SEPT.11-SEPT. 12, 2017, by J.FARRELL FISHER

In Genesis 1:26 the God-head had a sovereign meeting , God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and the Father said in Genesis 1:26, God speaking, “Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness…”, but the Father was not interested in ‘spiritual robots’ that had no will to respond positively or negatively – God wanted the human race to be His by choice in the mind and heart of men, not a ‘push-button’ philosophy void of man’s free will!

But it didn’t take long for ‘trouble’ to brew because in Genesis 3 the “serpent” appeared! (That’s Satan!), and how did he address Eve who’d been told by God, “You may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” And Satan’s response? “You surely will not die”, they ate of the forbidden fruit – AND SURELY DIED the spiritual death that we all have inherited through “flesh”!

Be assured! Satan casts doubt on the Word of God! Satan twists the truth! Satan spawns doubt, confusion, and unbelief! Satan spouts “the Lie” – “You surely shall not die”, but they did and so does modern man today!

In Romans 1:20-23 Paul said: “For since the creation of the world God’s 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 ‘images’ made like corruptible man -“!

Oh! And then Paul unveiled what God DID to expose their fallen nature saying: Romans 1:24, “God..gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,

Romans 1:25, who exchanged the truth of God for THE LIE (one can sin and not die!), worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Romans 1:26, “God…gave them up to vile passions.” Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…”

Romans 1:32, “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.”

Oh, but then in Colossians 1:12-18 the Apostle Paul magnifies the “preeminence of Christ and His precious promises”, saying: “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 (Christ Jesus) is the image (exact, perfect likeness) of the invisible God, the firstborn over all (the old or “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 (or are “held together”). 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.”

Question! “Are YOU loyal to Christ Jesus in all things, or, have you reserved a segment of your life under your own administration?” “Do YOU declare allegiance to Christ Jesus, yet sense, in yourself, ‘There are some things He may ask me to do, but He must be mistaken because that’s not in my reasonable ‘notions’ for a sane man to do?’” Or, “Isn’t obedience my option in the days of grace and mercy? Don’t I have the right to say, ‘Yes, Lord, that may be true for others, but not for me?’” How ‘fool-ish’ some ‘believers’ become!

In Psalm 102:12-13, 18-22 are uplifting verses when one faces a ‘down-grading’ world, religious gatherings, or, yes, a demonic system! It says: Verses 12-13, “But You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations. You will arise and have mercy on Zion (Your chosen people!); for the time to favor her, yes, the set time, has come. (Is THIS your set time?).

Verses 18-22, This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the Lord viewed the earth (Is His eye still on you?), To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, When the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.”

Please come with me to Hebrews 11:8-10 and ask: “As Christ has called me to come and follow Him, where does He lead me?” The Hebrew passage? “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

And, DO YOU, as a professor of faith in Christ, do you know of the “new Jerusalem” which is, yes, a part of the present then, now, and forever abiding place for the true disciples of Christ IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD? We come into this “capital city” of the Kingdom of God because our forever residence is assured in and through Christ alone – we repented, put our faith and trust in Him alone, and Holy God declared us citizens of Christ’s Kingdom!

“Calvary the Cross”! Are YOU identified with Christ in His death on the cruel Cross over 2000 years ago? What does Galatians 2:20-21 tell us? “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 do not set aside the grace of God…”

I tell you, there are many, many men and women who ignore the crucifixion of Christ to their present loss and ignore their destiny without Him in a dark world of devilish, demonic, and unbeliever-rage, not knowing or appreciating the horrible scourging, suffering, and dying by Christ Jesus for them, as if they were the only humans ever to live! The Cross of Christ was dreadfully real because He dreadfully took your sin nature and mine, dying, to put an end to those who had no way of being reconciled to God the Father unless the Son paid the price Himself for our sin, our death, and our separation from the God who loves us more than we love ourselves – He WAS the “sinless One”, yet He took our sins unto Himself, and shed His own blood, and died, that we might have the opportunity of being reconciled to God, God’s Way – through “Jesus Only”!

Do you think this just might be why Paul said 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”? Oh, and how does ‘worldly wisdom’ compare to divine wisdom or do I not even go there? Don’t believe I will – why waste my time and yours when even the worldly know their limited wisdom can’t even compare to His, so even though they may deny His wisdom, they latch their ‘star’ to it and soar to the moon! Right?

It was William Cowper, in his writing, “The Task”, (Bk.111, l.221), who wrote: “God never meant that man should scale the heavens by strides of human wisdom,” but I’ll guarantee you that man aligning himself with God’s wisdom, as yet, we haven’t seen how high and how far a man can really go as he, they, we ‘lean not to our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him’, or give Him His rightful place in our lives, minds, and hearts as “Lord, Savior, and Master” of our lives!

For the man who intellectualizes the world for his own purposes and plans apart from being yielded to the eternal, divine, ‘mind-of-God’ intention, is a secularist intent on shutting out God in Christ from His redemptive, blood-bought purpose! The ‘man of the world’, with no paramount love, faith, and trust in Holy God, is a ‘substitute’, ‘bench-warmer’ that never really plays God’s intended ‘game of life and faith’, but sits, missing out on the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ! It was, yes, Robert E. Lee, in a “Letter to his Wife”, who wrote: “What a glorious world Almighty God has given us! How thankless and ungrateful we are, and how we labor to mar His gifts.”

Marred gifts? Does that ring a bell in your mind and heart? In Jeremiah 18:1-10, rather than simply a kingdom like Israel, think of the kingdom of YOUR own heart, family, your nation, your world! It says: The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into ANOTHER VESSEL, as it seemed good to the potter to make. THEN the word of the Lord came to me, saying: “O house of Israel, (O house of the Fishers, O house of Ft.Worth, Bedford, Dallas, Texas, or my growing up city of Cleveland, Tennessee), can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it, if it does evil in My sight so that IT DOES NOT OBEY MY VOICE, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.”

Benefitted or blasted by the, yes, judgment of God? Blessed or ‘pulled down further’ to the reaches of Hell itself? Built up in faith by God’s glory, power, and mercy or assigned your self-willed bondage under Satan’s domination? Truly, I do not believe or even think that the majority of unbelievers knows what awaits a godless existence in eternity – if they did, there would be an about-face from Hell’s gates to outstretched arms and hands reaching out for God’s mercy, but even then, it could be too late!

In Oswald Chambers’ “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.56), Chambers wrote so wisely: “I have to cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit (And he’s already taught that cleansing is through the Lamb’s Blood alone!) until both are in agreement with the nature of God. Is the mind of my spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am I insubordinate in intellect? Am I forming the mind of Christ, Who never spoke from His right to Himself, but maintained an inner watchfulness whereby He continually submitted His spirit to His Father? I have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in agreement with His Spirit, and by degrees Jesus lifts me up to where He lived – in perfect consecration to His Father’s will, paying no attention to any other thing. Am I perfecting this type of holiness in the fear of God? Is God getting His way with me, and are other people beginning to see God in my life more and more?” What a challenge to every ‘professing believer’!

“Calvary the Cross – Calvary the Call!” Do you know what Jeremiah 7:13 says? God spoke then, He speaks now! “I called, but you did not answer.” In fact, the content is, “I called over and over and over, but you refused to answer My calling to YOU!” But “Calvary the Call”? In 1 Corinthians 9:16 Paul said: ‘For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” Necessity laid, yes, upon every believer? Without a doubt! In the old “Broadman Hymnal” is a song, I’m afraid, many of my Baptist friends never really understood or sang. It’s entitled, “The Kingdom Is Coming.” (of course, if any believed it, to them it was a future event in the “last days”, not in the “here and now”! It says:

“From all the dark places Of earth’s heathen races, O see how the thick shadows fly! The voice of salvation Awakes every nation, Come over and help us, they cry.

The sunlight is glancing Over armies advancing, To conquer the kingdoms of sin; Our Lord shall possess them, His presence shall bless them, His beauty shall enter them in.

With shouting and singing, And jubilant ringing, Their arms of rebellion cast down; At last every nation The Lord of salvation Their King and Redeemer shall crown!

The kingdom is coming, [jff: And IT CAME!! King Jesus Reigns NOW!], O tell you the story, God’s banner exalted shall be! The earth shall be full of His knowledge and glory, As waters that cover the sea.” AND IT DOES, CONTINUES TO BE, AND FOREVER WILL BE!!! Amen?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER,APRIL 28-29

THE AMAZING “CREATION OF GOD” OF BOTH THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD,PLANETS,STARS,PLUS BIRTHING OF FLESHLY HUMANITY WITH “FREE WILL” TO CHOOSE WHETHER TO SERVE GOD OR NOT, IS TRULY, BOTH SAD AND GLAD – SAD, BECAUSE SOME “FREE-WILL MEN AND WOMEN” CHOSE THE PATH OF “ME, MY, AND MIND” RATHER THAN THE PERFECT, PERFECTING, PRECIOUS PRIVILEGE OF THE WINSOMENESS, THE WILL, THE “WORD”, AND THE WAYS OF HOLY GOD!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE, IN CHOOSING SELF-WILL FOR SELF-PLEASURE, (FROM A NATURAL MIND AND NATURAL HEART!), WERE “BIRTHED”- ‘BRAIN-DEAD’, ‘FLESH-DEFILED’,‘HEART-DARKENED’,AND WILLFULLY ‘DELIRIOUS’, WITH THE ENEMY OF MANKIND, SATAN, ‘DEMONSTRABLY ACTIVE’ IN ‘DECEIVING MANKIND’, SAYING, “IF YOU SIN, DISOBEY, OR DEFY GOD, YOU WON’T DIE”, WHILE THE SPIRIT OF HOLY GOD SPEAKS TO YOU, CONVICTS YOU, SAYING, IN JOSHUA 24:15,“AND IF IT SEEMS EVIL UNTO YOU TO SERVE THE LORD,CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE; WHETHER THE ‘gods’ WHICH YOUR FATHERS SERVED,OR THE ‘gods of self-willed peoples’, IN WHOSE LAND YOU DWELL;BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” (AND THE REWARD ‘of self-willed peoples’? ROMANS 6:23, “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH” –NATURALLY & ETERNALLY, IF THERE’S NO REPENTANCE, BELIEF, TRUST, & YIELDEDNESS TO THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!).

NATURAL MANKIND BIRTHS NATURAL CHILDREN, AND WHETHER NATURAL MANKIND OR NATURAL CHILDREN, BOTH MUST KNOW TRUE REPENTANCE BEFORE HOLY GOD, AND FULLY AWARE THAT REPENTANCE WITH TRUE BIBLICAL FAITH, GIVES BIRTH WITHIN TO PURE HEARTS WASHED CLEAN BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, AND THEN THE ETERNAL BLESSING OF HIS PRESENCE, (CHRIST JESUS!), ENTERING THEIR HEARTS, MAKING THE HEART THE TABERNACLE OF HIS ETERNAL DWELLING, HIS ABIDING,EARTHLY RESIDENCE,AND,YES,THE “THRONE” BEING YOUR HEART AND LIFE THROUGH WHICH YOU ALLOW KING JESUS TO AGAIN GRANT EARTHLY PRESENCE, SOVEREIGN RULE, AND MERCIFUL OUTREACH TO YOU & THROUGH YOU TO OTHERS WHO NEED “BLOOD REDEMPTION” & “RECONCILIATION” WITH HOLY GOD, THEIR, YES, LOVING FATHER! AND UPON CONVERSION, FROM THAT DEATH FORWARD, ALL BELIEVERS ARE TO BE HIS “WITNESSING ARMY” TO SHARE “HIS TRUTH OF THE REALITY OF NEW BIRTH” TO ANY EARTHLY RESIDENT AROUND YOU!

(BUT THE SAD TRUTH? MOST CHURCHES AND PREACHERS AROUND YOU ARE ‘DEVOTED TO GOOD SUNDAY MORNING CLASSES & MESSAGES’ WITHOUT A PENNY’S WORTH OF CONCERN OR COMPASSION FOR THE LOST CITIZENS LOCALLY OR NATIONALLY OR NATIONS THAT SURROUND THEIR BORDERS, OR NATIONS OVERSEAS!)

MY GREATEST CONCERN TODAY, JUST A FEW WEEKS BEFORE MY 83^RD BIRTHDAY ON JUNE 12, 2019? THAT TOO MANY CHURCHES, TOO MANY PASTORS, TOO MANY MEMBERS, TOO MANY DENOMINATIONAL LEADERS, ARE GROWING “SO FAT” ON CHRISTIAN NEWS OF SATISFIED ‘TO BE CHURCH MEMBERS’, THAT THEY WILLFULLY BLIND THEMSELVES OF BEING TOOLS IN GOD’S HANDS TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, OR PROVE HIS POWER!

THE PSALMIST,KING DAVID, IN PSALM 8:4-9, WROTE: “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU, GOD, ARE MINDFUL OF HIM?AND THE SON OF MAN,(KING JESUS), THAT YOU VISIT HIM? BUT YOU BIRTHED “HIM” A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, AND HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR.YOU,GOD, MADE HIM (CHRIST JESUS!) TO HAVE DOMINION OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS FEET:ALL SHEEP AND OXEN,YES,AND THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD; THE FOWL OF THE AIR, AND THE FISH OF THE SEA, AND WHATSOEVER PASSES THROUGH THE PATHS OF THE SEAS. O LORD OUR LORD, HOW EXCELLENT IS YOUR NAME IN ALL THE EARTH.”

‘FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE?’ ‘FALLEN HUMANITY’S SIRITUAL BLINDNESS? FALLEN HUMANITY’S SHAME OF SELF-WILL OR SELF-GOVERNMENT? FALLEN HUMANITY’S HARDNESS OF HEART BECAUSE OF THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN?FALLEN HUMANITY’S STUPIDITY IN BOWING TO THE FOREFATHERS WHO SOUGHT ONLY TO BE SELF-RELIANT AS THEIR OWN SELF-INSTITUED ‘master’, ‘ruler,’ and ‘savior’ lifestyle and explanation of ‘good living’ rather than “GOD-BIRTHED, GOD-BLESSED, GOD-ANOINTED LIFE-IN-CHRIST JESUS”?

ACROSS THE ‘CHRISTIAN WORLD’,YES, WORLDWIDE, MY GREATEST CONCERN TODAY FOR THE DAYS BEFORE US? DAYS THAT SHOULD BE DAYS THROUGH US WHICH GOD THE FATHER USES TO EXTEND HIS KINGDOM, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, AND PROVE HIS POWER, BUT,”SADLY” MUCH OF ‘PROFESSING CHRISTIANITY, PROFESSING CHURCHES, PROFESSING LEADERS’, LIVE UNDER, SERVE UNDER, PLAN UNDER, PROVIDE UNDER, PERFORM UNDER, ‘RELIGIOUS PLANS’ RATHER THAN “HOLY-SPIRIT-POWER AND ANOINTING AND INSPIRING” THE, YES, SPIRITUAL PLANTING, TENDING, AND HARVESTING OF THE FRUIT OF MEN’S LOST, SEPARATED SOULS, TO BECOME SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF TRUE FAITH EXPERIENCING DIVINE, DRAMATIC CONVERSIONS THAT SIT TO EAT AROUND HIS TABLE (HIS HOLY WORD!), AND SERVE IN HIS FIELDS FOR NEEDY, SIN-SICK, SATAN-DELUDED SOULS”!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? LOOKING IN, THEY ONLY SEE THE NATURAL, THE EARTHLY, THE FLESHLY, THE ‘LESS OF WHAT THEY ‘WANT’ AND NOT WHAT LOVING GOD PLANNED’, THE SHALLOWNESS OF WHAT ‘SIN-NATURE’ WANTS AND NOT THE “DEEP WATERS” OF GOD’S GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE, THE ‘SOULISH’ SATISFACTION OF ‘SELF-INDULGENCE’ THAT DROWNS THEM IN THE SHALLOW WATERS OF FLESHLY INDULGENCES, WORLDLY,WILD PLEASURES, AND SATANIC & DEMONIC, HELL-BOUND SCHEMES AND ‘WILD DREAMS’!

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? “CROWN ‘YOU’ (ME,US- THE ONLY ONES WHO NEED TO REIGN!” “BE ‘FALLEN WORLD’S PARTNER’ UNITING WITH WHATEVER BLINDS YOU SPIRITUALLY WHEN YOU WALK ‘HERE’! BE ‘NOBLE’ IN THE WORLD “YOU” CHOOSE; AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO KNEEL BEFORE A ‘god’ TO SUCCEED–you’re your own man!”

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURES? “SATISFIED WITH SOULISH LIVING, SATISFIED WITH SELF-WILL, SATISFIED WITH EARTHLY,MAN-INSPIRED EDUCATION APART FROM HOLY GOD’S INSPIRATION,SATISFIED IN THIS FLESH-LIFE AND MY SELF-INDEPENDENT-DETERMINATION TO MAKE IT HERE WITHOUT ‘YOUR GOD’S HELP’; ‘I, MY PERSONAL, MY ‘GLORIFED’,STOIC SELF, DO NOT NEED YOUR SAVIOR!”THAT’S LIKE A STATEMENT I READ SIMILAR OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”,(P.396, PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H.REVELL COMPANY, WESTWOOD,NJ),THAT SAID: “GOD HELPS THOSE THAT HELP THEMSELVES.” A THOUSAND TIMES, “NO!” GOD HELPS THOSE FINISHED WITH THEMSELVES, BECAUSE THE “OLD MAN” CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS, IS NOT TO HAVE EVEN A FRACTION OF AN INCH IN THEM OF “TRYING” TO BE SAVED, BUT, YES, “RESTING IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK ON THE TOMB OF THE HISTORIC CROSS, AND THOUGH DEAD IN A TOMB THREE DAYS, GOD RAISED HIM!”

AND GOD “RAISES YOU” IF YOU REPENT! GOD “RAISES YOU” IF YOU ‘REST’! GOD “RAISES” YOU WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED WITH YOUR OLD MAN AND OLD NATURE AND SATANIC DECEPTION! FINISHED IF YOU’RE “FINISHED” WITH MAN-INSPIRED DREAMS AND VISIONS, AND “READY” FOR THE CHRIST IN YOU TO CONTINUE HIS ETERNAL EARTH-JOURNEY TO TOUCH OTHERS WITH HIS PROMISES AND HIS ETERNAL WORK BY HIS PRESENCE IN YOUR HEART & LIFE LITERALLY!! “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY”!!!!****

HAVE “YOU” CLOSED THE DOOR ON FALLEN HUMANITY’S FLESHLY DREAMS AND “RESTED” IN “THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?”

I CHALLENGE YOU THIS VERY MOMENT AS YOU READ: “REST IN”, “WILLFULLY RELAX”, “WISELY REPENT”, AND IN “HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTED HEART, MIND, AND WILL OF GOD”, WHY NOT, YES, SIMPLY “TRUST AND OBEY”? IN JAMES 1 THE BROTHER OF JESUS WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, VERSE 18, (GET READY! DON’T BE DECEIVED!!), “OF HIS OWN WILL GOD BIRTHED US WITH THE WORD OF TRUTH…”, WITH SIMON PETER TELLING US IN 1 PETER 1:2-5, “ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER, ( PAUSE! DID IT SAY: “FOREKNOWLEDGE”? YOU MEAN BEFORE HUMANITY EVER EXISTED, GOD KNEW WHO, HOW MANY, HE THEN “YES”, SOVEREIGNLY CHOSE THEM TO BE HIS HEAVENLY FAMILY OF SONS AND DAUGHTERS THROUGH THEIR GIFT OF FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT CALVARY AND THROUGH HIS EMPTY-TOMB RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, AND HIS HEAVENLY REIGN! BEFORE CREATION GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT CHOSE THE “FAMILY OF FAITH” AND SAW TO IT THAT THEY WERE, ARE, AND WILL BE “BORN AGAIN”, ADOPTED INTO THE HOLY FAMILY, HAVING BEEN “RECONCILED THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS AND HIS RESURRECTION, ASCENDING TO THE RIGHT HAND THRONE OF GOD TO WATCH AFTER GOD’S PRE-ORDAINED, ETERNALLY PROGRAMED SPIRITUAL BIRTHS, AND AFTER A LIFE OF EARTHLY SERVICE, UPON THEIR SPIRITUAL DEATHS, HE “CALLS THEM HOME” TO THE THRONE-ROOM, WHERE AT THE THRONE THEY’RE WELCOMED BY KING JESUS, AND, YES, GIVES ALL SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF “BORN-AGAIN FAITH” TO BE HIS FOOTWASHERS, SERVANTS, TABERNACLE-TENDERS, CHOIR SINGERS – A BLESSED, ETERNAL, THRILLED FAMILY OF NEVER-DYING, NEVER-ENDING MINISTRY TO THE “LORD OF GLORY”!

OH, BACK TO 1 PETER 1, VERSE 2A, “ELECT…”, BUT NOTICE ALSO 2B, THERE’S “SANCTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT (THE HOLY SPIRIT) UNTO OBEDIENCE, AND SPRINKLING OF THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST”..FOR GRACE THROUGH YOU TO BE MULTIPLIED!!”

Verse 3 EXPLAINS: “BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHICH ACCORDING TO HIS ABUNDANT MERCY HAS BEGOTTEN US AGAIN UNTO A LIVING HOPE BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, VERSE 4, TO AN INHERITANCE, INCORRUPTIBLE, AND UNDEFILED, AND THAT FADES NOT AWAY, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU, VERSE 5,‘WHO ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD THROUGH FAITH (OR TRUST) UNTO SALVATION, READY TO BE REVEALED IN THE LAST DAYS.”

IF CHRIST JESUS SAID ON THE CROSS RIGHT BEFORE HE DIED: “IT IS FINISHED!”, I TELL YOU, SUMMED UP IN THE STATEMENT OF JESUS IS THE DETERMINATION OF THE ‘WHO’ WILL BE SAVED, AND THE GUARANTEE THAT HIS WORK “FOR THEM” IS OVER! ON THE CROSS, BEFORE, IN HIS EARTHLY MINISTRY, BEFORE MANKIND WAS EVER CREATED, JESUS KNEW WHO, WHERE, AND WHEN THEY’D BE BORN, THEN RE-BIRTHED SPIRITUALLY THROUGH HIS MERCY AND LOVE, SERVED HIM FAITHFULLY, AND THEN, UPON EARTHLY DEATH, READY TO BE RAISED CELEBRATING HIM AND HIS ETERNAL “KINGDOM OF GOD REIGN” IN HEAVEN AS HE DID ON EARTH!

“THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?” THAT’S WHO GOD IS;THAT’S WHAT FLOWS IN YOU AND AROUND YOU; IT’S WHAT “HE DOES” IN CHOOSING YOU, AND IN CALLING YOU, AND IN CONVERTING YOU, AND COMPASSIONATELY INDWELLING YOU; AND BECAUSE YOU RESPOND TO HIS PRESENCE, YOU CHOOSE DAILY TO YOUR ‘OLD MAN’, YOUR ‘OLD SIN-NATURE’, DEATH TO IT & YOURSELF, THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE AND SPIRIT OF CHRIST MAY HIMSELF FLOW FREELY, FULLY, AND FAITHFULLY THROUGH YOU DAILY! & YOU LIVE SINGING:

“EVERY DAY I LIVE IN HIS GLORY, EVERY DAY I SHARE HIS STORY: ‘GOD REDEEMS BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB’, NEW CREATIONS REJOICE AS A CHOIR, LOUDLY SINGING: ‘IT’S IN ME CHRIST JESUS’ HOUR; PURCHASED BY HIS BLOOD, RE-BORN IN HIS FLOOD, A REPENTANT MEN NOW SHARES HIS LIFE & HIS MISSION, FULLY FORGIVEN, AMAZINGLY ASSURED: CHRIST MY SAVIOR IS NOW MY LORD”.

WALK IN OBEDIENCE YOUR LORD TO PLEASE, KNOWING LIFE IN HIM IS NO LONGER YOUR DISEASE, BUT A LIFE OF PEACE FREED FROM DISTRESS, BECAUSE IN JESUS YOU SHARE IN HIS ETERNAL REST; NO LONGER SHAMED IN SIN AND UNBELIEF, BY FAITH IN CHRIST’S SACRIFICE, I’VE BECOME HIS DELIGHT! “CHRIST IN ME MY HOPE OF GLORY, CHRIST THROUGH ME MY WORLD’S REDEMPTION STORY. POWERED BY THE SPIRIT AND AWAKENED TO MEN’S “LOST”, I GLADLY SHARE JESUS AT ANY COST.

IN CHRIST OUR “NEW LIFE” GLOWS, AND FREED IN THE SPIRIT GOD’S WORD NOW FLOWS! IT’S THE SEED OF HIS WORD PRODUCING FRUIT, EVEN “NEW-BORN LIVES” AS HIS GREAT DELIGHT! FROM THE GRAVE OF SIN AND DEATH, FROM THE LIES OF RICHES IN ‘FLESH’S WEALTH’, THE TRUTH OF GOD’S MERCY AND GRACE FULLY ABIDE, AS A REPENTANT HEART FAITHS ONLY: “I WANT TO BE ON GOD’S SIDE!”

SO I DIE TO MY SIN, I REST IN HIS GRACE, AND AMAZINGLY SEE, “I’M NOW PART OF HEAVEN’S RACE, EXTENDING HIS LIFE, EXPRESSING HIS LOVE, UNVEILING HIS PRESENCE, I’M LIKE A HEAVENLY DOVE!” I REJOICE IN MY SAVIOR, I REST IN HIS LOVE; I’VE BEEN RAISED UP, SEATED ABOVE! ABOVE SIN AND DEATH, I GLOW IN HIS GLORY, AS LOVINGLY I SHARE REDEMPTION’S STORY; “I AM HIS, AND HE IS MINE, AND IN HIS ABIDING I SHINE.”

IN MATTHEW 16:24 JESUS SAID: “IF ANY MAN WILL COME AFTER ME, LET HIM TAKE UP HIS CROSS, AND FOLLOW ME!” ARE “YOU” FOLLOWING? ARE “YOU” SHARING REDEMPTION’S STORY? DOES YOUR LIFE “GLOW” WITH HEAVEN’S GLORY? I TELL YOU: “SELF-DENIAL” TO SHARE GOD’S GLORY IS NOT AN INCLINATION BUT THE “REVELATION” AND INSPIRATION OF DISCIPLESHIP DUTY, OVERFLOWING FROM THE REALITY OF CRUCIFIXION WITH CHRIST TO THE REVELATION OF RESURRECTION LIFE IN CHRIST, RAISED UP, IN-FILLED, AND OVERFLOWING WITH HIS HOLY PRESENCE TO BE HIMSELF, TOUCHING MEN AROUND YOU WITH HIS “GREATER LOVE”, HIS “HEAVENLY GLORY”, AND A “NEW LIFE” WILLING TO SHARE HIS STORY! ARE YOU “NEW IN CHRIST WITH THE GREATER LOVE WHICH SHARES HIS STORY”? THAT’S HEAVEN’S LOVE FOR LOST MEN’S EARTHLY NOTHINGNESS THAT HONORS GOD IN THEM, EXCEPT “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, BURIED IN HIS TOMB, BUT RAISED IN 3 DAYS IN ETERNAL GLORY”! IS THAT “YOUR STORY”?

FALLEN HUMANITY’S FAILURE OR “THE FAITHFULNESS OF COMPASSIONATE GOD?”

“CITIZENS OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM”?”

J.FARRELL FISHER, MAY 4-5,2019

IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, IT’S BEEN AMAZING TO ME AT GOD’S INSPIRATION IN ME IN WRITING, I PRAY, BLESSED TEACHINGS THAT WILL TEACH & REACH MANY FOR TRUE SALVATION IN THE SAVIOR’S NAME BY CONVICTION, CONVERSION, CONSECRATION, AND THEN,COMMISSIONING OF CHILDREN OF FAITH AS HIS MESSENGERS, AMBASSADORS, SERVANTS, PASTORS & TEACHERS & EVEN AS MISSIONARIES! AS WELL AS TEACHINGS, OUR LORD HAS EVEN INSPIRED POETRY IN ME EVERY NOW & THEN! HERE’S A SAMPLE: “STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND, SELFISHLY LIVING AS ‘SLAVES’ TO A WORLD, A DEVIL, & A ‘FLESHLY’ BAND; IGNORING GOD & SINGING THEIR OWN SONG, ‘OFF-KEY’’, THEY’RE LOUD & SINFULLY STRONG.

STRANGERS TO “TRUTH” & ALL THINGS RIGHT, THEY WANDER ON EARTH IN THEIR ‘SOULISH NIGHT’, IGNORING THE GOD OF LOVE & LIGHT, DANCING & PRANCING & JUMPING IN THEIR SIN, THEY EASILY TURN AWAY FROM “GOD’S: MIGHT HAVE BEEN!”

“NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” IS TO THEM A ‘BORE’, BECAUSE LIFE ON THEIR OWN IS IN INDULGENT & SINFUL TREASURE, BUT VOID OF GOD, IT’S SIN-NATURE’S ‘PLEASURE’(?).

SO DAY BY DAY IN THEIR SELFISH WAY, THEY WILLFULLY LIVE BLINDED TO GOD’S “BEST & BETTER DAY”; THAT’S THE DAY OF REDEMPTION FOR SOULS IN SIN, BUT THEY WILLFULLY IGNORE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.”

“STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND”? IN THE LAST PART OF HEBREWS 11:13,THERE IS A PHRASE DESCRIBING HEBREW BELIEVERS BEFORE THEY FOUND, YES, BY GOD’S MERCY & GRACE, THE TRUE PATH OF BLOOD REDEMPTION: PAUL WROTE, THAT MANY WERE: “STRANGERS & PILGRIMS ON THE EARTH”, AT LEAST FOR AWHILE, THEN‘HEARING GOD’S PROMISE’, WERE PERSUADED TO HOLD ON FROM THAT DAY FORWARD TO THEIR COMING CROWNING IN THE BLESSING OF SPIRITUAL FREEDOM THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST’S GOSPEL FOREVER & EVER EVEN AFTER THEIR EARTHLY PHYSICAL DEATH TO LIVE ETERNALLY WITH CHRIST IN HEAVEN, NOT HELL, STILL FAITHFULLY READY TO “WASH THE MASTER’S FEET THERE AS THEY DID HERE!”

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, WILLIAM COWPER AUTHORED WORDS HE ENTITLED “LIGHT SHINING OUT OF DARKNESS”, SAYING: “BLIND UNBELIEF IS SURE TO ERR, AND SCAN GOD’S WORK IN VAIN; GOD IS HIS OWN INTERPRETER, AND HE WILL MAKE IT PLAIN.”

BUT, STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND? STRANGERS TO GOD HIMSELF? STRANGERS TO HIS SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? STRANGERS TO HIS HOLY SPIRIT? STRANGERS TO HIS ETERNAL WORD, HIS “MILK”, HIS “BREAD”, HIS “FRUIT”, HIS “PATHWAY”, HIS “GUIDING LIGHT” & STRANGERS TO HIS“GRACIOUS MAP OF BLOOD REDEMPTION & RECONCILIATION WITH THE HOLY FATHER FOR ALL MANKIND”, THRU TRUST IN CHRIST’S SHED BLOOD, HIS DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, CROWNED IN GLORY, SEATED ON GOD’S THRONE & INTERCEDING FOR YOU IN PARTICULAR AS IF YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE THE LORD JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED FOR?

HE TOOK WITH HIM TO THE CROSS YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE & MINE. WHEN JESUS ALLOWED HIS CRUCIFIXION, HE KNEW “YOU” HAD TO BE “CRUCIFIED WITH HIM”, YOUR ‘OLD MAN’ YOUR ‘OLD SIN-NATURE, YOUR ‘OLD LIFE DECEIVED BY SATAN HIMSELF’! HOW CAN I SHARE THIS TRUTH WITHOUT ITS FOUNDATION IN GENESIS 2:1-14?

THUS THE HEAVENS & THE EARTH WERE FINISHED, AND ALL THE HOST OF THEM. AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD ENDED HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD MADE; AND GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, & SANCTIFIED IT (OR “SET IT APART”); AND HE RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH HE HAD MADE.

THESE ARE THE GENERATIONS OF THE HEAVENS & THE EARTH WHEN THEY WERE CREATED, IN THE DAY THAT THE LORD GOD MADE THE EARTH & THE HEAVENS. AND EVERY PLANT OF THE FIELD BEFORE IT WAS IN THE EARTH, AND EVERY HERB OF THE FIELD BEFORE IT GREW; FOR THE LORD GOD HAD NOT CAUSED IT TO RAIN UPON THE EARTH, AND THERE WAS NOT A MAN TO TILL THE GROUND.

BUT THERE WENT UP A MIST FROM THE EARTH, & WATERED THE WHOLE FACE OF THE GROUND. AND THE LORD FORMED MAN OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND, & BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE; AND MAN BECAME A LIVING SOUL. (BUT ONLY A LIVING SOUL, BECAUSE, AS YET, NOT “NEW-BORN” CITIZENS OF GOD’S ETERNAL KINGDOM & HIS SPIRITUAL FAMILY!).

VERSE 8 &FOLLOWING: AND THE LORD GOD PLANTED A GARDEN EASTWARD IN EDEN; AND THERE HE PUT THE MAN WHOM HE HAD FORMED. AND OUT OF THE GROUND MADE THE LORD GOD TO GROW EVERY TREE THAT IS PLEASANT TO YOUR SIGHT, AND GOOD FOR FOOD; THE TREE OF LIFE ALSO IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN, & THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & EVIL.

AND A RIVER WENT OUT OF EDEN TO WATER THE GARDEN; AND FROM THERE IT WAS PARTED, & BECAME INTO FOUR HEADS. THE NAME OF THE FIRST IS PISON; THAT IS IT WHICH COMPASSES THE WHOLE LAND OF HAVILAH, WHERE THERE IS GOLD; [INTERESTING WORD,HAVILAH; EXODUS 15:22 SPEAKS OF THOSE WHO “WENT OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS OF SHUR…”. IT WAS SW OF PALESTINE! OH, “WHERE THERE IS GOLD”!]

LITERALLY,PHYSICAL GOLD CAN CAPTURE A MAN TO THE POINT HE’S SO ENRAPTURED WITH FINDING “GOLD” THAT HE/SHE MISSES GOD!

VERSE 12 SAYS, “ AND THE GOLD OF THAT LAND IS GOOD; THERE IS BDELLIUM & THE ONXY STONE.” BUT YOU UNDERSTAND, MANY ARE ‘ENSLAVED’ TOWARD, LITERALLY, ‘GOLD’ BUT RESISTANT TO THE GIFT OF GOD OF ‘SPIRITUAL GOLD’, TO THE POINT, MANY ‘PROFESSORS OF FAITH’ LIVE BANKRUPT, PENNILESS LIVES OF FAITH, IGNORING WHAT THE TRUE INHERITANCE OF “BORN-AGAIN SAINTS ARE”,& LIVING A SPIRITUALLY ‘POVERTY-WALK’, LIKE A ‘BEGGAR’ ON A STREET CORNER, ‘SIN-NATURE RICH,BUT SPIRITUALLY IMPOVERISHED’, POOR & BABKRUPT AS “HELL” IS ITSELF UNDER SATAN’S FOREVER IMPRISONMENT!!!

BUT IN 1 PETER 2:9 THE APOSTLE SAID, “BUT YOU, (DISCIPLE OF CHRIST!), ARE A CHOSEN GENERATION, A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PECULIAR PEOPLE, THAT “YOU” SHOULD SHOW FORTH THE PRAISES OF HIM WHO HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF (YOUR) DARKNESS INTO “HIS” MARVELOUS LIGHT”! REALLY? “STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND?” OR: “BORN-AGAIN CITIZENS OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM?”

ARE “YOU” A BORN-AGAIN CITIZEN OF HIS ETERNAL KINGDOM?” ARE “YOU” LIVING FOR THE “LEAST” THE WORLD AROUND YOU OFFERS, OR DO YOU PASSIONATELY PURSUE ALL GOD SAYS YOU ARE “IN CHRIST”?

I AFFIRM THIS TEACHING WITH THE WORDS OF PAUL IN EPHESIANS 2:13-22! “BUT NOW ‘IN CHRIST JESUS’ YOU WHO SOMETIMES WERE FAR OFF ARE MADE NIGH BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. FOR HE IS OUR PEACE, WHO HAS MADE BOTH ONE (THE HOLY SAVIOR & THE SANCTIFIED “SAINT”!), AND HAD BROKEN DOWN THE MIDDLE WALL OF PARTITION BETWEEN US;

HAVING ABOLISHED IN HIS ‘FLESHLY BODY’ THE ENMITY, EVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES; FOR TO MAKE IN HIMSELF OF TWAIN ONE NEW MAN, SO MAKING PEACE; AND THAT HE MIGHT RECONCILE BOTH UNTO GOD IN ONE BODY BY THE CROSS, HAVING SLAIN THE ENMITY THEREBY:

AND CAME & PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHICH WERE AFAR OFF, & TO THEM THAT ARE NEAR.

(IS THAT ‘NEAR’ BUT NOT “RE-BORN”, ‘NEAR’

BUT NOT “SPIRIT-BIRTHED & SPIRIT-FILLED”?).

FOR THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT UNTO THE FATHER. “NOW” THEREFORE YOU ARE NO MORE STRANGERS & FOREIGNERS, BUT FELLOW CITIZENS WITH THE SAINTS, & OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.

AND ARE BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES & PROPHETS, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF BEING THE CHIEF CORNER STONE; IN WHOM ALL THE BUILDING FITLY FRAMED TOGETHER GROWS UNTO AN HOLY TEMPLE IN THE LAND: IN WHOM YOU ALSO ARE BUILT TOGETHER FOR AN HABITATION OF GOD THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT.” (CAN YOU SAY, “AMEN”?).

THERE IS A HYMN OF GREAT IMPORTANCE, A HYMN FROM THE “BROADMAN HYMNAL”,(PUBLISHED BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE,IN THE YEAR, 1940!). THE TITLE? “THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT”(P.216)!( WHERE HAVE YOU CHOSEN, OR, BEEN CHOSEN, TO DWELL?)

“THERE IS A LAND OF PURE DELIGHT, WHERE SAINTS IMMORTAL REIGN; ETERNAL DAY EXCLUDES THE NIGHT, & PLEASURES BANISH PAIN.THERE EVERLASTING SPRING ABIDES, & NEVER WITHERING FLOWERS; DEATH, LIKE A NARROW SEA, DIVIDES THIS HEAVENLY LAND FROM OURS.

SWEET FIELDS BEYOND THE SWELLING FLOOD STAND DRESSED IN LIVING GREEN; SO TO THE JEWS OLD CANAAN STOOD, WHILE JORDAN ROLLED BETWEEN. BUT TIMOROUS MORTALS START & SHRINK TO CROSS THE NARROW SEA, AND LINGER,SHIVERING, ON THE BRINK, & FEAR TO LAUNCH AWAY.

OH, COULD WE MAKE OUR DOUBTS REMOVE, THOSE GLOOMY DOUBTS THAT RISE, AND SEE THE CANAAN THAT WE LOVE WITH UNBECLOUDED EYES! COULD WE BUT CLIMB WHERE MOSES STOOD, AND VIEW THE LANDSCAPE O’ER, NOT JORDAN’S STREAM NOR DEATH’S COLD FLOOD SHOULD FRIGHT US FROM THE SHORE.”

ARE “YOU” IN THE “LAND OF PURE DELIGHT” OR ARE YOU STILL WALKING IN “THE LAND OF SELF, FLESH, FALLEN WORLD WITH SATAN’S DELIGHT & YOUR DECEPTIVE REWARD?” IN OUR CHURCH WORSHIP THIS MORNING AT “NORTHWOODS CHURCH” IN KELLER, TEXAS, I HEARD A SONG I’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE – IT’S FAIRLY NEW, ENTITLED, “JESUS CHRIST, MY LIVING HOPE”, (BETHEL MUSIC; ADORANDO PUBLISHING HOUSE) I CLOSE THIS MESSAGE WITH THE WORDS:

“HOW GREAT THE CHASM THAT LAY BETWEEN US, HOW HIGH THE MOUNTAIN I COULD NOT CLIMB. IN DESPERATION I TURNED TO HEAVEN AND SPOKE “YOUR NAME” INTO THE NIGHT.

THEN THRU’ THE DARKNESS YOUR LOVING KINDNESS (GOD’S!) TORE THRU’ THE SHADOWS OF MY SOUL.

THE WORK IS FINISHED THE END IS WRITTEN, JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE.

WHO COULD IMAGINE SO GREAT A MERCY, WHAT COULD FATHOM SUCH BOUNDLESS GRACE? THE GOD OF AGES STEPPED DOWN FROM GLORY TO WEAR MY SIN AND BEAR MY SHAME.

THE CROSS HAS SPOKEN – I AM FORGIVEN – THE KING OF KINGS CALLS ME HIS OWN. BEAUTIFUL SAVIOR, I’M YOURS FOREVER, JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE.

HALLELUJAH! PRAISE THE ONE WHO SET ME FREE, HALLELUJAH! DEATH HAS LOST ITS GRIP ON ME! YOU HAVE BROKEN EVERY CHAIN, THERE’S SALVATION IN YOUR NAME, JESUS CHRIST, MY LIVING HOPE

THEN CAME THE MORNING THAT SEALED THE PROMISE YOUR BURIED BODY BEGAN TO BREATHE; OUT OF THE SILENCE THE ROARING LION DECLARED THE GRACE HAS NO CLAIM ON ME. “JESUS YOURS IS THE VICTORY.”

HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE ONE WHO SET ME FREE, HALLELUJAH, DEATH HAS LOST ITS GRIP ON ME. YOU HAVE BROKEN EVERY CHAIN THERE’S SALVATION IN YOUR NAME – JESUS CHRIST MY LIVING HOPE SHOW LESS OF ME AND MORE OF THEE.” CAN YOU SAY: “HALLELUJAH! GLORY!TO HIS NAME”? WITH OPEN-ARMS-JESUS SAYS, “COME TO ME!”

By: J. Farrell Fisher, July 23-25, 2017

Would you describe a created world as an unexplainable, freak event of nature OR the handiwork of God who is able to create as He pleases? Would you also describe human beings with free wills to choose whether they want to rule over their own minds and hearts or be surrendered willfully to the God who ordained their human existence for His heart-plans of rescuing the perishing as their Heaven-ordained ministries?

There’s a huge difference between men who speak of the positive awareness of and availability of the God who made them, birthed them, and calls them to join Him in world redemption or join the crowd of negative spiritual intents, always leaning strongly on their ‘mindfulness’ of self-ability to rule over self even if, at times, they, yes, do question if their rebellion against God is justified!

And, certainly, there are strong-willed dads and arrogant, self-centered moms who unitedly or dividedly teach, promote, insist on “our children, our sons and daughters” walking their paths or ‘my path as a dad or mom’ of ‘wondering if God really exists’! Sadly, those parental premonitions, for some sons and daughters, births within them even ‘half-truths’ about unbelief, but for many sons and daughters under stiff-necked moms and dads, it’s full-bore because they were ‘cut’ from the ‘same cloth’ of demonic, worldly, and self-centered overseers!

Wondering? Is it really true? Does God exist? Is it inevitable that fallen mankind, or some of them, may open the wrong door and choose ‘godlessness’ why some never bend, bow, or give in to unbelief about God’s reality! In fact, in Psalm 14:1, out of a ‘song’ of David, we read: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” But ‘the fool’ who denies God’s existence often is only standing up for his right to do wrong, sure, “if there is a God, He isn’t concerned about what I choose to do”! It’s more likely than not that the ‘foolish unbeliever’ is “sure” if there is a God, “that God isn’t concerned about what I choose to do – I’m a free man,” which is true that he/she is free to destroy their lives rather than choose to live by the Life of Another – “even your God, Messiah, or Savior and Lord”!

The ‘wonderers’ are usually extremely busy people, enthroning their ‘jobs’ or ‘occupations’, highly committed to ‘stay busy’ because “who needs relaxed time to consider whether God is real or not”! And enthroning their work means little time to wrestle with, “What about God”? “Self-reasonable, self-explainable men” understand they don’t have to busy themselves concerned about God because “our sensibleness is our argument God doesn’t exist” but blinded to Satan’s deceit, “Did God really say if you sin you will die? You won’t die!”

Yet the Holy Word declares: “The wages of sin is death!” So ‘wonderers’ live in their doubts, buy the devil’s lies, and darken their minds and hearts to the reality of God’s amazing love and grace and mercy! It was Spurgeon who once said, “It is never worthwhile to make rents in a garment for the sake of mending them, nor to create doubts in order to show how cleverly we can quiet them.” So true! Your doubts never cloud the reality of God’s eternal existence, but open wide-doors to an invitation to live one’s life without God! And doing so, many choose to live with nature’s goods with no desire to live under nature’s God! That’s like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s writing entitled, “Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”, saying: “Come, wander with me,” she said, “Into regions yet untrod; and read what is still unread in the manuscripts of God.”

That’s why Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Few earthlings, if any, see what ‘space pilots’ see as they fly to realms most of us only get a small glimpse at, but ‘space pilots’ who do come home, upon arrival, are still AWED by Creator-God!! Most of them are not ‘wonderers’ (?), but worshippers of God and adoring what they viewed in His awesome Creation!

Wonderers? “Is there a God? Should I know Him? Am I accountable to Him for what He has entrusted to me? How should I respond to what I see Him do?” In Mark 1:25-28 you’ll find Christ Jesus casting out a demon (or unclean spirit)! The unclean spirit had said to Jesus, “What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.”

Questioners are more often than not ‘wonderers’ who are consumed by ‘fleshly intelligence’ only without little, if any, spiritual discernment! Would it shock you for me to say that I sincerely believe, yes, even fallen men are, at least at times, aware of the reality of Holy God?

And the ‘wonderers’ who are aware of God’s presence will turn more inward to their continuing destruction or upward to their “Rescue”! Paul’s description in Ephesians 2:1-4 is so on target: He spoke in Verse 1 about those “who were dead in their trespasses and sins, Verse 2, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we ALL once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and WERE BY NATURE children of wrath, just as the others.”

In Ephesians 2:11-12 He heightens what ought to be greater conviction of living without Christ as Lord, Savior, Healer, and Deliverer! “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time YOU WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and STRANGERS from the covenant of promise, HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.” Does that description break your heart? Are you stirred at all about how Holy God sees you without Christ in your ever-darkening world??

Oh, but then, beside the chasm ‘wondering’ digs in you, ARE YOU AWARE THAT WONDERING WILL LEAD TO “WANDERING”, SADLY, EVEN FURTHER FROM THE GOD OF THE CROSS AND EMPTY TOMB!

I’m not sure if you’re aware of Biblical history as it related to the Israelites and their journeys from the ‘wilderness’ into the Promised Land, but the Word tells us that there were those Israelites who wandered away, even after “spying out” the Promised Land! In Numbers 14:27-38 we read: (The Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron), “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:

The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in the wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty-years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’” Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.”

Would you say that following the directions of the Lord is essential and necessary? Well, of course, you’ll hear verbally from a lot of pulpits or Sunday School classes, “Well, of course, obedience is an option in the age of grace,” when the Lord Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, but you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46!).

Many ‘believers’ in churches today across America will ‘profess faith in Christ’ and willfully then choose to do as they please, without a word of, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Pretending is not lending any credibility to one’s “profession of faith”! I’m sure the angels of Heaven are shocked by “deaf-eared professors” in a lot of churches professing faith while they willfully and consistently disobey divine revelation! Often in New Testament Scriptures the “wanderers” are referred to as the “anti-christs”!!

In 1 John 2:15-19 the “beloved John” wrote: “Do not love the world or the things of 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 (BOASTFUL) 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.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, EVEN NOW MANY ANTICHRISTS HAVE COME, by which we know that it is the last hour. (Immediately, just a few years later it was the destruction of Jerusalem by invading armies!). John continued:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with is; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

And John went on to say, “But you, true disciple, you have an anointing from the Holy Spirit, and you know all things.” The Spirit of God guides you into all truth, and you know it’s Truth by the very witness of the Holy Spirit!

In the spiritual world, as well as the natural world, it’s affirmed: One knows the difference between wild wolves and peaceful sheep, except for some in the church who have no discernment biblically but only personal opinions; and there are those in the church who’ll call sheep wolves or wolves sheep – doesn’t matter to them as long as they are not bitten by ‘wild animals’, though at times because of poverty of spirit, they’ll affirm wolves who attack innocent sheep! Our “last days” of modern-day ‘Christianity’ is being invaded by “the wild side”!

BUT, LAST OF ALL, THERE ARE THOSE WHO LIVE A LIFE OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH WILLFULLY WORSHIPPING! In Colossians 3:1-12 Paul builds a strong foundation defining the “true worshippers”! He said: “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, (which, sadly, rules out a lot of ‘church folk’!),not on things on the earth. For you died (Did YOU?), 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. THEREFORE put to death your members which are on (and of) 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.

BUT NOW you yourselves (professing faith in Christ!) are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another (all liars go to Hell!), since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…”, eternal evidences of a reigning Savior and Lord! A “dill pickle” ‘believer’ is so opposite of a “sweet pickle” unveiling the Christ he/she knows they trusted in! Oh, I know our ‘salvation walk’ is a process, but from infancy, through childhood and teen years, to young adults, maturing adults, and mature “seniors of faith”, every person is not to lean upon himself/herself but learn to let Christ “reign” in and through your journey of maturing in your faith-walk to honor Christ by the daily sentence of death to ‘self’ that He might reign supremely and superbly through you!

Redemptive reality is not a ‘reflection’ of Jesus but a release from within of His abiding Presence since through “new birth” He established His “Holy Temple” IN YOU! What did Paul say in Galatians 6:14-15? “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.”

Tell me about your personal awareness of your life “crucified with Christ” and how His Resurrection Presence is easily identifying for you ‘death without Him’ OR “eternal Life and Holy Presence in you”! What did Joshua say? “Choose for yourselves whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we choose to be His earthly temple or tabernacle” through which He extends His LIFE, expresses His love, and proves His power!

Have YOU died? Is your life hidden with Christ in God? Are YOU His “new creation”? Do YOU live for the glory and honor of Christ ONLY, or are you determined to “make a name for myself”? In Christ we do not live to elicit fleshly obedience to human inclinations – but day by day taking the sentence of death to ourselves that His presence will be manifested in us and through us for the glory of God alone! Can YOU say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, OR whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”?

Fanny J. Crosby wrote an old hymn entitled “I Am Thine, O Lord” that says: “I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Your voice, And it told Your love to me; But I long to rise in the arms of faith, And be closer drawn to Thee.

Consecrate me now to Your service, Lord, By the power of grace divine; Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, And my will be lost in Thine.

O the pure delight of a single hour That before Your throne I spend, When I kneel in prayer, and with You, my God, I commune as friend with friend!

There are depths of love that I cannot know Till I cross the narrow sea; There are heights of joy that I may not reach Till I rest in peace with Thee.

SO…Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To the cross where You died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To Your precious, bleeding side.” Amen?