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

In John 16 the Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for coming opposition AND His soon departure, the opposition even by religious leaders and many of the Jewish community opposed to Christ Himself and the “true seekers”; Verses 1-4, Jesus speaking, “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. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Oh, but things were about to change! And Almighty God was sending the Holy Spirit because the Son’s ‘cross sacrifice’, His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension would soon take place, and the Victorious Jesus would be seated at God’s right hand on the throne of Heaven and earth but with the promise, power, and participation of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of men’s heart, the convincing of their need of the Savior, their conversion, and guarding, guiding, and gifting the “new-born” sons and daughters of True, Eternal Faith “in Christ” for their earthly reigns, ministries, and extending of that Resurrection Life in Christ!

But for all true believers, that ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with “The Piercing Sword of Divine Conviction” – that’s God the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart, mind, and will in yielding to King Jesus!

Follow John 16:5-15! “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

As an ‘intro’ into the ministry of the Holy Spirit before I get to this message’s main emphasis, three things I want you to be aware of: 1) The Holy Spirit is our “faithful guide”, 2) The Holy Spirit grants us a full unveiling of Jesus (“He will glorify Me” in and through YOU!), 3) The Holy Spirit releases in all true, repentant, born-again believers “a forceful empowerment”!

And, “the forceful empowerment”? IT IS “THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION”! There are powerful verses in Revelation 1 when John unveiled His vision of the Son of Man! Examine carefully Verses 12-19! John wrote: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,

“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”

Do you think that Christ Jesus was unveiling to John and us the continuing ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit and His “eternal spiritual work” of the “piercing sword of divine conviction”? And, without a doubt, THAT is a vital ministry of the Holy Spirit! Jesus said, reminding you, of John 16:8-11, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me (So they keep on “sinning”!); of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged.”

I want you also to examine, reflect upon, and study Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6! He said: “knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (Election? The Greek word is “eklogon” meaning God’s initiative, God’s selection, God’s choice, which He sovereignly has the right to do! And you know the “chosen” by the unveiling of Christ in them and through them!). For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”

SO, FIRST, LOOK AT THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION THAT IS AVAILABLE TO, YES, USHER IN DIVINE CONVERSION! Come to John 3 and receive Jesus’ words to Nicodemus and to us! John 3:1-8 says: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus answered and said to Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Has “the wind of God’s Spirit” blown upon your life, and have YOU been born again?).

‘Born of the Spirit’ is no reality apart from the deep conviction of sin and its birthing of the state of sinful death, alienated and separated from Holy God! No awareness of sin and the sin nature is evidence of a godless mind intent on enjoying “its” fruit apart from repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the cross.

What did we just read a brief time ago from 1 Thessalonians 1:5? “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance…”! Paul then said in Verse 6, “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit…” There are those things, those attitudes, those outlooks in life that come, yes, from the world, the flesh, and from Satan himself, but ‘abiding joy’ in life comes only through the supernatural, new-birthing by the Spirit! We’re ‘born-again’ by the Spirit!

SECOND, WE EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THEN CONFESS, REPENT, TURN AWAY FROM THE PAST LIFE, AND REACH UP, INWARD, AND INTO ‘KINGDOM ALLEGIANCE’ AS EPHESIANS 2:18 TELLS US, “FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER! The Holy Spirit, Paul is telling us, The Spirit, having led us to conversion, now leads us into the spirit of faithful devotion as sincere ‘ambassadors’ in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, our walk being earthly representatives of His Kingdom-rule! He is and is to be King of kings and Lord of lords, and as servants in His Kingdom, we’re ‘set apart’ to extend His Kingdom-rule, express His Kingdom-fruit, and illumine His Kingdom-faithfulness! Christ Jesus never missed a ‘beat’ in the Hallelujah Chorus of world redemption and Kingdom of God purpose!

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 the Holy Word inspires the truly repentant and regenerated souls of men. It says: “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 are ambassadors for Christ, as though were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It’s “Christ in us, Christ through us, Christ being Himself” as Resurrected and Reigning Savior and Lord, graciously being “the hope of glory” in and through repentant, blood-bought, yielded vessels willing to be vessels only with Him our present, presiding Savior and Lord reaching out through us to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power!

THIRD, WE ENTRUST OURSELVES TO THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, AND HAVING BEEN FAITHFULLY TRANSFORMED AND DECLARED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF FATHER-GOD THROUGH CHRIST AND HIS HOLY SPIRIT, WE UNDERSTAND OUR STAMPING, “SEALING”, AND SERVICE TO BE FAITHFULLY LIVING LIFE TO THE HONOR OF CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Come to Ephesians 1:11-14, and Verses 17-19!! It says: “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.[The gospel of your salvation? Your best efforts, your strong determination to honor Him as best you could, your mental mind-set apart from “crucified with Christ”, and even your ‘gloating’ at the ‘fruit’ you produced that has nothing to do with the “fruit of the Spirit”, your mind-set of ‘trust’ in self at its best as a substitute for being the redeemed tabernacle of Resurrection Presence to be Himself in you and through you that, like Paul, “I take the sentence of death daily to myself that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in me”? Ephesians 1:17-19!! “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, they eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…”!! His power? His working? His greatness?

We choose to “die daily” and yield to His indwelling Spirit of power! In Ephesians 5:18 Paul also said, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”, yet, how easy it is for ‘believers’ to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, Ephesians 4:30!

Paul wasn’t finished yet! In Ephesians 6:17-18 Paul highlights true discipleship proof! They LIVE BY THE WORD OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTH, “taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

Is this why Romans 7:5-6 highlights living in “newness of the Spirit”? It says: “For when we were in the flesh (your unforgiven, sin-natured controlled life, strongly influenced by Satan and the world around you?), the sinful passions which were aroused by the law (the law of sin and death?) were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law (of sin and death?), HAVING DIED TO WHAT WE WERE HELD BY, having died to what we WERE HELD BY, so that we should serve “in the newness of the Spirit” and not in the oldness of the letter.” How clear is that to you?

FOURTH, THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THE SPIRIT UNVEILING MATURING IN CHRIST BY THE SPIRIT HIMSELF AND THE WORD, CONTINUES TO MANIFEST ETERNAL BLESSING, “GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH”! Luke 6:39 says, “Can the blind lead the blind?” Oh, but in Romans 8:12-17 we read, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (the old sin nature!), to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; BUT IF BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

As Christ Jesus ministered to His young disciples, and especially more pointedly as He knew He faced the Cross, He said to them in John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine . Therefore I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is under “divine orders” from the Father to be your constant “guide”, your “faithful assistant”, and YOUR assured unveiling in you and through you to honor Christ Jesus, your Indwelling Lord and Savior! A few words of “Spirit-Inspiration”:

“God’s Spirit lights the Way, unveiling for me Christ’s glorifying ‘Day”; No longer highways of sinful indulgence, but the Pathway of Christ in me through Spirit-anointing.

God’s Spirit lights the fire, a fire of faithfulness to honor His Son; No longer the darkness of ‘flesh’ with no Light to guide, but The Spirit of fire, and from Him I will not hide.

God’s Spirit inflames the heart, the mind, and the will, and under His anointing God’s children cannot remain still; A world to touch, a life to see changed, blessed by the Spirit, heavenly rearranged!

God’s Spirit unveils the deceptions of self and Satan, clearly exposing the deceptions of a world of ‘flesh’; releasing the Light that make’s one’s pathways bright, I settle for Spirit-might, not a ‘fleshly candle light’!

God’s Spirit is the “faithful Guide”, and promised by Christ He does not hide; Presence is His promise, God’s power His provision, the mission of the Spirit is Christ’s ammunition!

God’s Spirit is about the ministry to ‘glorify Christ’, God’s appointment of ministry in Spirit-assistance; we’re not left alone in a world of unbelief but “Heaven-come-down” in sweet relief!

God’s Spirit abounds in Spirit-anointings – one mission in mind – to honor God’s Son! His anointings abound, and for every disciple, He waits to astound! He looks for the “child’ who needs help to obey, and offers His presence without any dismay!

God’s Spirit is sure: “Yes, there is the divine cure!” And He waits for the ‘servant’ to give Him His place, desiring in blessing, yes, His guardian gifts, intent in His ministry, no disciple’s rift!

God’s Spirit is certain – He’s the Spirit of Truth! Of Him, the world at large does not receive for its mind is deceived, because of the Spirit they neither see Him or know Him, content as spiritual orphans to live godless lives because it’s of the ‘flesh’ they think they spiritually thrive!

God’s Spirit has a ‘Day’, a time of explanation, when the Word clearly declares, “each of us shall give account of himself to God,” pray it’s not one of self-deviation, but one of “Christ Jesus exaltation”! Amen?

By J.Farrell Fisher, December 11-13, 2016

It’s not an uncommon experience for a person to come under divine conviction, but the circumstances can or will vary for every individual. In the experience of Isaiah who became a prophet of God, during the time period when King Uzziah died, Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:1, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple”, and the Holy Presence shook him to his core!

Isaiah said, in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Though he was ‘in the Temple’ regularly, only when Holy God unveiled Himself to Isaiah was he strongly and deeply aware of his need of blood redemption and true reconciliation to Holy God.

Isaiah 6:6 says, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” The Random House College Dictionary of 1975 defines a seraphim as “one of the celestial beings hovering above God’s throne…a member of the highest order of angels.”

In God’s office and ministry of Sovereign over men or nations, He’s not removed from His awareness of men and their need of reconciliation, and can or will do as He pleases to bring about awareness of one’s need for true repentance and the way of mind and heart-change in one’s life! In Isaiah’s circumstance, as it must be for any reconciled to God, he/she, in divine presence are brought to a full awareness of his/her uncleanness before God with clear understanding of the need of sin-purging, heart-washing, and the birthing of understanding of availability of one’s self to God in whatever ministry or calling or heavenly role HE ASSIGNS TO US!

In Isaiah 6: 8 Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” “Us”? The Holy Trinity! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! And in the midst of a needy world, “THEY” settle on assignments of all true servants of God, from the greatest to the least!

Oh, but then notice in Isaiah 6: 8, Isaiah responded in a truly yielded response, “Here am I! Send me.” How clear does Paul make it for us several thousand years later when in Romans 6:15-18 he, by the Spirit, unveiled the powerful path of holy obedience! “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you WERE slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. AND HAVING BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME SLAVES (OR SERVANTS) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Yet, in modern-day American churches, some call obedience ‘salvation by works’, so they ‘rest’ in their compromise, disobedience, and are perfectly satisfied to live their ‘faith experience’ fruitless, self-filled, demon-controlled, but feel “blessed by my religious identity” rather than their “Birth-Marks by the Holy Spirit”!

Don’t you find it so interesting and liberating to hear Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 quoting from Isaiah 61:1? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

YOU WERE A SERVANT OF SIN! YOU WERE ENSLAVED TO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! YOU WERE, APART FROM “BLOOD REDEMPTION”, A ‘SINATRA” FAN: “I DID IT MY WAY,” never understanding walking with Christ on the Highway of Holiness! Dare I ask you if you’ve truly been liberated, set free from the bondage of your old sin-nature, chains broken from demonic allegiance, yet possibly playing an Academy Award – WINNER of ‘Pretense’ rather than “Complete in Christ,” “Perfected by Grace,” and a testimony of “Spirit-anointing”, walking in His control, His fruit, and His power or anointing?

Do you remember Paul sharing his testimony, recounting his conversion experience, with King Agrippa in Acts 26? Beginning in Verse 13-20 we read: “..at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” GLORY!! WHAT AN ENLIGHTENING PASSAGE OF THE WORD!

I’m sure you remember, in Matthew 18:1-5, As the disciples came to Jesus, they asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” Is ‘humbling one’s self before Holy God and King Jesus and the Spirit of God’ the true and only door to Holy Presence and a Holy Life or have you ‘self-determined how able you are in yourself to please Him’? Willful, self-wits does not line up with “put on the new man”!

It was Oswald Chambers who wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.270), “We deify independence and willfulness and call them by the wrong name. What God looks on as obstinate weakness, we call strength.” Does that ring true with you in, maybe only at times, a view of “I’m able! I can be like Jesus!”? No! He crucified you and me with Himself to end one’s conviction that our lives in Him consists of the ‘abundance of spiritual strengths we possess in ourselves’! In Romans 13:14 Paul wrote: “But PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts,” and spiritual pride apart from Christ is one of the suffocating ‘lifestyles’ of ‘self-made, professing disciples’!

But, did Jesus say, in Matthew 18:3, “Assuredly, I SAY TO YOU, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”? Oh, and then what was it Paul said in Galatians 4:19? “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you”! And, ‘kids in the faith’ begin to truly mature and grow as they ‘lean not to their own understanding’, but learn to give Him His rightful place as they receive, recognize, and rest in “Christ in me the hope of glory”!

There’s a big “if” in 1 John 1:7 where the beloved John wrote: “But IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And, please tell me: How does a true ‘child of the King’ ever come to the place where he/she excuses their life of willful sin when the Lord Jesus took the sin and sin-nature to the Cross and shed His own blood that we might be free from its domination, degrading, and darkening impact of temptation and willful surrender to ‘it’ rather than to the eternal freedom of His Lordship?

Come with me now to Luke 2:25-35 which is the eternal track of faith I want our train of faith running on! It says: And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Dare I tell you that “the sword of the Lord” is double-edged? For unbelievers “the sword of the Lord” is the painful penalty of separation from God, the severing of an eternal relationship with Him because of unbelief, AND the ‘piercing of eternal death that never dies’, while on the other hand ‘the piercing’ is DIVINE CONVICTION that breaks the hardened heart and reveals the need of reconciliation to Holy God through the blood sacrifice of Christ at Calvary’s Cross!

In 1 John 1:5-7 John declared: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that 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. BUT if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

When YOU professed Christ as Lord and Savior and Master and Lord over your “new-born” life, was there, in you, the understanding and the willful acceptance of your ‘death to sin’ and your ‘faith in the gracious gift of the impartation of His Resurrection Presence’, His total and complete perfection, and His unrivaled power to cleanse you from all sin and the sin-nature? Do you know that 1 John 4:17 declares, “…because as He is, so are we in this world”? You’re the ‘temple or tabernacle’ – Christ Jesus fills you with His Holy Presence!

How clear did the Lord Jesus make it for Nicodemus, a former Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews? In John 3: 3-6 Jesus told Nicodemus and Us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water (the water of the Word of God) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Apart from the “new birth” there is no eternal testimony of the “new-born-life- in- Christ”!

In Matthew 10: 32-33 Jesus said: “Therefore whoever confesses (and keeps on confessing) Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Denying Christ before men can be “professing, church-attending pretenders” who know nothing about “being born again,” transformed, or regenerated by the Spirit of God into a “new creation”, and in Luke 12:56 Jesus described or spoke about some who are “hypocrites” or pretenders, religious ‘play-actors’!

God help us as modern-day disciples of Christ that we preach, teach, witness to, explain, and proclaim the “saving Grace and mercy” of a “new-born life” in and through the Holy Spirit! Jesus explained to the woman of Samaria in John 4:23-24, “But the hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the TRUE WORSHIPPERS will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

You’ll remember that Christ’s encounter with the woman we just read about in John 4:23-24 came about after Jesus came to her, in Verse 7, saying, “Give Me a drink.” In Verse 9 she said to Jesus, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

What an awesome declaration of the difference between ‘water’ and ‘living water’, yet many drink from wells of water dispensing selfish satisfactions but have nothing to do with the “living water of the Word” that births new lives, new hearts, new intents to honor Holy God alone!

This may be why the Hebrews author was inspired to write in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently see Him.”

There’s an informative, inspiring, enlightening, liberating word in Jeremiah 29:11-13 for not only the captive Jews but for every sin-bound man or woman across the world today! It says: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. THEN you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will search for Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

In Philippians 3:7-11 we find, not the piercing sword of fleshly awareness and attainment in “our best spiritual endeavor”, but the piercing sword of divine fulfillment as we allow His Word to birth us into “new lives”, signed by God alone! It says: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which IS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, BEING CONFORMED TO HIS DEATH, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Oh, but then Peter truly challenges us who ARE “followers of Christ Jesus,” His sons and daughters of redemptive faith, the appointed, anointed, and assigned disciples who are to touch our world with His saving grace, not to become lax, or possess any spiritual sluggishness or indifference to His calling and assignment of our lives, when in 2 Peter 1:2-15 he wrote: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

But also FOR THIS VERY REASON, [Because “in Christ” we’re so blessed AND partakers of the divine nature!], giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sided, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be EVEN MORE DILIGENT to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior.

For this reason I WILL NOT BE NEGLIGENT TO REMIND YOU always of these things, though you KNOW AND ARE ESTABLISHED IN THE PRESENT TRUTH. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this (earthly) tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”

I turned 80 years of age this past June 12, 2016. My grandfather Fisher died at 78 years of age. My father, Jim Fisher, died at 78 years of age. I see, without hesitation, that I am highly blessed of our Lord and Savior, and thankful for my loving wife, Sue, three sons and a daughter, nine grandkids, and great-grand kids that grow in numbers every year!

And then, in 2 Peter 1:16b- 19, an awesome word of assurance, trustworthiness in the revealed Word of God and Christ’s many promises as Peter wrote: we “were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He (Jesus) received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. AND so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;…”

What has Christ Jesus “confirmed” in YOU? Have YOU heard His voice, seen His ‘star’ of hope and heavenly blessing, and do you live with His “Blessed Assurance”?!?

To the Philippian congregation and the masses in this century who walk faithfully with Christ, Paul said, in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Is Holy God at work in you, transforming the old man into the “new creation” of the Resurrection Life of Christ in your mortal flesh? Does “the piercing sword of eternal Truth” remind you that it was YOUR SIN AND SIN NATURE that brought about the crucifixion of Christ? Again, what did Paul remind us of in Galatians 2:20-21a? “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 (bodily presence) 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…”! John Newton and B.B.McKinney wrote the hymn, “He Died For Me.” It says:

“I saw One hanging on a tree, In agony and blood; He fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never, till my latest breath, Can I forget that look: It seemed to charge me with His death, Tho’ not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair; I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there.

A second look He gave, which said, “I freely all forgive; This blood is for your ransom paid, I die that you may live.”

It was for me, upon a tree He died in agony, And now I give my life to live, For Him who died for me.” Has the Cross of Christ pierced through your heart and mind to wash you “clean and pure” with His blood?

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

In John 16 the Lord Jesus was preparing His disciples for coming opposition AND His soon departure, the opposition even by religious leaders and many of the Jewish community opposed to Christ Himself and the “true seekers”; Verses 1-4, Jesus speaking, “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. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Oh, but things were about to change! And Almighty God was sending the Holy Spirit because the Son’s ‘cross sacrifice’, His death, burial, resurrection, and Ascension would soon take place, and the Victorious Jesus would be seated at God’s right hand on the throne of Heaven and earth but with the promise, power, and participation of the Holy Spirit in the conviction of men’s heart, the convincing of their need of the Savior, their conversion, and guarding, guiding, and gifting the “new-born” sons and daughters of True, Eternal Faith “in Christ” for their earthly reigns, ministries, and extending of that Resurrection Life in Christ!

But for all true believers, that ministry of the Holy Spirit begins with “The Piercing Sword of Divine Conviction” – that’s God the Holy Spirit knocking on the door of your heart, mind, and will in yielding to King Jesus!

Follow John 16:5-15! “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;

For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

As an ‘intro’ into the ministry of the Holy Spirit before I get to this message’s main emphasis, three things I want you to be aware of: 1) The Holy Spirit is our “faithful guide”, 2) The Holy Spirit grants us a full unveiling of Jesus (“He will glorify Me” in and through YOU!), 3) The Holy Spirit releases in all true, repentant, born-again believers “a forceful empowerment”!

And, “the forceful empowerment”? IT IS “THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION”! There are powerful verses in Revelation 1 when John unveiled His vision of the Son of Man! Examine carefully Verses 12-19! John wrote: Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.

His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me,

“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”

Do you think that Christ Jesus was unveiling to John and us the continuing ministry of Christ through the Holy Spirit and His “eternal spiritual work” of the “piercing sword of divine conviction”? And, without a doubt, THAT is a vital ministry of the Holy Spirit! Jesus said, reminding you, of John 16:8-11, “And when He (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me (So they keep on “sinning”!); of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged.”

I want you also to examine, reflect upon, and study Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 1:4-6! He said: “knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (Election? The Greek word is “eklogon” meaning God’s initiative, God’s selection, God’s choice, which He sovereignly has the right to do! And you know the “chosen” by the unveiling of Christ in them and through them!). For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.”

SO, FIRST, LOOK AT THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION THAT IS AVAILABLE TO, YES, USHER IN DIVINE CONVERSION! Come to John 3 and receive Jesus’ words to Nicodemus and to us! John 3:1-8 says: There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.”

Jesus answered and said to Him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Has “the wind of God’s Spirit” blown upon your life, and have YOU been born again?).

‘Born of the Spirit’ is no reality apart from the deep conviction of sin and its birthing of the state of sinful death, alienated and separated from Holy God! No awareness of sin and the sin nature is evidence of a godless mind intent on enjoying “its” fruit apart from repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s finished work at the cross.

What did we just read a brief time ago from 1 Thessalonians 1:5? “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance…”! Paul then said in Verse 6, “And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit…” There are those things, those attitudes, those outlooks in life that come, yes, from the world, the flesh, and from Satan himself, but ‘abiding joy’ in life comes only through the supernatural, new-birthing by the Spirit! We’re ‘born-again’ by the Spirit!

SECOND, WE EXAMINE THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THEN CONFESS, REPENT, TURN AWAY FROM THE PAST LIFE, AND REACH UP, INWARD, AND INTO ‘KINGDOM ALLEGIANCE’ AS EPHESIANS 2:18 TELLS US, “FOR THROUGH HIM WE BOTH HAVE ACCESS BY ONE SPIRIT TO THE FATHER! The Holy Spirit, Paul is telling us, The Spirit, having led us to conversion, now leads us into the spirit of faithful devotion as sincere ‘ambassadors’ in the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, our walk being earthly representatives of His Kingdom-rule! He is and is to be King of kings and Lord of lords, and as servants in His Kingdom, we’re ‘set apart’ to extend His Kingdom-rule, express His Kingdom-fruit, and illumine His Kingdom-faithfulness! Christ Jesus never missed a ‘beat’ in the Hallelujah Chorus of world redemption and Kingdom of God purpose!

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 the Holy Word inspires the truly repentant and regenerated souls of men. It says: “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 are ambassadors for Christ, as though were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

It’s “Christ in us, Christ through us, Christ being Himself” as Resurrected and Reigning Savior and Lord, graciously being “the hope of glory” in and through repentant, blood-bought, yielded vessels willing to be vessels only with Him our present, presiding Savior and Lord reaching out through us to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power!

THIRD, WE ENTRUST OURSELVES TO THE SPIRITUAL SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, AND HAVING BEEN FAITHFULLY TRANSFORMED AND DECLARED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF FATHER-GOD THROUGH CHRIST AND HIS HOLY SPIRIT, WE UNDERSTAND OUR STAMPING, “SEALING”, AND SERVICE TO BE FAITHFULLY LIVING LIFE TO THE HONOR OF CHRIST THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT!

Come to Ephesians 1:11-14, and Verses 17-19!! It says: “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.[The gospel of your salvation? Your best efforts, your strong determination to honor Him as best you could, your mental mind-set apart from “crucified with Christ”, and even your ‘gloating’ at the ‘fruit’ you produced that has nothing to do with the “fruit of the Spirit”, your mind-set of ‘trust’ in self at its best as a substitute for being the redeemed tabernacle of Resurrection Presence to be Himself in you and through you that, like Paul, “I take the sentence of death daily to myself that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in me”? Ephesians 1:17-19!! “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM, they eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power…”!! His power? His working? His greatness?

We choose to “die daily” and yield to His indwelling Spirit of power! In Ephesians 5:18 Paul also said, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…”, yet, how easy it is for ‘believers’ to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, Ephesians 4:30!

Paul wasn’t finished yet! In Ephesians 6:17-18 Paul highlights true discipleship proof! They LIVE BY THE WORD OF REDEMPTIVE TRUTH, “taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”

Is this why Romans 7:5-6 highlights living in “newness of the Spirit”? It says: “For when we were in the flesh (your unforgiven, sin-natured controlled life, strongly influenced by Satan and the world around you?), the sinful passions which were aroused by the law (the law of sin and death?) were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law (of sin and death?), HAVING DIED TO WHAT WE WERE HELD BY, having died to what we WERE HELD BY, so that we should serve “in the newness of the Spirit” and not in the oldness of the letter.” How clear is that to you?

FOURTH, THE PIERCING SWORD OF DIVINE CONVICTION, THE SPIRIT UNVEILING MATURING IN CHRIST BY THE SPIRIT HIMSELF AND THE WORD, CONTINUES TO MANIFEST ETERNAL BLESSING, “GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH”! Luke 6:39 says, “Can the blind lead the blind?” Oh, but in Romans 8:12-17 we read, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (the old sin nature!), to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; BUT IF BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are LED BY THE SPIRIT, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

As Christ Jesus ministered to His young disciples, and especially more pointedly as He knew He faced the Cross, He said to them in John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, HE WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL TRUTH; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine . Therefore I said that He (the Holy Spirit) will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

The Holy Spirit is under “divine orders” from the Father to be your constant “guide”, your “faithful assistant”, and YOUR assured unveiling in you and through you to honor Christ Jesus, your Indwelling Lord and Savior! A few words of “Spirit-Inspiration”:

“God’s Spirit lights the Way, unveiling for me Christ’s glorifying ‘Day”; No longer highways of sinful indulgence, but the Pathway of Christ in me through Spirit-anointing.

God’s Spirit lights the fire, a fire of faithfulness to honor His Son; No longer the darkness of ‘flesh’ with no Light to guide, but The Spirit of fire, and from Him I will not hide.

God’s Spirit inflames the heart, the mind, and the will, and under His anointing God’s children cannot remain still; A world to touch, a life to see changed, blessed by the Spirit, heavenly rearranged!

God’s Spirit unveils the deceptions of self and Satan, clearly exposing the deceptions of a world of ‘flesh’; releasing the Light that make’s one’s pathways bright, I settle for Spirit-might, not a ‘fleshly candle light’!

God’s Spirit is the “faithful Guide”, and promised by Christ He does not hide; Presence is His promise, God’s power His provision, the mission of the Spirit is Christ’s ammunition!

God’s Spirit is about the ministry to ‘glorify Christ’, God’s appointment of ministry in Spirit-assistance; we’re not left alone in a world of unbelief but “Heaven-come-down” in sweet relief!

God’s Spirit abounds in Spirit-anointings – one mission in mind – to honor God’s Son! His anointings abound, and for every disciple, He waits to astound! He looks for the “child’ who needs help to obey, and offers His presence without any dismay!

God’s Spirit is sure: “Yes, there is the divine cure!” And He waits for the ‘servant’ to give Him His place, desiring in blessing, yes, His guardian gifts, intent in His ministry, no disciple’s rift!

God’s Spirit is certain – He’s the Spirit of Truth! Of Him, the world at large does not receive for its mind is deceived, because of the Spirit they neither see Him or know Him, content as spiritual orphans to live godless lives because it’s of the ‘flesh’ they think they spiritually thrive!

God’s Spirit has a ‘Day’, a time of explanation, when the Word clearly declares, “each of us shall give account of himself to God,” pray it’s not one of self-deviation, but one of “Christ Jesus exaltation”! Amen?

By J.Farrell Fisher, December 11-13, 2016

It’s not an uncommon experience for a person to come under divine conviction, but the circumstances can or will vary for every individual. In the experience of Isaiah who became a prophet of God, during the time period when King Uzziah died, Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:1, “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple”, and the Holy Presence shook him to his core!

Isaiah said, in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Though he was ‘in the Temple’ regularly, only when Holy God unveiled Himself to Isaiah was he strongly and deeply aware of his need of blood redemption and true reconciliation to Holy God.

Isaiah 6:6 says, “Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” The Random House College Dictionary of 1975 defines a seraphim as “one of the celestial beings hovering above God’s throne…a member of the highest order of angels.”

In God’s office and ministry of Sovereign over men or nations, He’s not removed from His awareness of men and their need of reconciliation, and can or will do as He pleases to bring about awareness of one’s need for true repentance and the way of mind and heart-change in one’s life! In Isaiah’s circumstance, as it must be for any reconciled to God, he/she, in divine presence are brought to a full awareness of his/her uncleanness before God with clear understanding of the need of sin-purging, heart-washing, and the birthing of understanding of availability of one’s self to God in whatever ministry or calling or heavenly role HE ASSIGNS TO US!

In Isaiah 6: 8 Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” “Us”? The Holy Trinity! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! And in the midst of a needy world, “THEY” settle on assignments of all true servants of God, from the greatest to the least!

Oh, but then notice in Isaiah 6: 8, Isaiah responded in a truly yielded response, “Here am I! Send me.” How clear does Paul make it for us several thousand years later when in Romans 6:15-18 he, by the Spirit, unveiled the powerful path of holy obedience! “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you WERE slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. AND HAVING BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME SLAVES (OR SERVANTS) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

Yet, in modern-day American churches, some call obedience ‘salvation by works’, so they ‘rest’ in their compromise, disobedience, and are perfectly satisfied to live their ‘faith experience’ fruitless, self-filled, demon-controlled, but feel “blessed by my religious identity” rather than their “Birth-Marks by the Holy Spirit”!

Don’t you find it so interesting and liberating to hear Jesus in Luke 4:18-19 quoting from Isaiah 61:1? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

YOU WERE A SERVANT OF SIN! YOU WERE ENSLAVED TO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! YOU WERE, APART FROM “BLOOD REDEMPTION”, A ‘SINATRA” FAN: “I DID IT MY WAY,” never understanding walking with Christ on the Highway of Holiness! Dare I ask you if you’ve truly been liberated, set free from the bondage of your old sin-nature, chains broken from demonic allegiance, yet possibly playing an Academy Award – WINNER of ‘Pretense’ rather than “Complete in Christ,” “Perfected by Grace,” and a testimony of “Spirit-anointing”, walking in His control, His fruit, and His power or anointing?

Do you remember Paul sharing his testimony, recounting his conversion experience, with King Agrippa in Acts 26? Beginning in Verse 13-20 we read: “..at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” GLORY!! WHAT AN ENLIGHTENING PASSAGE OF THE WORD!

I’m sure you remember, in Matthew 18:1-5, As the disciples came to Jesus, they asked, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.” Is ‘humbling one’s self before Holy God and King Jesus and the Spirit of God’ the true and only door to Holy Presence and a Holy Life or have you ‘self-determined how able you are in yourself to please Him’? Willful, self-wits does not line up with “put on the new man”!

It was Oswald Chambers who wrote in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.270), “We deify independence and willfulness and call them by the wrong name. What God looks on as obstinate weakness, we call strength.” Does that ring true with you in, maybe only at times, a view of “I’m able! I can be like Jesus!”? No! He crucified you and me with Himself to end one’s conviction that our lives in Him consists of the ‘abundance of spiritual strengths we possess in ourselves’! In Romans 13:14 Paul wrote: “But PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts,” and spiritual pride apart from Christ is one of the suffocating ‘lifestyles’ of ‘self-made, professing disciples’!

But, did Jesus say, in Matthew 18:3, “Assuredly, I SAY TO YOU, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”? Oh, and then what was it Paul said in Galatians 4:19? “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you”! And, ‘kids in the faith’ begin to truly mature and grow as they ‘lean not to their own understanding’, but learn to give Him His rightful place as they receive, recognize, and rest in “Christ in me the hope of glory”!

There’s a big “if” in 1 John 1:7 where the beloved John wrote: “But IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” And, please tell me: How does a true ‘child of the King’ ever come to the place where he/she excuses their life of willful sin when the Lord Jesus took the sin and sin-nature to the Cross and shed His own blood that we might be free from its domination, degrading, and darkening impact of temptation and willful surrender to ‘it’ rather than to the eternal freedom of His Lordship?

Come with me now to Luke 2:25-35 which is the eternal track of faith I want our train of faith running on! It says: And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Dare I tell you that “the sword of the Lord” is double-edged? For unbelievers “the sword of the Lord” is the painful penalty of separation from God, the severing of an eternal relationship with Him because of unbelief, AND the ‘piercing of eternal death that never dies’, while on the other hand ‘the piercing’ is DIVINE CONVICTION that breaks the hardened heart and reveals the need of reconciliation to Holy God through the blood sacrifice of Christ at Calvary’s Cross!

In 1 John 1:5-7 John declared: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that 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. BUT if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

When YOU professed Christ as Lord and Savior and Master and Lord over your “new-born” life, was there, in you, the understanding and the willful acceptance of your ‘death to sin’ and your ‘faith in the gracious gift of the impartation of His Resurrection Presence’, His total and complete perfection, and His unrivaled power to cleanse you from all sin and the sin-nature? Do you know that 1 John 4:17 declares, “…because as He is, so are we in this world”? You’re the ‘temple or tabernacle’ – Christ Jesus fills you with His Holy Presence!

How clear did the Lord Jesus make it for Nicodemus, a former Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews? In John 3: 3-6 Jesus told Nicodemus and Us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water (the water of the Word of God) and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Apart from the “new birth” there is no eternal testimony of the “new-born-life- in- Christ”!

In Matthew 10: 32-33 Jesus said: “Therefore whoever confesses (and keeps on confessing) Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Denying Christ before men can be “professing, church-attending pretenders” who know nothing about “being born again,” transformed, or regenerated by the Spirit of God into a “new creation”, and in Luke 12:56 Jesus described or spoke about some who are “hypocrites” or pretenders, religious ‘play-actors’!

God help us as modern-day disciples of Christ that we preach, teach, witness to, explain, and proclaim the “saving Grace and mercy” of a “new-born life” in and through the Holy Spirit! Jesus explained to the woman of Samaria in John 4:23-24, “But the hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the TRUE WORSHIPPERS will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”

You’ll remember that Christ’s encounter with the woman we just read about in John 4:23-24 came about after Jesus came to her, in Verse 7, saying, “Give Me a drink.” In Verse 9 she said to Jesus, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

What an awesome declaration of the difference between ‘water’ and ‘living water’, yet many drink from wells of water dispensing selfish satisfactions but have nothing to do with the “living water of the Word” that births new lives, new hearts, new intents to honor Holy God alone!

This may be why the Hebrews author was inspired to write in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently see Him.”

There’s an informative, inspiring, enlightening, liberating word in Jeremiah 29:11-13 for not only the captive Jews but for every sin-bound man or woman across the world today! It says: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. THEN you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will search for Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

In Philippians 3:7-11 we find, not the piercing sword of fleshly awareness and attainment in “our best spiritual endeavor”, but the piercing sword of divine fulfillment as we allow His Word to birth us into “new lives”, signed by God alone! It says: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also have counted all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which IS THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, BEING CONFORMED TO HIS DEATH, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Oh, but then Peter truly challenges us who ARE “followers of Christ Jesus,” His sons and daughters of redemptive faith, the appointed, anointed, and assigned disciples who are to touch our world with His saving grace, not to become lax, or possess any spiritual sluggishness or indifference to His calling and assignment of our lives, when in 2 Peter 1:2-15 he wrote: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

But also FOR THIS VERY REASON, [Because “in Christ” we’re so blessed AND partakers of the divine nature!], giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sided, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be EVEN MORE DILIGENT to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior.

For this reason I WILL NOT BE NEGLIGENT TO REMIND YOU always of these things, though you KNOW AND ARE ESTABLISHED IN THE PRESENT TRUTH. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this (earthly) tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.”

I turned 80 years of age this past June 12, 2016. My grandfather Fisher died at 78 years of age. My father, Jim Fisher, died at 78 years of age. I see, without hesitation, that I am highly blessed of our Lord and Savior, and thankful for my loving wife, Sue, three sons and a daughter, nine grandkids, and great-grand kids that grow in numbers every year!

And then, in 2 Peter 1:16b- 19, an awesome word of assurance, trustworthiness in the revealed Word of God and Christ’s many promises as Peter wrote: we “were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He (Jesus) received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. AND so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;…”

What has Christ Jesus “confirmed” in YOU? Have YOU heard His voice, seen His ‘star’ of hope and heavenly blessing, and do you live with His “Blessed Assurance”?!?

To the Philippian congregation and the masses in this century who walk faithfully with Christ, Paul said, in Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

Is Holy God at work in you, transforming the old man into the “new creation” of the Resurrection Life of Christ in your mortal flesh? Does “the piercing sword of eternal Truth” remind you that it was YOUR SIN AND SIN NATURE that brought about the crucifixion of Christ? Again, what did Paul remind us of in Galatians 2:20-21a? “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 (bodily presence) 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…”! John Newton and B.B.McKinney wrote the hymn, “He Died For Me.” It says:

“I saw One hanging on a tree, In agony and blood; He fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood.

Sure, never, till my latest breath, Can I forget that look: It seemed to charge me with His death, Tho’ not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair; I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there.

A second look He gave, which said, “I freely all forgive; This blood is for your ransom paid, I die that you may live.”

It was for me, upon a tree He died in agony, And now I give my life to live, For Him who died for me.” Has the Cross of Christ pierced through your heart and mind to wash you “clean and pure” with His blood?