Do you remember Christ Jesus’ words about “Kingdom Character” in Matthew 5:3-12? ( Examine yourself as you seek to discern whether you are IN THE TRUE FAITH or “playing spiritual, ‘church-games’”?). Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs if the kingdom of heaven. (Where, when, how, who, brought you to the awareness of your ‘poverty of spirit’?). Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (How many ‘mourners’ have you witnessed at your church’s altar recently?). Blessed are the meek (the teachable) for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see god. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The truly “blessed” are paupers? The “raised up in Christ” are those who were ‘cast down’ in their awareness of alienation and separation from God, unveiling a mournful heart and spirit? The “new creations” are the ‘teachable’ who inherit the earth, by the grace of God? The “children of redemptive faith” are those who “hunger and thirst for divine righteousness” and know Holy God is the benefactor of His eternal gifts? “Merciful citizens of His heavenly Kingdom on earth”? “Possessors of pure hearts” by the pure, shed blood of Christ? The “go-between-ers” in behalf of God for the “troubled”? Hearts and minds willing to be rejected, persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Falsely accused, but eternally blessed by God on His throne? IT IS YOUR CHOICE!

And when one “chooses” Christ, though everything about his/her unredeemed life crumbles and falls away, he/she knows, Praise God!, I’ve gone from self-consciousness to Christ-consciousness, out of death into eternal life, out of temporary satisfactions to eternal blessing, out of the weakness of self-strength into the eternal, never-fading or receding power of the God of creation, but my life now and forever is in His never-fading power in and through His Son, my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Dallas Willard, in his marvelous book entitled “The Great Omission,” made several points of utmost importance to all disciples spiritual journey. He said: “The missing note in evangelical life today is not in the first instance “spirituality” but rather “obedience”. First point, We have generated a variety of religion to which obedience is not regarded as essential.” Second point, “Life in Christ is a matter of the “spirit”. Third, spiritual life is a matter of living our lives “from” the reality of God. Fourth, Christian spirituality is supernatural BECAUSE obedience to Christ is supernatural and cannot be accomplished except in the power of a “life from above.” Fifth, “Spiritual formation refers to the “process” of shaping our spirit and giving it a definite character. It means the formation of our spirit in conformity with the Spirit of Christ.” Sixth, “spiritual formation is a whole life process dealing with change in every essential part of the person.” Seventh, “the aim of spiritual formation is the transformation of the self, and that it works through transformation of thought, transformation of feeling, transformation of social relations, transformation of the body, and transformation of the soul.” Eighth, “no pew potatoes, (but lives) simultaneously engaged in spiritual formation in Christ’s likeness.”

Question: Do YOU see yourself as the ‘holy temple’ in which Christ dwells to be Himself, extending Himself through YOU, and expressing God’s love and power to the needy world through YOU?

“God, help us to be delivered from ‘natural church business’ into the amazing body of Christ as the ‘lamp’ and ‘light’ of His everlasting presence shines in us and through us!” “Militancy in evangelism and missions”? Jesus said: “I came to seek and to save the lost!” Is He able to be Himself in you and through you?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, DEC. 2-4, 2017

In Proverbs 23:4-5, 12, and 17-19, are extremely wise, necessary words for all men, but especially to true believers! It says, Verses 4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Verse 12 says, “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Would you think that means ‘turn your hearts and minds TO God’s Word’ and ‘your ears to “Biblical Truth”?’).

Verses 17-19 says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope (in Him and His Word!) will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.”

What ‘way’ do you choose to walk in? “Mindful indulgence or Mastered independence?” In Matthew 6:19-21 the Lord Jesus said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Is there a reason for what Christ said? In Colossians 3:5 Paul wrote, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

All unbelievers and ‘sons of disobedience’ WALK in “mindful indulgence” completely unaware of the consequences! In Romans 8:8 Paul wrote, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”, meaning that those who live ‘in the flesh’ dominated by their old sin-natures cannot please God, emphasizing even more in Romans 8:13 saying, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die…”, unveiling unregenerate people who are, yes, hostile to God, and in the ‘flesh’ cannot create, invent, manufacture, or idealize ‘holy living’ – that takes a miracle of the love, grace, and mercy of God!

‘Mindful indulgence’ is the result of the birthings of perverted generations as Romans 3:23 clearly announces, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Natural man “misses the mark” and needs “Blood Redemption” by the purely innocent shed blood of the Son of God who knew no sin yet willfully took our sin natures to the Cross with Him!

In Romans 3:10-18 Paul quoted Old Testament passages to open men’s eyes, minds, and hearts to the need of their “blood redemption through Christ” saying: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

“Mindful indulgence” is ‘self-effort’ denying the need of ‘sovereign provision’ in any form or any Person, seeking to ‘justify’ one’s life by ‘grit’, refusing the grace of God; and, of course, there are those who believe by ‘working at it’ their effort ought to be “passed” with flying colors, rather than “Resting” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and the empty tomb, making available Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!! Romans 3:24 clearly tells us, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, WHOM GOD SET FORTH AS A PROPITIATION BY HIS BLOOD…!!!”

It’s so convicting and heart-breaking to become aware of, yes, multitudes who truly believe their ‘working at being a better person’, or for some, they just don’t care what God thinks about them – but…Romans 4:4 is clear: “Now to him who works (at making himself/herself acceptable before Holy God), the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Is ‘true salvation’ “working at it” or “RESTING” in Christ’s “finished work at the Cross”?

In John 5:38-40 Christ Jesus exposed the “religious Pharisees” of His day, as He does today with ‘modern-day’, religious activists who, yes, major on “self-effort” rather than His “finished work”! John wrote: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!). You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

In John 17:11b-19 the Lord Jesus prayed for His new disciples that He’d soon be departing from, saying, “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition (Judas), that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify (Set apart) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

Question! “Have YOU been ‘set apart’ for the glory of God alone? Do YOU live to unveil the Indwelling Christ to the ‘lost world’ around you? Are YOU His messenger, His ambassador, His witness of saving grace, mercy, and love? Do YOU by “life example” reveal to your world your allegiance to King Jesus?

“Mindful Allegiance” is a life “too busy” with one’s natural surroundings to be concerned with, involved in, or a messenger of “King-dom Allegiance”! Some in church fellowships that, as disciples, the Lord Jesus said to them and us in Matthew 16: 17-19, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, (Farrell Fisher, David Clark, T.Roy Jones, anointed wife of a strong, trusting husband, medical doctor “So and so”, banker, car-washer, educator), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, AND ON THIS ROCK (OF FAITH, TRUST, AND OBEDIENCE!) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR “BINDING AND LOOSING MINISTRY!” Do YOU realize that YOU are either binding kingdom ministry on the earth around you OR you are loosing the Kingdom of Christ around you by, yes, your faithful ministry as an appointed, anointed servant of the Master or is it just an ‘imitator’, ‘do nothing’ church member?

Are YOU a “kingdom minister”? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”, with more enlightment for true believers and servants of the Master coming in John 18:36-38 when Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Right before His ascension, in Acts 1:7-8, the Lord Jesus said to His new disciples, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Witnesses, messengers, ambassadors, proclaimers, servants in the Name and for the honor and glory of Christ in us and through us, because in you the Word reveals a redeemed life filled with the Holy Spirit, being, yes, guided by the Holy Spirit in being a faithful witness to the unredeemed around you?

But, sadly, the Holy Word of God reveals the truth that there are those who, according to Romans 2:4-11, should have God’s holy judgment against them clearly revealed! Paul wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? BUT in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ‘who will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-SEEKING AND DO NOT OBEY TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who seeks what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

I’m sure that at least most ‘professing believers’ know what is commonly called the “Lord’s Prayer” as He taught His new disciples in Matthew 6 unveiling it with powerful instructions in Verses 5-8 followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” in Verses 9-13! Receive our Lord’s powerful ministry AND instruction through His teaching!

Matthew 6:5-8, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites (or “play actors”). For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Verses 9-13 follows – Receive our Lord’s Prayer! It says: In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

“Mastered Independence”? That’s a life conquered by the love of God, set free from the law of sin and death by the blood of the Lamb, governed by His Kingdom rule and revelation, freed from the “chains of Satanic bondage”, issued the “Master’s instruction of heavenly independence from the worldly aims of godlessness, from a world system of self-dependence, from the ‘flesh’ stronghold of sin and death, and from the darkness of demonic activity”, and discerning of what, yes, fallen mankind and, sadly, some believers are influenced by as John was inspired to write in 1 John 2:15-17,

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

And “Mastered Independence”? That’s pastors, churches, families, individuals, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then loosed in a fallen world, yes, “mastered independently” to BE “salt and light” in one’s darkened world, not making sure the “salt and light” is protected by the four walls of a church building, but poured out faithfully in the streets of one’s city, state, nation, and its world!

I’ve often wondered if pastors and churches today “rest” in the Word of God, then find themselves “released” to touch the World God loves with the message of His Son. In Isaiah 54:1-3 merciful God is touching His ‘barren people’ who’ve failed to be “poured out drink offerings” to a thirsty, dry, unredeemed world! Receive His Word!! “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall EXPAND to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”

It’s time for “stained glass curtains” hiding too many disciples faith to be removed, maybe, allowing the “True Light” to shine in the streets where they walk, work, witness, worship, and willfully share their faith in Christ! Our Lord and Savior willfully left the “Throne Room of God” to pour out His life to our needy world, and I believe He wants us, yes, laying down our lives in the streets of the cities of our world! Great witnesses are mortal men and women touched and taken over by Jesus, tutored by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to see transformed lives by faithful witnesses who share God’s eternal love, grace, and mercy for, yes, ALL of fallen mankind!

Grace E. Uhler once wrote: “For God so loved the world, not just a few, The wise and Great, the noble and the true, Or those of favored class or race or hue. God so loved the world. Do you?”

It’s time for modern-day churches, faithful pastors, families of faith and biblical mission to lose themselves in a flood of Calvary’s love, faithfully becoming “poured-out drink offerings” to this spiritually dehydrated world! Amen? Sadly, some ‘professing disciples’ are the result of a ‘dead faith’ that isn’t worth sharing, so they don’t, because their ‘faith’ isn’t of any value in them or around them because they’ve never comprehended the end result of Christ-less living! “God, help us, convict us, prepare us, and pour us out to our thirsty world!” Amen?

“A CHURCH’S, A PASTOR’S, A DISCIPLE’S

MINISTRY TO A LOST, NEEDY, SINFUL WORLD”

VERY ‘WEIGHTY,CONVICTING VERSES’ RESIDES IN JAMES I:26-27 WHERE THE BROTHER OF JESUS, JAMES, WROTE: “IF ANY MAN AMONG YOU,SEEM TO BE RELIGIOUS, AND BRIDLES NOT HIS TONGUE, BUT DECEIVES HIS OWN HEART, THIS MAN’S RELIGION IS VAIN. PURE RELIGION AND UNDEFILED BEFORE GOD AND THE FATHER IS THIS,..

TO VISIT THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION, AND TO KEEP HIMSELF UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.” THE BROTHER OF JESUS SAW A GREAT NEED, ‘THE FATHERLESS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR AFFLICTION.’ THANK GOD FOR JAMES BECAUSE “HE SAW” A GREAT NEED AND INSTRUCTED DISCIPLES AROUND HIM TO MEET THAT NEED! BUT IS THAT ALL THAT A CHURCH, A PASTOR, OR A DISCIPLE IS CALLED TO DO? “I DON’T THINK SO! I KNOW IT’S NOT ALL! DID JAMES REALLY SAY: “TRUE DISCIPLES ARE TO KEEP THEMSELVES UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD”?

BUT MULTITUDES ACROSS AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD WILL IGNORE “BLOOD ATONEMENT THRU’ CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION, IGNORE HIS RESURRECTION, DENY HIS PROMISE, “OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART AND I WILL COME IN!” BUT RATHER THAN REPENTING, INVITING JESUS IN, LETTING THE “HISTORIC CHRIST” BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU, MOST PROFESSORS OF FAITH IN CHRIST ‘PROFESS’ BUT THEY WANT ‘CHURCH MEMBERSHIP’ APART FROM “NEW BIRTH”!

IN 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 PAUL WROTE: “ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE MADE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED IN ALL GOOD WORKS.” WHAT POWERFUL, CONVICTING, INSTRUCTIVE WORDS OF GOD TO EVERY DISCIPLE!

THE CONVERTED, POWERFUL, NATURAL FISHERMAN AND SPIRITUAL FISHERMAN,SIMON PETER, WROTE IN 2 PETER 1,FIRST,VERSES 3-4, “ACCORDING AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN UNTO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN UNTO LIFE AND GODLINESS, “THROUGH” THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST WHO HAS CALLED US TO GLORY AND VIRTUE: AND, WHEREBY ARE GIVEN UNTO US EXCEEDING GREAT AND PRECIOUS PROMISES: THAT BY THESE YOU MIGHT “BE” PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST”!

READ IN YOUR OWN BIBLE VERSES 5-7 BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING THE FOLLOWING, VERSES 8-11, WHEN PETER,YES, ALSO INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, WROTE: “FOR IF THESE THINGS BE IN YOU, AND ABOUND,THEY MAKE YOU THAT YOU SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. BUT HE THAT LACKS THESE THINGS IS BLIND, AND CANNOT SEE AFAR OFF, AND HAS FORGOTTEN THAT HE WAS PURGED FROM HIS OLD SINS.

WHEREFORE THE RATHER,BRETHREN,GIVE DILIGENCE,TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE; FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS, YOU SHALL NEVER FALL; FOR SO AN ENTRANCE SHALL BE MINISTERED UNTO YOU ABUNDANTLY INTO THE EVERLASTING KINGDOM OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.”

I’M SORRY IF IT ‘BOTHERS’ YOU THAT I SHARE SO MUCH SCRIPTURE WITH YOU, BUT I’M FULLY CONVINCED THAT YOU NEED GOD’S TRUTH MORE THAN MY THOUGHTS!

WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO READ IS GOD’S HOLY CALLING TO FAITHFUL DISCIPLES TO, YES, BE MISSION-MINDED MEN AND WOMEN IN LOVE WITH THE WORLD LITERALLY AND FAITHFULLY LAYING DOWN YOUR LIFE IF NECESSARY TO SHARE THE EVANGELISTIC TRUTH OF GOD’S LOVE FOR THE WORLD THROUGH HIS SACRIFICE OF HIS SON! AND YOU?

SO…IN 1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-31 WE READ EVERY TRUE DISCIPLE’S CALLING AND LIFE-IN-CHRIST’S MISSION AND MINISTRY!! IT SAYS: “FOR CHRIST SENT ME NOT TO BAPTIZE, BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL: NOT WITH WISDOM OF WORDS, LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOULD BE MADE OF NO EFFECT. FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT PERISH FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO US WHO ARE ‘BEING’ SAVED IT IS THE POWER OF GOD.

FOR IT IS WRITTEN, I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND WILL BRING TO NOTHING THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRUDENT. WHERE IS THE WISE?WHERE IS THE SCRIBE?WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD?HAS NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD?” (‘THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD’? THAT’S MEN WHO BELIEVE THE WORLD WAS MADE ‘FOR THEM’, NOT FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE!).

VERSES 21-31 FOLLOWS: “FOR AFTER THAT IN THE WISDOM OF GOD THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD, IT PLEASED GOD BY THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE. FOR THE JEWS REQUIRE A SIGN, AND THE GREEKS SEEK AFTER WISDOM:(LET ME PAUSE &SAY,“FOOLISH AMERICANS, ASIANS,AFRICANS,EUROPEANS”?),VERSES 23-31!BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, UNTO THE JEWS A STUMBLING BLOCK, AND UNTO THE GREEKS FOOLISHNESS; BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ‘ARE CALLED’, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, CHRIST,THE POWER OF GOD,AND THE WISDOM OF GOD.

BECAUSE THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD IS WISER THAN MEN; AND THE WEAKNESS OF GOD IS STRONGER THAN MEN. FOR YOU SEE YOUR CALLING,BRETHREN,HOW THAT NOT MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH, NOT MANY MIGHTY, NOT MANY NOBLE, ARE CALLED;

BUT GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE WISE; AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE WEAK THINGS OF THE WORLD TO CONFOUND THE THINGS WHICH ARE MIGHTY; AND BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THINGS WHICH ARE DESPISED, HAS GOD CHOSEN,YES, AND THINGS WHICH ARE NOT, TO BRING TO NOTHING THINGS THAT ARE:THAT NO FLESH (OR OLD ‘SIN NATURE’) SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE. (YOU’RE AWARE,MAYBE,THAT EVERY BELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN,AND EVERY UNBELIEVING MAN OR WOMAN, WILL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF HOLY GOD TO EXPLAIN TO HIM ONE’S LACK OF FAITH OR ONE’S FULL TRUST IN THE BLOOD REDEMPTION SACRIFICE OF KING JESUS!!).

VERSES 30-31, “BUT OF HIM ARE “YOU” IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD (GET READY FOR THE FOLLOWING!!), “YOU IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO OF GOD IS MADE UNTO US (HIS) WISDOM, AND (HIS) RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND (HIS)SANCTIFICATION, AND (HIS) REDEMPTION: THAT, ACCORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN, “HE THAT GLORIES (IN LIFE’S JOURNEY), LET HIM/HER GLORY IN THE LORD”!!!

B.B.MCKINNEY,IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” OF 1940 (COPYRIGHTED BY BROADMAN PRESS IN NASHVILLE,TENN.)WROTE THE HYMN “HE LIVES ON HIGH”(P.336) THAT SAYS: “CHRIST THE SAVIOR CAME FROM HEAVEN’S GLORY,TO REDEEM THE LOST FROM SIN AND SHAME; ON HIS BROW HE WORE THE THORN-CROWN GORY, AND UPON CALVARY HE TOOK MY BLAME.

HE AROSE FROM DEATH AND ALL ITS SORROW, TO DWELL IN THAT ‘LAND OF JOY AND LOVE’; HE IS COMING BACK SOME GLAD TOMORROW, AND HE’LL TAKE ALL HIS CHILDREN HOME ABOVE.

WEARY SOUL, TO JESUS COME CONFESSING, REDEMPTION FROM SIN HE OFFERS THEE; LOOK TO JESUS AND (SURRENDER?) AND RECEIVE A BLESSING, THERE IS LIFE, THERE IS JOY AND VICTORY .”

DO “YOU” UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS “VICTORY IN JESUS” OVER THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH, A GOD-ORDAINED LAW? DOESN’T ROMANS 3:23 TELL US:”FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD”? DARE I SAY IT? BELIEVE I WILL! “ARE YOU AWARE THAT SOME ‘PROFESSING BELIEVERS IN CHRIST, CHURCH MEMBERS’, SINCERELY BELIEVE THEY CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN UNTIL JESUS COMES THE SECOND TIME?” JESUS “CAME” AND HE STAYS IN THE HEARTS OF TRUE BELIEVERS, EXPRESSING HIMSELF,EXTENDING HIS LOVE, & PROVING HIS POWER – AND HE DOES IT, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS, CONVICTING, CONVERTING, TRANSFORMING,ESTABLISHING ANOTHER “TEMPLE” IN WHICH HE RESIDES, REMAINS, AND REACHES OUT THROUGH THEM TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM RULE IN MANY MORE HEARTS AND LIVES!

OH, THEN IN ROMANS 5:5 PAUL WROTE: “HOPE MAKES YOU NOT ASHAMED (ANY LONGER!MY TWO WORDS!); BECAUSE THE LOVE OF GOD IS SHED ABROAD IN OUR HEARTS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS GOD’S GIFT TO ALL TRUE BELIEVERS!!”

BUT YOU ARE AWARE OUR KNOWN WORLD IS ALSO FILLED WITH “RELIGIOUS SUBSTITUTIONS”, ‘THAT’ IN AND THROUGH WHICH RELIGIOUSLY DECEIVED MINDS WILL EXERCISE THEIR ‘REIGIOUS FEELINGS’ APART FROM CONVICTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, APART FROM CONVERTED TO “NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” AND UPON CONVERSION, IN-FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND COMMISSIONED AS HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS”!

SO MANY CHOOSE NOTHING BUT “ME, MY, AND MINE”,OR SOME WILL ‘UNITE’ WITH, ‘LIAR-OLOGY’, ‘MYTH-OLOGY’, ‘FLESH-OLOGY’, ‘WORLD-RELIGIONS’ THEOLOGIES, ‘SELF-ORDAINED THEOLOGY’ – CHOOSING ‘MY CHOICE IS BETTER THAN GOD’S CHOICE, YOUR CHURCH’S CHOICE, OR THE FALSE CHOICES OF OTHER WORLD RELIGIONS’! “AS FOR ME? I’LL TRY TO BE THE BEST RELIGION-PARTICIPANT I CAN BE!” REALLY?

BUT IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7-12 PAUL ENLIGHTENS US EVEN MORE AS HE WROTE: “AND LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE, THROUGH THE ABUNDANCE OF “REVELATIONS GIVEN TO ME”, THERE WAS GIVEN TO ME A THORN IN THE FLESH, THE MESSENGER OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME, LEST I SHOULD BE EXALTED ABOVE MEASURE. FOR THIS THING, I BESOUGHT THE LORD THRICE, THAT IT MIGHT DEPART FROM ME. AND HE SAID UNTO ME, “MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU: FOR MY STRENGTH IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS.

MOST GLADLY THEREFORE WILL I RATHER GLORY IN MY INFIRMITIES, THAT THE POWER OF CHRIST MAY REST UPON ME. THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES, IN REPROACHES, IN NECESSITIES, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DISTRESSES FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG.” WHY? BECAUSE HE DOESN’T PROFESS THROUGH “BEST EFFORT” BUT “RESTS” IN JESUS’S BEST, & BECAUSE YOU “DIE DAILY THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH.”

IT’S TIME FOR YOU AS A ‘PROFESSING DISCIPLE’ TO ALLOW JESUS TO POSSESS YOUR BODY, HEART, AND MIND THROUGH WHICH HE LIVES OUT HIMSELF THROUGH YOU TO TOUCH THE WORLD AROUND YOU WITH HIS MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE.

I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE FROM ANOTHER HYMN OUT OF THE BROADMAN HYMNAL, THE HYMNAL I QUOTED FROM EARLIER, BUT HERE IT’S A HYMN (P340)BY P.P.BLISS THAT SAYS:

“FREE FROM THE LAW (THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH?),O HAPPY CONDITION, JESUS HAS BLED, AND THERE IS REMISSION; CURSED BY THE LAW AND BRUISED BY THE FLL, GRACE HAS REDEEMED US ONCE FOR ALL.

NOW ARE WE FREE – THERE’S NO CONDEMNATION, JESUS PROVIDES A PERFECT SALVATION; “COME UNTO ME”, O HEAR HIS SWEET CALL, COME, AND HE SAVES US ONCE FOR ALL.

“CHILDREN OF GOD”, O glorious calling, surely his grace will keep us from Falling; passing from death to life at his call, blessed salvation once for all.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it; once for all,O brother, believe it; cling to the cross, the burden will fall, Christ has redeemed us once for all.”

AT THE ETERNAL THRONE OF JUDGMENT AS GOD EXAMINES “YOU”, WILL IT BE, “I TRIED MY BEST”, OR: “I TRULY, WHOLE-HEARTEDILY, ONCE FOR HIM ONLY DO I “REST” THROUGH CHRIST’S DEATH, RESURRECTION, ASCENSION, HIS REIGN IN ME, REJOICING DAILY IN HOPE!

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 27-28, 2018

Have you ever heard it from a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a casual acquaintance, or an “all-out enemy of even the Name of God, Son, or His Holy Spirit”?: “Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong, I’ve got to BE me”?

And through the merciful, caring, love and grace of Holy God, some truly are “sickened” by their ‘spirit’ of trust in themselves, overwhelmed by, yes, “Holy-Spirit-Conviction”, will turn and surrender, and THEN, WILL turn from allegiance to ‘self’ to devotion and dependence upon the Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, “resting” in the Love of God, which IS proven, and become convinced, persuaded, fully aware, that it was their sin and rebellion that led Satan and ‘religious freaks’ to CRUCIFY KING JESUS, THE “BLOOD-ATONER” flowing from the heart, the will, and the grace of MERCIFUL, CARING, LOVING GOD, though not wanting Him EVER to be crucified again, will ‘deny’ Him His rightful place as Savior and Lord, but consider, though converted, that I “since I’m still living in a ‘fleshly body’, though committed to Christ, He’ll ‘excuse’ my ‘fleshly indulgence at times”. Really?!!!

In Romans 5:1-11 and Verses 17-21, Holy God inspires us with His Truth of abiding, proven, and eternally demonstrated love and grace through, yes, the sacrifice of Christ Jesus, His only Son! HEED! AND, BE MADE WISE IN THE WORD TO BE ABLE TO DISCERN BETWEEN ‘SOUL-DETERMINATION OR SPIRIT-DEPENDENCY”!

Paul wrote: Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we HAVE ACCESS BY FAITH INTO THIS GRACE WHEREIN WE STAND, and (as a result!) REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

And not only so, (But maturing ‘in Faith’!), we glory also in tribulations : knowing that tribulation works patience (or steadfastness); patience, experience; and experience, hope; And hope makes one not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which IS GIVEN to us.

For when we were yet without strength (spiritually immature?), in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. BUT God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST DIED FOR US!!!! Much more then, being now JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD (that’s ‘just as if we’d never sinned!!!), we shall be (being saved continuously) from wrath through Him.

FOR if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, MUCH MORE, being reconciled, WE SHALL BE BEING SAVED BY HIS (RESURRECTION, RESIDING, REIGNING LIFE) IN OUR INNER MAN!!!!.

And not only so, (what you’ve just read and received!), BUT we also JOY IN GOD THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, by whom we have now received the ATONEMENT (or “washed in the blood of the Lamb”!!).

Verses 17-21, For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one (Adam); MUCH MORE, they which receive abundance of grace AND the GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, (they) shall reign in life by one, JESUS CHRIST.”

Soul Determination? At least for some, atheists, agnostics, or unbelievers, or ‘partial, temporary believers’, or, as I see them to be, by me, “MERCURIAL MIDGETS”, that are volatile, erratic, ‘fickle’, changeable, ‘flighty’… sometimes seemingly ‘normal’ as a ‘professing disciple’, but THEN, explosively, instantaneously, ready to ‘erupt’ or ‘explode’ in abnormal, ‘devil-like’ anger, falling away as an indulger in the ‘likeness’ of ‘flesh’, ‘sinners’, or the ‘devil’ himself!

“Soul-Determination?” Have you ever been, as a faithful disciple of the Master, trying to discern if one you care about as a ‘professing believer’ or ‘fellow church member’ is a ‘pretender’ through ‘ludicrous loyalty’, or is he/she truly one who lives ‘in the life-blessed love of God but momentarily lead astray, momentarily deceived, or momentarily ‘walking with ‘dark glasses’ rather than’ “the eyes, heart, mind, will of Christ in them their only hope of glory”?

Soul-Determination? Have you ever seen unassured believers, even unequipped, untrained attenders to some of the “Truth” but are susceptible to doubts, a ‘blow-viator’ as a ‘wayfaring child’ of the truth or a ‘led-astray-traveler, easily making a wrong turn’, spiritually ‘childish’ as a ‘stranger or uninformed ‘child’ to Truth’, immature in ‘true-disciple-identity’, and are, yes, “disciples” but often never “discipled” by assigned ‘mentors’ who “major on minors, not the Mission of the Master”??!!!

Soul-Determination? Many, in spiritual paralysis, as ‘modern Christians’, have been, yes, BLINDED, after being ‘birthed’, but allowed, or encouraged to “make it on your own” without any of the ministry of “nurturing the children of Faith into spiritually mature sons and daughters, unveiling Father-God, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit Mentor, who so wants to see them “guided into all the Truth”!” Unlearned Biblical Truth can fast-become a ‘deadly enemy’ to an uninformed, untrained, ill-equipped child of God! Sadly, untrained ‘disciples’, fending by themselves in a harsh world-battleground, end up “unarmed”, “fleshly defenseless”, and “ill-informed” that there’s no one to help against the powers of darkness, WHEN…

Almighty God has said, still says, and will say, if YOU listen, Jeremiah 33:3 telling us of Jeremiah, shut up in prison by God’s enemies, and the Lord God Almighty spoke to him, saying, “Call on Me, and I WILL ANSWER YOU, and show you great and mighty things you don’t know about!”

The prophet Isaiah heard God also when, in Isaiah 41:10, concerned about the enemies of God angry with him, God spoke: “Fear not, Isaiah; for I AM with you; be not dismayed; for I AM your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I WILL UPHOLD YOU WITH THE RIGHT HAND OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Soul-Determination? Have you ever witnessed, ever heard, about ‘true children’ who, too often, turn ‘deaf ears’ to parental authority? Of course, many never consider “ears to hear” what Father God has clearly spoken, even unconcerned, after “praying the sinner’s prayer and surrendering”, then decide, “it’s OK if I walk on my own!” Really?

In Psalm 81:10-14, we read: God Himself speaking, “I AM your Lord, the God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, (out of the world around you and its strong influence!); OPEN YOUR MOUTH WIDE, and I (your loving, merciful, caring Father!) WILL FILL IT!” (He says, “I’m not leaving you!”). He continued:

But My people would not hearken (they didn’t listen and obey!) to My voice, My Holy Word, My divine, eternal Truth; they WOULD NONE OF ME! SO…

I gave them up UNTO THEIR own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own counsels. (It BROKE God’s heart again!). Oh, that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel, My people, had walked IN MY WAYS! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned My hand against their adversaries!”

Soul-Determination through the Word of God IS clearly seen as, yes, even ‘believers’, day in day out, often choosing the “self-motivated life” rather than daily denying ‘self’, surrendering willfully to God’s Sovereign control, optioning in worldly influences to honor and submit to Christ’s abiding Presence, His power, discarding ‘pretenses’ and willfully obeying, submitting, and daily yielding to the awesome power of the Holy Spirit’s control, manifestations, and “fruit”!!

How inspiring, how encouraging, how empowering do you find God speaking in Isaiah 40:17-31 saying, (Thank God!!!): “All nations before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to Him less than nothing. To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare unto Him?

The workman (‘flesh devotees’!) melt a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks for himself a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you FROM THE BEGINNING? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is He that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in: that brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth as vanity.

Yes, ‘their vanity’ shall not be planted; yes, it will not be sown to deceive My people; yes, their roots will come to nothing, He’ll ‘blow’ upon them, they’ll wither, and His whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be just your equal? Says the Lord. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: God calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, in that I AM strong in power and authority; not one fails.

Why do speak like yourself, O Jacob, and say, O Israel, ‘Our way is hid from the Lord, and our ‘judgment’ is passed over, yes, even from God Himself.’ So… Have YOU not known? Have YOU not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, never faints nor ever grows weary? There is no searching of His understanding. (It’s as clear as, yes, both ‘night’ AND ‘day’.) He gives power to the faint-hearted; and to them that have no might He increases His strength graciously. Even the youths shall faint and be weary; and the young men shall utterly fall:

BUT they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Soul- Determination? What about “HOLY SPIRIT DEPENDENCY”? Do YOU not understand? Kingdom of God citizens were AND ARE “birthed in and by the Spirit” for ANY man to “enter His Kingdom reign and Kingdom rule! A disciple’s life is ‘convicted by the Spirit, convinced in the Spirit, converted by the Spirit, consecrated by the Spirit on God’s Holy Altar, and sent by the Spirit in full anointing to share Christ, preach the Word, testify to Truth, and to call all around you to accountability before Holy God, sharing His “gift of repentance”, His “gift of understanding”, His “gift of anointed authority as His witness”, and His faithful “gift” of interpreting for you God’s Divine Truth!

I close with a blessed hymn of praise and thanksgiving entitled “Holy Ghost, With Light Divine”, out of “The American Hymnal”, published in 1933 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee. It says:

“Holy Ghost, with Light divine, Shine upon this heart of mine; Chase the shades of night away, Turn my darkness into day.

Holy Ghost, with power divine, Cleanse this guilty heart of mine; Long has sin without control, Held dominion over my soul.

Holy Ghost, with joy divine, Cheer this saddened heart of mine; Bid my many woes depart, Heal my wounded, bleeding heart.

Holy Spirit, ALL DIVINE, Dwell within this heart of mine; Cast down every idol throne, Reign supreme – and reign alone.”

THERE IS NO “FLESHLY CO-REIGN WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT”, but, “TRUE DISCIPLES, DAILY, TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY THAT, BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, CHRIST IS EXALTED, MAGNIFIED, YES, GLORIFIED IN A BLOOD-REDEEMED, REDEEMED, REIGNING, VICTORIOUS LIFE THROUGH THE RESIDING HOLY SPIRIT!!!

THE STORMS OF LIFE?”

By: J.FARRELL FISHER, MARCH 27-28, 2017

How inspirational and life-strengthening do YOU find the Word of Holy God for your daily life and existence, good days or bad, in trouble or triumph, in days of gladness or sadness, in times of weariness and exhaustion with self but even with self at its best – is it mind-reasoning or the Master’s revelation?

Interesting verses in Isaiah 40:27-31! The nation of Israel, at least the majority of ‘religious pretenders’, had come to a troubled time, and Isaiah spoke saying : Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? [They felt abandoned by God in their rebellion although He abided at their ‘door’]. The prophet then said: Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

“FLESH FAINTS! THE FALLEN SIN-NATURE AT ITS BEST FALLS SHORT AND NEVER ENTERS “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!” SIN-DOMINATED LIVES NEVER OVERCOME SPIRITUAL DEATH BY A ‘BEST-EFFORT STRATEGY’! STRONG-MINDED RELIGIONISTS ARE DETERMINED BUT VOID OF THE REALITY OF REDEEMED LIVES BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!

In John 1:10-13 the beloved John wrote: “He (Jesus) was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own (the Jewish community), and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in (rest in, rely upon, adhere to, submit to) His name: who were born, not of blood (physical descendants), not of the will of the flesh (best effort), nor of the will of man (strong masculinity), but of God.”

There is an ‘eternal difference’ between those who live in the “shadows of religious faith” and the “true friends of God” who live in the blood-bought “land of the redeemed (by the shed blood of Christ!)”.

It was Thomas Adams who wrote (The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Edited by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Comp.,Westwood, NJ.): “Grace comes into the soul, as the morning sun into the world; first a dawning; then a light; and at last the sun in his full and excellent brightness.” Soulish awareness – a dawning of the need of God; soulish alertness in hope – they hear Truth of the Redeemer; soulish enlightment-as Jesus and His eternal purpose is unveiled by the Holy Spirit!

In Romans 1:1-6 Paul illumines our minds and hearts about our entrance into God’s designed and blessed “storm shelter”! He said: “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle [Your calling? Disciple, pastor, evangelist. Missionary, teacher, witness, ambassador?], separated to the gospel of God, which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures (then, that was the Old Testament!), concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called Of Jesus Christ;…”

The “separated”, although in the world, are not ‘of the world’ any longer – yet many ‘church-folk’ ‘profess’ but never are “possessed” in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ Jesus as the called of Jesus Christ! Have you missed, been blinded to, or untrained in the eternal Truth as Paul challenged us, Romans 1:1, “separated TO the gospel of God!” Are you aware that there are many who are about “separating themselves” yet missing Christ Jesus? How numerous are the “white-washers” attempting to cover themselves apart from the atoning blood of the Lamb of God! And the Gospel of the Lamb of God has nothing to do with a man’s ‘religious interests’, his ‘flesh-efforts’, or his/her ‘maxed-out attempts at imitating Christ’!

But, also, one of the major tragedies and misunderstandings or maligned teachings is, that when one comes to Christ, he/she is then exempt from “the storms of life”, when in the reality of biblical truth we’re not “sheltered from” but “sheltered in” the storms of life!

In John 16:33 there is an informative word from Jesus to every true follower of the Master. He said: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

I want you to follow carefully Hebrews 5:5-9 because it unveils, yes, “not sheltered from, but sheltered IN the storms of life”! “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He (God the Father) who said to Him (God the Son): “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” As He also said in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, YET He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. AND having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…”

Dare I remind you? True disciples of Christ are not “sheltered FROM the storms of life”, but “sheltered IN the storms of life”! It’s so interesting to hear the prophet, Isaiah, say in Isaiah 32:13, “On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers, yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city…”! I don’t think Eliphaz was unwise in saying, yes, to Job in Job’s troubles. Job 5:7-11 is Eliphaz’s encouragement to Job to SEEK GOD when ‘troubles’ emerge! He said: “Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause – Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.” (Thank You, Lord God Almighty, yes, for Your sovereign watch-care over us!)

Are you aware that the walk of faith is not always smooth highways but bumpy roads, not always exempt from tribulation but exalted in it and over it, not a ‘fleshly lesson’ of “grit” in overcoming but the spiritual Truth of grace that abounds and overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil?

In Mark4:35-41 there is Christ Jesus on the boat in the midst of a great windstorm with the waves beating against the boat to the point the disciples were sure they were about to sink! Verse 38 says, But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ‘Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?’ In Verse 39 it says: Then Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” I tell you: God’s intent, design, purpose, and promise IS: “Peace in life’s storms, not peace from them”!

Yes, I KNOW! There can be, sometimes are, or often will be, ‘crashing winds’ that move over one’s life circumstances, tumultuous winds of trouble that want to take you down, sudden, unexpected storms that “blow against the mind and spirit”- but you need to know: the grace of God is stronger than your earth’s stoutest winds, more powerful than the tempter’s desire to slay you, with John Newton’s testimony a shining example of what yours and mine should always be when in “Amazing Grace” he wrote: “Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come, It’s grace that brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”

Though there may be ‘darkness’ before you, or around you now, don’t lay the ‘darkness’ of your life circumstance as “troubles God has ordained for you”, but seek to understand, unveil, and expose the world of trouble that surrounds you, look inward to the old sin nature that defiles you, and consider the “devil” as the composer of life’s music of heartache, despair, and ‘venomous’ “snake-bites!”

Do you clearly understand the ministry of Emmanuel, “God in Flesh”, Promised Messiah, Lord and Savior, King of kings and Lord of lords? And He suffered, bled, and died, and we were “crucified with Christ”! And the “suffering Savior” willingly met, in life’s inevitable storms, Father-God and again and again “rested in the Father”!

What has “compassed you about” in your pilgrimage as Jesus Himself was “compassed about” in His journey? In Job 26:10-12 Job delivered a powerful statement of understanding that should enlighten you even more about what YOU may be facing in “storms” from the world, the flesh, and the devil: “He (God!) drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters (“stormy seas, troubling waters”?), AT THE BOUNDARY OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke. He stirs up the sea with His power, and by His understanding HE BREAKS UP THE STORM.” Glory!

Remember! The message you’re reading is: “Sheltered From Or Sheltered In The Storms?” And it’s vitally important that YOU understand – inviting Christ Jesus into your life is to open the door to the reality of world-indifference to your faith, while at the same time opposed to all Christ Jesus stands for in your life! Salvation in Christ is the open door to the “storms” an unbelieving world will release! Hear the Lord’s words in John 15:18-19, and John 16:1-4!!

John 15:18-19 says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” Oh, and then, in John 16:1-4, hear The Lord and Savior again:

“These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.”

If, for now or up to now, you haven’t experienced any “storm clouds”, be alert – they will move in and over your walk of faith or over a life even void of faith! Storms do arise, dark clouds do move in at times, wild, frenzied events do boil up to sweep you away from devotion to Christ Jesus!

Interesting verses for our spiritual insight concerning the “storms of life”! It says, in Hebrews 5:5-9, speaking of Jesus, understanding, “as He is so are we in this world,” “So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He (God) who said to Him (Jesus): “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” As He also says in another place: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”; who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, YET HE LEARNED OBEDIENCE BY THE THINGS WHICH HE SUFFERED. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him…”!! Christ Jesus walked through the “storms of life”, understanding it was His calling as well as ours!

How interesting and illuminating do you find Mark 10:21b, “and come, take up your cross, and follow Me,” yet how many do you know who see “suffering”, “bearing one’s cross”, as foreign to so-called “modern-day discipleship”! They’ll say: “That can’t be true – suffering is for sinners, not saints!” Yet how wrong is that twisted theology, denying one must ‘take up his cross, and follow Jesus’ down worldly streets and avenues’! To be “in Christ” is to dwell amidst a crowd of worldly followers of the world spirit, world design, and world intent, which doesn’t include (in their worldly minds!) obeying or submitting to His holy reign where we live.

In John 3:27-36 there is another clear difference between “Sheltered From” or “Sheltered In The Storms of Life”! It says: John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but I have been sent before Him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He (Christ Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.

He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.

The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) the Son has everlasting life; and he who does believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.” Christ Jesus IS our Shelter in the midst of life’s storms!

Another challenging, Scriptural awakening call is found in John 7, as Jesus was confronted by the ‘religious Pharisees’, in Verse 15, saying of Jesus, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true; and no unrighteousness is in Him.”

Are there those today who “speak from themselves seeking his/her own glory”? Or are there those today sent by Christ to unveil His eternal Truth? In John17:6-8 Jesus said, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; AND THEY HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and have known surely that I came forth from You (or out of Him!); and they have believed that You sent Me.”

“Sheltered From Or Sheltered IN The Storms of Life”? I close this teaching with an old, old hymn written by Mrs. Cecil F. Alexander and William H. Jude found in “The Old American Hymnal”, composed by Robert H. Coleman in 1933! It’s entitled “Jesus Calls Us”, saying: “Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult of our life’s wild, restless sea, Day by day His sweet voice sounds, Saying, “Christian follow Me.”

Jesus calls us from the worship Of the vain world’s golden store, From each idol that would keep us, Saying, “Christian, love Me more.”

In our joys and in our sorrows, Days of toil and hours of ease, Still He calls, in cares and pleasures, “Christian, love Me more than these.”

Jesus calls us: by Your mercies, Savior, may we hear Your call, Give our hearts to Your obedience, Serve and love You best of all.”

Give our hearts to His obedience? Did Jesus ever willfully go out opposed to the Father’s will? NO! He went out graciously centered and yielded to the reality of being “Sheltered In the storms of life”!! Amen?

By J.FARRELL FISHER, SEPT. , 2017

‘Soul Travel?’ Is that one person, maybe, leaning toward God or leaning further away from God? ‘Soul Travel?’ It was Aristotle, in his writing “Nocomachean Ethics”, who wrote: “As sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul.” And when I read that statement I wondered if Aristotle’s writing was “No-Common-Sense-Spiritually- If-God’s-Truth-Is-Avoided”? Reason in the soul can be the ‘traveling’ PhD professor who desires to live intellectually as far from God as his dense and empty and dried-up and rebellious mind will allow him, but he ‘travels’, and daily his ‘bright light’ of intellectualism grows darker and darker each step he takes!

‘Soul Travel?’ “Fate will carry me wherever fate wants to take me”! Would that be ‘soul-stupidity’ speaking? “I roll the dice, go with the flow of the world around me, determined by my own soul to succeed in life, yes, without your God!” ‘Soul Travel becomes Soul Tragedy’ when one has heard and determined ‘Soul Transformation’ by the blood of the Lamb of God is his/her only hope but is unnecessary for a man who knows he can prove himself worthy by his “best effort” way of life, saying, “Jesus didn’t have to die – we all have ‘worthiness’ in our bones!”

Would it amaze you to learn that most astronauts are true believers , that early mathematicians, even scientists of their day before our space crowd, saw God as the mathematical genius He is, and sought the mind of God in what they were unveiling in space travel, even in its infancy? Yes, there are still many like David’s song of praise in Psalm 19:1-2 that say: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork; Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

“Soul Travel” is not a new thing, although modern, spiritually blinded men and women still try to omit Holy God and a Loving Savior from “their world”, from the beginning of earthly humanity, through Old Testament days, even still in New Testament times, down to our modern day! In Romans 1:16-32 the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wisely and with a broken heart for the unredeemed, shared the Truth! He wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT IS the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, [The lie? “You can sin, it’s OK, you’ll not die!”], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason GOD GAVE THEM UP TO VILE PASSIONS. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

AND even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE DESERVING OF DEATH, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

That, my dear friends, ought to “scare” Hell right out of you, if even a ‘hair’ of Hell hangs around your head or heart! It’s sad when, whether public or private, fallen mankind insists on thrusting their fists in the face of God, unaware of the Judgment Day that comes, and Jesus Himself faces them to say, “Depart from Me – I never knew you, you who continue in your sin!”

You’re aware in our natural world of government relationships with the general public, if a citizen fails to file their tax returns, that impending judgment is close at hand! I was reading again Chuck Colson’s book, “Burden of Truth”, when he said: (p.241-242), “Finding psychological disorders to excuse human behavior has become a cottage industry in America today”, and he was speaking of lawyers filling out tax returns for their clients, but failed over and over to file their own returns! Could it be that some pastors are faithful in teaching “being reconciled to God through repentance and faith” yet in themselves confession and forsaking sin seldom occurs?

As a result, yes, across America, in ‘church life’ today, numberless pastors “preach the Word” while they practice acceptance in the sinful world, doing what God has already condemned! Would you even, as an American citizen today, think that our spiritual, social, political, economic, religious liberty hangs by a thin thread? If you don’t, you’re descending into the deep grave of death to all Holy God holds onto for you, yes, Him reaching out to you to pull you, your family, your business, your city, county, state, and nation out of the grave of despair in the hands of Satan, intent on bringing you and yours down with him, but compassionate God proving His love for you and yours in the sacrifice of His Son as, yes, our only Savior and Lord!

A life, a family, a government, a business, a school, a church even, can find itself ‘divorced’ from union with Holy God and His eternal purposes! And the heavy majority of those being dismantled from His eternal foundations have no awareness at all of being “reconciled to God” – they think they’ve already determined the best way: “Us at our best for Him”, when He crucified ‘us’, ‘our worst and our best’, with Christ at the Cross, and they live ‘blinded’ to the “fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” and absent of the redemptive truth, “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

Are you aware of spiritual jaded times when, for many, there are no consequences to human godlessness, or even no consequences for ‘church-member’ emptiness of an independent heart, and a lack of spirit loyalty to the Lordship of Christ? Are you aware of the ‘self-declared-intellect’ of man who assumes he’s “redeemed” because upon his soulish mind upon which he, not God, has printed, “I’m a believer”, while in his so-called ‘walk of faith’ he rejects God’s “Highway of Holiness”, and God responds, “I never knew you”?

Are you aware of the masses of humanity, world-wide, who major on the importance of the education of the mind but never consider the condition of the heart? As a major representative of King Jesus, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, (that’s the human body), we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience (in yourself!) when your obedience is fulfilled (in your constant yielded-ness to the Indwelling, Resident Christ!).”

Our “old man sin-nature” was “crucified with Christ”! But Satan, the world around us, AND our own crucified sin-natures will seek to impose upon the lives He purchased with His own blood, and will seek to “take you down” to the disaster of “old-life domination”! What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 10:5? “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

SO…!! Rather than “Soul Travel”, there must be in our hearts the reality of, yes, “Soul Transformation”! If, which all fallen men live with, there is the deep, devilish, and demanding ‘natural’ fallen nature, is there “Hope” for lives that are slavish to the natural, enslaved to a ‘world spirit’, and bound by the power of Satan and his slavish demons? And when you do come to Christ in repentance and redemptive, saving, regenerative faith, are the wars over? Hate to tell you, but they’ve just begun!

But in Galatians 6:14-15 Paul gives us a strong word for the foundation of our ‘born-again-lives! He said: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. FOR in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” There’s an amazing word from Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.266), where Chambers wrote under the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit great Truth. He said:

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the Cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self – to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin. Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you; or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death. (JFF: I dare to ask you: ‘How many ‘church folk’ do you know who understand the ‘old sin-man was crucified with Christ’?’ Not many, because they’ve been convinced they can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven!).

Chambers wrote on: Immediately you transact in confident faith in what our Lord did on the Cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place, and you will know with a knowledge that passes knowledge that your “old man” is crucified with Christ. The proof that your old man is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.” WOW!

Do you rest in the reality of Biblical Truth? Colossians 3:3 says, Paul declaring, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Glory! My Holman Study Bible (NKJV) says in the footnotes of Colossians 3:3, “The Greek verb form of “hidden” connotes that God fully completed the action in the past with permanent results.” Are YOU ‘exposed in your old sin nature’ or “hidden with Christ in God”? Are YOU accepting of the historical fact that YOU “were crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live (victoriously)” because the Resurrected Christ resides, reigns, and continuingly raises you up in His fullness? Were you, through Christ, delivered from the domination of the world, the flesh or old sin nature, and from Satan’s deceit and domination of your ‘former’ life without Christ?

Do you know “the peace that passes all understanding”? Do you know “I am more than conqueror through Christ”? Have you “been raised up into heavenly places”, yes, living in His Kingdom under His Sovereign reign? Have YOU, because of His shed blood and resurrection, because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, been made free from the law of sin and death? Are YOU ‘spiritually minded’, living in His life, His peace, and His purposes in you and through you? Are YOU “led by the Spirit of God”, unveiling you as a true son of God?

What was it Paul recorded in Romans 8:28-32? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

What HAS God GIVEN TO US WHO REPENT AND REST IN CHRIST ALONE? I close with Ephesians 1:3-14 where Paul defines our “gifts”, not our “trying our best”: “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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED (THE LORD JESUS!).

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.

In Him (In Christ Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also “trusted”, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” CAN YOU SAY “AMEN” TO WHAT YOU’VE JUST HEARD?

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, there’s a hymn entitled “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.” It says: “Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your imprint we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Help us Your likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others Stream of rich blessings will flow.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make us Your own this hour; Let me be useful, dear Master, Seal us with witnessing power.

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.” I ask you: Do you daily choose the altar of sacrifice to your “old man” that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested daily in you and through you to His honor, His glory, and His praise? Let’s choose “empty tomb” living releasing Christ in us and through us!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, June 26-28, 2018

Sometimes have you ever wondered if the mass numbers of ‘professing Christians’ have truly experienced, invited, understood, welcomed and celebrated the Christ’s “Indwelling Presence”? John was very clear when in John 1:16 he wrote: “And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace,” with the beloved John saying in John 1:6-16, yes, testifying:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which lights every man that comes into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. BUT as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on (trust in, rely upon, adhere to) His name; Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth). John bore witness of Him, and cried, saying, “This was He of whom I spoke. He that comes after me is preferred before me; for He was before me. AND of His fullness have we all received, and grace for grace.” The Holy Word is very clear concerning God’s intent in and through His Son as Savior and Lord in men’s hearts, minds, lives, and walks! In Colossians 1:19 Paul said: “For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell.”

Amazing, enlightening, enriching, encouraging Verses in Colossians 2:6-10!!! It says: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him DWELLS ALL THE FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD BODILY, AND “YOU” ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.” How many ‘church-goers’ do you know who see themselves as “complete in Christ”?

In Ephesians 3:14-4:1 Paul enlightens us: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; THAT YOU MAY BE FILLED WITH ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.

Now to Him WHO IS ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.4:1. “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called…!”

HAVE “YOU” RECEIVED CHRIST JESUS AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, AS THE MASTER AND OWNER OF YOUR LIFE, AS YOUR FAITHFUL GUIDE INTO THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST? OR, have you sprung multiple leaks?

Did you understand what Paul said? “In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him!” Oh, I know there is the “birthing” of babies of true faith, there is a maturing process as a child, a teenager, a young adult, into the fullness of spiritual manhood, BUT the Christ in you never changes, never ‘leaks’, and never ‘falls away’ from YOU, His son or daughter!

Highly instructive, inspirational, and informative, illustrious words from James in James 1:21-25! “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Looks into – and continues in it? That ought to shock some into awareness of ‘daily choice’ of death to ‘self’ that Christ Jesus might reign supreme as Lord and Savior of their daily walk!

It was Spiros Zodiates, in his lengthy book entitled “The Behavior of Belief”, (p.124), who wrote: “If the Christian wants to benefit in any way as he looks in the mirror of the Word of God, he must approach it with humility. A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. One soon detects mock humility.”

There IS a ‘light’ by which a true disciple enters, appropriates, and upholds as his/her “guiding light”, but some in the religious world have appropriated “man-made lights” that have nothing to do with Christ Jesus WHO IS “The True Light of Fallen Mankind”, illuminating his/her ‘walk-way’ into the very Presence of Holy God! Redeemed men and women, washed in the Blood of the Lamb, raised out of spiritual death into eternal Life in Christ, are The “Holy Temple” in which the Resurrected Christ has taken up RESIDENCE because of one’s “repentance toward God” and “faith alone in the Victorious, Raised-Up, Reigning Christ” in “blood-bought hearts”!

The brother of Jesus, James, was a blessed recipient and author about “true, divine Life in Christ” when he wrote in James 1:21-25 !! A lengthy but necessary passage! James wrote: “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness (teachable-ness!) the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. BUT be DOERS of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a DOER OF THE WORK, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

James went on in James 2:14-24 saying, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? (Works because one has been saved or works in order to be saved?). Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of them says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things that are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.”

How many people have you heard say, “I’m not a religious person”? Really?, as they bow to worship ‘flesh’ or the ‘old sin nature’, as they ‘sacrifice’ to be successful, as they ‘devote’ time, education, the work ethic, ‘to prove they deserve what they work for’, expending and spending their energy to prove themselves worthy, yet void, empty, and uninterested in God’s eternal purpose??

In 1 Timothy 6:20-21 Paul wrote to his spiritual son, and us, saying: “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge – by professing ‘it’ some have strayed concerning the faith (or ‘fallen away from God’s gracious calling and knock on their heart’s door?). Grace be with you. Amen.” But today? Sadly, some in the ‘professing Christian community’ say, “Grit be with you in your walk of faith” – not grace! Today? There are those embracing what is profane, affirming profane and idle babblings, straying from the faith and yet asserting they’re OK because of the heart of God!

Do you even grasp the “perfect work of Christ” through the Cross and His Resurrection, yet believe, because of grace and mercy, it’s OK to minimize the reckless sinfulness in your walk as a professing disciple of the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords?

What did Paul write in Colossians 3:1-7? “If then you were raised with Christ, SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Is that “Christ ‘unveiled’ in you and through you for the world around you to see Him in you, your hope of glory?). Therefore PUT TO DEATH YOUR MEMBERS (DAILY!) which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves ONCE WALKED when you lived in them.”

THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who convicts us of sin, unrighteousness, and the judgment to come! THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who “guides us into all Truth”! THANK GOD for the Holy Spirit who illumines our hearts and minds to the reality of the Resurrected, Reigning Christ, yes, living and reigning within us as VICTOR over the law of sin and death! BUT, you don’t have anything to “rejoice in”? How about being ‘born again”, “born of the Spirit”, “birthed through the Living Word”? AMEN?

By J. Farrell Fisher, April 2-4, 2017

Have you ever heard someone say about their “Christian relationship with Christ”: “I did my best but fell short!” In God’s Holy Name where does one “trying” appear in the Gospels of Christ in the New Testament or the Old?

In Galatians 2:20 The Holy Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, said: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

I guess it might be important to ask: “Concerning ME and ‘crucified with Christ’, was that just my worst and/or my best included, my earthiness, my worldliness, my religious leanings, my, at times, attempts at good or godly behavior?”

In Galatians 6:14-15 the Apostle Paul tells us: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

Are you ever confronted, while walking with Christ in the “community of faith”, hearing someone talking about their “sincere attempts to live Christ-like, but their attempts fell short”? Is much of ‘religious Christianity’ today ‘fleshly attempts’ at imitating Christ, yes, apart from His resurrection presence within? Is this why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:9, “For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things,” BECAUSE some ‘church folk, church pastors’ lean toward what you ‘try’ and not in whom you trust, some even saying and teaching that obedience is salvation by works, when in reality and biblical truth, obedience is the outward evidence of Christ’s indwelling!

Paul went on to encourage the Corinthians, and us, saying in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, “Now thanks be TO GOD who always leads us in triumph in Christ, [“more than conquerors in and through Christ alone” or “super-human spiritual achievers”?], and through us {Sovereign, Holy, Merciful God!} diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ (not our best efforts!) among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death (if our attempts are ‘best effort trying’), and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. AND WHO IS SUFFICIENT FOR THESE THINGS? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

Some ‘religious-minded’ men and women know how to put on a “religious movie” that is fiction and not spiritual reality and Truth! Some are “self-commend-ers” with, they feel, adequate evaluation of their own religious devotion, with Paul challenging us in 2 Corinthians 3:1-6, “Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, the heart.

And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also MADE US SUFFICIENT as ministers of the NEW COVENANT, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Made sufficient by the grace of God or ‘marred messes of fleshly attempts at “trying” to be Christ-like’?

There is a powerful demonstration of “Trusting” in Mark 1:40-42 that should give “eternal hope” to those WHO KNOW they are “spiritual lepers”, alienated and separated from God by their “sin natures”! It tells us, “Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’

Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched Him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’ As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them. “

I would assume that those who have suffered from “leprosy” know their desperate state of life, but in the spiritual frame of reference “all have sinned, all are separated from God”, but many are blinded to their condition, blinded to the seriousness of a godless life, and sadly, blinded to Holy God’s divine intervention in their behalf!

Romans 3:23-26 Paul declares: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom GOD SET FORTH AS A PROPITIATION BY HIS BLOOD, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus.”

HOW DESPERATE DO YOU FIND IT TO LEARN WITHOUT CHRIST YOU LIVE A MAIMED EXISTENCE BUT, IN CHRIST, Matthew 5:48, Jesus speaking, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.111), who said, “But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s.”

In the writing, “Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin, The Progress of Man,” (l.55), we read: “Man only – rash, refined, presumptuous Man – Starts from his rank, and mars Creation’s plan! Born the free heir of nature’s wide domain, To art’s strict limits bounds his narrowed reign; Resigns his native rights for meaner things, For Faith and Fetters, Laws and Priests and Kings,” but the call of Christ falls on deafened ears, blinded minds, and cold, diseased hearts!

‘Lovely in man’s sight or lame in God’s sight”? Hardened against God or softened to God’s love in the sacrifice of His Son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ? Brittle, hardened, alienated from God, comfortable in one’s baseness rather than blessed in God’s grace and mercy and love, suffering in silence because of one’s ‘sin disease’ but vocal in his/her independence from God in fleshly, self-satisfaction, clones of the devil himself and satisfied with that likeness, basking in one’s own ‘star’ but blinded to the True Light in Christ, one foot on earth while the other has stepped into Hell, the godless man lives for himself like Aristotle said: “Man is either a beast or a god”, but void of the reality of God’s Presence within as His earthly Temple without Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, many being ‘religious without true repentance’, and as Robert Burns wrote in his “Inscribed to the Hon.C.J.Fox, “Good Lord, what is man? For as simple as he looks, Do but try to develop his hooks and his crooks! With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil: All in all he’s a problem must puzzle the devil.”

Are you “an anything other than a God- type of man” because you see yourself as your own creator and sustainer, not realizing that without God you ARE a little ‘being’ out to camouflage your spiritually dead self? How blinded not to know that “in Christ” a truly ‘born-again life’ is the crowning wonder of all of God’s creative abilities!

God spoke to Isaiah with Isaiah 1:8 saying, “…For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord,” but the ungodly, unreconciled, unbelieving cry out: “Deliver me from what,” sadly blinded, deafened, and stiff-necked before the awesome love of God at Calvary’s Cross, knowing nothing, even refusing to know, about personal deliverance from the bondage of one’s sin-nature, from the powerful influences of the worldly, from the claws of the devil like a wild animal after its prey – God longs to grace you, grant you, glorify you in and through Christ with Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope, as in Paul’s Ephesian epistle, Ephesians 3:14-19, he wrote: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, THAT HE WOULD GRANT YOU, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell (feel at home) in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

“Trying Or Trusting?” Can a ‘wise man’ be made aware of the foolishness of his fleshly wisdom without God but made wiser by Christ’s “I AM the way, the truth, and the life”, or a ‘strong man’ weakened and made aware of his need of surrender to the True Lord of life, or a rich man ‘bankrupted’ to learn of His need of the Lord and Savior as “the True Riches”? Peter highlighted in 1 Peter 3:7, speaking of husbands dwelling with their wives with understanding, giving honor to the wives, then stating, “and as being heirs together of the grace of life,” living a graced life “so that your prayers may not be hindered”!

“Trying Or Trusting?” I’m convinced that men are aware of “something” or “Someone” outside themselves who or what will make the difference between ‘meaning of life’ or the ‘meaninglessness of their existence’! There are times when every man is confronted with the awareness that he is earthly, but there must be something or Someone more for his life’s meaning and blessing! The sad state of men’s affairs is when they determine they are the ‘star’ to light their earthly, fleshly existence, but only sense awareness of the finite but ‘dumb’ concerning the infinite, eternal, after-life destiny! Fallen men do not see their very earthly existence as the act, the intent, the purpose of God, for His “tabernacle”!

It was George Gordon and Lord Byron, in “Lara”, (Canto1,st.2) who wrote: “Lord of himself; that heritage of woe!” And in John Bunyan’s “A Book For Boys and Girls”, he wrote: “From God he’s (man) a backslider; Of ways, he loves the wider; With wickedness a sider; More venom than a spider; In sin he’s a confider; A make-bate and divider; Blind reason is his guider; The Devil his rider.” It was Thomas Carlyle who once wrote: “The older I grow, and I now stand on the brink of eternity – the more comes back to me that sentence in the Catechism I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes: ‘What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

And yet many ‘live’ as “little souls” trying their best to be someone beyond a “living corpse”! [That’s Epictetus in his “Fragments”!]. In 2 Peter 2:9-10 Peter, anointed in the Holy Spirit, wrote: “…the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries…”

Do you remember the Lord Jesus describing the “scribes and Pharisees” in Matthew 23? These were the ‘religious elite of Judaism’ in Jesus’ day! They WERE the “great men of Judaism”, ‘self-appointed’, with no awareness of the heart, purpose, or plan of God through the Promised Messiah – in fact, they crucified Jesus! My Holman Study Bible introduces Matthew 23 with “Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees”! Seven times in Matthew 23 Jesus said to them: “Woe to you,” with their ‘name-identity’, by Jesus, as “hypocrites”! In Verses 27-28 the Lord Jesus said of them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” And you wonder how Jesus the True Lord and Savior views “American Christians”?

I don’t know if you are a student disciplined in the Word of God or not, but as you read Matthew 24 and Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Temple, I know it was a warning also for any believer, any church, any nation, anytime, because “All Scripture is divinely inspired and is profitable anytime, anywhere, for anyone!” Consider: “Perilous Times,” which are times of great deception, great conflicts, great sufferings, great, open sin, great opportunities, and either great joy or great sorrow! What’s YOUR choosing?

But, YOUR LIFE can be, in Christ, a demonstration, a celebration, a Hallelujah Chorus of Victory in Jesus! But, without Christ? Ecclesiastes 7:29 says, “Truly, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.” It’s so interesting, convicting, and awakening to hear Jesus say in Matthew 16:24, “If ANYONE desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me,” followed by Verse 25, For whoever desires to save his life (for himself) will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

“Trying Or Trusting?” I have no hesitation in saying that the “triers” have never rested in “trusting” God’s Holy Word! In Galatians 2:20 Paul clearly stated, “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (physical body) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” which he clearly understood that his old man ( disobedient to God, lord over his own life, filled with sin and the sin nature) DESERVED TO BE CRUCIFIED! AND CHRIST TOOK US WITH HIM TO CALVARY!! And YOU are either living in ‘flesh’s best effort’ or thankful your old sin nature “died with Christ, crucified with Christ”, and you’ve also been raised up in the blessing of Christ’s resurrected life, presence, power, and promises! He said: “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.” Glory!

“In Christ” we’re not hopeless but hope-filled! “In Christ” we’re no longer alienated and separated from God but made one in Him! “In Christ” we’re no longer condemned with the hideous nature of sin and Satan and the fallen world, but made one with Christ in His fullness and blessing and guaranteed promises – “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you!” “My grace frees you from your bondage of sin and frees you to an awareness you can go and sin no more!” “My grace transforms the sin nature into the gift of the divine nature!” “My grace obliterates the old man and blesses us with the “new man”, born again by the Spirit of God!”

Holy God shows mercy! Holy God births a “new creation”! Holy God indwells a man with Christ’s resurrection presence! Holy God “fills” repentant hearts with the fullness of His Holy Spirit! Holy God “stamps” us with His designation of ownership – “You are Mine!” And He will take care of us! He does so because He says: “You hold fast My name, and you have not denied My faith.”

It’s time now for YOUR “Hallelujah Chorus”! Sing it out! Live it out! Share it out! Proclaim it out! “I’m not a ‘trier’ – I’m a truster! I lean not to my own understanding, but In Christ I yield to His Holy Way!” Is that true of you?