Death, an event every life does face; death, the call that men cannot erase. Yet death, as strong as it seems, has no power to erase God’s dreams.

Strong, yes mighty, no one can deny, but death has no power when upon Christ we rely; eternal life is our Lord’s faithful supply.

Repentance and faith are heavenly gifts He readily supplies, and grants us the grace of His heavenly eyes; eyes to see what He mercifully gives, promises of His Word that allows us to live.

Death as it comes cannot be denied, but death when it happens, is God’s open door to the curse of Hell or to the blessing of Heaven’s “much more”.

The “best of men” may seem slow to die, but effort in ‘flesh’, though mighty and strong, does not unveil to whom they belong.

Death is the door to God’s heavenly rest, or death is the door to the devil’s hellish pests; no rest for the godless as eternity dawns, receiving the poison they clearly had sown.

Death is the dawn of Heaven’s best, or death is the birthing of greater slavery and chains, hopeless though crying for a moment’s rest.

The “tomb” of death is no resting place but a constant wailing of pain and disgrace, as the devil and demons, with foolishness and shame, awaken their prisoners to remind them of blame.

Blame for accepting their sinful state, blame for denying the Lord too late. Pleasure they sought without any awareness of what Jesus had bought.

By the blood of the Lamb sinful bondage is broken, but ‘sinners’ refuse to accept what was spoken. Freedom from sin because of His blood, but bondage with Satan because of his flood.

Life everlasting our Lord’s gracious call, made One in Him though bruised by the Fall; Light has come to enlighten our Way, the darkness of day has no more to say; but Heaven’s Light forever shines at the Table of the Lord in Heaven we dine.

Blessed is the man who lives in “Resurrection Life”, freed from sin and its inevitable strife, brought out of ‘death’, blessed in His Life.

Blessed is the man set apart to live with Him sustained by His resurrected life and heart. Gifts of God continually abound as the saint in Christ is valiant in choosing Heaven’s sound.

No strife, no pain, no fleshly blame – just resting in Jesus, no longer sinfully lame. New life, new hope, new dreams abound, dreams that emit only Heaven’s holy sounds.

Blessed is the man most blessed by God’s Word, no longer unmindful or ashamed of his devotion to the Lord, but so devoted and settled in the Truth that binds a heart and mind to the glory of our God, not coldly, carelessly, merciless just buried in the sod.

A new name given, a new purpose defined – set apart to Him to honor His Name, so thankful for His blessing and so aware of the same, to lay down our lives in His holy name; dead to ourselves and our fleshly games, no slamming the door in the face of God, but ‘planting’ our lives in this earthly sod by His witness of Life, wholly given to God!

His glory so freely bestowed is His gift to the man who freely sows God’s mercy and grace and love where God chooses to place us, with a God-given call, that whatever we do, we do it in awe of the God who placed us in the midst of man’s Fall, to sound His words: “redeemed from the Fall,” and recipients of God’s All.

God’s All of forgiveness and freedom and force, to equip as servants, as we rest in His course – no plans of our own but happily choosing to serve where we’re sown.

A crown of glory so freely awaits the man or woman who ‘drinks His blood,’ so fully aware they’re ‘saved from the ‘flood’; and those deceived by the devil’s untruths, those unaware of His spiritual abuse, the sons of God so boldly face the Fall of men in fleshly disgrace, and pour out their lives to see the change that our Lord’s sacrifice so richly inflames – A flame of God that purifies the soul, seta a man free, and enriches his life, free from guilt, free from godlessness, free to breathe in His gracious gifts, equipping His people to pronounce salvation from fleshly rifts!

Heaven forever in relationship with God, married to Him with the old man in earth’s sod. Heaven forever as the gift of His grace, ever soaring on eagles’ wings until I’m safe in His place. His love gave me wings, even a voice to sing, and eyes to see my eternal resting place, graciously a recipient of His matchless grace!

“Amen” to God forever the same, the God of love that has washed our blame, and seated us with Christ in heavenly places that we might view His love of all races, anointing us in His Spirit and blessing us with heavenly graces, to see our world as His Creation, with Holy Desire as His habitation, unveiling Christ Jesus as His Holy Revelation!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, September 5, 2014

Considering the title of this teaching, “Eternal Punishment Or Eternal Life?”, it’s not an easy thing to do because one is so involved in so many ways that consideration of eternal outcomes puts one on an uneasy street, especially if present time living has captured you but eternal punishment or eternal life you’d like to delay, cancel, put off, or face it wisely and courageously.

I don’t mind telling you that I consider my last years, or last months, or last days frequently because I know, my earthly departure is near.” At 78 years of age, knowing my “papa Fisher” died at 78 years of age, my father, James Emerson Fisher, died at 78 years of age – and I’ve at least wondered, “Is this my year of departure?”

In Genesis 8:21-22 God said in His heart (after the flood!), “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease.”

And the seasons are still with us, but there IS coming an hour or a time when God will arise from His throne, and He’ll say: “Gentlemen, IT’S CLOSING TIME FOR THE EARTHLY!” That will be “Hell” for some but “Heaven” for others!

Consider “LIFE”! Are you aware of some ‘achieving’ while others experience ‘failure’? Have you experienced “joy”; and then a cloud of sorrow moves over you? Does ten steps forward and five steps in reverse describe you at times in business, in studies, in work, in marriage? Have you known outstanding success but all of a sudden you experience defeat after defeat after defeat?

Think about your own “spiritual journey” of faith. Oh, I know there are some disciples of faith who move steadily along in their spiritual journey without ever experiencing an ounce of trouble, but for the majority of us as disciples there have been high mountains and low, low valleys, there have been phenomenal advances in the Word and the Spirit, there have been the “easy street” of soul-winning and discipling, but for some their faith-trip has been a lonely journey, often even isolated from a vibrant fellowship and having to “press in” alone, fearful, discouraged, and maybe even blind to the presence of God’s Holy Spirit!

Has ‘affliction’ ever hit you physically, morally, emotionally, spiritually, mentally – and you pause, reflect, question, hopefully even asking others for counsel and advice? Are you aware, having experienced it yourself, that there are times when up is down or down is up, when ‘normalcy’ becomes so abnormal, when all of a sudden your life, your situation, your walk, your experiences become some dark clouds of ‘my straying’?

I can’t even fathom a day without one resolving for himself/herself “eternal punishment or eternal life”! Life is so very uncertain! I can’t comprehend Godless sorrow, Godless lives, Godless futures!! Oh, and then, you try to understand Godless religions that have no hope, no precious promises, no power to implant “new hearts and new hopes and new futures,” and you paused and consider: ‘How could they miss Divine Revelation’? But they do.

What happens with unregenerate religionists is that they become devoted to ‘outward regularity’ without inward heart-change by the grace and mercy of God! But beyond deathly empty religions, there is the aching void and emptiness of, yes, a Godless life and one who is offended by anybody sharing “saving faith”!

Most ‘church folk’ have little, if any, understanding of the purpose of the law of God. Oh, they think they do, and, more than likely brag about not being ‘law-breakers’! But Jesus said, “Offend in one point and you’re guilty of ALL!!” Law-breaking is the exposure of guilty hearts that need Blood Redemption – Jesus’ only!

Look around your little world! You’re not aware at all of the manifestations of ‘sin’ that are so apparent? Your little world is a ‘jewel’ and ‘crown’ of godliness? How is your state’s divorce rate? Tell me about your schools where the majority of students have both parents for parenting nurturing! Is abortion a non-issue in your state and community? What’s your prison population like and what does it cost your state? “Sir, you may be a Christian, but I choose ‘my way,’ I chose ‘my pleasures;’ I’ll think as I want to think! Who needs the mind of Christ? I’m a promoter of self-aggrandisement and could care less about being ‘conformed to the image of Christ’!”

In Matthew 10:33 Jesus spoke ever so clearly: “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father in heaven.” ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OR ETERNAL LIFE? And don’t take Romans 5:17-19 lightly! Examine your own heart, mind, and spirit! “For if by the one man’s offense [Adam] death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Each of us must deal personally with “offense” against God and His Word, the awareness of one’s spiritual death status before Holy God, the consideration of judgment, the matter of, yes, God’s condemnation, and the end result of disobedience. It must not be taken lightly or of no concern to you – you will stand before Holy God’s throne and give an answer of rejection or of the repentance and faith that gripped, graced, and birthed a “new life”!

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came “to seek and to save that which is lost.” In Luke 13 our Lord introduced “the narrow way.” Don’t miss His life-changing or life-condemning word! Verses 22-30 says: And He [Jesus] went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them,..

“Strive to enter through ‘the narrow gate,’ for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out…

They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”

Did you catch it? Were you stopped in your tracks? Have you examined YOUR heart? Have you contemplated your ways or His will for your life? What did Jesus say? “Many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” He spoke of “the strait gate” – is Jesus that gate? John 10:9 says, Jesus speaking, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” SAVED? SAVED FROM WHAT?

Let’s look at the sad reality of “ETERNAL PUNISHMENT”! If you didn’t know, it was Cain who murdered his brother Abel! In Genesis 4:8 we read that “Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.” Deadly actions, deadly deeds, deadly choices, yes, deadly resistance to God’s Way always opens the door to one’s ‘eternal punishment’! Murder is violent but so is ‘murder’, not only as a deed, but as one’s self-determination of supremacy over others, even ‘killing’ by gossip, word, or deed!

Have you never considered that a man’s ‘fool-ish-ness’ is a deadly involvement? Have you never evaluated the price and extent of a man’s disobedience? I’ve already mentioned that the breaking of one commandment brings judgment as if I’d broken all the Law of God! Most men embrace the world’s godless ways because they have not, cannot, will not, separate themselves from that in which they believe that they are so much a part !

‘Attachment’ is a powerful persuader of devotion to godlessness! “They’re my friends – I can’t forsake them,” even if it costs them an eternal relationship with Christ! “It’s my religion for generations,” even if their ‘religion’ closes the door to oneness with Christ!

‘Similarity’ is a common excuse by a lot of fallen people! “Everybody labors and is heavily ladened; why should I look to one who says He’ll give me rest? Rest from what?” And they don’t even know that godlessness is like the full weight of the world itself crushing them to more and more death!

‘Paralysis’ spiritually is so similar to “spiritual blindness” because one has no desire to move toward God and certainly has no insight to sense Holy Presence before him with open arms – so he ignores a loving Savior and Lord.

‘Deception’ is a devilish tool with sad results. Satan lied to Eve and Adam and the experienced the reality of spiritual death! “You can sin and not die” – but they did! Have you read recently 2 Peter 2:1-3? Peter wrote: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction…

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed… By covetousness THEY WILL EXPLOIT YOU WITH DECEPTIVE WORDS; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Oh, but then in 2 Peter 2:12-14 and verses 18-20 Peter exposes the spiritual hypocrisy that is SO DECEPTIVE AND DEADLY: Verses 12-14, “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,…

And will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you,…

Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children…

Verses 18-20, For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error…

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage…

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.”

But then we read a word of hope from Paul when he said in Romans 8:31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” It is so vital for you to know in the midst of even Satanic deception, GOD IS FOR YOU! He wants to see you overcoming in Christ Jesus – not by your own effort!

“Born of sinful flesh” is the reality of every human born into this world! Though we are not owned by Satan and his demons, we certainly were sadly influenced to devilish sins, vices, lusts, and choices that distress, disturb, demean, degrade, and destroy our very souls!

Satan isn’t out to heal you but to harm you; he’s not interested in binding up your wounds but cutting you deeper; he’s not out to encourage you toward a Godly faith but to decei9ve you into his ‘hellish’ fires!

And Satan’s greatest deception? Paul spoke about those who are “ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,” certainly in opposition to the call to submit one’s self to the righteousness of God! [Romans 10:1-3]!

God’s righteousness or your own righteousness? Pleasing self or pleasing God? Trusting ‘religion’ or His Divine Revelation? Obeying a surface, religious faith that has not, will not, cannot change your heart OR heart obedience in Christ to honor God Himself? Do you realize that there are those who hold ‘respect’ for religious activity but have not an ounce of commitment to obey God? Aren’t you aware of others around you, maybe even yourself, that ‘outward appearance’ has veiled, yes, a rebellious heart and mind? Religious but unregenerate, separate from most of the world but knowing nothing of justification, sanctification, or glorification? Outward allegiance to religious truths but no full surrender to Eternal Truth whose name is Jesus?

Oh, but I pray you clearly understand that there are those who never have and never will come to Christ in repentance and faith. But in this given moment I want you to consider, yes, defectors from the Faith! If you read John 6:66 His Word tells us: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” WHAT A SAD COMMENTARY!!

One of the most heart-rending moments a true church family may endure is not separation from a local body to another local body, but when there are those you’ve shared your life with who choose to walk away from the Redemptive Faith of Christ! John 6:67 then tells us Jesus asked His inner circle, “Do you also want to go away?”

You’ll remember that earlier in John 6, verse 56, Jesus said: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” And the response? Verse 60, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” And I believe the biblical demands of true discipleship become a hindrance and a stumbling-block because they were not willing to obey Him! Don’t you know and realize that personal prejudices, one’s own likes or dislikes, one’s devotion to his/her depraved life, can and does take precedence over the “I do it “I do it my way” crowd?!

In Spurgeon’s Sermons, [Memorial Library, Vol. 12, pps.293-309], the great preacher of England listed s number of reasons why some walk away and lose their souls!

• They depart from Christ because they cannot bear His doctrines.
• They depart from Christ for the sake of gain – money speaks loud.
• They depart from Christ because they’re afraid of persecution.
• They depart from Christ out of sheer levity.
• They depart from Christ tempted by evil companions.
• They depart from Christ for the sake of sensual enjoyments.
• They depart from Christ because their life circumstances changed.
• They depart from Christ because unsound doctrine led them to apostatize.
• They depart from Christ out of sheer laziness.

That should cover “A Mournful Defection” admirably! ETERNAL PUNISHMENT OR ETERNAL LIFE?

In John 3:14-15 Jesus tells us: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him [trusts in, abides in] should not perish, but have ETERNAL LIFE.”

Paul laid it out for us in a clear and convincing way when in Romans 6:23 he wrote, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Oh, but also consider what he wrote in Romans 6:22! “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Performance or Provision? By one’s ‘grit’ or by God’s grace? By our self-effort or Jesus’ ‘self-less sacrifice’? Look at Romans 5:15-18 which tells us, But ‘the free gift’ is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more, the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many…

And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification….

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more, those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ…

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous acts “the free gift” came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”

Have you come to a full understanding of this ‘gift’ God has given to us in Christ? We’re: “justified as a gift by His grace,” “free gift,” “the gift of righteousness,” “eternal gift,” “your own gift,” “a generous gift,” “a bountiful gift,” “an indescribable gift,” “the spiritual gift within you,” “the heavenly gift,” “the perfect gift,” “a special gift,” – Oh, yes, “The gift of Jesus Himself!!”

Do you understand “freely received” so we “freely give”? Have you experienced: “…such as I have, I give to you”? Have you discovered that it’s more blessed to give than to receive? And when one has received God’s greatest gift in true sacrifice, tell me about the pattern of YOUR “laid-down life” in service and ministry to others, yes, because of what God has given you, understanding He never gave gifts to “pump your flesh” but to service and bless others and His precious Body called the Church of Christ!

I remind you of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:3 when He prayed to Father-God, “And THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Yes, you do understand, you do know, but have you ventured your all in full surrender to His Lordship and taken “the sentence of death to yourself” that His Resurrection Life can be fully manifested in and through you?

I love what Oswald Chambers said in his “My Utmost For His Highest.” [p.74]. He said: “It takes omnipotence to live the life of the Son of God in mortal flesh.” And it’s so true, so necessary, and so fully available! We don’t ‘copy’ Jesus – we surrender to His resurrection presence in us: “Christ in you the hope of glory!” Stop being so determined and become totally dependent on Him because ‘He Is Able!’

In Acts 4:13 the Word tells us, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized [or took knowledge of] that they had been with Jesus.”

Hear me! WE WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST! If you didn’t know, when Jesus went to the Cross He took us all with Him! I want you to slowly, intently, passionately read over and over Romans 6:5-14!!

“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that OUR OLD MAN WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin…

For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,… knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him…

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord…Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts…

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

This is why Paul could testify in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” You either are boasting in yourself or you’ve accepted your crucifixion with Christ, and you boast only in Jesus!

His death at the Cross and your identity with Him on the Cross tells me YOU ARE TOTALLY AWARE OF GOD’S JUDGMENT ON YOUR SIN – and you, yes, choose death to sin in you, death to a depraved world spirit, death to your own personal self-interest and ambition, and you passionately long for your own full awareness that the “old self” died with Christ on the Cross!

Receive I Corinthians 2:12! “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been given freely to us by God.”

Paul told the Roman believers, and us, Romans 8:15-17, “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage 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.”

His death on the Cross, your death with Him on the Cross, and you’re full awareness now that you are ‘joint-heir’ with Him in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, brings you to a confident, assured, blessed journey of faith and eternal hope. And you know it how?

Examine our Lord’s words for us in John 14:27! “My peace I leave with you, My peace I GIVE TO YOU; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Paul told the church at Philippi, [Philippians 4:7], “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

As you read this message, I don’t know who you are or where you are in your own spiritual journey – and you are in a journey of faith or a journey of faithlessness – I don’t know, but you know and God knows. In John 12:37 His Word tells us, “But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him.” Oh, and then follow carefully John 12:26-36!

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him will My Father honor. Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour…

Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’ Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’ Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake…

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die…

The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?’

Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

I pray you caught it as you read Jesus answering the people in John 12:30! Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.” Have you heard His voice? It was Him speaking to you “for your sake”! There is a “Voice” – and it will declare “Eternal Punishment” or “Eternal Life.” What is His “Voice” saying to you right now?

By J.Farrell Fisher, March 20-22, 2017

It’s amazing to me that some interpret the Word of God as a possibility, not a reality! It’s amazing to me that some hear Jesus say, “Come to Me and I will give you rest”, but doubt that that is a Word of eternal Assurance!

In Colossians 2:13-14 Paul wrote under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has MADE ALIVE TOGETHER WITH HIM, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

Paul went further in Colossians 4:12 saying, “Epaphras, who is one of you, a bondservant of Christ, greets you, always laboring for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

Extremely interesting and powerful verses in John 17:1-4 when Jesus said to Father-God, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son, also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should GIVE ETERNAL LIFE TO AS MANY AS YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM. And this IS ETERNAL LIFE, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” FINISHED? OR YOU JUST HOPE, MAYBE, SO?

It’s so interesting that some ‘profess’ a walk of faith but never enter the “fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ”! In Hebrews 4: 6-10 the author is blessed with the spiritual awareness of some “pretenders” to the true faith rather than legitimate sons and daughters of the royal family of God. It says: “Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter BECAUSE OF DISOBEDIENCE, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, ‘Today,’ after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has also ceased from his works as God did from His.” Christ Jesus’ work on Calvary’s Cross WAS and IS God’s finished work providing redemption and release of ‘trusting, repentant, believing hearts’ who “rest” because their sin and old sin nature was crucified with Christ, and they’ve been raised out of spiritual death TO eternal LIFE in and through the shed blood of the Lamb of God!

Redeemed hearts are not to be hardened hearts but “living sacrifices”! In Romans 12: 1-2 the Apostle challenges all believers, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that YOU present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be (being) transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

“Transformed”? That’s ‘squeezed, pressed into a mold, divinely made over or birthed, re-born, renewed, miraculously changed’ from the flesh nature to a divine nature, holy character, and from an earthly appearance to a heavenly man or woman by supernatural resurrection through Jesus’ shed blood and by the Holy Spirit’s gift of resurrection power into a “new creation”!

It’s really, really interesting that we find Paul saying in Philippians 1:15-18, “Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former (“pretenders”) preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.”

Even the Lord Jesus, in Matthew 24:11-13, said: “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But HE WHO ENDURES TO THE END WILL BE SAVED. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Dare I ask you? I will! How often have you heard preaching today about “the gospel of the kingdom” that is “preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations”? Are you aware that there ARE “gospels of ‘denominations’”, gospels of pretenders, gospels of ‘false prophets’ and some ‘fleshly pastors’, gospels of some people who sincerely desire to be ‘religious’ apart from “born again”?

The “wise man” in Proverbs 3:5-6 declared, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on (or unto) your own understanding (or self-interpretation); in all your ways acknowledge Him (give Christ His rightful place as Lord, Savior, Master of your life), and He shall direct your paths.”

But how many ‘religious people do you know who “call my own shots, determine what I religiously believe to be the right path, settling in to religious, self-will”? It was St. Augustine who once wrote: “Beware of despairing about yourself; you are commanded to put your trust in God, and not in yourself.”

What is Deuteronomy 28:52 speaking about when it says, “the walls in which you trusted”, unaware the walls of self-trust, religious affiliations, ‘best effort’ WILL COME TUMBLING DOWN? Isaiah 50:10 gets clearer to the true, God-desiring man. It says: “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him TRUST in the name of the Lord and RELY upon his God.” Hoping to be saved or fully aware you have been saved, born again, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, reconciled to God, established as a true son or daughter of the royal family of Father-God in and through Christ alone?

FIRST, FOR THE TRULY GOD-FEARING MAN, WOMAN, BOY OR GIRL, IT’S NOT ‘HOPING TO BE SAVED’ BUT FULLY AWARE I HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH THE BLOOD-ATONEMENT OF CHRIST MY LORD, THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING, ROYALLY-BLESSED KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS REVEALED OR UNVEILED IN GOD’S HOLY WORD!

In Ephesians 1:7 we read, “In Him (in Christ alone) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God’s grace.”

As the Apostle extended the Gospel Truth, there were many responders along with the ‘pretenders’, like many ‘religious’ Jewish imitators but not possessors of the Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope – they made ‘war’ against the True Remnant, killing the majority of true believers across Israel!

It’s interesting to read 2 Corinthians 7:9-10! Paul said: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

There IS ‘fleshly sorrow’ for some, but godly sorrow erupts in repentance ‘leading to salvation, not to be regretted’ for the truly God-fearing man, woman, boy or girl! In 2 Corinthians 6:1 Paul challenges you and me about receiving, as we rest in, the true grace of God! He said: “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” How is that a possibility? Because ‘fleshly grace’ is an attempt at making one’s self ‘better’, but Godly conviction and the gift of repentance leads to ‘bitterness’ about one’s godless life but “blessing after blessing” because His conviction of our sin and sin nature and Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection leads the repentant heart to “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”!

Are YOU aware of the reality of ‘triumphant poverty’ in the Spirit-realm because some sincere but uninformed ‘believers’ “rest” in their “spiritual best performances” apart from blood redemption, Holy Spirit conviction, God’s gift of true faith, redeemed lives testifying of the Amazing Grace of God, And Holy Spirit witness and power raising true sons and daughters UP in the family “Tree of Faith”!

Hear me! True sons and daughters of “blood redemption faith” lean not to their own understanding, but in all their ways they give Christ His rightful place as Lord, Savior, and Master of their lives!

True sons and daughters of blood redemption faith, yes, bow daily before Christ Jesus who is our “Priest-Intercessor”, Holy Prophet, feeding us daily manna from Heaven, and King of kings over us, subduing faithfully, yes, fleshly rebellion and disobedience from our ‘old man-nature’!

True sons and daughters of redemptive faith comprehend, understand, and yield to His Presence within them, even as the world, the flesh, and the devil would lead them astray!

True sons and daughters of redemptive faith live unashamed of their allegiance to their Lord and Savior, yes, openly unveiling that faith to family, friends, classmates, employers and employees, even strangers on their streets! They “follow the Lamb” wherever He leads and directs!

True sons and daughters of redemptive faith understand “their charge to keep”! Charles Wesley wrote an old hymn entitled “A Charge to Keep.” It says: “A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify; Who gave His Son my soul to save, And fit it for the sky.

To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill, – O may it all my powers engage To do my Master’s will.

Arm me with jealous care, As in Your sight to live; And O, Your servant, Lord, prepare a strict account to give!”

True sons and daughters of redemptive faith live in the “blessed assurance” of eternal hope as Hebrews 6:19 declares: “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil.”

SECOND, FOR THE TRULY GOD-FEARING MAN, WOMAN, BOY OR GIRL, I’D BE AMISS NOT TO TELL YOU OF GOD’S GIFT IN THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING CHRIST OF THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMES YOUR WORLD! Receive 1 John 5:4! “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”

Oh, but then 1 John 5:5 strengthens one’s understanding when John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) that Jesus IS the Son of God.” In John 1:14 the beloved John wrote: “And the Word (Christ Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

If “Christ in you is the hope of glory,” is there IN YOU the reality of ‘overcoming, conquering, victorious trust’ regardless of what the world, the flesh, or the devil throws at you? Psalm 22:3-5 is an amazing unveiling of, yes, Old Testament ‘saints’ who looked to the coming of the Promised Messiah! “But You (Christ Jesus, Promised Messiah) are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed.”

And regardless of what the world, the flesh, or the devil throws at you, “in Christ” Paul said in Romans 8:37-39, “Yet in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH CHRIST WHO LOVED US. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

THIRD, FOR THE SANE, SANCTIFIED, SAINTED, SENT TRUE DISCIPLE OF CHRIST THERE IS BIBLICAL WISDOM ABOUT HIS/HER JOURNEY WITH ONE’S LORD, SAVIOR, AND MASTER OF A REDEEMED LIFE! In Psalm 46:1-5 we read: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth re removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.”

Dare I shall a word of personal testimony? Believe I will! I came out of a broken marriage and ‘family’ (?) – my father and mother divorcing when I was three years of age. I had been taken by my mother to live with her parents from age three to about twelve. Both grandparents were active Christians, but also, my mother’s two younger sisters were still at home, one sister about four years older than me and the other about six years older – both heavily involved in the First Baptist Church of Cleveland, Tennessee. The younger sister was pianist for the church there for many years. Grandparents, two aunts, and godly men in our home church settled in on me to be intercessors, witnesses, and ‘cross-bearers’ in my behalf! I was challenged early not to lean to my own understanding but to trust in, rely upon, and adhere my walk in obedience and submission to the King of kings and Lord of Lords. I’ve been the recipient of a blessed, fulfilling, miraculous life, not only in ministry service as a pastor and missionary, but superbly blessed with an awesome wife and three Godly sons and a daughter. I’m not sure if there is any man anywhere more blessed than I have been!

FOURTH, THE SEPARATED SON AND DAUGHTER OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH IS BLESSED WITH AN AWESOME OUTPOURING OF UNENDING LOVE AND FAITHFUL HELP FROM CARING, MERCIFUL, INTERCEDING GOD IN AND THROUGH CHRIST! In Jeremiah 31:2-3 the prophet assures us of God’s CONTINUING OUTPOURING of intercessory help! He said: Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword FOUND GRACE in the wilderness – Israel, when I went to give him rest.” The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

Sadly, of course, there are some “drawn” by Father-God who do not respond in repentance and obedience but unbelief and defiance! There are those who “gad about”, but then there are those who “give in” in full surrender to the King of kings and Lord of lords – and you’ll know them by “the fruit of the Spirit” that radiates Christ in them and through them.”

Receive 2 Corinthians 5:14-15! “For the love of Christ compels us, because we thus judge: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” If He died for all, and He did, then why are some saved and others lost, separated, alienated forever from Father-God? Because, though forgiven, they choose to be ‘masters’ of their own destinies – and what lies ahead for an unrepentant, self-motivated, manly achiever in ‘self-righteousness’ is “eternal death and separation from Holy God!

Never forget: “God so loved the world…AND YOU IN PARTICULAR! “ He loves you and drawn you to Himself – will you repent, receive, and rest in Christ’s finished work or do you continue on your own? I John 4:9 declares: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” If we say ‘yes’, then it leads us to:

FIFTH, THERE IS IN THE ETERNAL REALITY OF THE “NEW-BORN” IN CHRIST WHO ARE BATHED IN HIS ETERNAL RIVER OF EVERLASTING PEACE, STRENGTH, AND HOPE! Isaiah 26:2-4 says clearly: “Open the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” And, “in Christ” does His everlasting strength sustain us and empower us to live the overcoming life of the world, the flesh, and the devil? ABSOLUTELY!

Psalm 5:11-12 says: “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You (Holy God) defend them, (protect or cover); let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.”

SIXTH, THERE IS THE ETERNAL EVIDENCE IN THE “CHRIST-CHILD” OF THE TESTIMONY OF A THANKFUL HEART! How clear is Romans 8:28 where Paul wrote the following words? “And WE KNOW that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

But that’s not all! Receive Romans 8:29! “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.”

And if you are His, what does 2 Corinthians 3:18 tell us? “But we all, with unveiled face (no fleshly ‘mask’ anymore!), beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, ARE BEING TRANSFORMED into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Glory!

Psalm 91:11-16 the Holy Word declares: “For He (God the Father) shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, (demons!) the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Because he(JFF) has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known (and keeps on knowing!) My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” What is He unveiling to YOU?

Tell me about YOUR daily entrance “into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with your never-ending praise”!

I close with a statement from Ravi Zacharias who wrote in his “A Life Out of Nothing,” “I come away with the absolute certainty that God has ordered my steps and that God was there, even in the darkest moments of my life. I know this as surely as I know I exist. This is the most certain truth I possess, and it is truly liberating.” Liberated in the Spirit of Christ or bound in the chains of one’s own fleshliness?

“Irresponsible impregnation”? And I’m not writing about careless, unwanted, unexpected ‘child-births’ by immoral behavior and choices, but rather ‘sinful choices’ infusing, fertilizing, permeating a life with fallen nature’s fleshly desires, the world’s lust, and the devil’s delight!

Irresponsible impregnation is individuality and its choices as the ‘husk’ of an unredeemed life! It was Oswald Chambers who wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.257], “Individuality counterfeits personality as lust counterfeits love,” and that is so on target! He had said earlier, [p.256], “It is the things that are right and noble and good from the natural standpoint that keep us back from God’s best.”

And I’m sure that the ‘irresponsible impregnators’ are unaware that “ they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh” or as Paul said in Galatians 5:24, “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES.” In the flesh men are dominated by, controlled by, even deceived by their, yes, devotion to their old sin nature, devotion to “if I want to do this, I’ll do it,” without any consideration of the natural consequences of opposing God’s Purpose, His will, or His holy desire for their lives!

“Irresponsible impregnation” is bowing before the idol of ‘self-indulgence’ intent on satisfying their ‘natural independence’ from God Himself, from His Son, and resist strongly the convicting power of the Holy Spirit BECAUSE “I crown the passions of my heart, my desires, my wants – and if that’s opposite of the Way, the Word, or the Will of God, who cares?” GOD DOES AND HE DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE AND CONCERN THROUGH HIS SON AND THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST’S LIFE ON CALVARY’S CROSS WITH YOUR NAME ON HIS LIPS, MIND, AND HEART!

But are you aware of how strong ‘spiritual selfishness’ is as unbelievers ignore, close their ears, and seek to avoid even any contact with ‘true seekers’ and ‘faithful disciples’? It’s as if they feel or sense God, the Savior, or His people are “out to make something of me I don’t want to be!” So they erect ‘high walls’ of resistance to Biblical Truth, or to ‘emancipation proclamations’, or even testimonies about “blood redemption through Christ and His transforming power” because they’re satisfied with their “irresponsible impregnation” of self-will, self-rule, and selfish pleasures! It’s absolutely heart-breaking to encounter ‘smug indifference’ to the love of God! It’s so disturbing when you encounter ‘fleshly pride’ in the fallen sin nature in people you encounter regularly who have no desire to hear or learn about ‘godless existence with a hellish ending’ because they truly are enslaved to a self-love, self-enchantment, and a slavish determination to satisfy every sinful, self-centered desire, warped or not!

Do you remember Jesus’ encounter with the ‘rich young ruler’ in Luke 18? Verses 18-27 tell us: Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good, but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

And the rich young ruler responded, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” And those who heard it said, “Who then can be saved?”

But Jesus said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Then Peter said, “See, we have left all and followed You.” So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

A “blessed life” is not because one chooses for himself/herself ,or both, what satisfies them, what they work for in their fleshly goal, fulfilling it and feeling ‘rewarded’ – personal ambition takes precedent over the eternal purpose of God and they miss out on eternal blessings through Christ only; self-determined, fleshly plans, goals, ambitions super-cede the eternal will of God “in Christ”; and spiritual self-centeredness -making one’s self the “idol” before which they bow, worship, and consent , without any awareness of serious consequences-, is the establishment of a fleshly altar before which they “bow” to worship their ‘self-realization’!

It was Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her “The Poetical Works Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, (From 1826-1844, J.E.Beale Book Department, The Fancy Fair, Bournemouth, Eng.,p76), who began “The Soul’s Travelling” saying: “I dwell amid the city, the great humanity which beats its life along the stony streets, Like an unsunned river In a self-made course, is ever Rolling on, Rolling on!,” saying a little later: “I dwell amid the city, and hear the flow of souls! I do not hear the several contraries – I do not hear the separate tone that rolls in act or speech, For pomp or trade, for merrymake or folly – I hear the confluence and sum of each, And that is melancholy! – The voice is a complaint, O crowned city, The blue sky covering you, like God’s great pity!’”

The prophet Isaiah was given by God a glance of Holy God’s judgment on the nation of Israel and the holy city’s destruction in 70AD, and I believe a warning to every human being between then and now,(Isaiah 5:30),“In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of a sea. And if one looks to the land, BEHOLD, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened by clouds.” And if you are unsure about God’s fulfillment of judgment upon lives, cities, states, or nations, examine what Jesus had to say in Luke 21: 20-28!

But Holy God does not leave His children of faith hopeless in the midst of a faithless, rebellious people, whether family or friends, states or nations! In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Paul wrote: “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.

For when they say, “Peace and safety!”,(while doing their own thing!), then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. AND THEY (who do their own thing without the Savior!) SHALL NOT ESCAPE ( OR AVOID GOD”S JUDGMENT)! But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day (Day of the Lord & His presence and governing and watchcare over us?) be sober (serious-minded), putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God did not (does not now!) appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

But for many who live without redemptive, saving faith in the victorious work of Christ at the Cross and beyond His empty tomb, there is the sad reality of many who “choose” to ignore “saving grace and mercy” and are ‘self-determined’ to ‘rescue’ and ‘save themselves’!

But then there are those who have, not an ounce, of fleshly hope in themselves at all, and cannot even see in the fleshly successful of our modern-day world any example of ‘better, fleshly living’, but at the same time remain deaf to our Lord’s entreaty, “Come to Me, and I’ll give you rest!”

In contemplating this teaching of “Irresponsible Impregnation Or Sovereign Selection?”, a few words of distraught souls who ignore His holy plea and invitation to be birthed “In the Spirit”. I wrote: “The rich man has a tower, the politician has power, the beauty has an orchid-flower, but I only cower.

No life, no hope, no talent, no gift, no rope – just a helpless, hopeless feeling of no purpose on earth. Stars shine even in the darkest night, for some, while others feel there is no hope, and respond: “Just not right!”

Eyes on their circumstances, selfish will clamoring to change their surroundings, but no looking up to the God who made them, and no desire for Him to ‘save’ them.

In Mary and Joseph’s day, “No room at the inn,” before Jesus was born. But in this modern-day, no room for Jesus in “my world of scorn!”

“Deny yourself”, was that Jesus’ call? So why should I do what He says at all? Master of my own destiny, owner of my own home – it’s ‘my will, my way,’ not Jesus at all!

Unteachable minds, darkened hearts, self-centered wills, for just a start, in explaining the blindness and pain of men’s hearts who have no desire to be reconciled but willing to live apart.

No desire for reconciliation, no sorrow over separation, no sadness of incoherence of His divine intent – “just leave me to myself and all my flesh invents!”

In the ‘lust of self-vindication’ men willingly attack or just ignore the “love of His vibrant manifestation” – but devotion to their ‘sad sweet selves’ takes precedence over His INTERCESSION!

So easily ignoring divine revelation and spoofing the Truth of Jesus’ crucifixion, men will try to debunk His ‘holy-blood sacrifice’, willingly choosing to assert their “all-rightness”.

But the day will soon come when sinful sorrows will be multiplied as they traded away God for ‘flesh’ and a ‘sin-nature’ as the companions of their side – “No Savior for me as I ‘save’ myself, enjoying my walk in a fool’s paradise’!”

You are aware that though many rebel and talk about their “peace and safety”, the day is coming when before Holy God they’ll have to stand with an explanation of their spiritual stupidity! But, let me shift gears from God saying “I called, but you refused” to Jesus saying, in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

“Come to Me!” Don’t YOU find it so interesting that unredeemed men and women, even boys and girls, have their sights, souls, intents, desires, and passionate longings on everything and anything except God’s eternal intent for willful sons and daughters, birthed in His ultimate intent spiritually to be vessels of His Holy Presence, temples of His resident-ministry, and extensions of His passionate longing to “draw” all mankind unto Himself through them?

It’s so eternally life-changing when one hears, receives, and walks in what Jesus said in John 14:6! “I AM THE WAY, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” True salvation, true redemption, true reconciliation to Holy God, true service, at His bidding, is only by “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

In 2 Corinthians 1:9 Paul wrote, revealing God’s eternal intent for true disciples “in Christ”: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that WE SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES but in God who raises the dead…”! And, no doubt, this is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I DIE DAILY.” If Christ Jesus intended to be Himself in us, then why do men attempt to imitate Him rather than be dead to one’s self, allowing His Resurrection to be manifested in them and through them?

Do you believe this is why we read in 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 the following true plan of loving God for our lives as His ‘temples’ in which He dwells? Paul said: “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life (fleshly life) in you.” Paul was intent on maturing ‘messy diaper babies’ into sons and daughters of true faith who die to themselves daily that His Resurrection Life may be manifested in and through their mortal flesh!

This just may be why we read early in the Old Testament writings, Genesis 24:26-27, of the man who said: “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being on (or in) the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brethren.” And, IF JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE, then why do we assume He lauds our ‘best efforts’ when in reality, He weeps?!?

Did Jesus come to heighten your darkness or to bring you “Light”? Did Jesus come to improve or transform? Did Jesus come to ‘alarm’ or to say, ‘Be not afraid’? Did Jesus come to adapt ‘religious people and unbelievers’ to a plateau of ‘self-acceptance’ or to crucify you and your old sin nature with Him on the Cross? Did He come to affirm your best intentions or to atone for blackened hearts, selfish wills, and godless minds?

Did Jesus come to let you know, though clouds may surround you, in Him the Bright Son-Light of God’s love for you can be affirmed in your heart and mind by His ever-abiding, Spirit-raised, resurrection Presence in a redeemed heart and mind? Did Jesus come to assure us that even if sorrow or sadness befall us, in Him it will not stall us in complacency, doubt, or fear, but will be our reminder, “I’ll never you nor forsake you!”?!?

I find it so encouraging, so enlightening, so uplifting to read and absorb that early prayer of Christ Jesus as He sought to equip His early disciples and those to come when in Matthew 6:9-10 and Verse 13 He taught them “In this manner, therefore pray: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” with the strong plea of Verse 13, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen (Or “so be it!”), and you have to ask: “Are ‘Christians’ today discipled to live under the King’s rule, His leadership, His heavenly desire for their earthly ministries?”

Do we say daily, just as the Genesis 24 man stated, “I being in the way, the Lord led me..”? Do we say with Paul as he stated in Galatians 2:20, “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. Verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God”, relying on my “grit” and “self-will, self-determination, or self-pleasure”? NO! We take the sentence of death unto ourselves daily that the resurrection Presence of Christ may be manifested, released, and extended through our mortal flesh!

This is why Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation…

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God) made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM.”

Discipleship in Christ is not the best of human effort or the best of fleshly adornment and improvement, but the reality of “new creations” through Christ Jesus’ BLOOD ATONEMENT!

There’s an old hymn in “The American Hymnal,” published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, copyrighted in 1933! The hymn is entitled “Crimson Calvary Answers, “No!”, written by W.T.Dale and B.B. McKinney. It says:

“Shall I be condemned forever, I I to the Lord draw near; If I sue for peace and pardon, Will He deign to hear my prayer? Will He scorn my deep contrition, Will He not His grace bestow? Will He scorn my heart’s petition? Crimson Calvary answers “No!”

I am mourning o’er my follies; I am weeping o’er my sin; For my guilt’s become oppressive, and a burden long has been; Will the Lord be gracious to me, If I tell Him all my woe, Will He leave me in my anguish? Crimson Calvary answers, “No!”

If I go and tell Him truly, How I have His love abused, How I’ve sinned against His mercy, And His pardon have refused; Will He grant His loving favor When in penitence I go; Or in wrath will He forsake me? Crimson Calvary answers, “No!”

While upon the cross He suffered, Jesus prayed with dying breath, “Father, oh, forgive them,” cried He, “Save them from eternal death;” Am I worse than those who mocked Him, And who pierced Him long ago, Have I passed beyond His mercy? Crimson Calvary answers, “No!”

The chorus then says: On the cross the blessed Savior Paid the sin price long ago; All who will on Him believe, Full redemption shall receive, For the blood of Jesus cleanses Whiter than driven snow.”

Ephesians 1: 7-8 declares: “In Him (in Christ Jesus) we have REDEMPTION through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence..”! Redemption! Forgiveness of sin and the sin nature crucified with Him!

Reconciliation! That’s reconciled to God and “adopted” as sons and daughters of God by Jesus Christ! But hear me! One of the most thrilling truths of having been reconciled to God is: If YOU are a “born-again” child of God, it is because Holy God choice you and called you to Himself! In John 15:16 the Lord Jesus said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you,” saying in Verse 19, “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not (any longer) of the world, but I CHOSE YOU out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Self-chosen, self-appointed, self-determined ‘service’ (?) in the name of Jesus is so opposite of Genesis 22:3 where the Word tells us: “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey…and arose and went to the place of which God had told him,” obedience to the call, faithful in the divine ministry, intimacy based on faithful, personal response in His eternal purposes!

In 2 Timothy 1:8b-11 Paul testifies, edifies, and instructs true “disciples of Jesus”: “…share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and CALLED US WITH A HOLY CALLING, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.” And if Jesus redeemed You, reconciled YOU to Holy God, and set YOU apart as a chosen son or daughter of the true faith, please understand, it’s not what YOU choose and select for your ‘witness’ but what He gifts you to be and to do for His honor and glory! One thing you need to reflect upon! Jesus said: “I didn’t come to be served, but to serve and to give My life a ransom for many!”

And the called, the chosen, the gifted, the assigned, are those “born again” and set aside by the Lord Jesus as His ambassadors in our troubled world! We aren’t redeemed to do what we selfishly want to do in His kingdom, but to respond obediently to His gifting, His leading, yes, His directive for your life of ministry and service to the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

Since it’s mid-December, 2016, just prior to the “Christ-mas Celebration” and reminder, receive Adolf Adam’s, “O Holy Night,” from the old American Hymnal”! It says: “O holy night; the stars are brightly shining; It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth; Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared, and the soul felt His worth;

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and cloudless morn! Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! O night, O night divine!

Led by the light Of faith serenely beaming; With glowing hearts by His cradle to stand; Led by the light of the star, so brightly gleaming, Here came the wise men from Orient land;

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and cloudless morn! Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices, O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! O night, O night divine!” Jesus has come!

In John 17:1-5 Christ Jesus prayed to the Father, lifting up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”

The hour that came in the life of the Son of God, on earth, birthed in the Virgin Mary, cared for by Mary and Joseph for many years, watched over by Father-God and the army of angels appointed and anointed by Holy God, did “the appointed hour” come, having been established before the world had even been created, that God, through the “Son”, would invade this world to reconcile a rebellious world unto Himself? Of course He did!

Not only, “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” but before its beginning, Holy God saw the “Fall” and determined “The Fall’s” reconciliation to Holy God through the sacrifice of God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

And IF God did it for Adam and Eve, if God did it for a Moses or a prophet, if God did it for all of fallen humanity, was it just simply for them alone in the past, or is there “a finished Work”, an “It is done” for every birthed individual past, present, or future?

In Acts 10:34-43 Peter declared: “In truth I perceive THAT GOD SHOWS NO PARTIALITY. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, PREACHING PEACE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS – HE IS LORD OF ALL – that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging Him on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness, that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

But a “fallen world”, without an awareness of the need of “reconciliation” to Holy God, will manufacture, invent, substitute, all kinds of human inventions to seek to appease their guilty, alienated from, blinded, sinful hearts by multitudinous, impotent, self-assertive ways of improving, over-looking, or excusing their sinful state!

And in spite of many of fallen mankind’s ‘fleshly innovations’ of ‘spiritual disciples’(?), even man-made religious systems, God overlooked, God intervened, God proved His love for fallen mankind, through the blood sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on Calvary’s Cross!

Do you remember God “testing” Abraham in Genesis? Follow the Word! [Genesis 22:1-18], Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Then God said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” [“We will come back to you”? “WE”? Abraham and Isaac? You mean he understood, even before the sacrifice of his son on the altar, that , though willingly offered as the sacrifice, Holy God was able to raise his son from the dead?!?].

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, ‘The-Lord-Will-Provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’

Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son – blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, BECAUSE YOU HAVE OBEYED MY VOICE. “

What was God’s intent in His testing of Abraham? If there is a willingness to obey, God sees the heart through which He can reveal Himself! In fact, In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”, but that was after He had said in Matthew 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 4:23 then tells us that Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom…”. Do you know what Isaiah 52:7 says? “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaim peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”

And Abraham, and Jesus, or you as His disciple and follower and servant? Do you know about “beautiful feet”, about “proclaimers of good news and peace” and about those “who proclaim salvation”, saying, “God reigns” – will you allow Him to reign over your life, your home, your family, your business, your community, your nation? Jesus said what? “It is finished – It is done!”

FIRST, NOTICE, NO MORE UNAWARENESS OF GOD’S CONCERN FOR HIS CREATED WORLD! I remind you of what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 because it relates to every follower of Christ in the time period of his/her present existence in whatever nation, state, or circumstance: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; (So) that the man of god may be adequate, equipped for, (or thoroughly furnished) for every good work.”

And if that is true, and it is, then are you and I to be alerted to what Jesus has to say, not only to the Israelites in Jerusalem or the nation of Israel, but to every disciple, regardless of his present residence – the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa? What did our Lord say in Luke 21:10-28?

Then He [Christ Jesus] continued by saying to them (but not to you?), “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.

It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance (or a mouth) and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

But you will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all on account of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives (or souls).

But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city;

Because these are days of vengeance (for the blood covenant), in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled. Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people,

And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (That’s the “Present Age” to the Advent!!).

And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among the nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, (or a flood of words), men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

And THEN they will see The Son of Man Coming In a Cloud with power and great glory. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

LOOK UP! YOUR REDEMPTION DRAWS NEAR! LOOK UP! JESUS CHRIST IS ON THE THRONE, RULING AND REIGNING, AND HIS KINGDOM HAS COME AND HIS RULE ASSURES YOU OF YOUR VICTORY IN YOUR WORLD OF TODAY! God cares about YOU, and has never taken His eyes off of you or your circumstances in your world!

SECOND, NO MORE UNAWARENESS OF GOD’S CARE FOR THE LOWLIEST OF MANKIND, FOR THE WORLD’S INSIGNIFICANT, FOR THE ONE NO ONE CARES ABOUT BUT GOD HIMSELF!

I think Daniel 4 was eternally sealed by the Spirit for this very point: “No unawareness of God’s Care for the most insignificant of mankind, but His care for the ‘least’, or the most well-known of all mankind?”

Daniel 4:1-17 is an amazing declaration and illuminating Word from Holy God: Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: “May your peace abound!

It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs, and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.

I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace. I saw a dream and it made me fearful; and these fantasies as I lay on my bed and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.

So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans, and the diviners came in, and I related the dream to them; but they could not make its interpretation known to me.

But finally Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related my dream to him, saying, ‘O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream which I have seen, along with its interpretations.

Now these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree became large and became strong, and its height reached to the sky, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth.

Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it.

I was looking in the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven. He shouted out and spoke as follows: ‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.

Yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field; and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth.

Let his mind be changed from that of a man, and let a beast’s mind be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him. This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers, and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets it over the lowliest of men.”

King Nebuchadnezzar knew of the sovereignty of Holy God and God’s concern for the “lowliest of men”, yet a humble spirit was unknown to him, and God removed his sovereignty from His life, even though he ‘professed’.

But in Ezekial 34:31 Holy God declared that days were coming when He would establish a “new covenant” – and we know that “new covenant” was the blood covenant through the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son, Emmanuel, which means “God with us”, not like the old covenant which the Israelites willingly broke, even though they’d entered ‘marriage’ with Him.

Jeremiah gave us even a clearer picture of this “new covenant”. Jeremiah 31:31-34 says: “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and THEIR SIN I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”

How is that? BECAUSE YOU AND YOUR OLD SIN NATURE WERE “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, PUT TO DEATH, AND YOU THROUGH REPENTANCE AND FAITH BECAME THE RECIPIENT OF RESURRECTION LIFE, RESURRECTION POWER, AND RESURRECTION HOPE! Through the blood of the Lamb, from the “least” to the greatest, new life has come!

THIRD, NO MORE UNAWARENESS OF GOD’S COMPASSION FOR THE LONELIEST OF THE ALONE! Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 is a powerful, piercing, heart-wrenching explanation of individuals who, yes, more than not, CHOOSE to walk through life alone, unaware of the Greatest Friend the lonely have ever known! It says:

Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun: There is one alone, without companion: he has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. But he never asks, ‘For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?’ This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep him warm; but how can one be warm alone? [Insert! How many ‘alone’ people have crossed your path and you’ve witnessed their ‘cold’ nature?]. Verse 12, Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”

Who is the third cord in the two-fold relationship of friend to friend or husband to wife or wife to husband or parent to child or child to parent? Consider that two-fold union plus the presence of the Resurrected, Reigning Christ Jesus!

Consider even Jesus Himself! Even his intimate disciples left Him & He stood alone often, yet He said in John 8: 16b, “…for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me,” and in Verse 18 The Lord Jesus said, “I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”

You do not have to walk through life alone! God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit has “knocked on your heart’s door before and still does now”! Revelation 3:18-22 says, Jesus speaking, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

There’s an interesting verse in Jeremiah 49:31 where the Lord says, “Arise, go up to the wealthy nation that dwells securely,” says the Lord, which has neither gates no bars, dwelling alone.” Dare I tell you that the man rich in himself with his personal determination of wealth in himself without God, living in a false security state of mind, dwelling alone, and God says, “That’s the man I love, that’s the man I want to be One with, The loneliest of the alone – I love him, I seek him, I find him, and I say to that lonely man, – Matthew 11:28-30 –Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

FOURTH, NO MORE UNAWARENESS OF GOD’S COMPASSION FOR THE ‘LEAST-SENSING ‘ INDIVIDUAL! To say, like some, “Your God doesn’t care”, is without a doubt a senseless assertion, but in a time of great stress, even men like David, could complain, (Psalm 142:3-5), “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; NO ONE CARES FOR MY SOUL.”

But then, at least King David, had the saneness and senseness of “I cried out to You, O Lord”; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” But there are ‘senseless’ individuals whose hearts, minds, and brains are totally dead to the compassion and care of Holy God!

There are times in life’s pilgrimage when affliction deadens some’s ‘faith’, troubles and temptations harden their hearts, disappointments, rejections, betrayals, a serious sickness, a horrific betrayal of wedding vows or betrayal of what seemed to be ‘a true friendship’, hardens some hearts and lives, and they never consider “God’s compassion” for the sin-bound, the troubled, the lonely, or the fearful – they just stiffen in their dumb-foundedness of His love, grace, and mercy. Perplexity becomes their ‘cry’ rather than redemptive faith in the Lord’s ability to transform trouble into triumph!

It was Peter who was given a wise word in 1 Peter 5:5-11, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves UNDER the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.”

Holy God, Mighty God, Omnipotent God, is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or even think! And though YOU may sense, “NO ONE CARES FOR MY SOUL,” GOD DOES! LOOK AT THE CROSS AND THE EMPTY TOMB! The ‘least-sensing servant’ Jesus cares for and proves His love!

LASTLY, NO MORE UNAWARENESS OF GOD’S COMPASSION FOR THE CITIZENS OF EVEN REBELLIOUS NATIONS! Do you ever reflect upon, study, search out Psalm 2? The psalmist wrote about “the realness of rebellion”, but then amplified the Coming Messiah’s victory and triumph and Kingdom rule over sin and death! It says:

“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS ANOINTED [The PROMISED MESSIAH!], saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” He (Holy God) who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His displeasure: Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, “You (Jesus) are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. BLESSED ARE ALL THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM (THE PROMISED MESSIAH!).”

Rebellious nations may rage, unbelieving leaders plot ‘vain things’, senseless rulers and self-centered individuals pool their foolish thoughts against God, but the Father begot the Son, and the Son lived and died in our place, and still reigns in Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope! And 2 Corinthians 7:10 declares, “For godly sorrow produces repentance LEADING TO SALVATION, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.254-255), “The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God’s grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I HAVE SINNED. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself. The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man’s respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance.”

Repentance is not the license to continue sinning, but the freedom to walk in holiness and purity! Hebrews 10:14 the author superbly declares: “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Are YOU?

Holy God, through the offering of Jesus on the Cross, offers the rebellious life through the sacrifice of Christ, a new life, a new hope, an eternal future with Him around the Throne forever and ever, but if one sins willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries”! Are you an “adversary” or true friend of the Christ of the Cross and the Christ of the Empty Tomb? “Blessed are all those who put their trust in “The Promised Messiah”!

By J. Farrell Fisher, July 20, 2016

A life bleak or blessed, a life scarred with sin and the old sin nature, or a life conceived by the Holy Spirit, a life trying or trusting, a life programmed by the world, the flesh, and the devil, or a life purposed, promised, and spiritually prosperous in God’s Kingdom because of “new births”, or a life experiencing, exposed to, exasperated by, encapsulated by fears, anxieties, worries, doubts or a life enraptured with, enduring, exciting, and exhilarating in the joy of Jesus’ indwelling, overcoming, victorious Resurrection Presence?

What is your life? Is it the life in Christ Jesus with a peace that passes all understanding or is it a life of spiritual death of the guilty, a life of sinful flesh to offer as best one can, or the “Life in Christ” graciously granted in victorious, overcoming, rejoicing- in- Jesus hearts with symphonic Hallelujahs and glorious praise and thanksgiving from a new-born heart?

A ‘worldly life’ sustained by physical bread alone and the best ‘fallen flesh’ has to nibble on without an ounce of true repentance or pure sustenance or purified heart and mind, void of the Holy Spirit, void of the “fruit” of heavenly love, eternal peace, and life-changing joy that never subsides, wanes, or falters, is a life, though mentally religious but never “born again”, that tries to imitate, even pretend, and attempts with all flesh has to offer, but falls short of the reality of truly transformed hearts and lives by the miracle of the “new birth”!

Do you ever consider, think about, evaluate ‘God-less –living’ as empty, self-centered, mindless, purposeless, unfulfilling, unrewarding in its long haul, or a life filled with the manifestations of Holy Presence in Christ?

Do you remember Jesus saying, “Come to Me, learn of Me, rest in Me, and you’ll find “rest” that is eternal and blessing for your soul” that truly is indescribable?

Is your life based on fleshly ‘fairy’ tales or a life blessed on the divine, eternal, revelation of the Christ of Resurrection Life, Resurrection power, and Resurrection Hope?

The enemy of the “God-Life”, the devil, deceives, entraps, blinds men to the “Christ-in-you-Life” of Holy presence, Holy purpose, and Holy power, with ‘imitation’, ‘non-redemptive,’ ‘fleshly intents alone,’ without any consideration of the miracle of “new birth,” the blessing of “Christ-in-you,” or the fulfillment of divinely-ordained, eternal intent, or sovereignly, ordained, and graciously given “Oneness” with the divine nature in and through Christ!

It was Philip James Bailey, in his “Festus, A Country Town,” who once wrote: “We live in deeds, not years; in thought (or Truth) not breath: In feelings, not figures on a dial. We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. Life’s but a means unto an end; that end Beginning, mean, and end of all things – God.”

What is YOUR life? “Hell’s bells” or “the Joy-Juice of Jesus’ Presence”? A fleshly flame revealing failing, futile living or the pure flame of the Eternal Son and Sun of Life within us, the Crucified, Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords?

Life is not a ladder finitely stepped – never has been, never will be – Life was extraordinarily given to give men personal choice of ‘flesh-life’ or the “Divine Life” – life without God or life in Him – not fleshly dreams, finite feelings of sensual pleasures, or faltering feelings of human successes, but a life, not of temporary thoughts of pleasure and satisfactions, but one of eternal peace, resurrection presence, and heavenly joys!

Is your life the “bondage” of your ‘old- as- ADAM’ SIN NATURE OR THE “BLESSING” of LIVING IN, BY, and FOR THE LIFE OF ANOTHER, EVEN CHRIST ALONE THE HOPE OF GLORY?

A man who lives only to satisfy his Adam’s original nature, his flesh, his old, ancient sin nature, his selfish ambitions, is a man who never discovers perfect peace in Christ, selfless surrender to the sovereignty of God, or complete liberty and freedom and desire to honor, bless, exalt, and please the Savior, the Blessed Redeemer only!?!

A life that is satisfied with ‘flesh’ (the old sin nature), that knows no ‘self-denial’, that accepts the devil’s ‘slant’ that ‘You Can Sin And Not Die, That Thinks “devotion to God” is unnecessary, that’s been deceived by the powers of darkness, that loving the world and its lust of the flesh is not evil, never submitting to the reality that THAT world of idiotic, fleshly foolishness, is fading, failing, unfulfilling, and that the lust of it is death constantly just warmed over, and is passing away into a dark abode of demon presence, insisting it’s ‘OK’ – and that’s a life ‘OVERCOMING’ ?– just not overcoming by the blood of the Lamb?

You’ve heard it: “Live while you live – satisfy the passions of your old sin nature, realize you are your own, do as you please, never silencing the demons, and you “just go to Hell” – “it’s OK” – “everybody does it”; while that’s true for the most – it’s not true for God’s redeemed, blood-bought remnant – they find the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life!

How sad that many never come to know the Life that is “in Christ”, never know the true pleasures that never fade that Jesus brings, that never experience the peace that passes all understanding, that never knows “death to self” and “Life in the Savior”, or “death to the fallen nature” and Life in the fullness of the divine nature, or the “death of bad fruit” and not the Life of “the fruit of the Spirit”!

Are you aware of the man-made philosophy that ‘best effort here’ is worthy of life in the “here-after”, that “fleshly best ensures life forever”, that “trusting is good for humanity,” even if God says trusting in Him alone is your only hope?

“Live while you live as your ‘flesh’ dictates” or “Live in Me alone” as Jesus declared? “Live while you live for the pleasures that satisfy your fleshly tendencies” or is it “Live for the purpose of honoring the God who made you, lost you, but bought you with a price, even the blood, innocent blood, of the precious Lamb of God?”

How many do you know who see “life is living it to the fullest for yourself as YOU see it for yourself,” or is it “Life is living as God desires, defines, declares, and delivers me to through a repentant heart, fully trusting and receiving forgiveness, and the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Have you ever heard it? “A man’s ingress into his own world is knowing, satisfying, and promoting himself with all due diligence”, without any consideration of the eternal purpose of God of ordination as a vessel or container of divine life and holy presence? It’s not ingress in ‘self’ but INDWELT by Resurrection Life in Christ alone!

Facts of human existence are not as Fosdick once spoke of as ‘loose types with many meanings,” but human existence was intended before time began to be habitations of Holy Presence as “temples” of a loving Lord and Savior, but many have fallen victims desiring the “Las Vegas’ residences of self-indulgence, unbelief, and fleshly rebellion”!

Can you even ‘see’ in fallen humanity the reality of “chaotic disarrangement” and “self-centered”, self-serving, cynical or godless arrangements, fleshly affirmations and loyalties, and descents into hellish, hollow, and ‘holey’ attempts at life in the flesh alone ,but wanting spiritual existence on their own terms? That’s nothing more than fragments of existence offered as one’s best but never aligning or becoming one with God’s intent! But in 2 Corinthians 4:7-15, (Is this the testimony, not simply of your existence but God’s Indwelling?),

“But we have this treasure in earthern vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed (at times), but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.”

Do you see it? Do you sense it? Have you settled it? Are you aware of it? There is the reality of one’s “best”, the “fleshly unfulfilled”, or God’s “best”, the spiritually re-born, indwelt, regenerated, Spirit-anointed, and “blessed” with the Resurrection Presence of the Living Lord, OR there is the unending evidences of the godless OR the eternal workings of Christ in the “Spirit-Man”.

Yes, there is “the sufferings of the saints” who ARE SUSTAINED BY THE SAVIOR, and who know both toughness in determination to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil, and at the same time are tender followers who show others the way of Redeeming grace, purpose, and power! And though most saints are “forgotten by the world”, they live “fulfilled, blessed, contented, peaceful lives in and through Christ alone”! They are prayers, prepared, and equipped by the Word and the Spirit!

Do you comprehend “fleshly lives as containers of man’s best” or “spiritual lives birthed by the Spirit as recipients and containers and vessels of God’s best, the Living Christ, crucified, resurrected, ascended, reigning, and available to any repentant heart willing to be the temple of the Eternal Christ”?

In ‘fallen flesh” the “best” of human existence is only ‘variations’ and ‘shadows of the True’, but only ‘IN CHRIST’ is there the ‘victory over sin and death and emptiness and meaninglessness’, when only in the flesh is there the rewards of God’s enemy; but ‘IN CHRIST’ is the reaping and receiving of everlasting Life in Him! Christ-less lives are “oil-less lamps” with no ‘Light” that shines forth God’s glory.

Christ-less lives are ‘fragmented’ left-overs of ‘what could have been’ rather than Christ-Indwelt lives, fully revealing a God-ordained, and God-birthed Resurrection Presence!

Fleshly lives at the human-level “best” is only a cheap imitation of illumined, divine, resurrection presence of eternal life, eternal hope, and eternal fruit.

Free men? That’s not ‘freedom’ to do as one “damn well pleases”, but spiritual freedom in the Spirit to honor Christ alone! Only “in Christ” are men truly liberated to honor Holy God!

Most men, apart from God, arise each morning thinking, “What will really make ‘my day’ and ‘pump my flesh’ to historic levels?”, rather than, “What will honor God and exalt Christ through me to the world around me?”

A mortal man is only committed and satisfied in his self-complacency, his self-promotion, and his self- indulgence , but the “Christ-man” desires, longs for, driven by, and holds onto “honoring Christ alone, the hope of glory through me, as a vessel!”

Everything that promotes ‘flesh’, even ‘flesh at its best’, gives honor to the ‘old sin-nature’, turns a blind eye to the will, the Word, and purposes of Holy God, and is a clear exposure of one’s spiritual nakedness and his ‘egression’ willfully further away from God, and not his willful ‘ingression’ in Him by “repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ alone.”

Misspent lives apart from the presence of Christ are like ‘empty glasses or vessels’ rather than residences of Christ in them as His Holy Temple!

Useless living is ‘born in sin’ with no desire to be reconciled to God, just indifferent to His Word and will, with no desire or longing or fleshly impulse to reconciliation or understanding of His Word or anything different from ‘fleshly satisfaction’ or even a thought about ‘birthed in Christ’ through repentance and faith! Yes, millions live without any desire to be “citizens of the Kingdom of God”, living consumed in promoting ‘self’ , not understanding the rebellious attitude that is the ‘death-nail’ to eternal purpose. Personal imagination and personal intent is not divine life nor divine presence nor divine power, but simply “best of the flesh” honoring “self-made men” of temporary existence, fading fame, tainted rewards, and terrible, eternal residences apart from the God who loved them, wanted them, but lost them by their lusts, their stubbornness, indifference, and mindlessness and heartlessness to His good, acceptable, and perfect will –“best effort” or “fallen flesh” is acceptable to them, and not even the Crucified and Resurrected Christ matters to them!

It’s not even ‘how long you lived’, but “in Whom you lived”, not the “best of self-effort existence in the sands of life” but “the solid foundation” of the True Rock who is Christ alone.

Do YOU fathom, do you understand, do you comprehend lives that are nothing more than ‘helpless pieces’ on “Life’s Game-board” with no submission or open door in them to the True Author of Everlasting Life, Purpose, or Divine Moves on their ‘play-boards’ of one’s earthly existence? Apart from Jesus it’s emptiness, vainness, personal game-playing – not the unveiling and revealing and revelation of Eternal Intent!

Life ‘found’ for one’s self apart from the Savior and Lord is a life guaranteed of eternal loss and one of serious desperation and consequences, but life “FOUND” in Christ for His honor, His glory, His praise, will stand eternally before Holy God, constantly reflecting, radiating, revealing Jesus’ everlasting Presence! It was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in his “A Psalm of Life,” who wrote: “Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal,” but I’m not sure if he even grasped, “Life is eternal” – and it’s either ‘in your best’ or Jesus’ “Resurrection Life and Holy, Resurrected Presence”; yes, there is life that continues beyond the grave and Hell with all its demons, devil, and unbelievers, but with the “graced saints” graciously living in God’s gift of eternal life in and through Christ’s “finished work”, there IS Heaven! Yes, Jesus Only!

Any definition of ‘life’ that has no foundation under it of honoring and glorifying Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior is ‘fruitless’, even ‘hollow religions’, ‘unregenerate church members’, or ‘temples steeped with ‘hypocrites’! But Jesus IS “the Light”, and “Jesus Only” is the ONLY UNVEILING OF LIGHT within men!

Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, Promised Messiah, IS the “Life”, the “Bread of Life”, is the “Author of LIFE” and that more abundantly, IS the “gift of God” and the only door to “eternal life”, and Paul says, “To live ‘in Christ’ is to flourish, and to die ‘in Christ’ is to gain eternal Presence and an eternal home in Heaven; life apart from Christ is a ‘vapor’ that only ‘exists’, and that ‘forever’ with flesh’s author and finisher who is the devil, but ‘in Christ’ there is victorious presence that never dies, falters or fades away in insignificance, but constantly joins Heaven’s Angels in the “Hallelujah Chorus”!

Unhappy lives or even ‘happy lives’ are not “God-blessed” or “Spirit-birthed” but just Adam-seeded, sin-natured attempts at “doing one’s best” with even totally unconcerned, misinformed, or blinded allegiance to God’s purpose in their ‘creation’. Have you ever heard someone say, “The purpose of life is just be yourself to your fullest and be happy?” when God’s intent is one being through with himself, accepting God’s judgment of his/her death with Christ as his/her only hope, and rejoicing daily in His Resurrection Presence in their repentant, redeemed, reconciled to God hearts!

It was Shakespeare, in his “Macbeth”, [Act V, sc.5.1,26], who wrote: “Life…is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Did the prophet mention the one who says, “Peace, peace, but there is no peace?”

You do understand, you do comprehend, you have evaluated the consequences of “Godless-men, nations, individuals” who ‘try’ to live with “no need of God”! Leo Tolstoy was right on target when in his writing “The Kingdom of God,” (Chapter 12), he said: “The only significance of life consists in helping to establish the kingdom of God; and this can be done only by means of the acknowledgement and profession [and I, JFF, would add ‘confession’ and ‘acceptance’] of the Truth by each one of us.”

I like what Augustine said when he spoke, “Before God can deliver us we must undeceive ourselves”! “The wages of (“my”) sin is death, but the ‘gift of God’ IS eternal life in and through Christ ONLY!” And as a result of receiving the “finished work of Christ AT THE CROSS,” resurrected to the King’s Presence, His Kingdom, and His witness in us and through us, He gives us graciously the “gift of the Holy Spirit,” and Romans 8:16 declares: “The Spirit (the Holy 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 be also glorified together.”

As a result of the amazing miracle of grace and the habitation of the Risen Christ within repentant hearts, and the recipients of the Holy Spirit “bearing witness in us and through us,” do you doubt, or just never informed and discipled to be led by the Holy Spirit? “The Spirit bears witness!” Is He “bearing witness” in you and through you?

I love Oswald Chambers’ explanation of “The Witness of the Spirit” in his amazing writings entitled, “My Utmost For His Highest.” (p.218). “We are in danger of getting the barter spirit when we come to God, wanting the witness before we have done what God tells us to do. “Why does not God reveal Himself to me?” He cannot, it is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the road as you won’t abandon absolutely to Him. Immediately you do, God witnesses to Himself. He cannot witness to you, but He witnesses instantly to His own nature in you. If you had the witness before the reality, it would end in sentimental emotion. Immediately you transact on the Redemption, and stop the impertinence of debate, God gives the witness. As soon as you abandon reasoning and argument, God witnesses to what He has done, and we are amazed at our impertinence in having kept Him waiting. If you are in debate as to whether God can deliver from sin, either let Him do it, or tell Him He cannot. Do not quote this and that person, try Matthew 11:28, – “Come unto Me.” “COME”, if you are weary and heavy laden; “ask”, if you know you are evil. (Luke 11:13).

Chambers went on to say: (p.219), “The Spirit of God witnesses to the Redemption of our Lord, He does not witness to anything else; He cannot witness to our reason. The simplicity that comes from our common-sense decisions is apt to be mistaken for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of Redemption, never to our reason. If we try to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder we are in darkness and perplexity. Fling it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give the witness.”

That’s so true “IF”! “If any man be in Christ, If any man is finished with his old life, old sin-nature, and his ‘fleshly ambitions’, willing ALL old things “are passed away,” then the “new-creation man”, indwelt by Resurrection Life in Christ, is then ready to “receive the Holy Spirit” to guide, direct, empower, and overflow in you and through you with, yes, “the gifts of the Spirit,” ready to reveal a redeemed, re-born, Spirit-filled, appointed, anointed witness to the glory and honor of Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

In the old American hymnal of Robert Coleman’s, published by The Broadman Press in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1933, I came across the song By Horatuis Bonar entitled “I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say.” It says:

“I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Come unto Me and rest; Lay down, you weary one, lay down your head upon My breast.” I came to Jesus as I was, Weary, and worn, and sad; I found in Him a resting-place, And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “Behold I freely give The living water; thirsty one, Stoop down, and drink, and live.” I came to Jesus and I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say, “I am this dark world’s light: Look unto Me, your morn shall rise, And all your days be bright.” I looked to Jesus and found in Him my Star, my Sun; And in that light of life I’ll walk Till all my journey’s done.”

Old man – “new man”; flesh – Spirit; the sinner’s man – His saint; the Undone – in Him a “finished work” complete in Christ lacking nothing; grit, grease, garbage, and gall – “in Christ” is grace, victorious virtue, “fresh springs”, and perfect “God-Likeness”; empty, insignificant, earthly dwelling of ‘human flesh’ – “in Christ” is eternal Life, Holy Presence, and All-Sufficient grace; ‘flesh-poverty? – how about “enriched in Him, heirs, sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, co-laborers in the Savior’s eternal, redemptive work, recipients of the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, blessed with “amazing assurance”, divine anointings, holy callings, the natural crucified but resurrection Life amplified, Kingdom living and resident address, Kingdom presence, Kingdom power, Kingdom privileges, and Kingdom testimonies, visions and dreams, and Holy anointings in fulfilling His good and acceptable and purposeful will, citizens of the eternal Kingdom, members of the divine Family, appointees “in Christ” to the mission of world-wide “redemption” through our testimonies of “the blood of the Lamb and His Resurrection Presence in every “born-again” life! “Rise up, O men of God!”

BY J.FARRELL FISHER, September 1, 2014

I really don’t know for sure the public’s response to the Scripture I’m about to share, but I sense in my inner man an awful rejection of the Scripture. It comes from John 3:36 when John said: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

I’d personally say that what we’ve just read is a frightening and future event that you’d think most people would like to avoid! “The wrath of God abides on him!”

In Jeremiah 45:5 our Lord spoke: “And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord, “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”

The last part of that verse reminds me of “I must decrease – He must increase.” But the first part is about those who have not believed, will not believe, and, as a result, the wrath of God abides on him.”

“Abounding Misery and Chaos or Advocacy Peace and Blessing?” Jeremiah 32:38-40 speaks of those who enter an everlasting covenant with Holy God. It says: “They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.”

But I want you to know that much or most of what Jeremiah wrote, he did from behind prison bars! His devotion to Truth and its Author cost him dearly! At the very same time as he was writing from behind bars God was at work establishing the door to Advocacy Peace and Blessing! In fact, Jeremiah 33:30, tells us, God speaking to Jeremiah, and us, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

Jeremiah didn’t know and never would know if Almighty God had not opened his door of understanding to “Advocacy Peace and Blessing” – he would have, as most men, only known “Abounding Misery and Chains.”

Godless, the majority of men know only “abounding misery and chaos,” while the few, broken by Holy God, discover “advocacy peace and blessing.” Show me a man of peace and blessing and I’ll show you a man who’s been to the Cross of Christ!

It’s not a reason to rejoice at all, but in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, Paul wrote: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

A ‘veiled gospel’ that has erupted in “abounding misery and chaos” and they don’t even know they’re enveloped by it? Death is already at work in them!

Do you understand someone speaking of “a soul so base as mine”? That’s a picture of one “abounding in misery and chaos” who know nothing about amazing grace and eternal peace through Christ alone! They know and understand the paralysis of sin and the pulverizing power of a dead conscience, basically powerless to believe in Christ’s shed blood of the Atonement shed fully at Calvary’s Cross! Their own sin overpowers divine grace and fills them only with despair. It’s as if the powers of darkness instill within unbelievers a deadly disease called ‘sin’ that breeds despondency, discouragement, doubt and fear, and cements their minds with lies that God Himself couldn’t help them, and all of a sudden they seem to be emotionally and mentally paralyzed with hopelessness.

But if Jesus says, and He does, “Come unto Me, and I will give you rest,” what He did 2000 years ago, He still does today! But people who are ‘heavy laden’ are acutely anguished body, soul, and spirit, and add more ‘weights’ trying to overcome on their own with their burden of sin growing stronger with despair and discouragement intensifying.

Have you heard the defiant to ‘saving faith’? “If I try harder, I’ll find the peace I’m looking for.” “If I earn my place on an athletic team, I’ll quiet my demons.” “If I earn a lot of money, everything will be OK.” “If I make a name for myself, I’ll adjust the mental, moral, and spiritual problems.” “If I stay busy, busy, I won’t have time to worry, worry, doubt, doubt, or be afraid, afraid.” Above all, they want to ignore God’s knock at the door of their heart. They want to totally shut out any references to the Cross and Christ’s shed blood. They want to refute the necessity of repentance and faith because that speaks of accountability before Holy God!

Opposite of self-effort and fleshly intent to be an overcomer of sin and death in and through one’s self is Jesus as He faced the judgment of unbelievers and the Cross praying to the Father in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” So true, because every willful sin represents the nails in our Lord’s body!

In Fact, in Matthew 24:12 Jesus said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” But ‘cold-hearted’ people need to know that the Holy Word of God tells us, in Romans 5:20, “…But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,” Verse 21, “so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And I believe that our Lord is telling us that the person who is the furtherest throw away from God is His target with the arrow of grace, mercy, and love – and though they’ve abounded in misery and chaos, our God is ABLE through advocacy peace and blessing, to birth new life, new hope, new purpose, with God glorifying Himself through a transformed sinner to a Heavenly saint!

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 speaks so clearly, hopefully, and powerfully about those who had abounded in misery and chaos, sinners separated, bound, hopeless – but they meet the Resurrected Christ and are ‘comforted’ by God! It says:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God…

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation…

And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”

Abounding misery or Advocacy Peace? Abounding chaos or Advocacy Blessing? Tribulation or consolation? Trouble or comfort? Hopeless or steadfast? Sufferings or eternal salvation? Bondage or liberty and freedom? A sin-bound life of death and separation or sainthood by the Life and oneness with Christ? A paralysis of sin and guilt or the pleasure of forgiveness and freedom through our bondage-breaker, Jesus?

And the amazing, life-changing Truth? Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Do you long for the Lord’s nearness to you? In Psalm 34:18 David said: “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite (or crushed) spirit.” David didn’t stop there but went on to say in verse 19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

Advocacy peace and blessing reigns supreme! Years ago Andrae Crouch wrote and sang the song entitled “Through It All.” It’s a spiritual classic! It says:

“I’ve had many tears and sorrows, I’ve had questions for tomorrow, there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong…But in every situation, God gave me blessed consolation, that my trials come to only make me strong…

I’ve been to lots of places, I’ve seen a lot of faces, there’s been times I felt so all alone. But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus lets me know that I was His own…

I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through. For if I’d never had a problem, I wouldn’t know God could solve them, I’d never know what faith in God could do…

Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God… Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”

No doubt this is why David wrote in Psalm 32:7, “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.” Do you believe – have you experienced the reality of the God who “gives songs in the night”?

Reading through Acts recently I came across Acts 16:25. “But at midnight Paul and Silas [imprisoned] were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

I’m telling you: Dark nights are our opportunities for “songs of light”! A night of sorrow may be your hallowed moment of Holy Presence like you’ve never known before! It may be in “the dark” when your enemies come to arouse and threaten you, but then Holy God steps in in the Light of His Glorious Presence! It may be a dark night of fear and doubt but Holy Truth raises you above it! It may be a dark night of worrisome anxiety but Holy Peace stands up in Holy Promises! And the dark night becomes your “song of light”!

Out of “The Mourning Bride,” William Congreve wrote: “What do the damned endure, but to despair?” Despair or to delight, sorrow or to celebrate, assaulted by the powers of darkness and the enemies of God or to be affirmed by our Advocate of peace and blessing?

It was John Calvin, in his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” who wrote: “God foreordained for His own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.” Are you the “called” or the “cursed”?

Can you believe it? Jesus dared to say, [Matthew 23:33], “Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” I love what Thomas Scott once wrote when he said: “No affliction nor temptation, no guilt nor power of sin, no wounded spirit nor terrified conscience, should induce us to despair of help and comfort from God.”

Why? How? Who? Because His Word says: “Whosoever will may come.” That tells me of God’s pardon and forgiveness, not of His penalty and unforgiveness! What does Revelation 22:17 tell us? And the Spirit and the Bride say “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”

Acts 2:21 tells us, “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And how could even one resist the words of Jesus in John 11:25-26? “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” “Believe”? That means “trust in,” “rely upon,” “adhere to!!” Is that YOUR testimony of belief and trust? Do you really have a mind and heart “trust” in God?

It was Horace Bushnell who said, “Trust God for great things: with your five loaves and two fishes, He will show you a way to feed thousands.”

ABOUNDING MISERY AND CHAOS OR ADVOCACY PEACE AND BLESSING? I’m sure you understand that a Christ-less life is a life of continual, addictive sin but when we come to Christ as Lord we hear Him say, “Go and sin no more.”

But the beloved John tells us in I John 2:1, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” John then said in Verse 6, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked,” and He never walked in sin but He went to the Cross to die for your sin and mine!

And before Father-God we see Jesus, our advocate, representing us before Him because of our faith and trust in our Lord and Savior’s atoning work in our behalf as our “legal attorney”!

I don’t know who wrote it but the words are so encouraging: “We have listened to the preacher – Truth by him has now been shown; But we want a Greater Teacher, from the everlasting throne: APPLICATION is the work of God alone.”

In I Thessalonians 5:5-11 there’s powerful statements of encouragement by Paul. It says: “You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober…

For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”

Both the above Scripture and words by Spurgeon really challenge all true believers of their ministry! Spurgeon said: “As the spiritual guide of the flock of God along the intricate mazes of experience, it is the duty of the gospel minister to point out every turning of the road to heaven, to speak concerning its dangers or its privileges, and to warn any whom he may suspect to be in a position peculiarly perilous. Now, there is a portion of the road which leads from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, which has in it, perhaps, more dangers than any other portion of the way. It does not abound with lions; there are no dragons in it; it has no dark woods, and no deep pitfalls; yet more seeming pilgrims have been destroyed in that portion of the road than anywhere else, and not even Doubting Castle, with all its hosts of bones, can show so many who have been slain there. It is a part of the road called the Enchanted Ground. The great geographer, John Bunyan, well pictured it when he said:

‘I then saw in my dream that they went on till they came into a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it…

‘And here Hopeful began to be very dull, and heavy of sleep; wherefore he said unto Christian, I do now begin to grow so drowsy that I can scarcely hold up my eyes; let us lie down here, and take one nap…

‘Christian: By no means, said the other, lest sleeping, we never awake more. ‘Hope: Why, my brother? Sleep is sweet to the laboring man; we may be refreshed if we take a nap…

‘Christian: Do you not remember that one of the shepherds bid us beware of the Enchanted Ground? He meant by that, that we should beware of sleeping; wherefore, ‘let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.’”

And Spurgeon went on to speak “concerning the condition of the majority of churches in the present day.” He said, “they are lying down on the settles of LUKEWARMNESS, in the Arbors of the Enchanted Ground. There is not that activity and zeal we could wish to see among them; they are not, perhaps, notably heterodox; they may not be invaded by the lion of persecution, but they are somewhat worse than that, – they are lying down to slumber, like HEEDLESS and TOO-BOLD in the Arbor of Sloth. May God grant that His servants may be the means of arousing the church from its lethargy, and stirring it up from its slumbers, lest haply professors should sleep the sleep of death.”

What was the verse that inspired that? I Thessalonians 5:6, “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober [self-controlled].”

Advocacy peace and blessing does not breed abounding misery and chaos – but sin and self-abandonment to sin does just that! Sin and self-abandonment to sin breeds a person so insensitive to the things of God, making a person so subject to satanic deception, breeding spiritual paralysis concerning the things of God, and depriving one of true security but basically spiritually producing one so insecure of who he is and what he’s about! But I pray, not YOU, as you read this writing!

By J. Farrell Fisher

[Volume One]

Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

Copyright: 2016, James Farrell Fisher and/or Susan M. Fisher

1809 Rollingwood Court, Bedford, Texas, 76021

FOREWARD

[“Dr.” David Clark, spiritual son of Farrell Fisher, longtime faithful disciple who has ministered in Florida prisons for years. His wife, Sharon, is also a strong faithful witness to the honor of Christ! They are a part of Farrell & Sue’s sons and daughters!].

INTRODUCTION

Writing this book has been, I believe, an inspiration of Holy God to me as I have entered the year of 2016, and on June 12, 2016, I will be celebrating my 80^th birthday! The one thing I have sought to be sensitive to in my journey is the leadership of our Lord through His Word, His Spirit, and, yes, the wise words of His people to me through the years. Closed, deaf, unconcerned ears to the voice of God is not a wise pilgrimage!

How do YOU respond to the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:31-34? “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared FOR YOU from the foundation of the world.”

And I believe “kingdom consideration” is vital for every human being! Of course, a falling, failing, ‘full of self’ kingdom faces a destiny that sadly is death and not life, darkness and not Light, the curse and not our Lord’s blessing, and in one’s self lives devotedly for the prison of self-will, self-desires, self-pleasures, unaware of what Holy God so lovingly longs for them in and through His divine will and His holy pleasures!

In Matthew 11:28-30 the Lord Jesus Christ said to a needy world, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

It’s been a few months ago that I was in my study-room, and Holy God began to speak to me about “Death or Life?” I penned some words as He stirred my heart. It says: Death, an event every life does face; death, the call that men cannot erase. Yet death, as strong as it seems, has no power to erase God’s dreams.

Strong, yes mighty, no one can deny, but death has no power when upon Christ we rely; eternal life is our Lord’s faithful supply.

Repentance and faith are heavenly gifts He readily supplies, and grants us the grace of His heavenly eyes; eyes to see what He mercifully gives, promises of His Word that allows us to live.

Death as it comes cannot be denied, but death when it happens, is God’s open door to the curse of Hell or to the blessing of Heaven’s “much more”.

The “best of men” may seem slow to die, but effort in ‘flesh’, though mighty and strong, does not unveil to whom they belong.

Death is the door to God’s heavenly rest, or death is the door to the devil’s hellish pests; no rest for the godless as eternity dawns, receiving the poison they clearly had sown.

Death is the dawn of Heaven’s best, or death is the birthing of greater slavery and chains, hopeless though crying for a moment’s rest.

The “tomb” of death is no resting place but a constant wailing of pain and disgrace, as the devil and demons, with foolishness and shame, awaken their prisoners to remind them of blame.

Blame for accepting their sinful state, blame for denying the Lord too late. Pleasure they sought without any awareness of what Jesus had bought.

By the blood of the Lamb sinful bondage is broken, but ‘sinners’ refuse to accept what was spoken. Freedom from sin because of His blood, but bondage with Satan because of his flood.

Life everlasting our Lord’s gracious call, made One in Him though bruised by the Fall; Light has come to enlighten our Way, the darkness of day has no more to say; but Heaven’s Light forever shines at the Table of the Lord in Heaven we dine.

Blessed is the man who lives in “Resurrection Life”, freed from sin and its inevitable strife, brought out of ‘death’, blessed in His Life.

Blessed is the man set apart to live with Him sustained by His resurrected life and heart. Gifts of God continually abound as the saint in Christ is valiant in choosing Heaven’s sound.

No strife, no pain, no fleshly blame – just resting in Jesus, no longer sinfully lame. New life, new hope, new dreams abound, dreams that emit only Heaven’s holy sounds.

Blessed is the man most blessed by God’s Word, no longer unmindful or ashamed of his devotion to the Lord, but so devoted and settled in the Truth that binds a heart and mind to the glory of our God, not coldly, carelessly, merciless just buried in the sod.

A new name given, a new purpose defined – set apart to Him to honor His Name, so thankful for His blessing and so aware of the same, to lay down our lives in His holy name; dead to ourselves and our fleshly games, no slamming the door in the face of God, but ‘planting’ our lives in this earthly sod by His witness of Life, wholly given to God!

His glory so freely bestowed is His gift to the man who freely sows God’s mercy and grace and love where God chooses to place us, with a God-given call, that whatever we do, we do it in awe of the God who placed us in the midst of man’s Fall, to sound His words: “redeemed from the Fall,” and recipients of God’s All.

God’s All of forgiveness and freedom and force, to equip as servants, as we rest in His course – no plans of our own but happily choosing to serve where we’re sown.

A crown of glory so freely awaits the man or woman who ‘drinks His blood,’ so fully aware they’re ‘saved from the ‘flood’; and those deceived by the devil’s untruths, those unaware of His spiritual abuse, the sons of God so boldly face the Fall of men in fleshly disgrace, and pour out their lives to see the change that our Lord’s sacrifice so richly inflames – A flame of God that purifies the soul, seta a man free, and enriches his life, free from guilt, free from godlessness, free to breathe in His gracious gifts, equipping His people to pronounce salvation from fleshly rifts!

Heaven forever in relationship with God, married to Him with the old man in earth’s sod. Heaven forever as the gift of His grace, ever soaring on eagles’ wings until I’m safe in His place. His love gave me wings, even a voice to sing, and eyes to see my eternal resting place, graciously a recipient of His matchless grace!

“Amen” to God forever the same, the God of love that has washed our blame, and seated us with Christ in heavenly places that we might view His love of all races, anointing us in His Spirit and blessing us with heavenly graces, to see our world as His Creation, with Holy Desire as His habitation, unveiling Christ Jesus as His Holy Revelation! [Written by James Farrell Fisher at the beginning of this new book!]

OUTLINE

Chapter 1 – “I NEVER KNEW YOU”! SIGNED: GOD

Chapter 2 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED”

Chapter 3 – “THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL LABORING”

Chapter 4 – “VITAL AWARENESS OF THE AMAZING GOD AND AMAZING GIFTS”

Chapter 5 – “THE AMAZING UNVEILING OF AWESOME TRUTH BY PREACHING PEACE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS’ CROSS”

Chapter 6 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? FALLEN FOLLOWER – FAITHFUL FOLLOW-UP”

Chapter 7 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? THE CALL TO ONE’S NEED OF SELF-EXAMINATION”

Chapter 8 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? PRAYERLESS LIFE – PRAYERFUL LIBERATION”

Chapter 9 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY”

Chapter 10 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? ONE LEGISLATOR – ONE LORD”

Chapter 11 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? VOID OF GOD’S WORD OR VICTORY THROUGH GOD’S WORD?”

Chapter 12 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? EXPERIENCING THE POWER OF THE PROMISED, PRECIOUS HOLY SPIRIT!”

Chapter 13 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? WORLD PHILOSOPHERS OR WILLFUL PROMOTION BY GOD?”

Chapter 14 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? CONFLICTING LOYALTY OR ALL-CONSUMING LOVE?”

Chapter 15 – “Vital Awareness Unveiled? Victims Or Victors?”

Chapter 16 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? CARING FOR OTHERS – THE SIGN OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE!”

Chapter 17 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? SIN’S COMPLICATIONS – SIN’S REMEDY!”

Chapter 18 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? HUMANLY DEVELOPED STRENGTH OR GOD-GIVEN POWER?”

Chapter 19 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? UNFOUNDED EXPECTATION OR ETERNAL TRUTH UNVEILED?”

Chapter 20 – “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? THE REALITY OF HELL AND HEAVEN?”

CHAPTER ONE

“I NEVER KNEW YOU!”

SIGNED: “GOD”

In reading the Psalms recently, I read a Scripture that heightened the ‘holy fear of God’ in my heart. It was Psalm 31:1 when David wrote: “In You, O Lord, do I put my trust and seek refuge; let me NEVER be put to shame or (have my hope in You) disappointed; deliver me in Your righteousness!”

In Verse 4 David prayed: “Draw me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me; for You are my strength and my stronghold.”

If David found himself in “the net”, a “net that they have laid secretly for me,” with certainty it was his fleshly enemies, though religious, who wanted to bring the king down!

Are you aware that there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring King Jesus down even today? And there are ‘enemies’ who want to bring you down even this very moment!

Sadly, there are false accusers who desire to bring down anything or anyone whose attitude and aim of life is to give glory to God as they ‘walk out the Faith’ in the midst of a troubled, disturbed, and disbelieving world, yes, even a religious world that consents to anything opposite of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Remember, it was “the scribes and Pharisees” and even religious priests of Jesus’ day who nailed Him to the Cross – and even today there are religious people in church somewhere every Sunday, used by Satan, to falsely accuse you, seeking to defame you, discourage you, discolor the whiteness of your reputation as a true follower of Christ and servant of God, never understanding that their false accusations, mouthed by their own bitterness and anger, exposes to whom they belong – and the defamers aren’t someone owned by Christ Jesus!

Are you aware of the reality of abuse that “the humble and oppressed” face in their journeys? And are you aware that the “wicked condemn, spurn, renounce and divorce themselves” from God Himself? If they accuse God, you then are not a target of His enemies? Please hear me! YOU are a target of Hell itself and Hell’s manifestations through lives NOT FILLED with the Spirit, nature, and character of Christ!

Pumped up, arrogant flesh, is an academy award winner right out of Hell itself, manifested in bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, manifested by false accusations, making ‘darkness’ out of light, feeding others (uneatable pies) out of the rotten fruit of a pumped-up self- importance, and in their hearts and minds their seeds of wickedness sprout in anger, bitterness, and resentment, with festering sores which wilts any true spiritual wisdom and reflection of the character of Christ who even on the Cross said, “Father, forgive them.”

When Christ Jesus went to the Cross, He took us all with Him, putting to death the “old man”, the “man of sin,” the “man of a vile nature and character,” the “man of bitterness and resentments and unforgiveness”, yes, crucified with Christ. But if that’s true, and it definitely is, how does a ‘professing believer’ still act like the devil himself?

If a man chooses unforgiveness, what does he receive? If a man chooses bitterness, what is his fruit? If a man is dominated by anger and resentment, what will he receive from God as he stands before the Throne in his moment, day, and time there?

I want you to read carefully James 3:6-16 before we continue on! This is vital, yes, relating to your eternal existence! And I’m using here, and elsewhere in this message, the Amplified Bible!

“And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is a world of wickedness set among our members, contaminating and depraving the whole body and setting on fire the wheel of birth – the cycle of man’s nature – being ignited itself by hell [Gehenna].

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea animal, can be tamed and has been tamed by human genius (nature).

But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is (an undisciplined, irreconcilable) restless evil, full of death-bringing poison.

With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who were made in God’s likeness!

Out of the same mouth come forth blessing and cursing. These things, my brethren, ought not to be so.

Does a fountain send forth [simultaneously] from the same opening fresh water and bitter?

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water.

Who is there among you who is wise and intelligent? Then let him by his noble living show forth his [good] works with the (unobtrusive) humility [which is the proper attire] of true wisdom.

But if you have bitter jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry, selfish ambition) in your hearts, do not pride yourselves on it and thus be in defiance of and false to the Truth.

This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demonical),

For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition) there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.”

And unless one receives the Truth, acknowledges his selfish guilt and envy, responds repentantly before Holy God of his rivalry spirit and selfish ambition, defies the Truth and is false TO the Truth and won’t repent, then he is bound by an earthly, fleshly, demonic spirit, and while calling out to Jesus will bust Hell’s doors wide open, enslaved to those devilish demons and the spirits of men overcome by anger, hatred, and fleshly bitterness, not even knowing the fruit of the Spirit they profess to possess!

The Amplified Bible, in Proverbs 16:5 says, “Every one proud and arrogant in heart is disgusting, hateful and exceedingly offensive to the Lord; be assured – I pledge it – he will not go unpunished.”

GOD SAYS: “I never knew you!” Let’s examine choices men make that shuts God out and away from them:

FIRST, ARE YOU AWARE OF THE FALSE GODS MEN CREATE TO BOW BEFORE PROFESSING ALLEGIANCE TO THEM BECAUSE THEY WANT TO BE RELIGIOUS ON THEIR OWN TERMS!

In Amos 8:13-14 we read: [“The Message” Bible by Eugene H. Patterson, Nav Press, Colorado Springs, co. 80935], “On Judgment Day, lovely young girls will faint of WORD-THIRST, robust young men will faint of GOD-THIRST,

Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center, saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’ and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-Sheba bless you!’ Their lives will fall to pieces, they’ll never put it together again.”

Idol worshippers! Allegiance to man-made idols, whether religious, fleshly, sinful, or demonic. Literal idols that men bow before all over the world and never hear a word, never sense a touch, never receive an anointing, never entertain angels but have the full support of demonic powers.

In Acts 19: 23-28 we hear from the “loud mouths and lost minds” of those getting rich off making idols! Listen to their explanation:

But as time went on there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way [of the Lord Jesus].

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of (the goddess) Artemis (not Diana), brought no small income to his craftsmen.

These he called together, along with the workmen of similar trades, and said, Men, you are acquainted with the facts and understand that [Are YOU ready?] from this business we derive our wealth and livelihood.

Now you notice and hear that not only at Ephesus but almost all over [the province of] Asia this Paul has persuaded and induced people to believe his teaching and has alienated a considerable company of them, saying that gods that are made with human hands are not really gods at all.

Now there is danger not merely that this trade of ours may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemas may come into disrepute and count for nothing, and that her glorious magnificence may be degraded and fall into contempt, she whom all Asia and the wide world worship.

As they listened to this they were filled with rage, and they continued to shout, Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

Oh, but hear me: Idolatry is more than the worship of man-made, devil-inspired stones to worship before and bow down to! In 1 Corinthians 10:14 Paul pled with the Corinthian church and our church-world today, saying, [Amplified]

“Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun – keep away from, avoid by flight if need be – any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything more than God).”

Did you hear that with your spiritual eyes and ears? “Keep away from – avoid – any sort of idolatry”! In “The Art of Worldly Wisdom, XXVI”, Baltasar Gracian Y Morales wrote: “All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of self-interest, most of pleasure.”

Oh, but then you read 1 Samuel 15:23 and the Word tells us: [Amplified Bible]“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”

It was Martin Luther in “Table Talk” who said: “We easily fall into idolatry, for we are inclined thereunto by nature, and coming to us by inheritance, it seems pleasant.”

The Amplified Bible in Colossians 3:5-6 translates Paul’s words as follows: “So kill (deaden, deprive of power) the evil desire lurking in your members – those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you that is employed in sin; sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness, FOR THAT IS IDOLATRY [the deifying of self and other things instead of God…]

It is on account of these [very sins] that the [holy] anger of God is ever coming upon (those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will) the sons of disobedience.”

Did you receive that ? A son, a daughter of disobedience is the same as an idol! An idolater is one obstinately opposed to the divine will (the sons of disobedience)!

And Paul gives us all a warning in 2 Corinthians 6:16 when he said: “What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them [that’s the church!] and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Paul was concerned about God’s people choosing to worship idols? Is it any different today than it was in Paul’s day?

SECOND, HOW GUILTY DO YOU BELIEVE GOVERNMENTS ARE WHEN MEN SUBVERT THE RULE OF GOD IN GOVERNMENT AND ENTHRONE THEMSELVES, YES, TO RUTHLESSLY AND SELFISHLY AND DECEPTIVELY RULE OVER THE PEOPLE?

Psalm 67 is one of the most informative passages about God’s rule in government you’ll not find in most national governments’ constitutions. It says: [Amplified Bible]

“God be merciful and gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us and among us, SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]! That Your way may be known upon earth, Your saving power [Your deliverances and Your salvation], among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy; for You will judge the peoples fairly, and guide, lead or drive the nations upon earth. SELAH [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Let the peoples praise You, [turn away from their idols] and give thanks to You, O God; let all the peoples praise and give thanks to You. The earth has yielded its harvest [in evidence of God’s approval]; God, even our own God will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall reverently fear Him.”

And, if you happened not to hear it in your heart or overlooked or just didn’t understand it, let me highlight it for you! Judgment comes upon the nations! People who are truly praising the Lord are turning away from their idols! Holy God WILL guide, lead, or drive the nations upon the earth!

Question: Are there godless governments in churches or are some churches infiltrated by godless people intent on shaping ‘our church’ to ‘our way of thinking’?

1 Peter 4:17-18 tells us, “For the time [has arrived] for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will [be] the end of those who do not respect or believe or obey the good news (the Gospel) of God? And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the godless and the wicked?”

Proverbs 11:30-31 is both encouraging and frightening! It says: “The fruit of the [uncompromisingly] righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise captures human lives for God [as a fisher of men] – he gathers and receives them for eternity. Behold, the [uncompromisingly] righteous shall be recompensed on earth; how much more the wicked and the sinner! [And if the righteous are barely saved, what will become of the ungodly and wicked?”]

Have you followed through with studying 2 Peter? If you did, you had ‘Hell’ scared right out of you if you lingered because Peter was inspired by Holy God to write 2 Peter 2:1-10! It says,

“But []in those days] there arose false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among yourselves, who will subtly and stealthily introduce heretical doctrines – destructive heresies – even denying and disowning the Master Who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their immoral ways and lascivious doings; because of them the true Way will be maligned and defamed. And in their covetousness (lust, greed) they will exploit you with (cunning) false arguments. From of old the sentence [of condemnation] for them has not been idle; their destruction (eternal misery) has not been asleep.

For God [even] spared not angels that sinned, but cast them into hell, delivering them to be kept there in pits of gloom till the judgment and their doom. And He spared not the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven other persons, when He brought a flood upon the world on ungodly [people].

And He condemned to ruin and extinction the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes []and thus] set them forth as an example to those who would be ungodly. [Genesis 19:24].

And He rescued righteous Lot, greatly worn out and distressed by the wanton ways of the ungodly and lawless. [Genesis 19:16,29]. For that just man, living [there] among them, tortured his righteous soul every day with what he saw and heard on [their] unlawful and wicked deeds.

NOW if [all these things be true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials, and how to keep the ungodly under chastisement until the day of judgment and doom; And particularly those who walk after the flesh and indulge in the lust of polluting passion, and scorn and despise authority. Presumptuous and daring – self-willed and self-loving [creatures]! They scoff at and revile dignitaries (glorious ones) without trembling.”

But can I tell you? There’s coming a day when the ungodly will want to shake themselves out of this world that belongs to Holy God, unaware they’ve shaken themselves into Hell itself!

THIRD, AND LAST, ARE YOU AWARE OF WHERE ‘FLESHLY’ PRETENSE LEADS THE ACTUAL ‘SELF-PROMOTERS’? ARE YOU READY TO BE CONFRONTED BY HOLY TRUTH? In Matthew 7:15-29 we read, [bear with me!], 14 Verses!

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves. [Have you ever encountered them?].

You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit – worthy of admiration; but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad and worthless fruit.

A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit; nor can a bad diseased tree bear excellent fruit – worthy of admiration. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore you will fully know them by their fruits.

Not everyone who says to Me [that’s Jesus!], Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and driven out demons in Your name, and done many mighty works in Your name?

And then I will say to them openly (publicly) I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands [Psalm 6:8]. So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them – obeying them – will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock;

And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand; And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great and complete was the fall of it.

When Jesus had finished these sayings [the Sermon on the Mount], the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching. For He was teaching as [One] who had [and was] authority, and not as did the scribes.”

I’ve pastored in Florida, Alabama, Arizona, and Texas. And that was over a period of about 50 years. So the true story I’m about to share, you’ll not know where this story occurred, true, sad, and so convicting.

A man I know had a personal friend who was running for public office – and for certain this man was sure, confident, and at peace in giving his close friend full support.

But the man had a neighbor a few blocks away who had decided to run for the same office, and so he went to the neighbor, asking for his support.

The central man of the story told the neighbor, “I wish I could, but one of my long-time best friends is running, and I’ve committed my support to him.” The neighbor was incensed and marked the central man voting for his friend as the neighbor’s number one enemy. He became so embittered, and from that day forward lived with a grudge, a resentment, a tactic of nothing good to say about the man who voted for his friend rather than this neighbor.

Dare I tell you the embittered neighbor is an active church-goer? He professes Christ Jesus but lives in a state of unforgiveness and bitterness!

What did Jesus say in Matthew 7:23? “Ant then I will say to them openly (publicly) I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from Me, you who act wickedly – disregarding My commands.”

Receive our Lord’s words in Mark 11:25-26! “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, FORGIVE HIM AND LET IT DROP – leave it, let it go – in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop.” But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your failings and shortcomings.”

I was 37-38 years of age, I believe, when I knew I had serious business to take care of if I wanted God’s blessing on my life, my wife, my children. I was the product of a broken home. At three years of age my parents divorced, and I was taken by my mother to the home of her parents who cared for me for about 9-10 years. Then my mother remarried, and I was taken to live with her and her new husband.

In all my years of life my father was never in my home with me, Sue, and his grandkids. One time, my senior year in high school, playing against Knoxville Central High School in Knoxville, I tackled their single-wing tailback, 230 pounds he weighed, hitting him at his knee level, knocked unconscious in the early second quarter, transferred to the Catholic Hospital in Knoxville, parents and family unsure that I might live through the night.

When I awoke at 4:30 in the morning, all of my family was standing at the door of my hospital room, including my Dad and his second wife. I lived – and I played the next Friday night against Notre Dame High of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Beyond that, if I desired to see my Dad, which I did, I would ride a bus from Cleveland, Tennessee, to his office in Athens, Tennessee, where I was born. He never ever came to my home. At the 37-38 years stage of life, wanting God’s full and fresh blessing, God said, “Go, and forgive your mother and father now!” Which I did! And as a result, received “the peace of God that passes all understanding.”

It’s time – forgive, free yourself, and walk in His fullness and eternal blessing! Examine Ephesians 1:7-12, [NKJV Edition, Holman Bible Edition], “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”

Question! Are YOU living to the praise of His glory and honor? Do YOU walk in forgiveness to those who wounded YOU? Is your song “Mercy and Grace” or is it the song of unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, even with flashes of hatred? In 2 Corinthians 7:10 we read, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

In your journey through life, what is truly your spiritual desire? A disease or the fruit of the blessing of the Indwelling Christ who forgives by His shed blood? A man who walks in the spirit of unforgiveness WILL NOT KNOW our Lord’s blessing apart from exchanging their bitterness for His forgiveness, even seeking sincere relationships not closed doors, because we were reconciled to Christ through His Cross, and true reconciliation is not only with Christ but a true relationship with those who ‘hurt, offended, or slighted us’!

If you’ve “entered the Kingdom of God”, why not act like it? 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” Have YOU entered the Kingdom of God? Are you living and demonstrating and validating the Truth of His Indwelling Life?

It was Gladden and Smith who wrote the old Hymn, “O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee.” It says: “O Master, let me walk with Thee, In lowly paths of service free; Tell me Your secret, help me bear The strain of toil, the fret of care.

Help me the slow of heart to move By some clear, winning word of love; Teach me the wayward feet to stay, And guide them in the homeward way.

Teach me Your patience! Still with You In closer, dearer company, In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs over wrong. In hope that sends a shining ray Far down the future’s broadening way, In peace that only You can give, With You, O Master, let me live.” Does He “know YOU” or not?

CHAPTER TWO

VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED

Are you aware of a ‘religious faith’ birthed in one’s mind on the basis of one’s distinct, self-actualizing moral efforts, or the ‘True Faith’ birthed, built, based and blessed on God’s initiative, inspiration, and divine insight?

Is there a religious spirit apart from the Holy Spirit that invents requirements apart from God’s revelation, unveiling, promise, and verification of divine life only through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have you ever witnessed a mass religiosity so opposite to ‘repentance toward God and true faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross’? “Vital Awareness Unveiled”?

Religious convictions or Divine Truth? Devotion to a church’s constitution or devotion to Christ’s Resurrected, Reigning Indwelling Life? Devotion to what an ‘intellectual’ professor says or devotion to who Christ Jesus is? Devotion to a world’s united, unbiblical teachings that there is more than one way to God, including every religion manufactured by men’s deceived hearts, or holy revelation of the vital awareness unveiled of God’s only “one way”? Is it man’s ‘religious foundation’ offered by ‘the best’ in intellectual superiority or God’s best and blessed in the awesome Truth of who Christ Jesus is and what He did on Calvary’s Cross over 2000 years ago, and, in fact, birthed in the heart of Holy God before our world was ever created?!?

Is vital awareness unveiled by the ‘Apostates’ Creed’ or the “Apostles’ Revelation” unveiled by the sold-out disciples who all died for the Eternal Truth? [And maybe even a bigger question today: “Are you a true disciple ready to die for the only Way of true salvation – the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and soon-coming of Christ Jesus?”] Is it vital unawareness unveiled by social experiments rather than the true declaration of the Holy Word concerning Christ, or the vital awareness unveiled by the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross?

An ‘Apostates’ Creed’ is all in for self-awareness, self-individuality, self-honoring, while the “Apostles’ Creed” is the affirming, relying upon, declaration, and submission to Christ’s Lordship and His “victory” in and through His sacrificial death on the Cross, releasing men from the penalty of their sin and their surrender to His “Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope”!

In fact, in Matthew 16:24-26, Jesus declared, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” That’s the true words of the Lord Jesus!

Do you realize that one substituting his individuality in seeking to be reconciled to Holy God is “banking” on God believing our self-efforts are eternally rewarding, and God should be thankful to have us on His side? But, God says, Matthew 16:24, “If ANYONE desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”

I was awe-struck when I read Dietrich Bonhoffer’s statement: [Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxes, p.138], “The church has only one altar, the altar of the Almighty…before which all creatures must kneel. Whoever seeks something other than this must keep away; he cannot join us in the house of God…The church has only one pulpit, and from that pulpit, faith in God will be preached, and no other faith, and no other will than the will of God, however well-intentioned.”

What was true in the very day of Christ Jesus is true even today! In John 6:66-68 we read, From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” And there are those who “do go away”, captured in mind and spirit, because, for them, “the way of the Cross” does not lead home to safety, convenience, or acceptance by a sadly, Godless world, enslaving themselves to their religious bondage so opposite to the true freedom in Christ Jesus!

The sad truth of a ‘fallen world’, so expressive of ‘fallen man’, alienated and separated from Holy God, is that “the blood of Jesus Christ” shed on the Cross was totally unnecessary because their ‘sin’ and ‘sin nature’ was not that serious that a wise, understanding, sympathetic God, should, would, could, and did shed the literal blood of His own ‘assumed’ Son. The lost, alienated, unbelieving world says, “The ‘fleshly god’ of one’s own natural life is enough to deliver himself, even if one hears of a “greater salvation”, because there is nothing better in man than his own self-deification, self-strength, and self-ability to overcome any minor or major spiritual short-coming – who needs Jesus?” You’ve heard it!

But a greater, sadder truth? Just like the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ day who rejected Him and crucified Him, those in this modern day who do the same thing, Jesus says, John 7:33-34, “I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.” Are you a believer or an unbeliever, a receiver or a rejecter, an independent, foolish man or truly a wise man of redemptive, life-changing faith?

“Vital Awareness Unveiled?” Hear the words of Jesus Christ in John 14:6! “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

FIRST, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS CHRIST JESUS, THE ONLY WAY FALLEN MEN ARE RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD! What did Jesus Himself say? “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And, if Christ Jesus declares, “I AM THE WAY,” then what is taking place in the minds and hearts of unbelievers? It’s total, complete, destructive deception, breeding ‘death’ for one’s eternal reward!

In Psalm 36:1-4, David wrote about the wickedness of a sinful man! “An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE HIS EYES. For he flatters himself in his own eyes, when he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. He devises wickedness on his bed; he sets himself IN A WAY THAT IS NOT GOOD; he does not abhor evil.”

And that takes place, without shame, before the Lord’s mercy, in spite of God’s faithfulness in working out his redemption, and his bed, at nighttime, is where he thinks out his wickedness, and ends up doing what? “He sets himself in a way that is not good!” No doubt this is why the author of Proverbs was inspired to write in Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, BUT he who heeds counsel is wise.” And those who are spiritually unwise, in Proverbs 13:15, God declares, “the way of the unfaithful is hard.” Just a chapter later, in Proverbs 14:12, Yes, Holy God declares through His servant, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Oh, but then in Psalms 18:28-30 King David was so inspired to write, “For You will light my lamp; the Lord will enlighten [illumine] my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

Isn’t there an old hymn that says, “Trust and obey for there’s no other way?” In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes TO the Father except through Me.” Wasn’t it Josh MacDowell who once said “Jesus? Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

Aren’t you awed by God’s holy choices to serve Him in proclaiming Christ? Are you aware that Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of Christ Jesus, persecuting Him, imprisoning Him, and ready to slaughter Him, but Holy God had a different plan that even included God washing Saul of Tarsus in the blood of the Lamb and raised Paul the Apostle up to be one of His greatest witnesses!

In 1 Corinthians 15:9-20, [patience, please! Eleven verses! But eternal truth!], Paul wrote, “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

Let me highlight an extremely valuable word for you in the tenth verse! “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain…!” That’s “bestowed grace – blessed victory!” Jesus raised you and me up out of spiritual death, instilled His Resurrection Life, planted our feet on the “Solid Rock,” and showed us “His Way”!

Do you remember the man meeting Rebekah as she drew water in Genesis 24:27, saying to her, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, being in the way, the Lord led me…!” And “Christ Jesus, the only way fallen mankind is reconciled to Holy God? Yes! Ten thousand times, Yes! Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY!”

Are you aware of what King David said in Psalm 18:32? “It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect.” Follow in the Word! Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life!”

You are aware of a man’s choice of the ‘highway’ on which he chooses to walk. In Isaiah 35:8 we read, “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness,” with Verse 9 saying, “…the redeemed shall walk there,” as they ‘return to God,’ ‘coming with singing,’ and overflowing with “everlasting joy and gladness on their heads”!

Isaiah 59:8 speaks of “the way of peace” that most Israelites did not know, sadly! Are you aware of “the way to Zion”? Jeremiah 50:5, the Word of the Lord! It relates to the nation of Israel that lost its ‘way’ to God! But the holy prophet challenged them [and, yes, even the ‘church’ in America today!], “They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, ‘Come and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that will not be forgotten.’” Sadly, only a remnant then and a remnant now seeks the way of Zion, which is, by the way, the Way of His abiding presence!

I know it may not sit well with ‘broad-minded’ preachers, but according to Jesus Himself, He said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Are you aware of ‘the way of God in truth’? [Matthew 22:16]. Do you know “the way of escape”? [1 Corinthians 10:13]. How many do you know and relate to who walk “the more excellent way”? [1 Corinthians 10:31]. What about “the new and living way”? [Hebrews 10:20]. Oh, I tell you, “All the WAY our Lord desires to lead us!”

SECOND, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS ETERNAL TRUTH THAT IS ONLY, YES, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF “CHRIST IN YOU” – ALL ELSE? HUMAN DECEPTION! 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.”

Do you receive what Paul wrote in Colossians 1:26 about “the mystery” that “has been revealed to His saints”? Then, Verses 27-28, reveals to us the absolute essential of “Vital Awareness Unveiled”! “To them God willed to make known are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

“Christ in you, the hope of glory”? Vital awareness unveiled – in YOU? Aren’t you absolutely raised with joy and thanksgiving when you read 2 Corinthians 5:21? “For He [God Almighty, Lord over all!] made Him [Christ Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become [through Jesus only!] the righteousness of God in Him.”

I’m also awed when I read Hebrews 10:14 where Holy God inspired the author to share these words: “For by one offering He [God] has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” And the word ‘sanctified’ means “set apart”, yes, for His glory and honor and praise alone! By the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross, and that alone, one is reconciled to Holy God, indwelt with King Jesus, infilled with the Holy Spirit, and declared God’s finished work in us through His Son and our Savior and Lord!

We have nothing in and of ourselves to boast, but we can boast on the Christ in us who has set us apart unto Himself, and we glory in the Lord Jesus Christ! No ‘flesh’ glories in Christ’s resurrected presence, but the true born-again disciple of Christ glories in His Indwelling Presence! 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 tells us, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus who became FOR US wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” Are YOU glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ in your day by day journey?

THIRD, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS, NOT DEATH AND ITS WORTHLESS FRUIT, BUT ABUNDANT, EVERLASTING, ETERNAL LIFE, AND ITS ETERNAL, FRESH, NEVER-WILTING FRUIT OF CHRIST AND HIS SPIRIT! Did Jesus tell us in Matthew 12:33 that “a tree is known by its fruit”- understanding that there is no fruit of the flesh that honors Holy God, but only the fruit of the Spirit of God!

How familiar are you with Galatians 5:22-25? It says: “But the fruit [the fruit of God’s Spirit] is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

The best of human flesh, regardless of its realms of performance, cannot, will not honor Holy God! The best efforts of human flesh never attain to even a small glimpse of the nature and character of Christ! God didn’t call us out for grand performances to look like Jesus, but He called us out to “rest” in Him! In Philippians 2:12-13 we read, “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.”

And your ‘working out’ your own salvation, and that with fear and trembling’? It is turning to Holy God – it is not you ‘perfecting your ways’ – they were crucified with Christ when He died on the Cross two thousand years ago – God’s interest in you is your availability to Him and all He can do through you!

In 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 Paul testified for our understanding: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

It was Oswald Chambers who wrote the following in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” He said: [p.252], “When once you are rooted in Reality [that’s Divine Reality, Divine Presence in you!], nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith; but nothing can ever upset God or the almighty Reality of Redemption; base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God. When once you get into contact, personal contact, with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God puts His disapproval on human experience when we begin to adhere to the conception that sanctification is merely an experience, and forget that sanctification itself has to be sanctified. I have deliberately to give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.”

J.W. Van DeVenter and W.S. Weeden wrote the old hymn, “I Surrender All.” It says: “All to Jesus, I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Yours; Let me feels the Holy Spirit, – Truly know that You are mine.

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to You; Fill me with Your love and power, Let Your blessing fall on me.”

Can YOU surrender ALL to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, owned by His purchase of YOU through His shed blood? He’s calling YOU right now!

CHAPTER THREE

THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE NEED

OF SPIRITUAL LABORING

In Isaiah 66:7-11 and then Verses 22-24, we read both sad words and glad words from God because of a nation and people who, some, rejected God’s Holy Word, and a remnant received His Word and held on to it for generations ,for centuries, with its Truth upheld that God’s Son would be birthed and a new, eternal spiritual nation formed called “the children of God, the children of the Messiah, the children of the Holy Spirit!

Isaiah 66:7-11 says first, “Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before her pain came, she delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For AS SOON AS ZION WAS IN LABOR, she gave birth to her children. Shall I bring to the time of birth, and not cause delivery? Says the Lord. Shall I who cause delivery shut up the womb? Says your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her; rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her; that you may feed and be satisfied with the consolation of her bosom, that you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.”

Isiah 66:22-24 then says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Did you see that? “That you may drink deeply and be delighted with the abundance of her glory”? Do you understand? Israel was chosen of God to receive and share Divine Blessing! Yes, it was through the ‘holy remnant of Israel’, through the ‘chosen virgin mother, Mary,’ there would come the unveiling of divine blessing, through the birth of the Christ-child, who would, when Holy God heard the voice of sorrow over sin, and the remnant of Israel’s cry over the sorrow for sin and their need of the Savior, Holy God in His Amazing Grace would use the few to touch the many!

It was in God’s timing, in His awareness of desperation for needy people, in their extremity of woefulness over their spiritual emptiness, which God saw and still sees as His eternal moment of divine opportunity; in their deep anxiety, in their moment of the ultimate agony of spirit, in their moments of darkness and seeing no light, God turned on the Heavenly Light, and darkness became the door of the Eternal Light, and the Lord Jesus was birthed by Mary to the glory of God!

I know you didn’t miss it! “As soon as Zion travailed, as soon as Zion was ‘in labor,’ as soon as the remnant saw the desperation for divine life outside their fleshly determination, outside their religious traditions, outside their “We can handle our own problems,” Holy God sent His Son – divine opportunity for new life, a new relationship, a new available presence and sustenance of Divine Life, a new resurrection power over sin and death and meaninglessness and emptiness, through His Son, God’s Promised Messiah whose name Isaiah told them and us about in Isaiah 9:6-8! It says:

“For unto us a Child is born,[does that ring a bell in your mind and heart?], unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this!”

But for many in Israel they were content with what the high priest and chief priests had to offer which was fleshly devotion to their religious pretense! Even the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus day were the pretenders who became the executioners of the King of kings and Lord of lords! And you must understand: There’s not much difference at all between hate and indifference – one can be very vocal and violent, while others, just in an attitude of “I couldn’t care less”!! Or, “corruption and compromise” related to the Spirit and the Word of God, Or, the true possession of one’s own pretense as he/she ‘fakes the faith’! Or, the best of ‘fleshly imitation’ or the “rest” of counterfeit imitation; Or, how about the devilish delusion of deception about ‘sin’ that says, ‘you shall not die’ as they keep on sinning and keep on dying in the death cycle that will not die! Holy God certainly has promised one the end result of his foolish life choices!

I’m sure this is why Charles Caleb Colton, in “ The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, [Fleming H. Revell Company, Westwood, New Jersey, Edited and Compiled by Frank S. Mead], said: “After hypocrites, the greatest dupes the devil has are those who exhaust an anxious existence in the disappointments and vexations of business, and live miserably and meanly only to die magnificently and rich. – They serve the devil without receiving his wages, and for the empty foolery of dying rich, pay down their health, happiness, and integrity.” But it’s true of every ‘independent, self-serving man, rich or poor’!

Several lessons we must share related to “ The Vital Awareness of The Need of Spiritual Laboring”: FIRST, NO TRAVAILING – NO SPIRITUAL BIRTH! I was ashamed, heart-broken, to hear a TV pastor say recently that he never talked about sin and the wages of sin because the lost of this world need the “good news”! But do you understand that the Holy Word declares that the wages of sin is death, the wages of sin is separation from God, the wages of sin cost the Life of the Son of God on the Cross – and without “repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary”, there is no reason for one to come smiling before Holy God, but broken, sorrowful, ashamed, rejoicing that there is a way out of one’s eternal spiritual dilemma!

No travailing – no spiritual birthing! No repentance – no rejoicing! No seed of bitterness over the shameful life of sin, indifference, and fleshly indulgence and bondage – no true sons of God! No going away from an ungodly lifestyle, void of Holy Presence within – no coming into the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ! No brokenness – no blessing! No identifying evidence of a Godly presence within – no rejoicing in the joy of the Lord!

There was a time off and on when Israel hid from God, or sought Him – in the Old and New Testament it was like a spiritual roller coaster, up and down, around and around, one day with awesome devotion, allegiance, and affirmation of Holy God and His Truth, but another time a rapid departure and unfaithfulness to His calling and mission through them.

Are you aware of what Holy God said through the prophet Amos? In Amos 3:2-3, through the prophet, God spoke: “You only [Israel] have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”

And then in Amos 3:7-8 the prophet shared, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear! The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”

Is Holy God the same yesterday, today, and forever? When God spoke of “her” in Hosea, He was speaking to those birthed for His glory, honor, and praise, but most of Israel chose to serve the gods of the world, the flesh, and the devil! So God said, Hosea 2:13, “I will punish her for the days of the Baals [foreign gods, idols!] to which she [Israel] burned incense. She decked herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers; But Me she forgot,” says the Lord.”

And if one lives his/her life in a spiritual state of ‘forgetfulness’ of God, what doors have been opened? In Job 8:11-15 Bildad said to Job, “Can the papyrus grow without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. SO ARE THE PATHS OF ALL WHO FORGET GOD; and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, Whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure.” How shocking do you find Psalm 9:17? “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

I was recently reading Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” and he surely, truthfully, convictingly, affirmed what the Holy God of Scripture through His prophets, teachers, and evangelists, truly understand about “No Travailing – No Spiritual Birth”! He said: “The plaintive, self-centered, morbid kind of prayer, a dead-set that I want to be right, is never found in the New Testament [and I,JFF, might add, OR THE OLD TESTAMENT!]. The fact that ‘I am trying to be right with God is a sign that I am rebelling against the Atonement. ‘Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer; I will walk rightly if You will help me.’ I CANNOT make myself right with God, I CANNOT make my life perfect; I can only be right with God if I accept the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to resign every kind of claim and cease from every effort, and leave myself entirely alone in His hands, and then begin to pour out in the priestly work of intercession.”

Dare I tell you that much of worldwide ‘Christianity’ today is: “travailing is strange to our understanding salvation of how we’re ‘saved’ – repenting, forsaking our grasp of salvation independent of us ‘trying’? We don’t think so!” SO.. they must come in repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ AT CALVARY as He suffered, bled, and died in their place!

“No travailing – no spiritual birth”? Oh, receive the words of King David! Psalm 51:1-13 is David’s repentant prayer of faith from a life broken because of his sin! “Have mercy upon Me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitudes of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight – that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.”

The True Faith of the reality of eternal spiritual birth is never evidenced by an ungodly life style, the breaking of Holy Laws, the absence of sorrow over sin or the absence of brokenness over separation from God, because sin separates not interprets God’s love, grace, and mercy, but intensifies one’s need of Holy God’s divine conviction! Out of conviction comes confession; out of confession comes conversion; out of conversion comes consecration; out of consecration comes submission and obedience to the holy calling of Holy God, yes, miraculously turning the natural into the supernatural, the old man into the new man, the life of willful obstinacy into a life of “walking in the light, as Jesus is in the light”, fully aware that “the blood of Jesus has, is, and will cleanse us from all sin”, because, “I have no desire to walk in that which separates me from God, but a walk evidenced by His miracle of a “new-born life”!

Oswald Chambers wrote, in “My Utmost For His Highest”, [p.268], “The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness.” Be assured, a ‘casual lifestyle of supposed commitment to Christ Jesus, as one has no concern, conviction, or abhorrence of the evil of their sin and a willingness to be separated from it, is evidence of the ‘professors of faith’ without possession and transformation of the True Faith!

SECOND, “THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL LABORING”? THE ETERNAL REALITY OF BEING ‘NEW-BORN’, BECOMING GOD’S EARTHLY MAN OR WOMAN UNVEILING CHRIST JESUS TO ALL AROUND HIM/HER!

In 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 Paul wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have [the “new-born”] the mind of Christ.”

Our call to follow Christ is a journey, a pilgrimage, yes, even a ‘warfare’ between ‘flesh’ and Spirit, the devil and our Living Lord within us, a world of opposition from the world’s true enemies against Holy God and Divine Truth, and a pull from the ‘old man’ against the ‘new man’! And, if one understands the ‘infancy of faith’, the ‘maturing of faith,’ and God’s ultimate goal in us of “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”, he/she sees the pilgrimage to the unveiling of His fullness, yes, in every true child of faith!

As the Lord Jesus is “lifted up within us”, there is the drawing of His power through us to touch our world with His grace, mercy, and love. Even a little child of faith can touch their world by their faithful testimony though not yet in the fullness of spiritual maturity!

And the ‘eternal reality of the new-born’? I believe we hear Jesus saying, even in the infancy of our faith, Matthew 16:24-25, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

But, one asks, “What is spiritual awareness of the need of laboring”? Though positionally we are ‘in Christ’, the fullness of His practical and true presence within is being worked out, which is why Paul said, “I die daily”! In fact, in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12a, Paul challenged the Corinthian church and us, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed [at times!], but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – ALWAYS CARRYING ABOUT IN THE BODY THE DYING OF THE LORD JESUS, THAT THE LIFE OF JESUS ALSO MAY BE MANIFESTED IN OUR BODY. For we who live are ‘always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake,’ that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us..”

Dare I tell you that true spiritual reality in Christ is learning ‘daily’ that 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 enlightens, informs, trains, and spiritually educated and equips all disciples when Paul said, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…” AND HE DOES; HE IS WILLING AND ABLE TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL WE ASK OR THINK!

There are those even preaching, indoctrinating, misleading, informing deceptively, because they’re deceived themselves, “It’s over! You prayed a prayer, and it’s over!” No, the journey has just begun! Receive Philippians 3:12-14! Paul wrote, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold on me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I PRESS TOWARD THE GOAL FOR THE PRIZE OF THE UPWARD CALL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS!” Are YOU pressing in to Christ Jesus?

THIRD, THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL LABORING BECAUSE OF FALLEN MAN’S SEPARATION FROM HOLY GOD AND MAN’S NEED OF REDEMPTION, RECONCILIATION, AND SPIRITUAL RE-BIRTH! Oh, very simply: “Heart-birthed ‘travailing’ WILL AND DOES birth true, holy children of God, through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!”

It’s His Atonement, not our attempts at being like Him, that reconciles us to Holy God and to our foreordained eternal purpose! Tell me of YOUR church’s ministry, your personal vision, your personal call of God on your life to touch your world with His saving grace!

Is there truly a heart burden in you, a heart-cry, and, as a result heart-blessings, because you see your ministry of touching your world by Who He is in you, because you see and are broken over a lost world around you, and because you sense the Christ in you so longing to extend His Life, express His love, and prove His power through YOU?

Dare I tell you that, sadly, most of the modern church-world is silent, indifferent, distracted, unconcerned about “lost sinners”, empty lives, teetering marriages and relationships, Godless governments and leaders, a rebellious teen-world, and even Hollywood, mostly, not all, who would rather entertain their customers with garbage and indecency than extenders of a blessed life in Christ and His Word and goodness and holy honor of Him, even willing and content to contaminate their customers with ‘Hell on earth’! Oh, and it was Spurgeon who even once said, “God ploughs deep while sluggish churches sleep.”

FOURTH, THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL LABORING BECAUSE WEARY INDIFFERENCE, SOULISH UNCONCERN, WORLDLY – WAYS -COMPANIONSHIP NEVER PRODUCES GODLY, HOLY, WONDROUS RESULTS TO HIS HONOR! In Psalm 25:14 David wrote wisely: “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him.”

And because one is consumed by, not only knowing the secret of the Lord being with those who fear Him, but also consumed with a passion to honor His Will, His Word, and His ways, that disciple or those disciples began to say, “Lord, what would You have us to do?”! If our Lord and Savior says, “Watch with Me, wait for Me, walk with Me, work with Me, and, yes, witness with Me, how is it that a ‘thriving’ church has no “training of disciples to be witnesses”, frowns on visitation saturation of its community, sleeps as a world around them never hears their testimonies, which like, while Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, the disciples slept!

“Lord, what would You have us to do?” And in John 20:21 The Lord Jesus said to those disciples and us, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”I’m telling you with all my heart: There is a counterfeit of true faith if there is no strong commitment to be one with our Lord and Savior in His mission of touching an unsaved world around Him; the ones who say, ‘we choose to be faithful to our church, but reaching out beyond the four walls of the church is somebody else’s calling, not ours,’ sadly, they walk in tragic deception. Before His Ascension, after His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples and us who are a part of His redeemed body and churches, Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Oh, and then in Acts 2:32, the early disciples, in-filled with God’s Holy Spirit witnessed verbally: “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.” Is that so with this particular church-age?

Oswald Chambers had introduced a chapter in his book, “My Utmost for His Highest,” [pps. 218-219], based on Romans 8:16, “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.”

Chambers said: “We are in danger of getting the barter spirit when we come to God, we want the witness before we have done what God tells us to do. ‘Why does God not reveal Himself to Me?’ He cannot, it is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the road as long as you won’t abandon absolutely to Him. Immediately you do, God witnesses to Himself, He cannot witness to you, but He witnesses to His own nature in you. If you had the witness before reality, it would end in sentimental emotion. Immediately you transact on the Redemption, and stop the impertinence of debate, God gives on the witness;” and it gratefully becomes His witness through you. Will you daily die to yourself that the Resurrection Life and Witness may be manifested in and through your mortal presence, fully surrendered to what He desires to do through you?

CHAPTER FOUR

VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED OF THE AMAZING GOD AND AMAZING GIFTS

In Hebrews 13:8 our Lord is described as “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And then in Verse 15 the author wrote, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” That is thanks to His name for Who He Is and for What He does!

In Acts 10:38, Dr. Luke wrote, “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” And the exciting news is, it was not only Christ upon whom the power of the Holy ministered to and through, but also upon His newly converted disciples. Follow Acts 19:11, “Now God worked unusual (or “extraordinary”) miracles by the hands of Paul.”

I want you to come to Psalm 33:6-9 and hear David: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

And His Word and His works are still standing fast unveiling “Amazing God and Amazing Gifts”! Churches used to believe and stand on the eternal Truth that “There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.”

Reinhard Bonnke, in his book “Mighty Manifestations,” (p.12), wrote: “God is a God who specializes in the impossible. He thinks only in terms of the impossible.” We need to be reminded of the Kingdom of God being the present realm and the rule of God in which God’s awesome power is sovereign and supreme and supernatural and never dies!

Don’t overlook or forget, but remind yourself daily, Acts 2:39, Peter emphasizing that (Listen and receive and stand in and appropriate: “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off [even in 2016!], as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Later, (p33), Bonnke said, “The emblem of God is fire, not stone!” Yet how many believers have you been around who are more like an immovable Egyptian sphinx than a God-anointed “burning bush”? Is the Spirit of the Lord God upon you? Luke 4:18-19 says, Jesus speaking, (remember – “As He is so am I in this world!”), “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 preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

When did this Word fall to the ground like Truth perishing in the streets? Receive John 14:12-14! “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

The question of this moment as you are confronted by His words, ‘Will you be a volunteer? Psalm 110:33 says, “Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power.” What an awesome, vital awareness unveiled! Volunteers surrendering to the God of grace and amazing gifts, surrendering to the God of Holy Ghost power, surrendering to the God of the awesome rivers of heavenly anointing!

Psalm 62:11 says, “God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God!” Our God, yes, in Christ Jesus, is the God of unusual and extraordinary miracles! Our God in Christ is the God of the impossible! Our God is the God of amazing miracles of grace, the God of amazing gifts, and the God of amazing wonders!

In Jeremiah 32:17-20, the prophet responds to God’s amazing unveiling of His power and authority: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. You show lovingkindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them – the Great, the Mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made a name, as it is this day.” His name? The amazing God of amazing grace, amazing gifts, amazing greatness, ready to be the Same in you following your “repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ”, followed by your obedient submission and death to yourself, but Resurrection Power, Presence, and Promises, as you yield to the leadership of His Living Presence in you!

Even Nebuchadnezzar declared in Daniel 4:2-4, “I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.”

What was Paul’s attitude after God’s mighty anointing on his life? Romans 15:17-19 is a word of Paul’s testimony: “Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient – in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.”

Here’s how Shakespeare put it in “Henry V1” 9Part 1, Act 11) – “God is our fortress, in whose conquering name Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks!” The Amazing God and the God of Amazing Gifts!

FIRST, LET”S EXAMINE SCRIPTURALLY THE GOD OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DELIVERANCE! Come to Exodus 7:1-5 where “So the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made you as God to Pharoah, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharoah to send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharoah’s heart, AND MULTIPLY MY SIGNS AND WONDERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. But Pharoah will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

And you understand that the Exodus stands forever as the sign and wonder of the Amazing God revealing His Amazing gifts, the liberation of His people! But there’s more. Come to Daniel 6:20-27 and follow carefully: “and when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions? Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you. Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in God. And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions – them, their children and their wives; and the lions overpowered them, and broke all their bones in pieces before they ever came to the bottom of the den. Then King Darius wrote: To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and HE WORKS SIGNS AND WONDERS in heaven and on earth, Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

[And, of course, you understand that there are more than physical lions like in Africa, but there are spiritually demonic lions out of Hell itself!]

But do you remember what is said in Luke 4 about “The Spirit of the Lord upon Me?” And what was one of the ministries? “Deliverance to the captives!”

God is the God who is the bondage – breaker – Not the bondage-maker! God is the God who is the chain-buster – Not the chain-entangler! God is the God who is the prison-door opener – Not the prison-confiner!

Henry George Bohn, in his “Handbook of Proverbs,” wrote: “The Devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrines.” There are still ‘Pharoahs’ who want people enslaved! There are still ‘Pharoahs’ who want your family under hard taskmasters! There are still ‘Pharoahs’ who want you chewed up in a lion’s den of fleshly deceptions and sins! There are still ‘Pharoahs’ who want any decency or bent toward God swallowed up by the inhaling powers of darkness!

[On the ‘Inner-net’ today on my wife’s computer, she told me of a statement by the man named Stephen Hawking who said, “Heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” Immediately John Lennox responded, “Atheism is a fairy tale for those afraid of the Light.”] Amen?

Hear me! The God of the sign and wonder of deliverance arises with healing in His wings! I recently picked up Smith Wigglesworth’s book, “Greater Works – Experiencing God’s Power,” (p36). He shared a story that occurred just after his baptism in the Holy Spirit. He knew that infusion of divine power but was asking, ‘Why,’ ‘Why me?’ What’s the purpose? RECEIVE IN JESUS’ HOLY NAME!:

“One day I came home from work and went into the house, and my wife asked me, ‘Which way did you come in?’ I told her that I had come in the back door. She said, “There is a woman upstairs, and she has brought in an eighty-year old man to be prayed for. He is raving up there, and a great crowd has gathered outside the front door, ringing the doorbell, and wanting to know what is going on in the house.”

Wigglesworth said, “This is what I baptized you for.” I carefully opened the door of the room where the man was, desiring to be obedient to what my Lord would say to me. The man was crying and shouting in distress, “I am lost! I am lost! I have committed the unpardonable sin. I am lost! I am lost!” My wife asked, “Smith, what should we do?” The Spirit of the Lord moved me to cry out, “Come out, you lying spirit.” In a moment the evil spirit went, and the man was free. God gives deliverance to the captives! And the Lord said again to me, “This is what I baptized you for.” And then Wigglesworth said: “There is a place where God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, reigns supreme in our lives. The Spirit reveals, unfolds, takes of the things of Christ and shows them to us (John 16:15) and prepares us to be more than a match for satanic forces.”

The God of the signs and wonders of deliverance! You find yourself enslaved – through the Passover Lamb, there is liberty and freedom! You find yourself in a state of spiritual death – through Jesus there is Life, Life in the Spirit, Life abundant, Life eternal! You find yourself in guilt and condemnation – but Jesus says: “I the sacrificial Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, through My shed blood, have brought pardons, innocence, justification, ‘just-as-if-you’d-never sinned’! You find yourself hopeless – He blesses you with a living, eternal Hope! You find yourself troubled – He is triumphant, “more than conqueror,” and always in the midst of stormy waters still says, “Peace, be still!” You find yourself separated from Holy God – in Christ He came to reconcile you! You find yourself aimless – “For me to live is Christ!” You find yourself sensing worthlessness about yourself – He counts you worthy because of the Lamb of deliverance!

SECOND, LET’S CONSIDER THE GOD THE MIGHTY GOD OF THE VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DECLARATION! Look with me carefully at Deuteronomy 4:32-39! “For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other besides Him [regardless of what Muslims or any other idolaters say!]. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.”

I pray that the Spirit of Holy God reveals to you “the Lord Himself in heaven above and on the earth beneath” – always has been and forever will be! The God of the vital awareness unveiled of the sign and wonder unveils Himself, reveals Himself – He is not, will not, hide Himself from you! In Exodus 6:7 God’s Holy Word says, “I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians”, or from under the burdens of the ungodly poured out on you, or from under the burdens of godless people who seek to intimidate you, indict you in the halls of fleshly unbelief, or from under the burdens of demonic activity intending to weigh you down straight into Hell itself!

But you shall know, see, sense, understand, as the shackles fall off you or as the chains are broken, as cruel, evil sinful taskmasters drown under the weight of God’s judgment, that His declaration is your deliverance!

You’ll remember that Moses had a word from God for Pharoah that the plagues would come that they might know that there is none like our God in all the world. He wants even His enemies to hear His declaration! In Exodus 10:1-2, God sends Moses, “that I may show these signs of Mine before [Pharoah] and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and you son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD.”

On the journey God gives “bread” to His children that they may “know that I am the Lord your God.” He instructed that twelve stones were to be stacked in the midst of the Jordan River as His people crossed over so “that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is MIGHTY, that YOU may fear the Lord your God forever.” (Joshua 4:24).

In 1 Samuel 17:46 David had struck down Goliath, “that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” What did Paul say to his spiritual son, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 1:12? “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is ABLE…!!!”

You are to be a “stone” in the river of life declaring God’s power, His identity, His ability, His amazing love, His unlimited grace and mercy! There has never been an act or action of God that was not for the purpose of unveiling His heart so all might know Him! “For God so loved the world…!!!”

THIRD, EXAMINE FURTHER THE UNVEILING OF THE VITAL AWARENESS OF THE MIGHTY GOD OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DEPENDENCE! Joshua 24:13-15 is clear, “I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

God mentions land He gave them and groves and vineyards they did not plant! Do you know what Paul asked the church at Corinth? (1 Corinthians 4:7), “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if indeed you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?” And all I have to consider to rattle my cage is the very breath of life itself! It’s a God-thing!

In 2 Corinthians 5:18, he said, “All things are of God!” Unless of course you’re a constant navel examiner and truly believe all you are and all you have is of yourself! Earlier, in 1 Corinthians 8:6, Paul said, “yet for us there is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.” For some it’s as if “we spoke and our worlds were framed!”

Let me deflate your progressive, self-importance just a little bit: According to Exodus 31:1-5, even your job skills are of God! According to Haggai 2:8, even your money belongs to God – you’re a trustee who will give an account of your stewardship! According to Psalm 50:10 the forest is His, the beasts of the forest are His, and even the cattle on a thousand hills! No Texas rancher has reason to boast except in God alone! The Lord even taught us to pray, “God, give us our daily bread!”

Do you realize how dependent we are upon God? It’s like I’ve heard my wife Sue say to our kids as they were growing up, “I brought you into this world and I can take you out!” (A little comedy please in the midst of heavy heat!).

I so love Paul’s confrontation with the Athenians in Acts 17:24-30. It’s too vital to omit even a syllable! “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.”

Here’s a vital question: Is it my reign over my life or God’s reign as I totally surrender in dependence upon Him, not only for the very breath of physical life but also that breath of The Spirit? R.A.Torrey, in his book, “The God of the Bible,” (p116), tells us about Napoleon: “Napoleon was the ablest general of his day, and probably of all time. At the same time, he was the most adroit politician the world has ever seen, and he was also a man of the most unconquerable will. He willed to have the whole world at his feet, and it seemed as if it would be, as if nothing could prevent it. But God willed otherwise. When Napoleon tried to enter Russia, God spoke, and the soft and gentle snowflakes fell and fell and fell and kept on falling, and Napoleon Bonaparte fell also. His army was decimated and his reign shortly came to an end.”

Revelation 19:6 says, “And the Lord God omnipotent reigns!” Are you committed and submitted as a dependent child of faith upon the Father’s reign over you?

FOURTH, GO DEEPER, DISCOVERING THE UNVEILING OF THE AWESOME AWARENESS OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DESTINY! I know you remember and are familiar with Elisha’s journey with Elijah and how Elijah had urged him to stay behind because God was sending Elijah on to Bethel. And Elisha responded, (2 Kings 2:2), “as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” They traveled together. Then the time came close for Elijah’s departure in that whirlwind of glory and he asks Elisha, “What may I do for you, before I am taken away?” And in verse 9 Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

Elijah promised Elisha his request would be granted! Now, notice verses 13-15, “He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, Where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha…”

Come now to 2 Kings 3:11! “But Jehoshapat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? So one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.” Question!

What is the reputation you want about yourself in the eyes of the world around you? Is it that you fit in, that you are one of the gang, or one like Elijah or Elisha? Or would it be that “sense of divine destiny” – the servant of Elijah, a holy man of God that passes by, a man who reflects the image of his Lord, a man who walks in the double portion of Spirit-blessing and anointing and empowering?

In Acts 4:13 it is said of Peter and John, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they were men who had been with Jesus.” What a testimony! I found an epitaph in a book that is such a blessing. It read, “Here lies the body of John Smith, who for 40 years cobbled shoes in this village to the glory of God,” which leads us to:

FIFTH, THE UNVEILING OF THE AWESOME AWARENESS OF THE GOD OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DEMONSTRATION! Isaiah 8:18 says, “Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion.”

Did you receive that for yourself, your family, your employees or employer, for your city, state, or nation, and receiving that Truth and demonstrating that Truth, YOU SEE YOURSELF AS A SIGN AND WONDER to an unbelieving world to the glory of God?

It’s not just to the church at Corinth that Paul wrote the following but to our homes! Receive 2 Corinthians 3:2-4, “You (your homes, your families) are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men. YOU are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God.”

An anonymous writer has penned these illuminating words: “Jesus began His ministry of miracles at a wedding feast. He was invited there. His presence made the difference. He turned a desperate dilemma into a memorable miracle.” That was in a home, at a wedding!

Spurgeon said, “When home is ruled by the Word of God, angels might be asked to stay with us, and they would not find themselves out of their element.” Are our homes ruled by the Word of God? Do we see our homes and families as signs and wonders of the glory of God to an unbelieving world and even as examples in our local churches? Are our homes and families “memorable miracles” or desperate dilemmas? Are they vital demonstrations of Holy Presence and eternal purpose?

SIXTH, EXAMINE THE GOD OF AMAZING SIGNS AND WONDERS OF DISTINCTION! Let’s let the Word speak powerfully and in a convicting reality within us: Mark 16:19-20, “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through accompanying signs. Amen.”

Following Pentecost, having left the upper room where the disciples had hidden for fear of the Jews, and confronted their world in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2:43 says, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many signs and wonders were done through the apostles.”

But here’s the strange turn – whenever God steps in to be Himself, even through His own people, opposition arises! When you come to Acts 4 the disciples are BEING DISCIPLES and the threats come! Peter and John pray for boldness that they may speak God’s Word, and look at verse 30, “by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” And the result?

Acts 4:33 says, “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.” Our prayerful, unceasing heart-cry as disciples should be passionately uttered that WE long for days of distinction, days of great grace, days producing holy fear in hearts of unbelievers and disciples alike because God steps down to be Himself through us! Hebrews 2:4 says, “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will.”

Reinhard Bonnke has a tremendous statement of challenge to be repeated by true disciples of Christ until it permeates their total being, “God means me to be more than I thought I was.” That’s an amplification of 1 John 4:17 when John said, “As Jesus is, so are we in this world!”

What’s a “system of divinity” without the stream of divine power? What’s a “scheme of theology” without the Spirit of Truth? What’s a learned person with his PhD void of the lifting power of the Holy Ghost? What’s the best of human-flesh ‘churches’ without the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire of the Spirit?

Ephesians 2:1 doesn’t say, “and you He stiffened” – it says, “you He made alive!” In Acts 1:8 Jesus said, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” That’s explosive, volcanic-erupting, dynamite power! Donald Gee preached, that the Spirit was not “the subject of theological dogma (or debate), but a burning experience,” and Holy Presence released within you! Are those around you observing your “burning” in awe of Holy God?

LAST, (In this chapter!), LET ME STRONGLY EMPHASIZE THE AMAZING UNVEILING OF AWESOME TRUTH OF THE GOD OF THE SIGN AND WONDER OF DIVINE TESTIMONY! In Acts 2:22-24 Peter preached and preaches right now, “Men of Israel, hear these words of Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you, by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know – Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death: whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”

Testimony! The call upon every true believer’s life! Testimony! Not cold-water committees but fellow comforters in God’s proven love for them! Testimony! That which blesses the church, encourages, uplifts, and challenges unbelievers with the Truth! Testimony! That which tips the scales of a life hanging in the balance! Testimony! That which gives honor to Jesus!

In Acts 20 you’ll remember Paul telling the Ephesian elders that he held back nothing that was helpful and profitable to them, Verse 21, “testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” He knew he was “bound in the spirit”{ to go to Jerusalem, knowing trouble awaited him. Then in verse 24, (Oh, my!), “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, TO TESTIFY TO THE GOSPEL OF THE GRACE OF GOD.”

Do you see that calling and ministry upon your life to be a sign and wonder of divine testimony to the gospel of the grace of God?

Oh, it was Isaac Watts who wrote the old, old hymn, “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” It says: “Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize, And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend of grace, To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign; Increase my courage, Lord; I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Your word.” Amen?

And your ‘last days’ testimony as short as all of our lives are? “I’ll confront my dying world, I’ll confront in the Name of Christ and for His honor, glory, and praise; I’ll be consistent with Biblical Truth, conquering even the devil’s opposition, challenging repentance to God and a yielded given faith from God as a gift, yes, for every unbeliever, and teach them graciously of a yielded faith in Christ’s finished work at the Cross and through God’s Resurrection Power!

CHAPTER FIVE

THE AMAZING UNVEILING OF AWESOME TRUTH BY PREACHING

PEACE THROUGH CHRIST JESUS’ CROSS

I want you to be Holy Spirit inspired and informed and instructed as you read the following passage, Acts 10:34-38 & 43! Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ – HE IS LORD OF ALL – that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Verse 43, “To Him (the Lord Jesus) all the prophets witness that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

“Believes in Him?” The word ‘belief’ truly means “trust in, rely upon, adhere to”! It’s not ‘ I believe’, and there is no heart-change, or I believe, and there is no relying upon, or I believe, and there is no adhering to! That’s modern-day ‘churchianity’, not eternal “Christ-ianity”! And, no doubt, this is why Paul had to write in Ephesians 2:1-2, “And you He [Christ Jesus] made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 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…”

Isaiah 32:13-15 unveils fleshly religiosity and then unveils Spirit conviction and wildernesses becoming fertile, fruitful fields! Isaiah wrote, God speaking, “On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers, Yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city; Because the palaces will be forsaken, the bustling city will be deserted. The forts and towers will become lairs forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks – Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as a forest.”

And whether or not it is unveiled religiosity that is a seedless, barren, infertile life, absent of Holy Presence – so barren of true life, so sterile of Living Truth, so unproductive of even any acknowledgement of the need of Divine intervention – it’s a sad picture for true believers of a life unredeemed as a heart-breaking pain so desirous of witnessing the true fruit of Life in Christ in every life!

Are you aware that there is a ‘carnal world’ surrounding you every day, carnal lives captured by the powers of darkness, deceit, and disobedience before Holy God, convinced their way is better than the holy way, settled into defenses, life-styles, ‘my’ ideas, that exalts itself against the eternal knowledge of God, with their every thought captured by self-will, self-pleasure, and self-aggrandisement, determined or unaware they actually walk in “spiritual death” under the devil’s control, and miss out on the grandeur of God-ordained “re-birth” and “new-life” and “eternal blessing” – just living under the ‘curse’!

Christ Jesus dealt with all men’s sins at Calvary – and through His shed blood we “stand still and see the salvation of God in and through Christ’s shed blood”, but sadly a lost world, unbelievers, the “dire-straights of fallen humanity owned by the devil” never “stand still” in awe to observe the wonderful and marvelous grace of God seen in Christ Jesus as He paid the price for their sins through His shed blood at the Cross – and they miss out!

Sadly, spiritually indulgent people, living to satisfy the ‘flesh’, the ‘old sin nature,’ the ‘empty life syndrome,’ the ‘self-realization indulgence through sinful living’ trying to satisfy the evil heart, most are unaware of “saving grace,” “redemption,” the “new life gift by the grace of God through Christ Jesus” – but His life in You, His forgiveness through you, His power for you, is fully and readily available to any and every repentant soul – and opens the windows of heaven to reveal the awesome Truth that “the gift of eternal peace’ comes through Christ’s Cross”!

Luke 10:18-20 is such a powerful, comforting word from Christ to every repentant disciple. Jesus said to them and us, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” ETERNAL PEACE!

In John 14:25-27 Jesus informs every true disciple of the “true evidence” of His life within them, even as they face a world of opposition and rebellion to divine Truth! He said, “These things I have spoken to you while present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” “THE AMAZING UNVEILING OF AWESOME TRUTH BY PREACHING PEACE THROUGH CHRIST’S CROSS”! Let’s consider THIS eternal Truth!

FIRST, PREACHING PEACE THROUGH CHRIST’S CROSS REVEALS, UNVEILS, EXPOSES WHAT IS IN MEN OF ADAM’S FALLEN-AWAY NATURE?

Do you understand the reality of the ‘carnal man’ alienated, separated, even in an unconscious rebellion against the Holy God who made him, lost him, yet loves him, fully explained in Christ’s shed blood “At The Cross”?

Are you aware in your mind, and heart, “Cursed are the impure in heart; and they do not see God, except at His Eternal Judgment Seat?” But the Lord Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

And seeing God, knowing Him intimately and personally, is the absolute necessity of accepting your crucifixion and death of your old carnal nature with Him at Calvary, and your constant awareness of its former reality, and becoming more and more fully aware that it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” not fleshly devotion to one’s flesh-inspired religiosity!

Yes, when one is spiritually “born-again”, he-she receives new eyes to see God and a new heart fully indwelt by His peace-filled Presence in YOU! Though one is still living in the physical world with fallen humanity, because of one’s faith in Christ, repentance toward God, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit, one lives now in the new realm of the spiritual Kingdom of God, living in and on the eternal plain of His abiding presence in us – and that births His peaceful Presence in YOU and establishes another elevated plain of life in Christ, because Jesus said in Revelation 5:9-10 tells us of our representative ‘twenty-four elders falling down before the Lamb of God’ singing:

“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

Peace apart from repentance? Peace apart from reconciliation with Holy God? Peace as a slave of sin, and not as a true servant of our Master? Peace apart from our presence at the Cross with Christ, and totally unaware of “the godly sorrow that works repentance TO salvation”?

You are aware that there are “dreamers” living lives consumed by ‘flesh,’ ‘the old sin nature,’ captives of demonic activity and even ‘fleshly best’ but not “blessed” – and with Jude we gain insight: Jude 10, “But these speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know ‘naturally’, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.” And that’s corrupting themselves more and more, and falling away more and more from the love of God and the Lordship of Christ Jesus!

Oh, but then Jude went on to say, Jude 20-21, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

In the old Broadman Hymnal of 1940 produced by the Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, a hymn by Julia H. Johnston and J.W. Henderson, is entitled “He Ransomed Me.” It says:

“There’s a sweet and blessed story Of the Christ who came from glory, Just to rescue me from sin and misery; He in loving-kindness sought me, And from sin and shame has brought me, Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me!

From the depth of sin and sadness To the heights of joy and gladness Jesus lifted me, in mercy full and free; With His precious blood He bought me, When I knew Him not, He sought me, And in love divine He ransomed me.

From the throne of heavenly glory – Oh, the sweet and blessed story! Jesus came to lift the lost in sin and woe Into liberty all-glorious, Trophies of His grace victorious, Evermore rejoicing here below.

By and by with joy increasing, And with gratitude unceasing, Lifted up with Christ forevermore to be; I will join the hosts there singing, In the anthem ever ringing, To the King of Love who ransomed me.

Hallelujah, what a Savior! Who can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry clay and set him free; (Hallelujah!) I will ever tell the story, Shouting glory, glory, glory, Hallelujah! Jesus ransomed me!”

SECOND, THERE IS THE VITAL UNVEILING OF AWARENESS OF PREACHING CHRIST OPENING THE DOOR TO THE BATTLE-FIELD OF FLESH AND SPIRIT, THE DEVIL AND JESUS, AND THE WORLD AGAINST THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN YOU AND AROUND YOU! Even as one comes to “new birth” and Christ’s indwelling, it doesn’t mean true believers are exempt from reality, opposition, even pain and suffering, in honoring, upholding, and desirous of living a life that exalts Him!

In John 16:33 Jesus clearly spoke to all disciples, then and now, saying: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world [as you live out your earthly existence facing opposition!] you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Did the Lord Jesus say, “Disciples of Mine, you will have trouble!” But you thought it was a walk without trouble or tribulation? You thought it was a walk without the world, the flesh, or the devil in seeking your demise as a follower of Christ? You thought true Christianity was a ‘trouble-free’ zone?

Even in Galatians 1:6-7, Paul wrote: “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

The Lord Jesus never said, “Follow Me, and you’ll never face trouble again, or any opposition that opposes you, or any demonic influences to trip you up, or even any godless governments, enemies of God, cruel taskmasters or job bosses,” – No, a thousand times ‘No!’ To commit to Christ is to commit to His honor and praise, which means automatically you’ve committed yourself to walk in the vital awareness unveiled, preaching Christ, living Christ, magnifying Christ in your life, thus opening your life to ‘trouble’, or should I say ‘troubles’?

I’m convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus never said, “Following Me means no trouble,” when in reality we’ve seen in John 16:33, Jesus saying, “In the world you will have trouble”, which means our salvation in Christ is not the door to freedom from trouble, but His door, His presence, His promises, tell us of His presence with us as we live out our faith in the midst of our troubles!

I truthfully was freshly inspired when I read Thomas Carlyle’s clear statement: “The eternal stars shine out as soon as it is dark enough.” That’s from “The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations” edited and compiled by Frank S. Mead [Fleming H. Revell Company, Westwood, New Jersey]. In the same encyclopedia, E. Stanley Jones wrote concerning “The Way” [p.235, Abingdon Press], “The Christian under trouble doesn’t break up – he breaks out,” and the ‘breaking out’ is leaning on Jesus, trusting His Word, like Paul said: Romans 8:35-39:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”

THIRD, THERE IS THE VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED OF PREACHING CHRIST BECAUSE CHRIST IS GOD’S ETERNALLY DETERMINED SACRIFICE AND OUR AMBASSADOR, AND THROUGH HIM, FOREORDAINED BY GOD THE FATHER, AS “MEDIATOR” BETWEEN GOD AND FALLEN MAN!

As Paul wrote Timothy to mature him in his young faith, His word to Timothy is so important for you and me. Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:1-7, [NKJV EDITION OF THE HOLMAN STUDY BIBLE], “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN, THE MAN CHRIST JESUS, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle – I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying – a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

Even ‘religions’ apart from Christ as Lord and Savior are fleshly determined and resemble nothing concerning His call upon their lives – no awareness of their fallen natures, no grasp of understanding about The Eternal Christ put to death on the Cross as a mortal man AND eternal Lord and Savior, and willingly laying down His life that they might be resurrected from the dead to be “new creations” of Holy Presence, extending His life, expressing His love, and proving His power, no longer in them unawareness of the unbelieving results of a Christ-less life, no longer pretense, imitation, or the best of their own fleshly efforts – Christ saves, redeems, reconciles, and, yes, restores to God’s eternal intent, releasing them under the Holy Spirit’s control and they begin to sing the repentant one’s song:

“Lord Jesus, to You I yield, wash Me in Your blood, and baptize me in the rivers of Your flood; redeeming grace for the human race, redeeming us from the disgrace of dishonoring Your Holy Face!

Lord Jesus, in You, I rest, so tired of deception in me as ‘my best’; I long to know the Holy Will, and until then I’ll not be still! My heart and soul is Yours, no longer a life of sin, but holiness within!

“Lord Jesus, I hear You call, and before Your throne I willingly fall, yielded to Your Spirit, made new by Your blood, willing to stand where You once stood; ‘New man’ celebration, a new voice for all Your creation.

Lord Jesus, I thank You for Your marvelous grace, and upon Your Word I safely rely, certain to sing what no one can erase – Your sacrifice is true and Your resurrection undeniable, Your empty tomb is still reliable.

Lord Jesus, from death to Life, Your blood applied removes the strife; No longer war with God or the devil and his demons; born-again men by the Spirit, reverence His meaning: Death to life as His blood is applied, firmly aware of His mercy that cannot be denied!

Lord Jesus, saved by Your grace because of Your love, my new desire is to rest with You forever in Heaven above; I know life is fleeting and only by receiving do we understand overcoming and beating; the lawless may libel, the sinners may slander, the religious may banter, but in Christ we surrender to His love, grace, and place in Your eternal heavens!”

Jesus bought us, He sought us, He found us, He convicted us, He received our repentance, He sings of our faith, and forever and ever we’ll gather around His Throne to praise His name over and over as His very own children of faith, resting from the wars and resting in His victory in our behalf! We know that a man’s life does not consist of what He possesses, but the wealth of awareness that we’ve found peace through His Life, peace through His death, peace through His Resurrection, and peace through His never-failing promises!

It was R. Kelso Carter who wrote: “Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms od doubt and fear assail, By the living word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Savior’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior, as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God.”

Yes! There must be in the church of this modern day the call to reverently, in a rejoicing manner, with a heart and mind and body fully yielded to the Glory of our Lord!

I close with Jesus’ words in John 8:34-35! “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin! And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever, with Verse 36 added, Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” Amen? Speak out about YOUR true freedom by “blood”, that’s Jesus’ Calvary blood to take away your sin and give “new life”!

CHAPTER SIX

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? FALLEN FOLLOWER – FAITHFUL FOLLOW-UP!”

In Luke 22:54 it tells us Jesus had been arrested and taken to the high priest’s house with Peter following at what he thought a safe distance. Peter actually sat among the enemies of Christ around a bonfire in the courtyard. A servant girl in the crowd told the ruling authorities, “This man (Simon Peter) was also with Him (with Jesus).”

Verse 57 tells us, But he (Peter) denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” Another in the crowd said the same thing, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, Verse 58b, “Man, I am not!” He denied Jesus a third time, and Verse 61 says, And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

The rooster crows three times! And a Peter is aware of being ‘a fallen follower’, so broken on the reality that what Jesus told him was a historic reality of an immature, though filled with still fleshly presumption, even a haughty attitude that it was certain he’d never fall, and though walking with the Lord of true confidence and assurance and awareness of who He eternally was, Peter didn’t understand what the writer, the wise writer, in Proverbs 16:18-20 had to say about pride and self-importance in a God-filled, God-blessed, eternal relationship of His doings, not immature disciples!

It says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, blessed is he.”

Earlier, in Luke 22, before Peter’s actual “falling away”, Verses 31-32 tells us of what Jesus said, And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail;” [Jesus said that knowing Peter was going to be in this immaturity of childish faith!], but after His praying said, “and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” What an amazing revelation! Christ Jesus knew Peter was about to fall, and He knew Holy God would pick him up!

Peter’s falling away? Present-day followers today falling away? It was Spurgeon who once said, “Only to think that Peter, under temporary discouragement, should play the coward!”

But even today, in a world of destructive unbelief, unbelievers already fallen away from God and under the control of a birthed sin-nature, experience the natural curses of a ‘fallen away life-style’! In fact, many across our known world, as unbelievers, perceive it’s totally unimportant, for them, to consider ‘God-things’, and especially when one even mentions Christ Jesus to them – “how ridiculous to consider ‘a need of the Savior and Lord’ when we are all-sufficient in ourselves!”

In the Luke 22 passage, Verse 55 is highly significant because it alerts us to what can happen in the lives of some disciples: “Now when they [Christ’s enemies!] had kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them.” And he wasn’t there by the fire to warn Christ’s enemies, he was there warming his hands with them!

“Fallen followers?” Do you remember the Lord Jesus in Matthew 26 coming with His disciples “to a place called Gethsemane,” saying to His disciples, “sit here while I go and pray over there.” In Verse 38 Jesus said to His followers, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” Between Verses 39 and 44 three times He sees His disciples “sleeping”! Later in the chapter Judas betrayed Him for thirty pieces of silver! And the end of Verse 56 tells us: “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”

“Watch with Me,” not watch for Me! “Watch with Me,” not watch in view of what sometime Might happen! “Watch with Me,” not watch as you ‘sleep’ dreaming of your own safety and rewards! “Watch with Me” in the most critical time of His earthly journey, not watch as you consider the rewards of a ‘most needed’ fleshly nap! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest” [p.183] who wrote: “How are we going to understand sufficiently to watch with Him in Gethsemane, when we do not know even what His suffering is for?”

Too many ‘professing disciples’, though ‘watching FOR Christ’ while they ‘sleep’, are nothing more than examples of ‘fleshly unbelief’, or an ‘immature, self-protective faith’, that has no mature understanding of “Forsake all and follow Me,” “deny yourself and take up YOUR cross,” or, understanding that true discipleship is the willing choice of self-sacrifice even if it costs me a cross to bear!

In John10:11-18 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This COMMAND I have received from My Father.”

The majority of ‘professors’ for Christ without being “possessors of His Resurrection Life and Spirit” are those outwardly who adopt certain ‘traits’, but apart from the indwelling of the Author of Eternal Truth, they walk the walk of academy award winners who do well at pretense and outward appearances without inward transformation!

“Jesus may say, ‘Forsake all’, but to me that is an over-emphasis, an unnecessary request, a de-emphasis of what is necessary in one’s worldly existence,” which clearly indicates a ‘this world mentality’, a ‘me, my, mine style of life,’ that which unveils ‘my self-realization’ but shuts the door to one’s mind, heart, and will, to the intent of Christ-unveiling, Christ-realization, or Christ-actualization in the repentant heart and life! “Religious activity is my major desire – not the actual preeminence of Christ Jesus in and through me, that’s other worldly, even Heaven, if I get there!” And, sadly, that explains a lot of boring ‘religious activity’ that they assume essential to give a ‘boring testimony’ (?).

This powerful word and story that we’re examining has a ton of important eternal truths I want us to examine!

FIRST, ARE YOU AWED AND BLESSED THAT OUR LORD SEES US, KNOWS US, AND IS MOVED IN ETERNAL COMPASSION FOR US? In Mark 6:34 we read: “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.”

One of the most rewarding, abiding consciousness of life and hope, an unveiled present awareness and promise is: “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He cares for me!” How awesome is that! In Hebrews 13:5b, we read: For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So boldly we may say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Remembering Peter’s awareness of the eyes of Christ upon him, even as he denied Him, there came that moment in him of Christ’s watchcare even as Christ Jesus looked upon Peter compassionately and longingly praying for Peter’s return to true faith, yes, that did cost Peter his own life eventually!

Our Lord sees us, oversees us, keeps on seeing us, never takes His eyes off of us – that ought to increase the intensity of Holy fear because there’s never a moment His eyes are not on us! Perfect, clear, unaltered eternal eyesight, unhindered by the dark activity in a soulish, fleshly, entertaining-sin-mind, never running from a life storm-tossed by the raging waves of the demons and personal sin-activity – Holy God, the Resurrected, Reigning Christ sees our ‘stormy’ choices and comes to say, “Peace, be still!”

I don’t believe it would be a stretch that most men, even some unbelievers, still, if they sin, are aware that it’s not unknown to Holy God, but are aware that, sometimes if God sees the tragic scene of sin in one’s life, He sighs and sorrows and sends by the Spirit a heavenly heartbeat of true desire: “Repent, return – and turn from that destructive choice!” Hear this! If one strays and roams or runs from “the true field of life”, the Shepherd is on that person’s heels, heart, mind or will, “Repent, return – I still love you! Don’t let the devil have his will in your life, but turn back to Me as your Way, your Truth, and your Life!”

SECOND, “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED”? YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD IS A “MAN OF SORROWS” ACQUAINTED WITH THE GRIEF SIN BRINGS! It was C.S.Lewis, in his writing, “The Great Divorce”, who wrote: “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Your will be done,” and those to whom God says [sadly, has to say at times!], “All right, then, have it your way.” How tragic is that?

And the blind Helen Keller of many, many years ago, used to say, “If the blind put their hand in God’s, they find their way more surely than those who see but have not faith in God.” [Doubleday & Company}.

In Isaiah 53:1-7 there is an awesome prophetic unveiling of our true Lord and Savior! It says: “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

So…how do you relate to too much ‘circus antics’, without a doubt far too much self-governing, silly-willy two-year old child’s play, even open gates of godless behavior, encouraging playing the flesh games out of church, even in church, as long as you say: “I’ve been baptized, I ‘joined the church’, and it’s over as far as I’m concerned.” Really? Where’s the Cross in your life? Where’s the “Follow Me”! Where’s the “laying down your life”? Where’s the “suffering Servant” Spirit?

Are you aware of going through the ‘winepress’ where “the grapes of life” are squeezed out as you willfully choose to honor Jesus at all costs? “Struggle in the Faith”? Study to be approved of God in the faith-walk? “Adapt to a culture of spiritual discipline, even laying my life down daily?” Hear me! True faith, after repentance toward God and faith in Christ, the true consistency of the saint is, laying down one’s life, even willing to suffer, and as I have known in India for many years, servants of Christ are punished, imprisoned, beaten, killed – and they do it with a smile on their faces!

Is this why Peter wrote, in 1 Peter 4:12-14, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.” Blessed because you partake of Christ’s sufferings? Blessed because you’re reproached for the name of Christ? Blessed because you’re called even to the fiery trials? Blessed because you willingly partake of Christ’s suffering when necessary? If Jesus suffered according to the will of God, is your walk in the will of God?

Consider, because of your young faith in Christ, rejection by unbelieving family members. Consider, constant abuse from fellow employees and even business owner and managers at times! Consider, stupid abuse of school or university leadership people anti-Christ, anti-Word, anti-Constitution, anti-You for your life-changing, eternal Biblical faith! But ‘suffering for the Name of Christ’ is celebration for the true disciple of Christ, and anticipatory celebration before Holy God’s Throne one day, but personal celebration now in you as you examine your identity in Christ!

THIRD, “VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED” AS WE LOOK AT FOLLOW-UP FORGIVENESS THROUGH THE ALL-SEEING EYES OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR! In Luke 22:60b-62 we read, Immediately, while he [Peter] was still speaking, the rooster crowed! AND THE LORD TURNED AND LOOKED AT PETER. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly.

With all my heart, I don’t believe the look of Christ on Peter’s fall was resentment, bitterness, or “Watch out! Your judgment is coming,” but Peter, “You’ve sinned so dramatically, just as I said, but I love you and want you restored!” Is that like, “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me”?

Are you aware that the Word tells us that there is the reality of divine conviction? If one even desires to come to Christ, it is because of Holy Spirit conviction of a man’s sin and His eternal need of the Savior. Men are born with an ‘Adamic’ sin-nature, dominated by it, controlled by it, blinded by it without any awareness of his/her need of restoration to Holy God apart from, yes, biblical conviction! And the Holy Spirit comes in biblical conviction to unveil for him/her specific sins that will unveil the sin nature that has released a corrupt spirit in his/her veins, yes, even an unclean spirit, and like Isaiah after King Uzziah had died, in Isaiah 6:4-5, the Word tells us, “And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: 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.”

Holy God is so aware of the alienated heart and mind of fallen humanity! The Lord Jesus came, suffered, and died on the cruel Cross because of His great love for sinful humanity! The Holy Spirit unveiled the merciful heart of God as He viewed man’s sinfulness, assuring each of us that the devil’s accusations about Holy God and his view of deceit of our Lord was unfounded! In Galatians 3:1 Paul asked, “O foolish Galatians! Who has ‘bewitched’ you that you should not obey “the truth,” before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” And John said what in John 3:16-17? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes [trusts in relies upon, adheres to] in Him should not perish [in his sin & sin nature] but have everlasting life. FOR GOD DID NOT SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD, but that the world through Him might be saved.” GLORY!!

There’s another amazing Word of God in Hebrews 2:9 when the author wrote, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”

“Forgiveness” by men’s great efforts? “Forgiveness” because a man sees himself as smarter than the feeble minds of ‘other men’ – and “I can handle my own life, knowing I can overcome my own sin – and God Himself ought to accept me”? I don’t think so! Do you see and sense “the hardened heart through the deceitfulness of sin” with no desire to be reconciled to Him through the “shed blood” of Christ on Calvary’s tree? Wasn’t it Augustine who once prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself”?

Oh, and then hear Oswald Chambers who said in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.244], “Spiritual leakage begins when we cease to lift up our eyes unto Him. The leakage comes not so much through trouble on the outside as in the imagination; when we begin to say – “’I expect I have been stretching myself a bit too much, standing on tiptoe and trying to look like God instead of being an ordinary humble person [or humble disciple!].”

In Ephesians 4:32 Paul talked about walking in the Spirit and true nature of Christ alone! He said: “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Forgiveness how in your life? “AS GOD IN CHRIST FORGAVE YOU!”

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED”? AS WE LOOK AT FOLLOW-UP FORGIVENESS THAT UNDERSTANDS, YES, SEPARATION FROM FALLEN-MEN’S WAYS! It was a strong, powerful, convicting statement from Paul to the Corinthian church when he said in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of living God. As God has said:

‘I will DWELL IN THEM and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’ Therefore, ‘COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM [their ways, actions, attitudes, sins] AND BE SEPARATE, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’”

What happened to Peter when he realized the eyes of Jesus were fixed on him in his ‘self-indulgence’; but more importantly for this very moment in your own walk with Christ, if you’ve been wandering, overcome with a dry, unclean spirit, are YOUR eyes open to the Lord’s loving gaze on YOU in your sin?

What did the author of Hebrews tell us in Hebrews 12:1-2? “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” ARE YOU CLOTHED WITH THE CLOUD OF HIS HOLY PRESENCE IN YOU?

CHAPTER SEVEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? THE CALL TO ONE’S NEED OF SELF-EXAMINATION”

It was in the book, “Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, [Edited & Compiled by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Com., Westwood, New Jersey, p.297], a statement by Donald T. Kauffman, in his writing “Gist of the Lesson”, “A good marriage is not a contract between two persons but a sacred covenant between three. Too often Christ is never invited to the wedding and finds no room in the home. Why? Is it because we have misrepresented Him and forgotten His joyful outlook on life?”

But what about the Biblical faith of “holy matrimony” between Christ as the ‘bridegroom’ and you as His bride? Did you simply ‘join’ His church or ‘take vows’ of surrender, dedication, and submission to be Savior, Lord, and Spiritual Head of your heart and life? I hate to be the one to tell you, but ‘church membership’ does not mean necessarily married and yielded to His Lordship!

In Matthew 21 Jesus had gone into the temple and was confronted by the chief priests of the temple and the elders of the people of Jerusalem. They said to Jesus in Verse 23b, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” Back and forth the conversation went on, and Jesus alerted them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Oh, and then in Verses 28-32, “the call to one’s need of self-examination” began with Jesus exposing their need of such an examination! Jesus said, “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Jesus, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”

Are you familiar with Jeremiah the prophet and how the Lord spoke to him about the difference between ‘the Jewish pretenders’ and ‘His true remnant’ among them? In Jeremiah 15:11, the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Surely it will be well with your remnant…,” and then said, BUT!, in Jeremiah 15:15-16 Jeremiah called out to Holy God!! “O Lord You know; Remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me and my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.”

And the compassionate Lord God reassured His holy prophet in Verses 19-21, Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; FOR I AM WITH YOU TO SAVE YOU AND DELIVER YOU,” says the Lord. I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.”

What an awesome word of conviction and confidence and comfort! Holy God KNOWS those who are His – and HE IS their defender! Does He know you? AND, How Vital is it for every professing believer to examine whether or not HE is a true worker in the Father’s vineyard fulfilling the Lord’s calling and assignments to every disciple?

FIRST, TWO SONS CALLED BY THE FATHER TO WORK IN HIS VINEYARD – ONLY ONE DID! Now, isn’t the son who didn’t go the picture of a ‘pretender’ of faith but the fruitlessness of his work exposes himself as one who walks in disobedience not obedience, in self-direction not Christ-directed, in outward performances but no inward heart-change, still as selfish and self-centered as he always was since birth!

Do you remember Pharoah of Egypt in Exodus 5:2 saying to Moses and Aaron, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” At least the Pharoah spoke the truth! He didn’t know the Lord, and he wouldn’t let Israel go! But ‘a son’ who pretends before his father that he will go and do what the father said, but had no intention of doing it because of a self-centered, self-motivated style of life, and it didn’t include doing the father’s will?

Does the ‘unwilling, disobedient, yes, rebellious son’ describe even the scribes and Pharisees of Matthew 23:13-15 whom Jesus called ‘hypocrites’? What a strong indictment by the Lord of love! He said of them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”

Have you ever witnessed those who are ‘strong professors’ of the faith verbally but ‘sad examples’ of even those who are visible ‘actors’ still dominated by the corruption that is in the world through lust, even barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, buying destructive heresies, even exploiting others with deceptive words, [“believers can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven,” when Jesus said, “Go and sin no more!”], perishing more and more in their own corruption, presumptuous, self-willed, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, constantly forsaking the right way, going astray, loving the wages of unrighteousness, even “dogs returning to their own vomit or a ‘sow’ wallowing in her mire”!

Hear me! Supernatural overcoming of the old sin nature is not devotion to it but Christ’s deliverance, in you, from it! As a ‘true son’, fruitful in the work of the father’s vineyard, one is not to walk in their own lusts – a ‘true son’ walks in the fullness of the Indwelling Christ and the fullness of His Holy Spirit, overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil, not dominated by them! In Acts 24:14-16 Paul testified: “But this I confess to you, that ‘according to the Way’ which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.” Are your ears, your heart and mind, sensitive to the Word and the Spirit, or dominated by what separates one and keeps him/her from hearing “Holy Truth,” what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God?

SECOND, IS IT FALSE FAITH – VERBAL FAILURE, OR TRUE FAITH- VICTORIOUS FULFILLMENT? What did Matthew 21:32 reveal to us? “For John came to you ‘in the way of righteousness,’ and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”

Do you understand the vastness of people who ‘hear’, but they do not respond, do not receive, do not repent, do not rest in God’s finished work At The Cross through the Lord Jesus’ “blood sacrifice”, but go their own way, even saying “yes” at times to Christ Jesus as they continue in the ‘broad way’ of personal administration and rejecting God’s calling by a willful response, “We’ll do it our way”!

Are you aware that “many are called, but few are chosen”? Even as you come to Matthew 22 Jesus’ concern grows stronger and stronger as He unveiled a “False faith – Verbal failure”! Beginning in Verse 2 of Chapter 22 of Matthew , Jesus illuminates divine invitations to “The Holy Wedding”, and then exposed a man dressed so inappropriately. Let the Holy Spirit do a work of grace in you if this story touches you! Jesus said: (Verses 2-14),

“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted calf are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”

But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, HE SAW A MAN THERE WHO DID NOT HAVE ON A WEDDING GARMENT. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”!!

Are you aware that there are those who, in a fleshly way, ‘like’ to be a part, at times, of a spiritual celebration, but have no desire to ‘dress’ as the King requires! “Requires? You, preacher, must be a part of a strange cult – why should I be concerned about how I dress at the wedding if I show up?” And the Lord Jesus SAID: “Depart! I never knew you!” Clothed properly matters?

It was Paul who said to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this [earthly] tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

Do you know what Job said in Job 29:14? “I put on righteousness and it clothed me..” That’s God’s righteousness, imputed, imparted, implanted by His grace, mercy, and love! Are you aware of being “clothed with humility”, (1 Peter 5:5b), the where does ‘fleshly pride’ fit in to a believer’s humble journey? What’s the color of the robe you wear? Pure and white linen? What about a “robe dipped in blood”?

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul wrote TO THE CHURCH specifically but also to the world at large: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.” How convicting is that?

False Faith – Verbal Failure or True Faith – Victorious Fulfillment? In Malachi 3:1-3 the prophet, used By God, brings HIS life-changing Word of faith-transformation and true offerings as the evidence! God spoke: “Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord [Christ Jesus, the Promised Messiah!], will suddenly come to His temple [1 Corinthians 3:16-17 which asks, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.”], even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.”

True Faith – And Victorius Fulfillment? I don’t know who wrote the old song that is worth treasures, at least the words!

“The King Himself comes near, and feasts His saints today; Here we may sit and see Him here, And love, and praise, and pray.

One day amidst the place Where my dear God has been Is sweeter than ten thousand days of pleasurable sin.”

In Psalm 84 I want you to be inspired by Verses 1-2 and Verses 10-12! “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Verses 10-12, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

It just may be that in this moment’s time in your own spiritual story or time-period of faith or lack of it, you discover Psalm 85:6 as the ‘sons of Korah’ cried out, “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?”

Why would anyone who has personally known, received, and rejoiced in the presence of the Lord in his/her life not want to know the amazing grace of renewal, fresh resurrection power, a new baptism of Calvary’s river of blessing that still flows, and a restoration of renewal with the God who calls Himself “My Friend”, if for some reason, one fell away.

You don’t reject – you receive! You don’t deny – you accept! You don’t substitute – you surrender! You don’t try to evolve – you accept His “You must be born again!” You don’t depend upon your superior education – you turn and accept His imputed righteousness! You don’t stamp yourself with ‘the insolence of self-righteousness’ – you surrender to the righteousness of God, sealed together in His shed blood! You don’t settle for the poisonous juices of an immoral, old sin nature – you trust in the power of the “new life, new hope, new awareness and understanding, of the Resurrected Christ in you, the hope of glory”! You don’t settle for a life outside His church, but commit yourself to honor Him in and through the church He loved and gave Himself for, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together!

I’m truly, truly sorry, but I have no understanding of anyone who looks at the Cross of Jesus, knowing it was for him/her He suffered, bled, and died, but chooses to shut his ears, close his eyes, turn away from His Word and will, and settles for a “best-effort style of life” I cringe for fear of their ultimate, sure, pain-filled life in Hell with the devil, his demons, and the darkened souls of a faithless, disobedient life – they will burn forever and ever in Hell without a second’s relief!

Do you think this just might be why Jesus said in Luke 12:40, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,”?

I’m a super-fan of Oswald Chambers and his historic, loved, deeply appreciated book, “My Utmost For His Highest.” On pages 63-64, I found a true word that should alert, awaken, and uplift every seeker of the true faith. He wrote:

“Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real.”

“Vital Awareness Unveiled”? THE CALL TO ONE’S NEED OF SELF-EXAMINATION! Is Jesus the Author and Finisher of Your Faith – and are you ready for Him to examine you? Felice De Giardini wrote an old Italian hymn entitled “Come, Thou Almighty King.” It says: “Come, Thou Almighty King, Help us Your name to sing, Help us to praise: Father, all glorious, Over all victorious, Come, and reign over us, Ancient of Days.

Come, Thou Incarnate Word, Gird on Your mighty sword, Our prayer attend; Come, and Your people bless, And give Your Word success; Spirit of holiness, On us descend.

Come, Holy Comforter, Your sacred witness bear In this glad hour: You who Almighty art, Now rule in every heart, And never from us depart, Spirit of power.

To the great One in Three Eternal praises be Hence evermore. His sovereign majesty May we in glory see, And to eternity Love and adore.” Amen?

CHAPTER EIGHT

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? PRAYERLESS LIFE –

PRAYERFUL LIBERATION”

How does a person examining a true disciple’s life and walk do so without the awareness of his prayer life and prayer ministry? Oh, I know: “By their fruits you shall know them,” but without that unveiling of his ‘work’ in the prayer closet one can come up with an exemplary report that doesn’t interpret the true disciple’s greater ministry – the ministry of intercessory prayer! I believe it was Oswald Chambers who once said, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer “is” the greater work.”

A ‘stalwart’ disciple’s life is not sustained in power and authority apart from the ministry of prayer. Stalwart means “strongly and stoutly built, sturdy, robust; strong and brave; valiant. Firm, steadfast, or uncompromising.” [That’s “The Random House Collegiate Dictionary”, Revised Edition, 1975!]

You know, if you’re a student of God’s Holy Word and you “feed” on His daily bread, that He teaches us the vital importance of “prayerful liberation”, not a prayerless life! As Paul was equipping the saints in Ephesus he wrote, Ephesians 6:13, about “taking up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” And then in Ephesians 6:18 he included in ‘the whole armor’, “praying always with all prayer and supplication for all the saints, and for me”, which is absolutely vital but only a part of one’s faithful prayer-life!

I was reminded again recently as I was reading in the Gospel of Luke, coming to Luke 18, and in the first five Verses the Lord Jesus spoke a parable of great, great significance. It says, Luke 18:1-5, “Then He spoke a parable to them, THAT MEN ALWAYS OUGHT TO PRAY AND NOT LOSE HEART, saying, “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary. And he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by continual coming she wears me out.”

Dare I tell you that Holy God is not troubled by your continual coming before Him in prayer but welcomes it? Didn’t Christ Jesus tell us in Luke 18:1, “Men always ought to pray and not lose heart”? Yet, many ‘lose heart’ to pray because the very heart of fleshly individuality is so strong, believing “I’m able”, that they seldom pray, except, maybe, in their desperate stage of failure, futility, and fear!

One of the sad stages of a spiritual journey is when a ‘mature’ (?) believer thinks that by his/her many, many prayers, Holy God should recognize how blessed He is to have such a strong ‘prayer’ on His team. Too many, still ‘fleshly’ disciples, consider God blessed by their exemplary prayer-life rather than them blessed by God’s inspiration for them to pray!

In fact, in John 16:23b-24, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing IN MY NAME. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

But many times a believer ask, ask, ask, ask – doesn’t receive because God operates from His throne of wisdom and understanding; if my asking violates Sovereign Will, God sovereignly does not answer! Often though it is a process of maturing, understanding, and acceptance of His holy time table. For example, my mother, after being divorced from my father for about ten years, re-married, and I had an unsaved step-father. Did I pray for Him? You better believe I did! I prayed for him for about 50 years (?), and six weeks before his 89^th birthday, as I visited him in the nursing facility, Frank said to me, my wife present also, “Farrell, I know all these many years that you’ve shared the Gospel story. Would you tell me one more time how I can be saved?”

I shared the gospel story with Frank Callaway, and he responded, “Farrell, would you help me to pray a sinner’s prayer?” I did – he did, and just before he died about six weeks later, the ladies in the facility said: “Farrell, Sue, what has happened to Frank? He is a totally changed man, even joining in Bible Study and prayer-time!” We told them, “Frank prayed to receive Christ as Lord and Savior of his life!” Glory! Yes, Glory Hallelujah!

And, day by day, as the spiritual journey continues, the Lord Jesus continues to say, “Lean not to your own understanding, but in all of your ways, (including prayer), acknowledge Me, give Me My rightful place on the throne of your heart – I’ll see and will answer your unselfish prayer!”

Do you remember the sisters, Martha and Mary, in John 11, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick? They sent to Jesus, Verse 3, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.” Verse 4 says, When Jesus heard that, He said, [Hasn’t even seen Lazarus at this point!], “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

John 11:5-6 tells us, Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Oh, but then in Verse 11 Jesus said to His disciples, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Dare I tell you that that ‘sleep of Lazarus’ was “The Sleep of Death”? Jesus said in Verse 14-15 to His disciples, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

It gets better, and especially as the sisters encounter Christ Jesus! John 11:21-27 we read, Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to Jesus, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Martha said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into this world.”

After several more Verses, in Verse 34, Jesus said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Jesus then, “Lord, come and see.” Verse 35 then says, “Jesus WEPT!” He wept over their sorrow, He wept over Lazarus’ suffering and pain and death, and He wept over those who experience death because of sin, and He wept over those who weep for whatever circumstance they find breaking their heart!

Beginning at Verse 38-44, we find the raising of Lazarus from the dead! Jesus prayed to the Father! [Isn’t that amazing to some folks – JESUS PRAYED!]. Then Jesus said, Verse 43, “Lazarus, come forth!” He was raised from the dead, graveclothes on, and Jesus said, “Loose him, and let him go.” But YOU, in your graveclothes of spiritual death and separation from Holy God, are unaware that He has stood before your tomb of spiritual death, called your name, “Come forth”, which you haven’t, and as a result, it tells me You’ve refused to hear, you’ve refused to see, and you continue on the self-made journey of doubt and unbelief!

Oh, but then in John 11:40, Jesus said to Martha, and to you and me, “Did I not say that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Doesn’t it awaken, excite, and point you to pressing in to see the glory of God? At the end of John 12, Verse 41, John wrote: “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.”

This Chapter heading? “Vital Awareness Unveiled”? PRAYERLESS LIFE – PRAYERFUL LIBERATION! Do YOU think Martha and Mary prayed? Did they pray for divine invasion of human need? Did they pray for one they loved deeply? Of course! They wanted divine help, the divine remedy, the divine Lord and Savior to come in where they were in the midst of their tragic sorrow and pain!

Is your life a “prayerless life”? In 1 Samuel 12:21-25 we read of, yes, spiritual tragedy for those who abandon prayer to Holy God. It says, “And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly (forsaking the prayer-life?), you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” Satan is so, yes, abusive, even in introducing to ‘believers’ the “incoming of craftiness”, even emphasizing the unimportance of prayer, except when you need something, but the devil doesn’t desire you praying to God because you love Him or needing a definite supply of Heaven’s glorious blessings!

Rather than, with Jesus, saying, “I have finished the work You’ve given Me to do,” far too many ‘followers’ do not know Whom they follow or why they follow, but they would be like a little child who’s glad his parent gave him some sweets to chew on!

Too often the prayerless life is evidence of carry-over forces from the natural life that really sees no need in asking God in prayer for ‘things,’ praying to Him because someone told you He likes to hear you pray, or void of the need to pray because the ‘self-sufficient’ life still has a hold! Didn’t Chambers once say, “It is not so true that ‘prayer changes things’ as that prayer changes “me” and I then, by the grace of God, become instruments of His change.” “God is abundantly able to do above all we ask or think!” When did that change?

In the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:5-13, we find our Lord’s ‘life-training’ of His true disciples! Jesus said: “And when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites. [“Play-actors!]. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.

Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen [Or “so be it!”].”

The Lord Jesus was, yes, passionately training and equipping His “new followers” in true “kingdom of God discipleship” on earth! Several vital considerations for YOUR mature, Christ-like prayer-journey!

In Matthew 5:48 I’m convinced our Lord is challenging disciples to “look to the Father as He truly has been, is, and always will be”: Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect – which means true disciples consider Who and What has gone before! In Luke 6:35-36 we read Jesus saying, “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” True disciples who faithfully pray only to be seen and heard by God? Are YOU a ‘son of the Most High?’

“When YOU pray?” Matthew 6:6, “but you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Do you understand that prayer is one of the most important things you do between you and your Heavenly Father – and it’s done not to be seen of men! [That doesn’t mean public prayer is ungodly – I don’t buy that for a minute!]. But spiritual intimacy between a disciple and His Master is a privileged and blessed relationship! That means: Shut out the distractions, shut out noise interference, shut out being judged by fleshly men as you pour out your heart and mind before Holy God, get still, quiet, resting in Him!

Biblical praying? It’s the power to understand His Resurrection Power, His judgmental power, His creative power, and His power, though reserved in the secret place, He can reward you openly as He reads your heart, mind, soul, and desires!

It’s the power released to proclaim a victorious witness of the Resurrected Christ! It’s the power released to live a holy life! In Romans 8:11-14 tells us, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh [That’s the “old man, old sin nature, old ways without Christ!]. For if you live according to the flesh you will die [and your ‘prayers?’ also!]; 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 of God, these are sons of God.” But the Spirit doesn’t lead you to pray? You can do it on your own?

It’s also power unveiled to see things happen, even mighty manifestations as the Spirit so desires! In 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 we read, “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”

I find it so amazing, as I approach my 80^th birthday as of June 12, 2016, that very little is made in this particular age of ‘the church’ of “Holy Spirit” helps! In Romans 8:26-27 we read of what should happen but not necessarily does happen: “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

It’s the power released as our Lord told us in John 16:12 of His appointment of the Holy Spirit for ‘Spirit-assistance’: In John 16:12-15 our Lord and Savior said, “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 [through YOU!], 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.”

The following hymn is from the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, [The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee], entitled “Holy Spirit, Faithful Guide,” by Marcus M. Wells. It says:

“Holy Spirit, faithful Guide, Ever near the Christian’s side; Gently lead us by the hand, Pilgrims in a desert land; Weary souls forever rejoice, While they hear that sweetest voice, Whispering softly, ‘Wanderer, come! Follow Me, I’ll guide you home.

Ever present, truest friend, Ever near God’s aid to lend, Leave us not to doubt and fear, Groping in the darkness drear; When the storms are raging sore, Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o’er, Whisper softly, ‘Wanderer, come! Follow Me, I’ll guide you home.”

When our days of toil shall cease, Waiting still for sweet release, Looking up to heaven in prayer, Joyful that our names are there: Fearing not the dismal flood, Pleading naught but Jesus’ blood, Whisper softly, “Wanderer, come! Follow Me, I’ll guide you home.”

Why not, right now, pray: “Holy Spirit, to you I yield, in my life for you build, The fullness of Christ’s Indwelling Life, through me forever overcoming life’s strife!” Amen?

CHAPTER NINE

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED?

BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?”

Aren’t you overwhelmed, overjoyed at times when you come across a particular Verse of Scripture, and you’re awed by what you read with a ‘fresh touch’ of Spirit-anointing?

1 Corinthians 15:10 tells us, “But by the grace of God I am what I am. And His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.”

Rather than ‘spiritual, perplexing, back-slapping’ before God because one thinks He ought to be overjoyed by who it is for Him to have on His team, meaning a proud, bloated, self-promoting, spiritual-world personal back-slapper, as if one’s own superior effort birthed his/her salvation and blessed His kingdom, all true believers should see themselves humbled before Holy God for His marvelous grace, mercy, and love given to a child of faith who has humbled himself/herself before the Cross!

I hope and pray your spiritual eyes are truly open as you witness what took place in Matthew 14:14-21, yes, beyond our Lord’s ability to feed five thousand men, plus women and children! Read carefully examining whether or not you see the difference He desires and can make in your own life and circumstances and opportunities! It says:

“And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” Jesus said, “Bring them here to Me.” [That’s, bring your five loaves and two fish.].

Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. [Multitudes? Would you think, maybe, 20,000-30,000 people?].

So they ALL ATE AND WERE FILLED, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those men who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

Don’t you find it so amazing, so encouraging, so uplifting, that our Lord took a natural need and turned it into a supernatural provision for those He cared about? And as He saw YOU, convicted YOU, called YOU to Himself, what was His intent, His plan, His worthy provision in you to help Him change the world around you? Was His call, “You’re filled up with what men need, join Me, and let’s change men’s hearts and minds,” or, “I see your emptiness – I want to fill you with My presence,” or, “I see no potential in you, therefore an empty vessel becomes My earthly tabernacle,” or, “I see your earthly wisdom certificates – let me wash them away by My blood so I can then invade a blood-bought container and express Myself through you!”

There’s a very strong prayer the Lord Jesus made, early in His three-year public ministry before the Cross. It’s Matthew 11:25-27! At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”

It’s very clear that Holy God knew, understood, and, yes, was broken-hearted over the unbelief of men toward Him AND over the ‘belief’ in some, yet, it did nothing for them except promote ‘religious pride’ without ‘life-change’ by the grace, mercy, and love of God!

I’ve written over Psalm 14, a psalm written by King David, the words: “A Fool’s Paradise”! Psalm 14 says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have abominable works, there is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

THEY HAVE ALL TURNED ASIDE, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, No, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the Lord?

There they are in great fear, for God is with the generation of the righteous. You shame the counsel of the poor, but the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.”

Early mankind, except for a few men touched and taken over by God, highlighted the fallen-away generation after generation, with Holy God then finding a Moses and an Aaron, and God speaking through them. In Exodus 20 Holy God unveiled the Ten Commandments , but I only highlight one here – Exodus 20:3 is Holy God declaring, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Other gods were fallen men’s creations to try and appease the guilt of their godless lives because they surely had no desire to believe in, trust, or obey the Eternal God of Creation and the God of the coming Cross they would learn about! Shed blood, to them, was an animal slain and the blood strewn over their ‘religious tables’ but certainly didn’t, couldn’t, wouldn’t be covering for their sin, sins, or sinful nature – they didn’t have one, they thought, because they were so religious!

Has our ‘modern world’ embraced or rebelled against Holy God? Are ‘major religions’ the imprint of Christ’s Resurrection Presence or ‘cheap imitations’ of devotion to the exalting of the ‘best’ humanity has to offer – and, “If your God, your Jesus can’t accept us in our interpretation of the best of fleshly man’s religion, let Him be crucified again, and we’ll put the nails in his hands and feet, and gleefully watch Him die again. So what?”

Modern-day humanity, as a whole, since Jesus said, “Few there be who find the Holy Way,” is a world still gripped in shame, but overcoming it by criticism of the True Faith, slurs on the Holy Bible, devalued as counterfeit declaring Himself Savior and Lord, “no divinity there – maybe a good man trying to make a difference in a Hell-bent world,” and “even His faith, of a conservative variety, was ‘narrow,’ obstinate to other religions, unyielding concerning compromise; and though there are millions across the world who acknowledge Him, our vast world denies His saving blood and even His purported resurrection. We’re religious – Jesus deceived the masses in His day.” Really?

Hear me! Paul the Apostle dealt Spirit-Anointed in heavenly brilliance when in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 he told us, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NOW all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, THAT IS, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He [God] made Him [Christ Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Glory!!

The man who says he has been reconciled to God and believes He[Jesus] became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, yet goes on sinning, is the man who hears Christ say to him, “Go and sin no more,” but takes pleasure in his lack of understanding that God the Father ‘made Jesus Christ the Son who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,’ which is religious unbelief parading as true spiritual understanding that professing Christians can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven someday, totally ignoring “death to self and life in and through the Indwelling Christ”!

Are you aware that 2 Corinthians 6:21 tells us, “For He (God) made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin FOR US [on the Cross], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him,” so some ‘sinning believers’ simply say, “So what? I believe even as I choose to sin,” which means their old sin nature is very much alive as they ‘celebrate’ their old sin nature and deny their “new creation life in Christ”!

Some preachers, teachers, even some ‘professing disciples’ teach that by Christ’s death on the Cross ‘for me’, I can go on sinning until I get to Heaven ‘out there,’ is not Biblical teaching anointed of the Spirit! But His Holy Word declares ‘death to the old sin nature’ and resurrection life in Him because I accept my death with Him and praise Him that my bondage to sin was broken, yes, put to death at the Cross, and by His grace I receive His gift to me of His very righteousness!

Are you even aware that in Psalm 4:1 that David sang to the Lord God Almighty, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness,”? Even in Isaiah 51:1 God spoke, “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord; [because there are those who want to walk in His fullness!]: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. [No doubt the pit of spiritual death, religious death, yes, sinful death!].

Oh, and then in Isaiah 51:7-8, we read, “Listen to Me, YOU WHO KNOW RIGHTEOUSNESS, you people in whose heart is My law; do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but MY RIGHTEOUSNESS will be forever, and My salvation from generation to generation.”

God said what? “MY RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL BE FOREVER”, except in modern-day churches where men perform as best as they can, never grasping that His righteousness is imparted through Christ, implanted by the very Seed of His Life, Death, and Resurrection, imploding the old sin nature as He releases Himself, the Divine Nature, in repentant hearts and faith in Truth, yes, imputing grace, mercy, and love fully by the ruling presence of His Indwelling Resurrection Life, because as Paul wrote in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; AND YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM, who is the head of all principality and power.” You’re not made ‘complete’ by what you do, but by WHAT JESUS DID IN YOUR PLACE ON THE CROSS!

Aren’t you awed, inspired, encouraged, uplifted, when you read Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:9, saying, “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”! That’s spiritual death in all men but raised to “new life” by Christ, and even with Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I DIE DAILY!”

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?” When one comes to Romans 5:17, what is he/she being discipled in? Performance or Position? Gritted or Graced? Trying or Trusting? Keeping, as best as one can, or Kept by the power of God? 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to HIS ABUNDANT MERCY has begotten us again to a living hope THROUGH THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does fade away, reserved in heaven for you, WHO ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF GOD through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?” Are you overwhelmed, awed, uplifted, motivated, Kept by the power of God? Romans 8:35-39 inspires us, Paul saying, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?” Poor confession or rich profession? Bankrupt confession or enriched by God confession? Penniless confession or Prince of Peace confession? In 1 Timothy 6:11-16, the Apostle Paul trains, equips, inspires, and illuminates the heart and mind of young Timothy, telling him: “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen, or “so be it!” Is He the “Amen” of YOUR life??

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?” The Eternal Truth of God unveiled or the eternal nakedness of man’s deception appealed by the faithless? Our fallen, faithless world must be constantly reminded that man’s view of truth falls away from God, while the Crucified, Resurrected Christ of Eternal Truth leads us to God! “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life! No one comes to Father-God but through Me!”

Dare I tell you? Christ Jesus IS the “Highway of Holiness”! In Isaiah 35:8-10 the prophet unveils the glory of our Lord and the excellency of our God. “A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not Passover it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

There’s an old, old hymn by Fanny J. Crosby and Mrs. J.F. Knapp in the 1940 Baptist Hymnal, published by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, entitled, “Blessed Assurance” that never grows old really. It says:

“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight; Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy, Whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest; Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.”

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? BESTOWED GRACE – BLESSED VICTORY?” Fleshly faith that always falls short or Eternal Faith in Christ’s “finished work” that always leads one in blessed confidence and eternal assurance because of ‘perfect submission’, not my will but His will be done in and through one’s daily walk! Have you grasped as yet that “kingdom living” under His Lordship is present and future, while some process ‘in Christ’ as future without consideration of Christ-honoring life in the here and now!

Sorry, but I don’t see Revelation 21 as ‘future’ but Kingdom Living Now! John wrote, Verses 21:1-8, “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away [Crucified WITH Christ!”]. Also there was no more sea [or “separation”!]. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, THE TABERNACLE OF GOD IS WITH MEN, [“You are the holy tabernacle or Temple of the Resurrected, Indwelling Christ!”], and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things are passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are faithful and true. He said to me, “It is done!” “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [And that’s the eternal death that never dies for the Christless lives, even the ‘religions’ (?) of the world!].

You don’t gain ‘merit’ for eternity as you “try your best” – one’s “FAITH” is in mercy through the grace of God, birthing Christ’s eternal, indwelling, Resurrection Life! One’s hope is in Him – not his/her self-will or self-determination! The question from Holy God will be, “What then did YOU do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” Are YOU the “illumined temple” of His indwelling in you through your faith alone in His finished work at the Cross and your old man of sin crucified with Him – and NOW you celebrate daily your death with Him and YOUR resurrection to “new life” through Him? The eternal is Now, not when or if you get to Heaven someday!

I was shocked when I read recently a statement by Augustine. In his “Letter 130” he actually wrote: “The sole purpose of life in time is to gain merit for life in eternity.” The sole purpose of life in the here and now is to gain the mercy of God through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross, which without, one misses mercy and continues his messes in Hell! There is no merit for life in eternity ignoring the Cross! Or ignoring Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

A best-effort, self-constructed life, even with its ‘stained glass windows of self-improvement’, doesn’t house the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords! Jesus said, “You must be born again!”

CHAPTER TEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? ONE LEGISLATOR – ONE LORD”

Have you ever sought to write for yourself your own ‘life agenda’? Some would say, “I live by the bread I produce day by day, though as far as the inner, spiritual part of me is concerned, who cares?” Or, “I live by the good fleshly deeds I do – what’s this ‘living by the life of another’? – I choose me, my, mine!” Others would say, “I live in my ‘dream world’ – fairy tale living is as good as it comes!” Or, “The beginning, means, and end of all things, is that I tried to do my best.” Or, “The ruling reason of my life is, “just do what makes YOU happy – who cares what others or some God has to say!”

Think with me about fallen humanity as we will eventually consider “One Legislator – One Lord”! But as we look to fallen humanity, fallen away from God, fallen from God’s intent in man’s creation, fallen away from the need of “blood redemption”, what is it men settle for? Well, “Certainly for my view, no consideration of what some call immortality – let me spend or expend my life’s resources for myself in the here and now; why consider what’s after death?” “Me? Whatever pumps my flesh and satisfies my glands, what else matters?” Or, “What’s the problem with a useless life? I’m my own man and ought to satisfy my own lusts!” Or, “I’ll spin the web of my own life on my own terms. Who cares what God’s intent was?” And fallen men have no clear understanding that the mind of fallen men, alienated and separated from Holy God, is an evil life of unbelief, with God’s Holy Word declaring in Genesis 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

MAN WITHOUT GOD! And, yes, in early Genesis we see “the beginning of the unveiling” of God’s grace, mercy, and love! But even with that view of God, there are those who dim the mind to the Light of God, sear and steel the conscience with indifference toward God’s Word written and viewed in and through Emmanuel, God in the flesh, dim their hearts toward the Cross, the suffering, the death of Christ on the Cross in their behalf, as totally unimpressive: “What a foolish man!” they say.

MAN WITHOUT GOD? The majority of fallen men have no true or abiding consciousness of God, though some men will acknowledge but sense no need of Him because they are ‘god unto themselves’! Many are so stale, stoic, selfish, sin-sick, superior to any idea of God or need of repentance before their Creator. Plus, godless men, and women, birth family victims, family dis-function, disgrace, and despair, family separation, family sorrow and abuse, resentment, anger, disgust, accusations after accusations, dislike with an “I hate you” stance of relationships, followed by a disloyal pledge of bitterness! And without loving God as their hope and help, they live unfulfilling lives with no fulfilling relationships and rewards because they have no place in their hearts for a sacrificial, serving, selfless love!

MAN WITHOUT GOD? Are you aware most men exalt selfish imaginations, and really, anything or anyone that exalts himself/herself against the knowledge of God? They know zero about deliverance from sin and death, but celebrate in it, totally unaware of seeing a natural life birthed by God into a spiritual life that exalts and honors Him – with rich and eternal rewards! They possess no sense of innocence before Holy God and man because they are guilty, live in guilt, and try to cover it any way they can – which never happens apart from the shed blood of Christ as Emmanuel, “God with them.”

MAN WITHOUT GOD? Captives in their own souls, minds, wills, unaware of “the wages of unrighteousness”, walking in the counsel of the ungodly, drawing iniquity with cords of vanity like a cart with no wheels, famished souls with no true ‘bread of life’ or ‘water’ of the Word and the Spirit, living in rejection to the Law of the Lord of hosts, despising the Living Word, the Holy One of Israel, without knowing their life choices ‘stricken them’, and ‘the walking dead’ are like the carcasses of refuse in the very middle of a “Hollywood-like Boulevard” with their banners flying over every unbelieving life: “Unbeliever, and proud of it,” not knowing, Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall,” fall after fall after fall, deeper and deeper and deeper in the grips of a hellish devil, and eternal destruction that never fades or dies away!

MAN WITHOUT GOD? Alienated, separated, enslaved, deceived, enticed violaters of the Word and Will and Ways of God, being swallowed by the bad breath of Sheol, greedy for gain anyway, anytime, anywhere, with anyone, disdaining of counsel and eternal help, loving the darkness without any Light, delighting in the perversity of the wicked, devious to gain the upper hand and unearned wealth and unrewarding consequences, “just so I can have my way in all things”!

MAN WITHOUT GOD? Proverbs 6:16-19 says: “These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.”

MAN WITHOUT GOD? That’s the one or many or masses that ignore Christ Jesus, inspire lustful living, betray the Holy Word, bow before “scientific discoveries” more than to the Lord God who created them, resistant to governorship of the Lord Jesus who loves them far more than they know how to ‘love’ themselves, so in love with the perversions out of the selfish hearts of men they had just rather crucify the King of kings and Lord of lords and bow unto their sin natures, God-less ideals, and their lives governed by “flesh” alienations than Holy Spirit birthing!

MAN WITHOUT GOD? Proverbs 27:6 expose so much about the nature and character of our fallen world. It says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy [toward God and YOU] are deceitful.” Can you grasp that? But, not only the deception of one’s enemies, including the devil and his appointed demons, how easy is it for unreconciled, unrighteous, unbelieving, ungodly men and women, even youth and children, to be encouraged toward rebellion against God rather than submission to His eternal Way and ways? For far too many “blood redemption” by the Lamb of God is unreality, unnatural, and unnecessary!

MAN WITHOUT GOD? It was John Greenleaf Whittier, in his writing, “A Sabbath Scene,” who said: “Foul shame and scorn be on you all Who turn the good to evil, and steal the Bible from the Lord and give it to the devil.” Of course, though, we don’t have to worry about that in this ‘modern-day’, do we?

Are you familiar with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s writings? One is entitled “The Cry of the Human,” and in it she wrote: “There is no God,” the foolish saith, But none, “There is no sorrow”: And nature oft the cry of faith In bitter need will borrow.

Eyes, which the preacher could not school, By wayside graves are raised; And lips say, “God be pitiful,” Who never said, “God be praised.” Does that still ‘fit’ in an unbelieving state of life and mind today?

Many unbelieving men will question true believers at times, “How can you believe in God?” And only true wise men of faith stand to say, “I examine the billions of planets He designed, then the awesome people He created, lost, and re-birthed – and I rejoice, thank, and praise His Holy Name,” which now leads us to examine, “Vital Awareness Unveiled? One Legislator – One Lord!”

Taking a look at the nation enslaved in Egypt yet liberated by Holy God and given “a land of promise”, Israel is or was the recipient of God’s faithfulness yet there came a time that most of Israel, except the remnant, abandoned God and promoted ‘religion’ without a personal relationship!

In Joshua 24:14-15 we see the challenge that is just as true today as it was in Joshua’s day imprinting the call to turn to the “True Legislator and the Only Redeeming Lord”! Joshua said, “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, [any different Word for today in our service to the King of kings and Lord of lords?], and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. SERVE THE LORD! [Unless you’re content with enslavement to your old sin nature and your ‘fleshly faith’!].

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Self-legislation – self-rule or One Legislator – One Lord whose name is Christ Jesus, the Promised Messiah? Flesh domination – flesh damnation or Christ Rule – Christ’s Reign? Wicked thoughts – wicked separation or Divine Truths – Divine Oneness? Seared consciences – sickened life or New Ruler – New life, new hope, new peace, new rejoicing, new awakened consciences accountable to Holy God!

Formerly self-righteous thinking is transformed by the grace and mercy of God through Christ’s shed blood, and having repented, a man of faith begins to say daily, “Lord, what would YOU have me to do?” And what excuse do “born-again believers”, who have died to the old man and old sin nature and been indwelt by “Christ who is our life”, have? Were YOU crucified with Christ? Does Christ live in you? Do you scripturally possess now “the mind of Christ”? Are you a recipient, now owner, of the Glorious Word of God called the Holy Bible, yes His instruction manual on living the overcoming, never-ending, victorious life of Christ who is more than conqueror? As YOUR liberator, He’s your educator, legislator, yes, the Lover of your soul, your mind, and should be, your will, your wisdom, your warrior of overcoming faith!

Dare I tell you that the “mind of God in Christ” is omnipotent, omnipresent, all-wisdom, all-Truth, all understanding, all-love, all-seeing, all-knowing – Emmanuel, “God in the flesh”, King of kings, Lord of lords, Who desired to make YOUR life the residence of His abiding presence, YOUR life His earthly extension, His heavenly expression, and His Kingdom throne which is righteousness, peace, joy, and the fullness of Holy Spirit anointing, guidance, illumination of what He is all about in touching the world around you with eternal desires, directions, disciplines, discernments, and destiny!

Are you so diseased in mind and heart that God’s eternal plan may be for others, but not you? Have you been so alienated from Holy God so long, and witnessed the death sentences being lived out around you by family, friends, and fellow-unbelievers, that for YOU it is beyond even considering that if you were the only man/woman, teenager, child, to ever live, “how could I, (we), them, my closest family and friends, ever consider the audacious Truth, if it is true, that the Crucified, Resurrected, Reigning Christ, chose me, us, to establish His earthly residence and reign?” And it’s TRUE!

Hear me! Romans 3:23-26 declares for us all, all human residents on earth, yes, worldwide: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Justified? By grit or by grace? By self-effort or Sovereign provision? “Justified”? Working for it or resting in our Lord’s finished work at the Cross?

Romans 5:17 declares the repentant heart, forgiven, washed in the blood, surrendered to His earthly throne IN the “blood-washed life”, filled with His Holy Spirit and His abiding Presence, teaches us about the Royal, Residing, Reigning Christ in and through every true born-again believer! It says: “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, MUCH MORE those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Glory! Glory be to God!

Have YOU ever considered, searched out, rested in God’s eternal revelation of one’s true identity “in Him,” “in Christ”, “in the blood-bought family of God”?

Genesis 15:1, “Do not be afraid, Farrell Fisher; I AM your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Genesis 17:2-4, Loving God expanded Abram’s vision and His desire for YOU! “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.” But the powers of darkness tell you, “But that couldn’t be YOU!?”

How many do you know that, like Jacob, had a dream as Holy God revealed Himself more and more THROUGH A DREAM?!? In Genesis 28:15-17 we read: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!” Have YOU EVER SEEN YOUR LIFE AS THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE GATE OF HEAVEN?

Oh, it gets deeper, richer, more awe-inspiring! In Genesis 35:10-12 we read: And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. Also God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from your body. The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”

Do YOU read the Word discovering Holy God’s true identity and how He identifies you under His watch-care? In Exodus 3:14-15 it gets richer and, yes, even more rewarding! And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus YOU shall say to the children of Israel, (to the children of the U.S.A. and worldwide!), “I AM has sent me to you.” Moreover God said to Moses (and to Farrell Fisher!), “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” Even your generations in America and beyond?

Are you awed when you learn it is God’s eternal desire to set YOU apart as He did ‘the chosen of Israel’? In Exodus 31:13 He identifies “My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout all generations, that YOU may know that I AM the Lord who sanctifies YOU [or sets YOU apart for His honor, glory, and praise!!].”

All through the Word Holy God is reminding people: “I AM the Lord your God,” yet many of the Israelites fell away! And He confronts, convicts, convinces that “I AM the Lord your God who brought YOU out of a deceived world, like Egypt, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE,” with the command, “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

If you’ve never known, it’s so vital that you ‘rest’ in His eternal truths and Truth this very moment! In Psalm 46 David sang: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling,” with Verses 10-11 challenging us, “Be still, and know that I AM GOD; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The question? Is He exalted in YOU and YOURS?

And, the New Testament doesn’t speak to YOU about “the Great I Am”? How familiar are you with Matthew 11:28-30? Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” yet He bore the sins of all fallen humanity on the Cross!

Really now, just how spiritually hungry are you? If so, in John 6:35, Jesus says to us, “I AM the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” But the ‘fleshly thirsty’ keep looking and looking but never find “True Bread” or “Living Water”, and wander in spiritual darkness and deception, but the Lord Jesus Christ said then and now in John 8:12, “I AM the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

The Lord Jesus said in John 14:6, “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me;” and was it John Wimber who used to ask? “Christ Jesus: Lord, liar, or lunatic?” I’m telling you: Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith. “Jesus is Emmanuel, ‘God with us,’”; Jesus is the “True Vine”; our Lord said, “I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to] Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Christ Jesus IS Alpha and Omega, Christ Jesus IS the Bright and Morning Star, Christ Jesus IS the root of all “New-Born, Spirit-filled lives”, Christ Jesus is the Eternal Bridegroom who says to His Bride, “Forsake all, and follow Me!”

It was Oswald Chambers, in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [pps.200-201], who wrote about the Lord’s statement in Mark 10:21, “One thing you lack…come, take up your cross, and follow Me.” Chambers wrote: “The rich young ruler had the master passion to be perfect. When he saw Jesus Christ, he wanted to be like Him. Our Lord never puts personal holiness to the fore when He calls a disciple. He puts absolute annihilation of my right to myself and identification with Himself – a relationship with Himself in which there is no other relationship.” Jesus doesn’t ‘fit in’ – He takes over the “crucified life” and resurrects it in His fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

What did Paul tell us 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 [or fleshly body!] 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…”!

This is why in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul wrote: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new!”

“New Birth”, “New Life,” “New Hope,” “New Day Dawning,” “New Glory,” “New Help,” “New Heaven on Earth, “New Dwelling Place – Eternal in the Heavens,” “New Helps,” “New Confidence and Assurance,” “New Work,” “New Spirit” coming upon every new born-again believer!

New words recently given – I pray they inform, inspire, and introduce the Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, more and more:

“A new-born person, blessed even in the midst of strife, conquers by the Peace Christ brings through His Resurrection Life.

Though trouble may come to new creations, Christ blesses that life by His invasion; storm-clouds may cover, but He rules over whatever may come whether dust-like or clover!

Holy Presence of Resurrection blessing, storms and troubles become sure of His place and resting. No wind so strong, no storm so severe – His Presence assures they go to the rear!

“Peace I leave with you, peace I give unto you,” and every trouble becomes His personal conquering; battles extreme, wars so brutal, but love so sweet and peace so enduring!

Christ-less lives can mindfully enjoy a man-made journey like a child with a toy; temporary distraction, but no eternal satisfaction – made for God but buried in the sod, no understanding, not even a nod.

Restricted in true love, no peace of the dove; striving in flesh to the best of one’s effort; void of the blessing of God’s restoration, never considering their final destination.

Void of life, they live in death; void of His love, they live with hesitations; so unsure if the journey of life can live with the strife – knowing for certain, without Him there is nothing pertinent!

But workers of faith and conquerors over self have a reverence of life no one can deny; heroic in spirit, they walk in a world so void of faith, they watch as a world enthrones its self, slumbering daily, no faith in God, just waiting soon to be buried in earth’s sod.

Denying self, there’s no desire to be called up for hire; there one ambition becomes, for them, God’s desire! No reverence for self or put on a shelf, they cry to God, “Lord, what should I do to honor You and fulfill Your plan, as You scope around us, and design our walk, hearing Your voice and learning how we should talk!”

Touching our world with Your peace and grace, we offer our lives to redeem the race, of godless men and devil inspired, “God, help us to be able to say, ‘by our witness, Your desire has graciously transpired’; Men have repented, fully consented, to follow our Lord, blessedly contented, at peace with our Lord, no longer bored, but divinely inspired to live our lives to His glory and honor, fully at peace through His Indwelling Spirit, newly born, gloriously saved, laying down our lives, others are born no longer torn, but now daughters and sons heavenly born!” Does His Word speak of “One Legislator – One Lord”? Of course! It does!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? VOID OF GOD’S WORD OR VICTORY THROUGH GOD’S WORD?”

In Hebrews 4:12 we read: “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…”. Have you ever considered that you as a believer are to be guided by God’s Holy Word? Being united WITH Christ in your heart, soul, and mind, is it in the fabric of your redemption of “be being saved” by your devotion to His Holy Word? Is it possible that in your “wedding vows” with Christ you omitted “devoted to His Word and His will”?

Is it in you as it was with King David as he wrote in Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day,” but you know nothing or little of the daily devotion of His Word to be personally taught day by day by the King of kings and Lord of lords?

“Your will be done” but you never daily yield yourself to discover His will, His ways, His directive word, but you settle in, “I’m saved; that’s all that I need to know?” I believe that I read in Psalm 25:12, “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He chooses.” And God’s choice? Matthew 4:4, But He [Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, Promised Messiah, Lord of lords, King of kings!], answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” “God said…”, but that is not essential to your professed faith?

I would challenge you as you’re reading this to evaluate your “saving experience” in Christ if you are void of His Word! So-called “religious experiences” that never leads one to His “revelation” and a hunger to know His will and His Word absolutely frightens me! If one has been “born again”, I believe one of the evidences is “that we might KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God,” [1 Corinthians 2:12].

To his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I look upon God’s revelation of divine truth in both the Old and New Testaments as magnificent promises for maturing men and women, boys and girls, who have come to Him in true repentance and redemptive faith.

It was Peter who told us in 2 Peter 1:2-4, “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.”

Tell me about your reception daily (in comparison to three square meals a day of physical bread!) through God’s Holy Word of His “exceedingly great and precious promises,” of your daily discovery and acquired knowledge of “the things freely given to us by God,” yes, and your appropriation of His truths that show YOU the “escaping [of] the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Do you remember Abraham’s servant, sent by Abraham to find a bride for his son Isaac? In Genesis 24:48 the servant speaks: “And I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me IN THE WAY OF TRUTH to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.” Thank God for His servants who are “led in the way of truth!”

In Mark 4 Jesus had been explaining His parables to the new disciples. Verses 33-34 tell us, “And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” [Have YOU asked Him to explain to YOU His Word?]. The very desire of Jesus for you right now is that you listen TO Jesus and LET HIM “explain all things in the Word to you” by the Holy Spirit who “guides us into all truth.” In John 16:13-14 our Lord told His disciples, “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.” The Holy Spirit is Heaven’s personal “Tutor” in the Holy Word of God!!

But haven’t you heard it? “I don’t need a personal “Tutor” to teach me the Bible! I don’t accept the Bible as the authoritative Word of God – I’m smart enough in myself, in this world’s wisdom, – to sense there is no divine truth as there is no ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ – find a brain-dead ‘christian’ and you’ll probably fool THEM – not me!” And if you haven’t learned it yet in your classrooms or from any university professors who see themselves as smarter than God Himself, they believe, by human interaction you will learn that the most harmful ‘curse’ in life’s spiritual realm is belief in God’s Holy Word when they believe ‘smart men’ are wiser in intellectual superiority, even personal pride, and superior to Jesus Himself who IS Emmanuel, “God in Flesh”!

Have you ever examined thoroughly Jesus’ passionate prayer in John 17 for you and for all mankind as He described “grace” as that which reveals Him, and then He UNVEILS “eternal life” by His “grace”? John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You [God Himself], the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom You sent.” Oh, and then in Verse 17 Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Sancitfy? “Set them apart,” “save them, redeem them, declare them ‘holy’ by Your Word”!! As Josh MacDowell used to say of Jesus, as I’ve quoted before of Jesus: “Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

But “void of the Word of God” men will, at least some, profess a mental knowledge of Him but never experience “victory in Him through His eternal Word”! Oswald Chambers wrote in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” []p.4], “Natural devotion may be all very well to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His fascination, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will always deny Jesus somewhere or other.” What did the Lord Jesus tell us in John 3:3-7?

Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “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 [that’s the “water” of the Word!], 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.’” All believers, true believers, born again believers, will face worldly and satanic opposition to their true faith, but Paul tells all unbelievers in Ephesians 6:10-19,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take 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 – And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.”

Natural mankind poses fierce opposition to Jesus because , in their natural minds, are “void of the Word of God” and have no heavenly understanding. Even the early disciples like Philip had a hard time understanding who Jesus was and what He was about. Look at John 14:7-11! “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I AM in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Natural mankind is void, opposed, and ‘willfully’ resists Biblical Truth that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Natural mankind is highly opposed to Biblical Truth that says “obedience to Jesus is required: as evidence of a born-again life”, even when Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN.” In fact, in Luke 6:46, Jesus said: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?” Obedience is not an option in the age of grace but is the evidence grace is at work in you finishing its work in you and through you!

We do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that not all of Israel was “lost” because of rejection of the coming of the Promised Messiah – there was a ‘remnant’! But Romans 10:21 says, But to Israel he says, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” And even as “Jews” there are those who lived in the “natural”, yes, fully opposed to “saved by grace”! Natural mankind are those who are “a disobedient and contrary people” who have no desire to live by the Life of Another, even by Emmanuel, “God in flesh”!!

Natural mankind does not “know” Father-God or the Son of God or the Holy Spirit, yes, the THREE IN ONE!! We ALL came into this world through “fallen Adam”, yes, “hiding from God, without hope in ourselves, or hope in each other” – we needed a miracle of God!

In John 17:25-26 Jesus prayed, “O righteous Father, THE WORLD HAS NOT KNOWN YOU, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the Love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Yes, Jesus prayed for YOU and ME that God’s love would capture our minds and hearts and wills, drawing us out of the land of darkness of unbelief to the “Promised Land” of heavenly living on earth through His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

“Void of the Word of God”? I pray that you have not set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews! In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read, “God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

But those who are “void of the Word of God,” “void of Christ Himself”, willfully shut the door to His saving grace and mercy and have no seat in the heavenly places! Read carefully Ephesians 2:4-7! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS, that in the ages to come “HE MIGHT SHOW” the exceeding riches in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

“Void of the Word of God”? That’s those blinded by the world, the flesh, and the devil! It’s why in Galatians 6:7-8 Paul tells us: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh [that’s his old sin nature, old man, First Adam] will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit [of God] will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

“Void of the Word of God”? Are you aware of the “stumblers”? Peter told us in 1 Peter 2:8, “…they stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” God Himself read their hearts and appointed them to their just reward, yes, because of a mental, willful, head and heart rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I think it vitally important to have you read 1 Corinthians 1:18-31!! Receive it for yourself: “For the message [or word] of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe, Where is the disputer [debater] of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh [First Adam, old sin nature], should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” Foolishness of men ‘void of the Word’ OR victory through the Word because we “glory” only in the finished work of Christ “At The Cross” living a celebratory life because of His Resurrection from the dead?

How about for you an eternal shift by the grace of God to “Victory Through His Word”? In 1 John 5:4-5 John tells us: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And THIS IS THE VICTORY that overcomes the world – our faith. [Our trust in Christ, our relying upon Christ, our total dependence upon Christ through His shed blood, His death, His Resurrection, His Ascension, and His soon coming to celebrate with Him eternally!!]. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

I’m forever sorry and broken that ‘religious’ people never see Jesus in heaven but only at the Judgment Seat as He tells them, “Depart from Me, you who work iniquity!!”

But “born of God”? Are you familiar with Galatians 1:15-16? “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me..” What an awesome revelation!

Do you remember what Jesus said in John 5:38-40? “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

There are those who will “read” the Word without “resting” in its Author. There are professors of allegiance to the ‘paper’ of the Book but fail to possess its Author and His Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope! There are ‘historical verifiers’ without “blood-bought, redeemed hearts”! And certainly there are devoted legalists without the Person and heavenly love of the Lord.

The Holy Word tells us: 2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But you MUST continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Have YOU been “made wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus alone”? What did Paul tell us in Romans 5:10? “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [“being”] saved by His life.” Have you forgotten or never learned, “justified by His blood”?

The author of Hebrews put it like this in Hebrews 9:11-14, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

If your life is not a testimony of continuous rejoicing in God for His forgiveness and, yes, forgetfulness of your old sin nature and your pattern and participation in fleshly sins, I believe I would seriously examine what I “thought” was my salvation and what God Himself “says” it is!

Hebrews 10:12-14 tells us, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Your sin became His “pain,” your pain became His suffering, His suffering became your freedom, and your freedom became the theme of your praise to your true Savior and Lord! So you take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of your Lord and Savior may be manifested in and through you for an unbelieving world to see and seek!

Have you forgotten, overlooked, or never seen Paul’s word to us in Galatians 5:24? “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” so,…Verse 25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? EXPERIENCING THE POWER OF

THE PROMISED, PRECIOUS HOLY SPIRIT!”

It’s amazing to me that many write or speak or preach or teach about “evangelical spirituality” and totally ignore or try to refute the words of Jesus Himself about “wait for the promise of the Father,” which relates to the “anointing, enduement, filling, or baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

In no way do I ignore, make light of, or substitute “the Gospel of Christ which is the Power of God Unto Salvation,” for a “power” that pumps my “flesh.” But I do recognize in my ‘flesh’ an inability to fulfill the “good, acceptable, and perfect will of God” through my walk as a disciple in the best energy of my flesh without His Promise of Holy Spirit anointing and empowering!

If my Savior “fills All in All,” I hunger for the “ALL” filling me so that HIS ALL is fulfilled through me! If “wait” was among Jesus’ last words for His disciples then, I’m asking, is that “wait” relevant for NOW?

I know there is redemptive power in the Gospel of Christ, but I also know about a released power in the Holy Spirit given His rightful, reigning presence in your life and mine.

The question of Paul to the Ephesian followers in Acts 19 is urgent for today: “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (Acts 19:2), And they responded in verse 3, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

I have no hesitation in saying to you that “the counterfeit of consecration” is a believer’s life lived independently of the awesome anointing of the Holy Spirit, evidenced by no true Godly freedom or fullness or “fire in my bones”!

Disciples with uninformed lives about the necessity of the Holy Spirit anointing never experience the unrivaled, unlimited power of God released through their lives.

In Galatians 3:3 Paul asked a vitally important question: “…Having begun in the Spirit (that’s “born of the Spirit” in the second birth), are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Much of the ‘churchianity’ of today is a ‘cosmetic covering’ without the reality of Spirit-anointing and empowerment! Maybe, “a cheap imitation”?

Paul was so on target when in 2 Timothy 3:5 he spoke of “having a form of godliness but denying its power,” which is why Samuel Chadwick once wrote: “A religion of mere emotion and sensationalism is the most terrible of all curses that can come upon any people. The absence of reality is sad enough, but the aggravation of pretense is a deadly sin.”

Are we willing to settle for our impotence when there is the reality of His omnipotence? Are disciples of today content to stand at our Lord’s tomb or to walk through the doors of the power of Pentecost? Are we asleep on pillows of indifference or standing at the pillars of divine enabling? Are we “mesmerized spectators” or mounted on the wings of Holy Ghost anointing?

It was Isaiah who sadly said, (Isaiah 64:7), “And there is no one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You…” God help us that we not be men and women who do not stir themselves up to take hold of His promised anointing, but that we be truly men and women God-graced, God-gripped, God-galvanized in the fullness of His Holy Spirit! How do we experience that power of His promised, precious Holy Spirit?

FIRST OF ALL, God’s Word is so very clear – HE IS NO RESPECTOR OF PERSONS! AND IF HE FILLS ONE, IT’S HIS DESIRE TO FILL ALL! Come to Acts 10:38! “…how God ANOINTED Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Don’t you find it amazing that the Son of God who became the Son of Man, Emmanuel – “God in flesh” – received and experienced God’s anointing “with the Holy Spirit and with power”? And there’s a reason or explanation: In Philippians 2:7 Paul said Jesus “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men…” the NASB says “emptied Himself.”

John 17 explains the “emptying” so there could be in His life God’s FILLING! Verse 2, “no authority” – but God gave it to Him. Verse 5, “no glory” – but God glorified the Son. Verse 6, “no disciples” – but the Father gave Him His disciples. Verse 8, “no words” – but God gave Him the very words to speak.

In John 17:18 Jesus said, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” Jesus chose to be totally dependent upon all the Father is so He could appropriate all the Father has! And by His example, we are to be dependent disciples anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit and power just as Jesus was!

John 5:19 says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do…” Verse 30 says the same thing, “I can of Myself do nothing!” But we believe we can? No, as the Father anointed Jesus, so He is to anoint us. RECEIVE THE ANOINTING!

SECOND, YOU BEGIN TO EXPERIENCE THAT POWER WHEN YOU CLEARLY UNDERSTAND, “IT IS THE WILL OF GOD!” Come to Ephesians 5:17-18. Receive! “Therefore do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, BUT BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.”

The Holy Spirit is the generating Spirit of Divine Life! In Romans 8:11 Paul wrote, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Flesh effort is a futile possibility of honoring our Lord through our walk, but Spirit-anointing, which is God’s will for each of us, fills us full of faith, fire, and power. It’s the will of God!

In his book, “Rent Heaven,” R.B. Jones wrote, “A few years ago a warm current called El NinA, which ususally comes before Christmas, swept southward along the west coast of South America in greater volume than ever before. I brought with it torrential showers, which visited parts of South America which had not known rain since the year 1551. El Nina turned thousands of miles of desert into paradise in an incredibly short time, as it caused millions of hardy seeds which had lain dormant in the ground through decades of drought to sprout and grow with incredible vigor.”

And God’s will? It’s for a spiritual El Nina in your barren life, if it is, germinating divine seeds of Life through you “with incredible vigor.” IT’S THE WILL OF GOD!!

THIRD, EXPERIENCING GOD’S POWER COMES ALSO AS AN ANSWER TO INTERCESSORY OR PERSONAL PRAYERS! In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His grace, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.”

Do you remember Jesus saying, “You have not because you ask not?” And sadly many walk in spiritual futility about dynamic service to our Lord because they are prayerless or have no one praying in their behalf. If it is the will of God that we be filled with the Holy Spirit, do we really believe if we pray to that end He’ll not answer? I don’t think so. PRAY TRUSTING, PRAY BELIEVING, PRAY REJOICING!

It was not only God’s will for Paul but for all disciples to know and experience the anointing. And Romans 15:29 says, Paul speaking, “But I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ.”

The Ephesian Christians hadn’t heard of the Holy Spirit, but Acts 19:6 tells us, “And when Paul laid hands on them (without praying? I don’t think so!), the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

FOURTH, THERE IS, YES, THE NECESSITY OF SHOWING UP FOR “THE FIGHT”! Look carefully with me at Galatians 5:16-17, and Verses 24-25!

Verses 16-17, “I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

And then Verses 24-25 tells us: “And those WHO ARE CHRIST’S HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Drew Bennett is a Presbyterian Pastor, Reformed, in Winter Haven, Florida. Drew used to travel with me to India, and on one occasion I remember him using ‘the Spirit and flesh’ as “two dogs in a fight.” Which one is stronger? And Drew said, “Feed one and starve the other.”

It is imperative that, if we walk in the fullness of God’s Spirit, it is because we’ve starved that doggish ‘flesh’ spirit that wants to dominate. And to be gut-level honest, I don’t believe there is a true “Spirit-filled life,” even if one speaks in tongues, while at the same time that one walks with an unbridled flesh life, professing without possessing “the fruit of the Spirit”!

In Romans 8:12-14 we read, “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (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 of God, they are sons of God.”

Let’s reverse those last three Verses. “Who Are The Sons Of God? 1) They are those led by the Spirit of God! 2) They are putting to death, by the Spirit, the deeds of the body or ‘flesh’! 3) And, they understand no debt to their old sin natures and long for the Holy Life of the Spirit and its fullness in them!

FIFTH, WE EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AS, IN TUNE WITH CHRIST, WE RESIST TEMPTATION AND REFUSE TO ENTERTAIN SATAN! Luke 4:1-14 is so vital to our understanding of this Victorious, Spirit-Anointed Walk! [Patience, please!]:

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they were ended, He was hungry.

And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”

Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. For it is written: “He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You,” and, “In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

THEN Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through the surrounding region.”

If you look at Verse 22 of Luke 3, after Jesus’ baptism, “the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Jesus…!!” Chapter 4, Verse 1 says, “Then Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Verse 2, being tempted by the devil for forty days.”

Was that a test God allowed in the life of His Son? We are all tested – and we are all tempted! But Jesus resisted! Hebrews 4:15 says of Jesus, “…in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Then Hebrews 4:16 follows, “LET US therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”

Grace to help? That’s the Holy Spirit! Now, come back to Luke 4:13-14, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until a more opportune time…THEN (when?) Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit t6o Galilee…”

I have no reservation in saying to you His resistance brought a mighty release of power in Jesus’ walk and ministry! Though filled with the eternal reservoir of Holy Ghost power, the release came because He refused to entertain Satan’s temptation, choosing to honor His Father!

Do you know my concern for believers and their relationship to the Holy Spirit? They want, some of them, to be “zapped” in an instant when God wants them to zero in on one’s resistance to temptation! Some want a “quick-fix” without an eternal qualified fight! They want an easy path when it’s experience and expression of precious privilege through the “bloody battles” against our Enemy who wants to lead us back into black darkness and bondage. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” and as you resist a river, a wind, a fire breaks out from within your inner man!! Which leads us to the sixth truth about experiencing the explosive power of the promised, precious Holy Spirit!

SIXTH, IT COMES BECAUSE OF OUR UNWAVERING UNDERSTANDING THAT WE CANNOT WIN THE WAR AGAINST THE POWER OF DARKNESS APART FROM SPIRIT-ANOINTING! Matthew 12:28 are words from Jesus! Listen! “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Do you have a problem with that Verse? If so, it is because you have omitted in your training as a disciple understanding about the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. “Vital Awareness Unveiled?”

If it’s a problem it’s because someone blinded you to the gracious, merciful activity of God’s Kingdom. In Luke 9:1-2 Jesus “called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” [Many preach that the ‘kingdom of God’ is future, unaware or decidedly indifferent to what He said!]. And if you’ve been taught that ended with the early apostles, then you bought into as great a deception as [ ], which has hindered the effective, eternal ministry of Christ Jesus!

We know that Satan was cast down from heaven and that he deceives the whole world, but our Lord said that He has no desire for His people to be caught up in that deception but to deliver people from it. Fighting the good fight of faith surely includes setting people free from demonic control and even setting them free from the blindness of spiritual warfare, as if there were none!

Holy Spirit anointing? Jesus tells us it is an unceasing, undying, passionate hunger for the third person of the Holy Trinity having His way in us! In John 7:37-39 we read, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink…He who believes in ME, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water…But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

And check out the verbs! “Present tense verbs” which meant in the original Greek, present tense, continuous Action. I thirst and keep on thirsting; I come and keep on coming; I drink and keep on drinking; I believe and keep on believing! And the result? “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water – but He was speaking of the overflow of the Holy Spirit!!”

Are you hearing “process” in that? Are you hearing “passion” in that for more than you’ve experienced? Are you hearing “hunger” for the “much more” of a vibrant, victorious faith? Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

But a sad word when Paul had to say to the church at Corinth, (2 Corinthians 6:12), “you are restrained by your own affections.” Restrained or released to the fullness? Hindered or helped by divine power? Restricted or fully active in the rivers of living water?

SEVENTH, ARE YOU COMMITTED TO EXPERIENCING THE POWER BY THE FAITHFULNESS OF “TARRYING” AND “WAITING” UNTIL THE FIRE OF ANOINTING FALLS? Luke 24:49 says, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem UNTIL you are endued with power from on high.”

What was Jesus saying? There is nothing more important in a disciple’s life after conversion than welcoming, experiencing, and celebrating God’s power! Nothing should distract! Nothing should become a substitute for the Savior’s Spirit- Anointing! Nothing should divert our attention away from “the rushing, mighty” wind of Holy Spirit enduement!

I so love how John the Baptist put it in Matthew 3:11, “I indeed…but He!” Look at it in your Bible! Sit until it sinks in!

“I indeed” can give you a taste! “But He..will give you the tool!” “I indeed” can accomplish a few things for you – “BUT HE…fulfills everything in you!”

Would you pray, “Holy Spirit, Come, in me, through me, to bear strong witness for my Lord and Savior! Anoint ME with those ‘rivers of living water’ so that flowing in and through me is truly a Godly witness of ‘saving grace’. You are our Lord’s promised empowerment and powerful anointing. I settle for nothing less than Your marvelous testimony of Christ through me! Give us Your song of praise of Christ the Redeemer! Amen!!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? WORLD PHILOSOPHERS OR WILLFUL PROMOTION BY GOD?”

It’s shocking that, even for some, a person like me, former pastor for many years and missionary to India mainly but also other countries in the Asian area, would have any reservation about ‘world philosophers’, revealing to them my brain limitation!

But there’s an interesting couple of verses for YOU to examine as you look at Psalm 75:6-7 where the psalmist, Spirit-inspired, said: “For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge; He puts down one, and sets up another.”

In Psalm 147:6 it speaks of God’s Word AND His providence: “The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts down the wicked to the ground.” All world philosophers are not “wicked”, but the majority are “too smart in themselves” to ever see God as necessary in their lives!

Didn’t Paul tell us over 2000 years ago, in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ,”?

Acts 17:16-21 is about philosophical “new things” in opposition to the Eternal Truths of God. Follow it: Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit provoked him when he saw that the city was given over to idols.

Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshippers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there.

Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.”

For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or hear some new thing.

And if you follow it carefully, you’ll discern that ‘world philosophies’ are devotion to “wise things” that really have nothing to do with the heart – it’s all mental, and divorced from the spiritual nature of fallen men!

Participants in world culture of which we all are a part does not mean we deny Him but affirm, surrender, and yield to our Lord and Savior who IS the King of kings and Lord of lords! It doesn’t mean we’re “not at home” unless we sell our souls as the majority of the world, but we recognize our “worldly home” is in need of God’s grace, mercy, and love.

World philosophers or willful promotion by God Himself?!? Read carefully Oswald Chambers in his writing, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [pps.175-176]. “Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount of God. If you don’t obey the light, it will turn into darkness. ‘If therefore the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness!’ The second you waive the question of sanctification [it means: “set apart to the glory of God only”!] or any other thing upon which God gives you light, you begin to get dry rot in your spiritual life. Continually bring the truth out into actuality; work it out in every domain, or the very light you have will prove a curse…The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the smug satisfaction of an experience to which he can refer back, but who is not working it out in practical life. If you “say” you are sanctified, “show it.”…Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent”! What’s that? ‘What pleases me and doesn’t line up with the Spirit of God who sacrificed His all!

World ‘philosophers’ are so adept at convincing people that belief, trust, repentance and faith in Holy God is so unnecessary for the ‘smart folk’ – yet the educated crowd can center their lives in the darkest darkness and call it ‘light’!

It doesn’t take long to discover the worldly, self-righteous individual, or the ‘professor’ of self-satisfaction – and if you stay around them very long you sense a spirit of discontent with all they know and an uncertainty of mind as unbelief always brings on fractures in what they really think.

So often when the Holy Word and the convicting Holy Spirit is shared with a world philosopher, you’ll see and sense degrees of dismay in many because they’re on the threshold of discovering their lost condition and separation from God!

In life as a believer, transformed by the mercy and grace and love of God, aren’t you shocked at times when you see the worldly crowd comfortably seated at a worldly table, easily laughing at any worldly, trashy, dirty joke, when in the innermost heart is a person at war with Holy God, embittered by their own set of circumstances, AND WILL NOT LOOK UP TO THE CARING THRONE OF GOD AS THE GOD OF CALVARY’S CROSS?!?

Psalm 4:2 says, “How long, O you sons of men, will you turn My glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?” You realize there are “sons of men” and there are “sons of God”! You understand that there are those whose hearts are cemented in ‘earthly, fleshly, trashy values’ that are worthless in comparison to the heavenly treasures that increase in worth and blessing and value and true enrichment more and more!

In 2 Corinthians 4:1-4 Paul lifts the worldly veil that blinds or hinders true spiritual understanding of the gospel of Christ. He wrote: “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.

But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

But even if our gospel is veiled, it ios veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”

And that will break your heart, if it hasn’t already, because there are those whom you know whose hearts are ‘veiled’ to truth and whose minds are ‘blinded’ by the god of this age – they at least feel comfortable in their spiritual state of lost-ness because they are not alone; tragically, they’re blinded to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, not knowing they reflect the darkness of the devil himself!

“World philosophers”? It was Paul in Colossians 3:2 who said, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” And because you received the death of Christ and your crucifixion with Him, and you died with the result that your life is now hidden with Christ IN GOD, Verse 5, “therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

An ‘idol worshipper’? That’s the worldly ‘dude’ who has saved his life for himself because he loves the sinful world and all that it offers, not God! I know that you are not totally ‘brain-dead’ because you look at our world today and you witness ‘civilization catastrophes’ that grow more corrupt and, yes, ‘sinful’ world-wide!

“World philosophers” certainly major on ‘riches’ any way they can get it! But they are void of understanding about what ‘great gain’ is all about. In 1 Timothy 6:6-10 Paul advised his spiritual son, saying: “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” When did that change?

I believe when the author of Proverbs 14:24 spoke of “the crown of the wise”, he certainly was not speaking of “the crown of life” or “the crown of glory” because wisdom apart from God’s wisdom and revelations is a false righteousness that does not lead to repentance and true redemptive faith. It says: “The crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly.”

In Proverbs 1:28-33 the ‘wise-man’, inspired by God Himself, gives us ALL a word of warning: “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would [have] none of my counsel; they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.”

“World Philosophers or Willful Promotion by God?” Oh, I tell you, God’s Word is so rich and man’s worldly philosophies are so bankrupt! Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Led by the world or led by God Himself?

What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 4:3-5? “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age [the devil] has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”

Willful promotion by God? Bound in the flesh to the world philosophies, ideals, earthly gains, human pride in self-effort, but freed in Christ to divine life, eternal principles, heavenly blessings, holy privilege in sharing God’s faithful provisions, joy in the Lord forever not fleshly happiness, and a crown of glory and rejoicing that does not fade away, with an eternal family under the Fatherhood of God and His Sovereignty!

Willful promotion by God? We’re no longer “slaves of Satan” bound in satanic chains – in Christ we’re “sons and daughters of God” in the Heavenly Family! We’re no longer ‘flavorless’ but we’re the salt of the earth! We’re no longer ‘darkness’ – we’re light in the Lord! We’re no longer empty in the inner man, but filled with the Holy Presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!

We’re no longer of the unrighteous descendants but men and women who through repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross have been declared righteous in the very righteousness of God imparted and implanted in our washed vessel of trust in Him! We’re not the “happy hour” crowd – we’re the eternally blessed members of the Royal Family of God! Our identity is no longer slaves of Satan, but now the very children of Holy God! We’re not ‘impersonaters’ of our Lord and Savior, but possessors of His Resurrection Life, “vessels of the Victor”!

We’re not distant stars blinking in the darkened nights of men’s souls but “lights” on a hill that cannot be hidden.

Robert Browning, in “Paracelsus”, wrote: “If I stoop, into a dark tremendous sea of cloud, it is but for a time; I press God’s lamp close to my breast; its splendor soon or late Will pierce the gloom; I shall emerge one day.” And even when destiny brings us temporarily to a “dark tremendous sea of cloud,” WE WILL EMERGE BRIGHTER THAN EVER BEFORE!

We’re sons and daughters of God’s eternal faith family, and though doubt, at times, will try to rob us of light’s glow and meaning, and even when I find myself in my darkest moment as a follower, I choose to rest in Him!

I found it so interesting that the agnostic or atheist, Robert Ingersoll, at his brother’s funeral, spoke and said: “From the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word. But in the night of Death, Hope sees a star, [but for him it was not the Bright and Morning Star whose names is Jesus Christ!] and listening Love can hear the rustle of a wing.” Oh, that somehow Browning learned of the Love of God, but I doubt that he ever did!

If God gave you “existence”, did He do so apart from eternal purpose? Of course not! His one beckoning call is, “Be reconciled to God,” and in that ministry of reconciliation, the blood of Christ Jesus takes center-stage, first place, the only door through which we can walk into the Holy Presence of God! It’s why in Matthew 5:8 Jesus said: “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.”

It was Thomas a’ Kempis who said: “Simplicity reaches out after God; purity discovers and enjoys Him.”

I so appreciate Noah Webster’s description of ‘providence’ in his 1828 Dictionary. He said: “Providence – in theology the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a ‘providence’, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence…By divine providence is often understood God Himself.”

The God who made you, is He unable to save, sustain, and complete you to His good pleasure as it relates to YOUR eternal design and destiny? In Romans 3:24-26 God’s Holy Word tells us: “being JUSTIFIED FREELY by His grace through the resurrection that is in Christ Jesus; Whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Thank God for Chambers’ insight! Listen to what he wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest”: [p.247], “The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.” BUT THAT’S IT! IT’S ALL OF HIM and not us in the matter of our redemption, our re-birth, and our reconciliation!

He said a few sentences later, “He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter His Kingdom through the door of destitution.” WOW!

Oh, I’m telling you: Jesus is to every repentant believer the complete and whole treasury of God!

Remember – we’re looking at “World Philosophy OR Willful Promotion By God”!! And when “world philosophy” begins to surface strongly and willful promotion by God takes a backseat, you begin to sense a sad decaying of true faith, an allegiance to the flesh [your old sin nature – so anything goes!], even church attendance by many who have no intention of denying self and taking up His Cross [and our own], and suddenly the Word of God is set aside, truth is left outdoors, and doubt about the veracity of God’s Holy Word takes over the pulpit and the classroom!

Philosophy may give you a few insights, but Christ Jesus births “new men”! It was the German theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, who said: “Not until man has become so utterly unhappy, or has grasped the woefulness of life so deeply that he is moved to say, and mean it: LIFE HAS NO VALUE FOR ME – NOT TILL THEN IS HE ABLE TO MAKE A BID FOR CHRISTIANITY.”

AND ALMIGHTY, HOLY, WISE, LOVING, CARING GOD STEPS UP TO REVEAL HIS UNCHANGING LOVE AND MATCHLESS MERCY TO WOUNDED HUMANITY BY OUR SELF-INFLICTED SIN NATURES!

John 3:14-18 illumines Heaven on earth! “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Paul built out of the Cross of Christ and His Resurrection eternal truth! Look at Romans 5:6-11!! “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For is when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.

And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

There’s an old hymn entitled “Grace Greater than Our Sin.” It says: “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold, Threaten the soul with infinite loss; Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold, Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide. What can we do to wash it away? Look! There is flowing a crimson tide, Brighter than snow you may be today.

Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, Freely bestowed on all who believe! You that are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive?

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

World philosophers OR WILLFUL PROMOTION BY GOD? It’s your choice!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? CONFLICTING LOYALTY OR ALL- CONSUMING LOVE?”

Conflicting Loyalty? Is that saying one thing but doing another? Is that the demonstration of divided allegiance? Is that the picture vividly being painted on one’s life-canvas of one foot in heaven and the other foot touching the outer limits of hell itself?

Conflicting Loyalty? Is that “Yes, Sir,” to the General or “Do as I please” to the corp? Is that public dedication to be honorable and godly to the vows you make to your wife to be, and then feel you’re at liberty to play the field of available women?

Conflicting Loyalty? Is that a vow of dedication to be honest in your school or university exams but you determine the best way to cheat on your exams?

Conflicting Loyalty? Is that a president’s public oath to defend, protect, uphold his nation’s constitution but daily, verbally, and in deeds, shreds every page he can, and inflame disobedience, irreverence, and destruction of a nation’s founding fathers’ intent?

Conflicting Loyalty? You’ve heard it! “Yes, I believe the Bible is divinely inspired, God-breathed, Holy Word, but I also believe my devotion to it is our option we hold for ourselves!”

Conflicting Loyalty? “Oh, yes! One man – one woman for life,” but then voices support of men with men and women for women in gross violation of God’s Holy Word – and the sad thing is public support of immorality increases!

Conflicting Loyalty? “I’m a devoted kind of guy – He [God] can count on me,” but stumbles, falls, rebels, on the first lap with no intention of getting up! Conflicting Loyalty? You’ve seen him/her so consumed by worldly ambition that the Kingdom of God is squeezed out by an undaunted intent of “making a name for myself”, and glorifying the Lord takes a back seat!

Conflicting Loyalty? “The high cost of following Jesus? I thought this was a free ride, but I’ll do what I feel at ease to do, as it pleases me.”

Conflicting Loyalty? Many professing disciples become totally disillusioned, disappointed, even despairing because they believed they were called to ‘give your best’ – they do, then get a failing grade because discipleship has nothing to do with ‘our best’ but His best – the sacrifice of His life once for all for us all! Denying ‘self’ for some is asking way too much!

Conflicting Loyalty? “I will uphold my devotion to Christ and be a staunch warrior defending the faith,” but after several skirmishes, peer pressure, or procrastination, it takes a damaging toll!

Do you remember the son born blind and healed by Jesus? The Pharisees came to his parents: “We don’t know how – ask him – he’s of age to answer for himself!” And John 9:22 says: “His parents said these things because they feared the Jews.” They didn’t want to be put out of the synagogue!

Conflicting Loyalty? You’ll remember that Jesus said: “Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” There are those “who want to” but the price appears extremely steep! Spurgeon once said, “A life in which we have shunned the Cross of Christ will lead to a state in which we shall miss the crown of glory.”

Conflicting Loyalty? In relationships between man to man, sometimes compromise has benefits, but to seek to “compromise” God’s revealed Truth breeds disaster! To compromise our Lord’s commands is to acknowledge disobedience and to stand under God’s judgment. To compromise is to decay obedience and to bring on a deterioration of morals. To compromise is to vacate privilege. To compromise is to willingly slice off those parts on “unpleasant truths” that you sense “don’t fit my personality and make-up of who I know I am”!

Conflicting Loyalty? Spurgeon, in his “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” [Memorial Library, Vol.19, p.359], has a message entitled “No Compromise.” He said: “The new plan is to assimilate the church to the world, and so include a larger area within its bounds. By semi-dramatic performances they make houses of prayer to approximate the theatre; they turn their services into musical displays, and their sermons into political harangues or philosophical essays – in fact, they exchange the temple for the theatre, and turn the ministers of God into actors, whose business it is to amuse men. Is it not so, that the Lord’s day is becoming more and more a day of recreation or of idleness, and the Lord’s house either a joss-house full of idols, or a political club, where there is more enthusiasm for a party than zeal for God.” And, I say, “Lord, help us!!”

Conflicting Loyalty? How many people have crossed your paths “in church” who are more at ease with church as a combat zone than a celebration of Jesus? Divisiveness is their strong “suit”, opposition their true bonnet they wear regularly, commitment to their way fighting the pastor and God’s true people to the death in one bitter struggle after another! Proverbs 21:2 says, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Conflicting Loyalty? Oh, they play the religious game as “one cool dude,” calloused to the core, with willingly closed eyes to anything but their way or the highway! [Proverbs 23:7].

Conflicting Loyalty? You’ve witnessed it: Intellectual attainments in one’s mind of their understanding of the Bible, God’s Holy Word, often becoming nothing more than crippling beliefs! “Thus says the Lord” is translated: “As I see it…!”

Conflicting Loyalty? Effort apart from transformation by repentance toward God and faith in the finished work of Christ at the Cross creates despair, not deliverance and healing and salvation!

Conflicting Loyalty? A change in outward behavior is not the spiritual circumcision of the heart! Romans 2:28-29 tells us: “For he is not a [true] Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a [true] Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God.”

Conflicting Loyalty? Reaching up, reaching high, is not the same as being raised from the dead by God’s power! Look at 1 Corinthians 15:14, 17! Verse 14, “And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty.” Oh, and then Verse 17 tells us, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” WOW!

Conflicting Loyalty? Sinful natures are not cloaked with religious garments, religious conversations, or religious activities, but “crucified with Christ”! Galatians 2:20 is “confirmed eternal love”! “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.”

Conflicting Loyalty? “I’m a man so devoted to the costly bricks and mortar, the lights and stained glass, of our beautiful church,” failing to understand HIS body is God’s holy temple because of His grace, mercy, and love! Examine 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Then 1 Corinthians 3:16 declares, “DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE TEMPLE OF GOD AND THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU?” Unless you’re dominated by ‘conflicting loyalties’ desiring to direct your own spiritual journey on your own terms!

Conflicting Loyalty? “Discipline and self-determination are the marks of an award-winning follower of Christ.” NO! The mark of a true disciple is one “set apart by God Himself,” sanctified, meet for the Master’s use!

Conflicting Loyalty? “Fig leaves,” fashionable sophistication, proper outward attire, educated common sense, band-aids rather than heart transplants, a manly tickering with myself on my terms, Ali’s style: “Superman don’t need no seat-belt”! Look at Matthew 13:15!

“For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, SO THAT I SHOULD HEAL THEM.” But aren’t you aware of the “self-healers” who have no need of the Great Physician?

Conflicting Loyalty? I love what John Eldridge said in his book, “Waking The Dead” – so on target! [p.161], “Religion and its defenders have always been the most insidious enemy of the true faith precisely because they are not glaring opponents; they are IMPOSTORS.” Insidious? Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “insidious” as: “lying in wait; watching for an opportunity to ensnare or entrap; deceitful, treacherous…”

Conflicting Loyalty? It’s not ‘fate’ but faith, fellowship, freedom, and a fight! Personal fate is out to steal God’s glory! Anarchy becomes a substitution for the Atonement! T.S. Eliot sorrowfully lamented: “Endless invention, endless experiment, brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness; knowledge of speech, but not of silence; knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?” [Out of “Choruses from the Rock.”].

Conflicting Loyalty? Have you chosen the sanctified life or the starving life because to be without Christ as Savior and Lord, to be without the Bread of Life is to shrink, starve, and be shriveled up! Jesus said, “I have come that you might have LIFE and have it more abundantly!”

Conflicting Loyalty? “Temptation is not a trap – it’s an opportunity of discerning what I really want or not.” Oh, really? James 1:13-15 tells us: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted WHEN he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

Conflicting Loyalty? “Pressure, pressure, pressure! This job is so demanding – I’m going to have to ‘cut corners’ somewhere, somehow, someway, even if it’s wrong!” Hudson Taylor had difficult trials he had to face up to – he wrote out of that hard moment: “It doesn’t matter how great the pressure is. What really matters is WHERE THE PRESSURE LIES – whether it comes between you and God or whether it presses you nearer His heart.” Never let pressure to cause you to look away from or pass by the PRESENCE OF CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF!

Conflicting Loyalty? That’s when courage is called for but one allows cowardice to call the shots! No doubt this is why the famous Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote in “East and West,” [New York, Harper & Row, 1980, p.45], “Must one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end.”

Conflicting Loyalty? It was Martin Luther who once said: “The ultimate proof of the sinner is that he does not know his own sin.” Please read carefully from Jerry Falwell’s “25 of the Greatest Sermons Ever Preached,” [Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, p.18], a quote of George Whitefield from his famous message, “The Method of Grace,” based on Jeremiah 6:14! Whitefield said: “As God can send a nation or people no greater blessing than to give them faithful, sincere and upright ministers, so the greatest curse that God can possibly send upon a people in this world is to give them over to blind, unregenerate, carnal, lukewarm, and unskilled guides. And yet, in all ages, we find that there have been many wolves in sheep’s clothing…that prophesied smoother things than God did allow.”

In Niccolo Machiavelli’s, “The Prince,” [New York; BANTAM, 1966, p.63], he wrote: “Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.” WOW!!

Conflicting Loyalty? I was reading recently Dr. James Kennedy’s and Jerry Newcombe’s book, “Cross Purposes,” [Multonomal Publi., 2007, pps. 25-26]. “When I was in seminary, I went to a jail to preach the gospel to those who were locked up inside. I had never been to a place like that to preach, and I must say I was a little unnerved by it. I was sent into a big room where I was separated by bars from probably a dozen prisoners. As they were milling around, I started to talk to them. I probably hadn’t gotten two minutes into my talk when one of the largest inmates suddenly came at the bars (which I was happy were there at that point) and said to me, “Mister, you just go tell that God of yours all I want from Him is what I deserve!” “Sir,” I replied, “if you got what you deserved from God, the floor would open up right where you stand and drop you straight into hell, for that is precisely what you deserve. I don’t say that because you’re behind these bars while I’m outside them, because that is what we all deserve. If we got our just deserts, we would each and every one be condemned – because, you see, we’re actually already condemned. Christ said of the whole human race, “You are condemned already.” [John 3:18-19!].

Let me “shift gears”! I pray “conflicting loyalty never becomes the life-long pattern of your life, but that “by Faith” you appropriate our Lord’s “All-Consuming Love”! The Scripture I feel so led by our Lord to share with you here is Romans 8:35-39 where Paul wrote: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ YET IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I don’t know how you read the above passage, but the one thing I’m sure of is the fact there are those who would like to “separate” you from Christ Jesus! “The love of Christ” is an offense to Satan and the powers of darkness; “the love of Christ” is a stumbling block to those who would be reconciled on their own terms; “the love of Christ” becomes contemptible to some because they don’t receive God in Christ Who FIRST “loved us;” “the love of Christ” separates some because, they believe, relationship to Holy God is merited, earned, rewarded by what THEY DO – not what CHRIST HAS DONE ONCE FOR ALL AT THE CROSS!; “the love Of Christ infuriates some because “my behavior should be recognized by God rewarding me because of my undaunted radiance – I shine brighter than even Jesus who was called ‘the light of the world’.”

Love for God is not manufactured in a fallen man’s heart or mind! It’s why John wrote in 1 John 4:19, “We love Him because He first loved us.”

There has never been a man, woman, boy, or girl, inclined to love God and be His follower and devoted servant. The darkness of one’s being has never produced ‘new life’ but only His amazing love transforms our darkness into His Life and Light and Liberty and Love! It is so very, very clear throughout all the Word of God that any man who does not passionately love God has never truly known Him or been ‘birthed’ into a family of faith relationships!

And if we have been ‘birthed’ into a family of faith relationship, does that mean our ‘LIFE-STYLE’ is unconditional love of others? In 1 John 4:10-11 we read: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought [“must”] to love one another.”

Spurgeon was a very bold, brave, brilliant preacher and student of God’s Holy Word. In his ninth volume of “Spurgeon’s Sermons, [Memorial Library, pps.307-308] he wrote: “Now no man is a Christian who does not love Christians. He, who, being in the church, is yet not of it heart and soul, is but an intruder in the family. But since love to our brethren springs out of love to our one common Father, it is plain that we must have love to the Father, or else we shall fail in one of the indispensable marks of the children of God: “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren;” but we cannot truly love the brethren unless we [do] love the Father; therefore, lacking love to God, we lack love to the church, which is an essential mark of grace.”

There are two verses in John 1 that we need to put together!! John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” Then John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made Him known.”

Do you see it? THE WORD [Emmanuel, ‘God in Flesh’] became flesh! And the God mankind had never known became clearly visible! All of a sudden, flashing before us like ten million rays of the sun is Christ Jesus: GOD IS LIGHT! GOD IS LOVE! GOD IS LIBERTY! GOD LIFTS US OUT OF DESPAIR TO A THRONE OF GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE!

Didn’t Paul tell us through his Colossians letter: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God.” [Colossians 1:15], and then Colossians 1:22 says: “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

“Wondrous Love, so full of Life, Wondrous Love stripping strife, Wondrous Love to us is given, Wondrous Love transports to Heaven. Wondrous Love, there rings the Bell, Wondrous Love delivered from hell. Wondrous Love, Jesus came To show God, Jesus, and the Spirit the Same. Wondrous Love, Jesus came To set us free, No longer a captive of Satan to be. Wondrous Love, God’s Son was groaning, Because of His Love from sin atoning.” [JFF].

Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners CHRIST DIED FOR US.” What an awesome revelation! The word ‘demonstrates’ is from a Greek word meaning “to commend, establish, stood near, consists “ – or “holds together”! In Ephesians 4 Paul had been talking about “the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” Verse 12, and then said in Verse 15, “but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – Verse 16, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

HOW DO WE RATIONALLY, FAITHFULLY, PRACTICALLY, put all this together to honor God’s faithfulness to us?

• GOD HIMSELF PROVES, COMMENDED, DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE TOWARD ALL MEN! What does John 3:16 tell us? “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
• GOD KNEW, UNDERSTOOD, GRASPED THE SORROWFUL TRUTH THAT MAN’S SIN BROUGHT SEPARATION FROM HIM! I don’t know who wrote it, but they surely understood sin’s consequences – “Sin is man’s declaration of independence from God.” It was John Bunyan in “The Pilgrim’s Progress” who wrote: “One leak will sink a ship; and one sin will destroy a sinner,” and God’s intent is to resurrect the dead, destroyed sinners who have been separated from His eternal love.”
• GOD SOVEREIGNLY DETERMINED ONLY A SINLESS SACRIFICE WAS SUFFICIENT, SUPREMELY EFFECTIVE, TO SAVE SINFUL MAN FROM HIS SIN AND RECONCILE HIM TO HOLY GOD!

Romans 6:23 is clear! “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life IN Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul had told the church at Rome, and us, in Romans 5:21, “so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Oh, then Paul really dispelled the phoniness of some modern-day teachings that ‘Christians can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven! Roman 6:1-3, 10 says:

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

Verse 10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”

Oh, please read, contemplate, receive, stand on Oswald Chambers’ words concerning Romans 5:10 which says: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.” He then wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest,” pps.223-224], “The salvation of God does not stand on human logic, it stands on the sacrificial Death of Jesus. We can be born again because of the Atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and sinful women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance or their belief, but by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus which is prior to all experience. The impregnable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We have not to work out these things ourselves; they have been worked out by the Atonement. The supernatural becomes natural by the miracle of God; there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done – “It is FINISHED!”

God’s Heavenly Love made practical for us? 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

• AMAZING LOVE? GOD IN CHRIST “DIED ON THE CROSS” FOR YOU AND ME! Amazing love? If YOU were the only person who had ever lived – past, present, future – on the Cross, Christ Jesus would have died there JUST FOR YOU!

“God commended His love for us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Can you say, “Christ died for me”? I don’t know how you respond to that, but in Job 42:5-6 we read: Job speaking, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

To see Jesus on the Cross dying just for you, is to see yourself as God sees you, yet He loves you with an everlasting love for you – and He proved His love for you at Calvary’s Cross!

Dr. James Kennedy, in his book “The Presence of a Hidden God,” [p.191], wrote: “Just imagine for a moment that God were NOT love. Suppose, instead, that God were a cosmic ogre, playing with people like grasshoppers in a bottle’ – suppose God were a demon, filled with malevolent hatred, or suppose God were an impersonal force, like fate or some machine that had no feeling, no sympathy whatsoever toward mankind.”

But that’s not our God of Calvary’s Cross! Oh, there are those who truly wish God were dead, but even then to them the Cross and empty tomb still stand as expressions of eternal love for eternal fools! “The fool has said in his heart, ‘there is no God’! But, history stands, His-Story stands: Our God is the God who will not die – we serve a Risen Savior!

You need to know it if you haven’t heard it: “We love Him because He first loved us!” An old hymn says it like this: “See, from His head, His hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingling down; Did e’er such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown?”

Do you understand? It’s only in seeing Christ Jesus suffer, bleed, and die for our sins that one truly discovers, discerns, and depends on the love of God! Here’s how Spurgeon put it long ago: [Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, Vol.9, p.311],

“Again, our love to God does not spring from the self-determining power of the will. I greatly question whether any thing does in the world, good or bad. There are some who set up the will as a kind of deity, – it does as it wills with earth and heaven; but in truth the will is not a master but a servant. To the sinner his will is a slave; and in the saint, although the will is set free, it is still blessedly under bonds to God. Men do not will a thing because they will it, but because their affections, their passions, or their judgments influence their wills in that direction. No man can stand up and say, ‘I, unbiased and unaided, will to love God and I will not love Satan.” Such proud self-assuming language would prove him a liar; the man would be clearly a worshipper of himself. A man can only love God when he has perceived some reasons for so doing; and the first argument for loving God, which influences the intellect so as to turn the affections, is the reason mentioned in the text: “We love Him because He first loved us.”

God Himself established forever His love for you as Jesus suffered, bled, and died on the Cross! God demonstrated! God proved His love for YOU at Calvary! Now, how is that awesome understanding maintained productively and efficiently and faithfully day by day? Examine Romans 5:5! “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

History! Historic Presence and Power! Romans 5:6 says, “For when we were still without strength (“helpless”), in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” We WERE “enemies” but reconciled to God through the death of His Son, Romans 5:10, and having been reconciled, “we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

History? John Piper, in his book “The Pleasures of God,” [p.165], wrote: “Jesus wants us to see that His willingness to lose His life is because of His love for the glory of the Father.” He then quoted John 17:4, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

Then Piper said: “All of Jesus’ work was designed to honor the worth of His Father’s glory. Therefore, all His pain and shame and humiliation and dishonor served to magnify the Father’s glory, because they showed how infinitely valuable God’s glory is, that such a loss should be suffered to demonstrate its worth.”

And what about your life, your walk, your calling, your purpose? Is it to honor the worth of the Father’s glory? How did Paul put it? 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Let me close this chapter with words again from Oswald Chambers out of “My Utmost For His Highest.” [p.238]. “The tendency is to look for the marvelous in our experience; we mistake the sense of the heroic for being heroes. It is one thing to go through a crisis gradually, but another thing to go through every day glorifying God when there is no witness, no limelight, no one paying the remotest attention to us. If we do not want medieval haloes, we want something that will make people say – ‘What a wonderful man of prayer he is! What a pious devoted woman she is!’ If you are rightly devoted to the Lord Jesus, you have reached the sublime height where no one ever thinks of noticing you, all that is noticed is that the power of God comes through you all the time.”

O For A Thousand Tongues!! Charles Wesley wrote the famous hymn. It says: “O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, The glories of my God and King, The triumphs of His grace.

My gracious Master and my God, Assist me to proclaim, To spread through all the earth abroad, The honors of Your name.

Jesus! The name that charms our fears, That bids our sorrows cease; It’s music in the sinner’s ears, It’s life, and health, and peace.

He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoners free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me.”

In Revelation 1:4-5 John wrote: “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and is to come and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness”; He loved us, washed us in His blood!”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? VICTIMS OR VICTORS?”

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines “victim” as follows: “Something destroyed; something sacrificed in the pursuit of an object. How many persons have fallen “victims” to jealousy, to lust, to ambition!?!”

Then, Webster defined “victor” as “one who conquers in a war; a vanquisher; one who defeats an enemy in battle…one who wins, or gains the advantage…”; “…as, grace will carry us ‘victoriously’ through all difficulties.”

Victims! I want us to look at this truth before we unveil the reality of one, by repentance and faith, becoming “VICTORS”! It was the great Englishman, G.K. Chesterton, who once said: “Any one who doesn’t believe in God will believe in anything.” And there’s no doubt that some have slid into the muck and mire of “no God” and opened themselves up for an onslaught of victimization!

Stephen Olford, in his commentary on Philippians, made a comment about Dr. Arthur F. Glasser, dean of the school of world missions at Fuller Theological Seminary, evaluating Chesterton’s statement: “If you…fall into the relativistic vacuum of thinking any religion is as good as another, you can end up falling patsy to any kind of ideology, such as a Manson family, a Hitler, or a Jim Jones…The religious relativism and secularized nihilism of the times [leave] many unable to distinguish between religious realities and fraud, between the divine and the demonic.” And, oh, how true that statement IS!!

There came a moment in time in early human history, after the Fall, that God said: [Genesis 6:5-7], “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to the birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.”

John Piper, in his book “A Godward Life,” commented on the previous verses. [p.221], “To answer this, consider another instance of God’s action that (like creation) resulted in great sin and pain. Acts 2:23 says that Jesus was delivered up to crucifixion “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” In other words, God knew ahead of time that he was sending Jesus to be killed. Yet the killing of the Son of God was more evil than all the evil in Noah’s day that made God feel regret that he had made man. Thus if God regretted the creation of mankind when he saw the great misery and evil that it unleashed, may we not assume that he also felt a similar regret over the incarnation of the Son when he saw the undeserved, wicked, infinitely evil murder and suffering of his “only begotten” and “beloved” Son?…Yet we are told explicitly that God not only knew this would happen, but planned it (Acts 2:23, Isaiah 53:10). So if he was capable of feeling genuine sorrow and revulsion of the wickedness of his Son’s murderers and at the suffering of the Son himself, then it must be that he was capable of approving the sending of the Son and at the same time experiencing in advance the sorrow and regret over the sin and suffering involved in the Son’s death. If this is conceivable in the incarnation of the Son, it is conceivable in the creation of man.”

What was Piper telling us? No doubt, God knew of the Fall of man – not happiness over it, no joy so He could then show His redemptive love, but showing us two sides of a ‘coin’ – sorrow over the Fall, sureness of His eternal purpose to make ‘victors’ out of ‘victims’!

Victims! If “the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy,” are there those people who are captured by the ‘thief’ and his advancing armies? 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I sincerely regret, feel sorrow for, if YOU don’t believe ‘demons’ and ‘powers of darkness’ are real – it just reveals how ‘victimized’ you’ve become!

In Ephesians 6:11-12 Paul wrote, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

When the Word speaks of “pulling down strongholds” it certainly refers not only to manmade strongholds but those demonic strongholds where the powers of darkness have settled in to captured territory in one’s life. Deliverance is needed!

Victims? Do a word study sometime on ‘false gods’ and their origin – they all come out of rebellion to the One, True, Living God, and an unwillingness to bow before Him – so, they invent, fabricate, indulge in fleshly religious feelings and pleasures that deceptively make them feel good about themselves, which is ‘what I do’ rather than what Christ Jesus did!

You are aware that our world easily produces and accepts ‘religious frauds’ and their inventors – the ‘religious charlatans or religious elite’! In 2 Peter 2:1-3 we read: “but there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

Paul warned the Philippians of the same deception! In Philippians 3:2 we read: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” F.B. Meyer called these “pests of every Christian community.” He said: These are “the fanatical and unbalanced [people in the church!], the ‘cranks’;…They exaggerate the importance of trifles; they catch up every new theory and vagary, and follow it to the detriment of truth and love…It is impossible to overestimate the harm that these people do, or the desirability of keeping clear of them…”

Victims? Because of Fallen sin natures, there are those captured by the intensity of “pumping flesh,” proud of their fallen sin nature, perverted in its demonstrations, powerless in themselves to break the ‘hold’ on their lives! Look at Romans 8:12-13a! “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh [old sin nature], to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die;…” “Pumping flesh”? Someone wrote: “The man who sings his own praises always gets the wrong pitch.”

Victims? There’s an interesting verse in 1 John 4:18 where John wrote: “But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” Fear is a crippler! In the “Bible Friend,” from the Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations,” there’s comments by Ann Landers, former famous newspaper counselor: “She was asked if there was any one problem, which predominates throughout the letters she receives, and her reply was, the one problem above all others, seems to be fear. People are afraid of losing their health, their wealth, their beloved ones. People are afraid of life itself.” I wondered if Ann Landers knew about “the spirit of fear”!

Victims? Have you ever wrestled with the difference between ‘speculation’ and ‘certainty’? Speculations are not bad when it involves ‘contemplation’. But when ‘speculation’ becomes simply one’s opinions it becomes that which has nothing to do with ‘fact’ but one’s theories. Truth isn’t speculative – it’s reality! Certainty is fact, certainty is verified, certainty produces eternal results – “I know that MY Redeemer Lives!” “Behold, as the eyes of servants look upon the hand of their masters, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.” [Psalm 123:2]. No speculation, just divine certainty!

Victims? Are you aware on any around you who became a ‘victim’ of those dark, subtle, seductive ‘fishing lures of sin’ that hooked them so strongly, and then led them to a cage for future skinning and death? Even some around you in the ‘Christian community’? You do know we have an ‘adversary’ who is out to ‘devour’ you?!?

Victims? What deception when one chooses the prism of self-analysis for an evaluation of himself! In 2 Corinthians 10:12 Paul wrote: “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those WHO COMMEND THEMSELVES. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” You ‘choose’ your ‘self-consciousness’ over “Christ Consciousness”?

Are you aware that you’re either cemented in your self or you’re ‘anchored’ in Christ? Hebrews 6:17-20 tells us: “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hope of the hope set before us.”

Victims? Yes, even ‘Christians’ who are faithful every Sunday to a local church but faithless, unresponsive, uncaring to a lost, alienated, separated world around them! I know, like in India, there were pastors who attended my conferences, and were later martyred for the faith. It was Dr. A.T. Pierson who once said: “A light that does not shine, a germ that does not grow, a spring that does not flow, is no more of an anamoly of a Christian who does not witness.”

Victims? In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul wrote: “Flee…youthful lusts,” but across the American scene immorality is fast capturing a large segment of the youth population with shame becoming a lost term! Wild orgies, reckless alcoholic drinking, drugs, promiscuous sex – a youthful population being “pumped” to plunge into and wade and wallow in “dirt”!

Victims? It’s not true of ALL children who live under the influence of godless parents but it is true of a great number. Bossuet said: “Great men are formed on the knees of their mothers.” But also it is just as true that evil men are adversely impacted by godless dads and moms! There was a man I read about sentenced to 15 years hard labor for a violent crime. At his sentencing he was given permission by the judge to speak: “I pardon the judges; their sentence is just; I pardon the police; they did well to arrest me. But there are two people in this court I will never forgive. They are my parents, who brought me up without God and without hope.” How sad is That?!?

Victims? Is it heartless husbands or manipulative wives who neither know about “giving honor” to one another? Is it marriages that are marred because neither/or only one knows the Master? Is it marriages that have decided they are better ‘home-builders’ than God Himself? Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

Victims? 1 John 2:17 says, “He that does the will of God abides forever…”. Yet, there is no abiding or remaining because “the house” has NO ETERNAL FOUNDATION! In James 4:17 we read, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.” Have you ever paused, reflected, wrestled with, “what would Holy God have me to do?” Sadly, far too many have sought to forge their own way through life’s wildernesses, and they remain LOST! To then live in rebellion to His Way, defiance to His Truth, even facing His will and Word as abhorrent is to live miserably in bondage to one’s own sin and self!

Victims? Slaves to one’s past, preoccupied with one’s past, blinded by one’s past, always establishes high and impenetrable walls, unless one accepts the blood of Christ for the gift of new life, new hope, new victories because of Him!

Victims? In Hebrews 12:1 is an interesting verse! “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” But, there are those holding onto rather than throwing off, holding onto a path of sin rather than repenting and forsaking, and failing to get in on the race set before them – “no running for me, not even toward God!”

Victims? Yes, even a disciple of Christ can be a victim! When you read Paul in Romans 5:17, 19, you hear him say: “I do not understand what I do…For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” This is a time period in his spiritual journey when Paul was void of learning about the Spirit-controlled life of Romans 8! But he did learn, and he did overcome!

And if this is still your journey, their journey, our journey, what a sad state of affairs is: “He/she is a VICTIM!” But I believe there’s an opposite truth to ‘VICTIM’, and that’s the truth of “VICTOR!”

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 we learn afresh and anew, or reminded of, or settled into its truth, becoming a VICTOR! It says: “For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

The “victor” is one captured, by grace and mercy and love, birthed, renewed, overruled by the very love of Christ fully expressed “At The Cross” – and the new believer takes the Cross unto himself and experiences the reality of resurrection life, resurrection power, and resurrection hope!

In Matthew 12:20 there is a beautiful verse for our comfort as disciples of Christ. It says: “A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory.”

Who has ever lived on the face of God’s earth and not known “bruised reeds” or “smoking flax”? And our Lord and Savior comes TO US with “blessed assurance”: Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and LEARN FROM ME, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

And, if you do not know “rest for your souls,” then you’ve never entered the Victory Land of Faith and Fulfillment! If you do not know “rest for your souls,” then you’ve never entered His Kingdom! In Romans 14:17 we read, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

“Rest for your souls”? “Victory”? “Righteousness”? “Kingdom of God Allegiance”? It’s the grace of God “in Christ” with the gift of a new man! In Ephesians 4:24 Paul said, “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

THAT’S VICTORY! “New man,” “new life,” “new hope,” “new dreams,” “new purpose,” “new destiny,” “new songs,” “new covenant,” “new city,” “new creation,” “new name,”…Look at Romans 6:4! “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

What a joy and delight to be a “new-born in Christ,” but just as with your own children neither you nor God wanted them remaining with spiritual diapers. In fact, Peter said in 1 Peter 2:2, “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.”

In our “victory” in Christ, we do have a goal! Romans 8:29 says: “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

“Super-Saints” is not our calling – our calling is death to the old man, releasing ALL that Jesus is in Himself! “Christ in you the hope of glory!” Why ‘death to the old man’ as a true believer if every day we examine ourselves as we were without Christ? I believe Jesus said in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” which is why some aren’t “following” because they are too busy examining if THEY measure up! No, you don’t! You were crucified with Christ once for all!

We begin, continue, and end at the place of Victory in Jesus Himself. And from that point we begin our pilgrimage of “resting in” Him and fighting the fight of faith in being finished with the old man and starting, continuing, completing our journey in the “New Man”! Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be [being] transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Isn’t it amazing to you? Our “victory” in Christ even has a faithful promise: Philippians 4:13 says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

I’ll never forget a conversation I had with Dr. Bill Anderson a number of years ago. In college, over sixty years ago, we were teammates on Baylor University’s Sugar Bowl champions against number two in the nation, Tennessee Volunteers and All-American, Johnny Majors! We were either tenth or eleventh in the nation pre-game! No one favored our win at all – Bill mentioned a friend telling him after the game, listening on a radio broadcast, that a commentator said at half-time: “Don’t worry, Vols’ fans; Tennessee is too strong and Baylor is too weak. The Vols will pull it out.” But they didn’t! We held on and won 13-7!!

“Victory” is SWEET! “Victory” in Jesus is so satisfying! “Victory” in our Lord is so peaceful! “Victory” in the Master is to be in His triumphant Life and its fullness! What does 2 Corinthians 2:14 tell us?

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

This victory in Jesus is far more than ‘believing’ – it’s a matter of TRUST! It’s a matter of “leaning not to our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledging Him.” Come Hell’s attack or the high waters of fleshly assaults – we “rest” in Him! In 1 Peter 4:19 we read: “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

If Jesus had to be “about My Father’s business,” is there any circumstance of life in us Holy God cannot use for His business? Too many times too many saints fail to discern “the graces of His ministering life” at work in them!

When Jesus said in John 16:33, “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world,” He knew what we would face but He also knew where our overcoming spirit and nature resided – “IN HIM!!”

“Victory” IN JESUS? Isaiah 40:29-31 says, “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

“Victory” is never depending upon ‘self-awareness’ or ‘self-confidence’ or ‘self-realization’ – in Philippians 3:7-10 Paul wrote, “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count 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.”

“Victory”? Ephesians 4:13-15 illumines the true path true disciples walk on: “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ -!!”

“Victory”? It’s a deep, deep awareness of being on the journey with our Lord “pressing on” until all that is true of Him has found its freedom and liberty in you and me! Philippians 3:12-14 declares, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Have you grasped it yet, understand, comprehend, “rest in,” unflinching loyalty to the Resurrected Christ in you? Here’s how Oswald Chambers put it: “The idea is not that WE do the work FOR God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us – God wants to use us as He used His own Son.” Galatians 5:24 says, “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Isn’t that amazing? AND YET SO LIBERATING! If there is no denial of self, there is no appropriation of the fullness and victory of Christ! This is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:4, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

“Victory”? I love what Oswald Chambers wrote after quoting John 8:36, “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” In his “My Utmost For His Highest,” [pps.239-240], he wrote: “If there is any remnant of individual conceit left, it always says “I can’t.” Personality never says, “I can’t,” but simply absorbs and absorbs; personality always wants more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God; and sin and our individuality are the things that keep us from getting at God. God delivers us from sin;; we have to deliver ourselves from individuality, i.e., to present our natural life to God and sacrifice it until it is transformed into a spiritual life by obedience…Stop listening to the tyranny of individuality and get emancipated out into personality.” And I would add: Our victory is EMANCIPATION INTO HIS PERSON-ALITY!!

“Victory”? Please, please; I challenge you to open the door of your own life, right now, to Romans 8:35-39!! “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

F.J. Huegel, in his book “Forever Triumphant,” opens with this statement: “It comes as a shock when one realizes that the Christian life, as for the most part it is being lived, falls far short of the divine standard. The status of unnumbered Christians is sub-normal. They are below par. They are not out-and-out sinners along with the worldling, for they have named the name of Jesus in true faith and are indeed members of His church; but talk to them about a life of perennial victory, about being more than conquerors, about a life “hid with Christ in God” in unbroken and joyous communion, and you will fail to get an understanding response. You may provoke an incredulous smile.”

But, thank God, THERE ARE THOSE who have discovered, walked in, live by the truth of 1 John 4:17b, that “because as He is, so are we in this world.” In a previous fourth chapter verse, Verse 9, John also said: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM.”

Do you know what pleases God? In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul said: “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood…”. With whom did he confer? How about Holy God Himself, the Resurrected Christ, and the Holy Spirit!

To the church at Colossae, Paul later wrote, Colossians 2:9-10, “For in Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” So, what took place at Calvary’s Cross as Jesus suffered, bled, and died? In Galatians 2:20 Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself FOR ME!” Isn’t that what we learned in Galatians 3:26? “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

If you haven’t heard it or learned it as yet, Christ Jesus won “the victory” at the Cross in our behalf, which is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”

Are YOU living “victoriously” as the disciple of Christ? Are you “the overcomer”? Are you triumphant as a traveler on the Highway of Holiness? Having been “born of God” are you victorious over your world in and through Christ Jesus?

“In Christ” we’re not part of a hoax – we’re part of Heaven’s Royal Family! “In Christ” we’re not overcome but are overcomers through Christ’s Victory in our behalf! “In Christ” we’re not strugglers after a goal that can never be reached or crossed – we’re finished products of His amazing saving Grace, complete in Christ, lacking nothing!

Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death.” You’re not a victim! YOU ARE VICTOR IN CHRIST!!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? CARING FOR OTHERS – THE SIGN OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE!”

I don’t know how you respond as you are reading the Word, but there are times when I am absolutely overwhelmed, burdened, and broken when I read like I did today Psalm 142:3-4 when David, King David, was overwhelmed, yes, distraught over the treatment of his persecutors! It says:

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You [God] knew my path. In the way which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; NO ONE CARES MY SOUL.”

Reading Isaiah again recently, I was awakened anew of the desperation many become aware of in their own lives because they lost the calling to care for others. In Isaiah 17:10-11 the prophet wrote about the ‘burden’ to come to Syria AND Israel because they had forgotten even caring about God Himself much less other nations and people!

“Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, therefore you will plant pleasant plants and set out foreign seedlings; In the day you will make your plant to grow, and in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; but the harvest will be a heap of ruins in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.”

Is Holy God telling us that, not only godless cities become desolations, but uncaring people, churches, and nations, can, and possibly will become destined for desolation because there is no compassion for the needy?!?

We must, before continuing the Title: “Caring For Others – The Sign of Christ’s Presence”, witness Him for ourselves in His compassionate ministry whether “we” are a part of Him or not! In John 13:1-10 we read, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, are You washing my feet?’ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”

Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” Jesus knew then, and He knows now, those who would, will, and do betray Him!

In Hebrews 10:19-25 the author faithfully challenges us to remembrance of our true calling! “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

And, dare I tell you, “that Day approaching” is the Day of our Lord’s examination of whether or not we followed His Example and cared for, yes, a lost, needy, unreconciled people, as well as our care for one another in family, the Faith, and the wounded of our spiritual warfare with the powers of darkness! “Jesus, You shall never wash my feet,” or are you one who now realizes, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Clean hands to serve –clean heads in understanding our mission, our calling, yes, our major responsibility of touching our world around us with His love, His mercy, His grace, His Truth, His Son and their Savior! How does it come to fruition in us as His disciples?

ONE, IS AVAILABILITY! If I am His, and I belong to Him, is the path I walk as a true disciple “my way” or His way? We’ve all seen in the Word the encounter of Isaiah with the Living Lord in Isaiah 6:5-9, Isaiah said: “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.” Isaiah had unveiled before Him the vision of the Kingdom of God, Isaiah experienced the removal of his sin, as we read in Isaiah 6:7, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged!”

Oh, but then Isaiah heard the heart-cry of Holy God! Isaiah 6:8, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” And Isaiah responded, “Here am I! Send me.” And God said, “Go, and tell this people.”

When did that change? Or have we become so “spiritually mature” (?) that we’re not “weird disciples” who make themselves available to the lost, dying, perishing, unbelieving, unredeemed, fallen-away world of humanity, yes, deceived by the powers of darkness?

It’s a sad, sad day when church leadership, churches, yes, ‘disciples of Christ’, turn blind eyes to a needy world! Too many churches are intense on ‘self-realization’ to the extent that they sense no calling to truly “reach out” as “witnesses” of His saving grace and mercy! He loves the world – most churches love their own without any consideration of penetrating an unsaved, alienated humanity, with His love! If the church’s aim is to come, according to Ephesians 4:13, “to the unity of the faith AND OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” did His fullness include laying down His life in witnessing? “I’ve come to seek and to save that which is lost!” Do you?

TWO, IS COMPASSION! Which I believe is truly a fruit of the Indwelling Holy Spirit! And, of course, Jesus said, “By their fruits you shall know them!” How many ‘disciples’ have crossed your path professing faith in Christ but, sadly, on a pilgrimage of “self-awareness” and “self-realization”, crowning ‘self’ as his/her only priority without any consideration or commitment to “You shall be My witnesses”?

Completeness in Christ without His compassion for the unsaved? In Hebrews 9:14 we read, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” But you claim ‘service to Him’ without any consideration of His calling?

In Luke 19:10 the Lord Jesus said: “For the Son of Man has come TO SEEK AND TO SAVE that which was lost.” And, of course, Judaism had lost God’s holy intent, and certainly Holy God passionately desired to see Israel’s salvation but also, through them, the salvation of the entire world!

Why did Jesus once say, Matthew 5:20, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Just how devoted do you think “the scribes and Pharisees” were to their ‘religious rituals’? But did they touch a dark world with the “Light of Heaven”? Did they touch the ‘lost’ with the true liberty of Heavenly love and grace?

Didn’t you, at first, find it so strange, when in John 7:15 the Jews marveled at Jesus, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” [They were supposing without a Rabbi’s PhD that the Creator of it all couldn’t know or understand their religious plateau or prestige!]. In Verses 16-18 the Lord Jesus responded, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is found in Him.”

Question! “Why did Father-God send Christ Jesus, the Son? In Romans 8:28-29 Paul tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

What did Christ Jesus Himself say? John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, [rests in, adheres to, relies upon] though He may die, he shall live. Verse 26, And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

If Jesus says, “most assuredly…”, are you assuredly secure in the truth of His Word? In John 5:24-25 our Lord and Savior declared: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.” What compassion our Lord has for you and me!

THREE, HIS PURPOSE COMING TO FRUITION IN HIS TRUE DISCIPLE? IT’S BY BRIDGE-BUILDING AWARENESS! Dare I mention ‘life without Him’, as Genesis 1:2 says of the earth, “was without form, and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep (darkness).And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”? A life “without God” is absent of eternal purpose, void, empty, vain, trying every way possible to subdue the void and emptiness, trying to subdue the darkness in the mind, soul, heart, knowing nothing of “Kingdom-Now Living” in the here and now THROUGH the shed-blood of Christ alone!

Are YOU a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully aware of an unbeliever’s destiny apart from Christ? But beyond that, what about Holy God’s eternal intention in Revelation of “Kingdom-Living” now, when in Revelation 21:1-8 He told John:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea [or separation?]. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.

There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done! I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Clean hands to serve and clean heads in understanding our mission, our calling, our presence in a needy world?

FOURTH, IN CARING FOR OTHERS THERE MUST BE THE BIBLICAL SOUNDNESS OF ETERNAL TRUTH IN TOUCHING HEARTS, TRAINING MINDS, AND RELEASING EDUCATED, ENLIGHTENED WILLS THROUGH REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD AND FAITH IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS!

In John 8:31-32 the Word tells us, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Of course, one of the human tragedies in the circles of ‘religious faith’ is what Holy God talked about through Paul in Romans 1:18-25! “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, WHO SUPPRESS THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for GOD HAS SHOWN IT TO THEM. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse; because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, WHO EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE [“You can sin and not die!”], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. SO BE IT!”

Do you remember the loving spiritual father, Paul, as he taught his spiritual son, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? “All scripture is given by inspiration of God [Holy Scripture, the Holy Bible, not the futile writings of Mohammed or any other false teacher!], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Paul went on in 2 Timothy 4:1-4 to say to Timothy and us today, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. BUT YOU BE WATCHFUL IN ALL THINGS, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, FULFILL YOUR MINISTRY!”

Did Paul, in challenging Timothy, challenge us? “Preach the word!” Are you convincing, rebuking, exhorting, with all longsuffering and teaching?

FIFTH, IN CARING FOR OTHERS THERE MUST ALSO BE INTERCESSORY FAITHFULNESS, PRAYING FOR OTHERS, AND CONTINUING TO PRAY!

In 1 Timothy 2:1-3 our intercessory faithfulness in prayer is clearly called for. Paul wrote, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings [presidents?] and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

True spiritual discipleship is not a ‘professing’ life without the faithful practice of intercessory prayer! True spiritual disciples, men or women, are disciples of prayer! It’s conversation with the Father, it’s inter-change with one’s Lord and Savior, it’s petitions, it’s requests, it’s one’s desires refined by the mind, heart, Word and will of Holy God, it’s confession, intercession, the refining of one’s thoughts and dreams according to the Sovereignty of God, it’s thanksgiving, it’s yielded-ness to the “Yes” or “No” of trustful Lord and Savior, it’s requesting His counsel and advice not demanding ‘my way or the highway,’ it’s “asking in Jesus’ Name and leaving the results to God the Father,” and Oswald Chambers really nailed it when he said, “Have you reached such an intimacy with God that the Lord Jesus Christ’s life of prayer is the only explanation of your life of prayer?” [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.160].

Intercessory Prayer is not a symphony of transfiguration that brings melody to one’s heart and through one’s heart, but knowing, receiving, and celebrating both the composer and conductor – Jesus Only! It’s not a supposed bright light after death experience, but fellowship, submission, and trust in the Light of Life, Jesus Only! It’s not the ‘blessed privilege of witnessing or praying for others, but opening the door through you – Jesus Only! It’s not even those, yes, multitudinous mountain-top experiences in prayer with Him – it’s Jesus Only!

Through your intercessory faithfulness and trust in Whom you offer your prayers, you’re at peace that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not fickle but faithful in fully answering you with blessed, eternal intent! As His faithful, praying servant, do you “rest” in Him!

SIXTH, IN CARING FOR OTHERS, IN FAITHFUL INTERCESSION, THERE MUST BE, IN YOU, THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THOSE FOR WHOM YOU PRAY MAY BE A LIFE OR LIVES OF TOTAL DISINTEREST IN THE THINGS OF GOD.

Are you aware that there are hard-shelled, hard-hearted men and women fashioned and shaped by a spirit of unbelief carved by the fallen nature of men dominated by “my respectable goodness”?

Oh, certainly there are many who experience ‘remorse’ for “a few blunders, but to say I need to be saved, born-again, reconciled to God? You, Sir Witness, I see only disgust with your suggestion!”

In Acts 14:2 we read, “But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren,” and to be are poisoner against true believers is to be “poisoned against Christ”! It’s a mind game, a heart issue, and a willful decision ‘for’ or ‘against’ the Truth of Christ Jesus as one’s Savior and Lord! Sadly, many, in their minds and hearts are not interested in the things of our Lord and Savior!

Disobedience, as a way of life, to the Holy things of God is personal enslavement to the things of the devil himself – and many are content with that degradation and personal disrespect of the Savior and Lord! Hindrances of true faith are often, like a stormy, destructive wave, sweeping minds, hearts, and wills with obstinacy, disrespect for the very Throne Of God itself, determined to be ruled by their passions, warped wills, and self-independence –“No God-stuff, thank you!” And they go to Hell with the devil and his demons and all unbelievers!

One of those heart-gripping verses in the Bible is John 6:66! “From that time [even] many of Jesus’ disciples went back and walked no more with Him!” Do you recognize that the holy things of Christ, His truths, His ministries, His visions and dreams, are so foreign to a life enslaved to its own opinions, views, desires, or fleshly wants, that rejecting the Life, the Way, The Will, and the Words of Christ, is a “fleshly piece of cake, flavored by the devil himself!”

NO WONDER WE’RE CHALLENGED WITH, AS DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!” Didn’t Jesus say in Luke 18:1 “that men always ought to pray and not lose heart!” And, praise God, we’ll not be those who lose heart, but press in to Him more and more!

Hattie Bell Allen and B.B. McKinney wrote in the Broadman Press of Nashville, Tenn., 1940!, the hymn, “Christ For the Whole Wide World! It says:

“Christ for the whole wide world! Our task has just begun, For millions wait in every land The message of God’s Son. Shall they be left in sin, To die without His Word, Without the Savior Jesus Christ, Because they never heard?

Christ for the whole wide world! His message must be sent To millions dying in their sin To call them to repent. Christ Jesus died to save, But they can never know Until we bring our gifts of love And bid His heralds go!

Christ for the whole wide world! His heralds will proclaim Salvation for men everywhere In Jesus’ blessed name. And we who cannot go To bear His tidings far Will pray for those who take the Word – And witness where we are.” Amen?

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? SIN’S COMPLICATIONS – SIN’S REMEDY!”

It always amazes me, not the sinfulness of all men, but the amazing grace of God, as I read Peter over and over again, saying to us: 1 Peter 2:21-25, For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself BORE OUR SIN IN HIS OWN BODY ON THE TREE [The Cross, Calvary!], that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – “BY WHOSE STRIPES YOU WERE HEALED.” For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”

Sadly, I’m not sure at all that most men/women, boys or girls, have any awareness of Sin and Its Complications or of Sin’s Only Remedy, but the one major thing at this moment for your consideration is God’s unveiling of its seriousness, so serious that the very Cross of our Lord and Savior is God’s declaration and revelation and unveiling of His judgment on your sin and mine, the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus, as the “at-one-ment” or atonement of Christ as the only hope of man’s escape from sin’s penalty, death, and our reconciliation with Holy God through the amazing unveiling of the heart of God in His love for us as He gave Jesus to become sin for us that, through Him, we might receive reconciliation to Holy God!

And, if you didn’t know it, Revelation 13:8 tells us of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” God understood the necessity of man’s reconciliation with Holy God because of the Fall, necessitating divine intervention through the Lamb’s “blood sacrifice”! Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.70], “Beware of separating God ‘manifest in the flesh’ from ‘the Son becoming sin.’ The Incarnation was for the purpose of Redemption. God became incarnate for the purpose of putting away sin; not for the purpose of Self-Realization.” And if, and it was, His crucifixion was to put away sin by His blood sacrifice, how does a “professing people”, and even “the church” of Christ HE atoned for, keep on sinning when He said, “Go, and SIN NO MORE,” [John 5:14], with the added few words, yet so frightening it ought to scare Hell right out of you, “lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Does the supposed “American-Christian culture” understand “Sin’s Complications” and its inevitable results? I’m afraid a “changed American culture” is void on understanding the seriousness of sin in and across the nation! It’s so alarming and disturbing to read an article published on Facebook by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, that says the following: “Time is like a river, You cannot touch the water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.”

Franklin Graham was speaking at the First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, January, 2015, when he said America will not come back. “The American dream ended on November 6^th, 2012 in Ohio. The second term of Barack Obama has been the nail in the coffin for the legacy of the white Christian males who discovered, explored, pioneered, settled and discovered the greatest republic in human history. A coalition of blacks, Latinos, feminists, gays, government workers, union members, environmental extremists, the media, Hollywood, uninformed young people, the “forever needy”, the chronically unemployed, illegal aliens and other “fellow travelers” have ended Norman Rockwell’s America.

You will never again out-vote these people. It will take individual acts of defiance and massive displays of civil disobedience to get back the rights we have allowed them to take away. It will take zealots, not moderates and shy, not reach-across- the-aisle to RINOs to right this ship and restore our beloved country to its former status. People like me are completely irrelevant, and I will probably never again be able to legally comment or concern myself with the aforementioned coalition which has surrendered our culture, our heritage, and our traditions without a shot being fired.

The cocker spaniel is off the front porch, the pit bull is in the backyard. The American Constitution has been replaced with Saul Olinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” and the likes of David Axelrod along with international socialist George Soros have been pulling the strings on their beige puppet have brought us Acts 2 of the New World Order. The curtain will come down but the damage has been done, the story has been told.

Those who come after us will once again have to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring back the Republic that this generation has timidly frittered away due to white guilt and political correctness…” And I say, “Lord, help us!”

It’s early March, 2016, and I have personally been reminded of the serious, sinful, and sick situation our country is in politically, morally, spiritually, and leaning toward a flood of godlessness, deceit, rebellion, resentment, and, yes, hatred of the Holy Word of God. I wrote this the early morning hours of March 2, 2016, after a very restless night of sorrow over what American people do, yes, in opposition to divine will and purpose! I wrote the following concerning “God and Government.” It says:

“Fast approaching my 80^th birthday as of June 12, 2016, I’m disturbed to see a nation and people founded, yes, by God Himself as “one nation under God” but fast becoming, especially among leadership nation-wide as a nation by the people, of the people, and for the people – and, as in life, so in governments, the absence of God releases men to their own control, their own godless philosophies, their own reckless abandonment of “self, ‘my way or the highway,’ and certainly ‘less God because I want to govern myself, my family, my city as I damn well please’”, which reveals a people and nation on the fast road to fleshly decline!

To them, spiritual government is not ‘the American way’! Really? And, of course, they want the Holy Word of God out of government, out of schools and universities, out of homes and families and their own minds, and less and less and less of local and state over-sight – “Who or what government needs the advice or counsel of what some call Holy God, our Creator, Lord, Savior, and Master, because we can govern ourselves as we please, which to us means: keep the Bible out of our public domain and ways of godless living; He has no place telling us what we individually or as families, schools, businesses, or governments ought to be doing!”

It was King David, ruling over Israel by the grace of God, who, in Psalm 67:1-4, wrote: “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth.”

But do you hear a ‘modern-society’ saying more and more: “God is not necessary in our governments, politically, morally, spiritually, individually or corporately – leave God out of our governments and out of our schools, out of our lives!” Oh, and they mean it – “To us, God has no place in our affairs because ‘good government’ (?) is allowing us to do as we please!”, which means: “less Faith, less guidance, less watch-care, less protection, less blessing of God, less Sovereign-Rule, less divine love, less of His omnipotence and more of our impotence – with many of the warped opinion that, ‘yes, we’re smarter than God Himself’!”

I know that the people of our formerly ‘great nation’ have set aside any “fear of God”. But Psalm 25:12-15 tells us, King David speaking, “Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

A “net of Godless rule” is a strong, powerful net that wraps itself around people so powerfully that they end up with spiritual curses, spiritual bankruptcy, spiritual ignorance, and a spiritual destiny they really should not desire. Numbers 22:31-34 is a wake-up call for some people, but, sadly, many national, state, and local leaders have plotted their course, omitting God, His Word and His will.

In Numbers 22:31-35 we read, Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with His drawn sword in His hand; and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face. “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because ‘your way’ is perverse before Me. The donkey saw Me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also killed you by now, and let her live.” And Balaam said to the Angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back.”

Do you sense today in America, in Texas, in the Bedford, Texas, area a political climate that is, by some, “perverse before Me”, Holy God, the Founder of government to be Sovereignly ruled by Him – not proud, fleshly, independent of and separate from His Holy Word, wiser than God men and women?

How clear are you about Peter’s words in 2 Peter 1:2-4 that so relates to God’s people as His instruments impacting ‘godless governments’ and lives in every community? Peter 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.”

Isn’t it a shameful position that some take, “Keep God and His Word and Truth out of OUR governments – we’ll take care of ourselves in our own way!”

But then, there are those with Peter’s wisdom and understanding! 2 Peter 1:10-11, “Therefore, brethren, [true sons and daughters of the Eternal Faith!], 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 Jesus Christ.”

You hear it in all political elections: “No God in our government – we do it our way, man’s way, the way of godlessness, and the way of fleshly compromises, alienating God and Truth from us!” Destructive heresies will seek to gain control, keep control, and hold onto man’s control and ways without heeding the Holy Word! “Alienate Truth and promote ‘our way’, which is the absence of God in our governments!”

Didn’t Peter go on to say in 2 Peter 2:19, “While they promise them ‘liberty’ [from being governed by God or His Truth!], they themselves are slaves of corruption, for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage;” Verse 22, But it has happened [does happen, will happen!] to them according to a true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”

Are you aware of how many “professing believers”, having escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior, find themselves easily entangled again in them and overcome, [that their] latter end is worse for them than the beginning?

In 2 Peter 2:21 the servant of God tells us: “For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.”

Now? Prayerful intercession that Holy God, once again, will teach men, political leaders, “the way in which God chooses” – not their supposed “grass-roots” electorate! Accounting Day does come before Holy God at the Judgment Seat for, yes, their ‘political decisions’ (?)! So, newly elected politicians: Will YOU be led by Holy God and His Eternal Word?”

“Vital Awareness Unveiled? Sin’s Complications – Sin’s Remedy?” You are aware that a man’s sin is nothing more than impure rebellion against Holy God, not only impure but impotent of producing nothing but more and more deeper and deeper and wider and wider separation from God, a declaration of independence from God, and sins of both sins of omission and sins of commission with immediate spiritual death and ultimate judgment before His Holy Throne! I’m sure that as Thomas Carlyle once said, “The deadliest sins were the consciousness of no sin.” That would fit about every sinner today, including ‘church sinners’, who have no sense of God or His Holy revealed Truth but only the recipient of a sinful mind – “pure hearts” are viewed as off-the-wall , weird, strange teaching of dis-brained preacher-teachers!

There’s a passage in Numbers 16:29-30 that should awaken some, if not many, to the seriousness of their sins. Moses said, “If these men die naturally like all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”

THAT was a literal event for many rebellious men, but it is also symbolic, prophetic, and a preview of the “pit” for men of today who take pleasure in dishonoring God with their lives. The “Pit” awaits for God’s Word!

Jonathan Edwards was famous for a sermon he titled: “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God.” The foundation was out of Deuteronomy 32:28-39 which says: (Are YOU Ready?): “For they are a nation void of counsel, nor is there any understanding in them. Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, THAT THEY WOULD CONSIDER THEIR END!

How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had surrendered them? For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of cobras.

Is this not laid up in store with Me, sealed up among My treasures? Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them.

FOR THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is no one remaining bond or free. He will say: ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they sought refuge?

Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you, and be your refuge.

Now see that I, even I, am He, and THERE IS NO GOD BESIDES ME; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand”

No doubt this is why Martin Luther once said, “Sin is, essentially a departure from God.” There are in the world, even some in churches, who live with “foolish minds, foolish hearts, foolish wills,” which is why Proverbs 14:9 tells us, “Fools mock at sin,” but because of the shed blood of Christ at Calvary’s Cross, Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

But, “SIN’S COMPLICATIONS”? Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death” – that’s spiritual death, that’s separation from God, that’s His guarantee of a room reserved in Hell for every “sinner”, every unredeemed man, woman, boy, or girl, that’s the embittered chains of darkness, desolation, and a death that will not die! Oh, and then are there even ‘believers’ or ‘followers of Christ’ who decide to disavow responsibility in upholding Christ’s Name and honor, what’s their settled fate in their own minds and hearts? Luke 12:45-46 says, “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”

“Sin’s Complications”? Not only a separation from God, but there is the condemnation of Holy God against those who pride-fully shake their fists in God’s face and go “My way”! “Sin’s Complications”? Do you know or have you ignored John 3:17-20 which reveals “My way” of loving darkness and hating God’s light. It says: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”

Sin injures, sin steals God’s intent, sin is the greatness of a man in sin: Great in unbelief, great in disrespect, great in personal loss and limiting God’s design and potential and privilege, great in sorrow and pain and destructive abuse, great in terrible transgressions, toxic trespasses, and total ‘heart-break’ and eternal suffering when God has to say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you!”

Sin is a spiritual scourge in impacting, indoctrinating, limiting, destroying lives, families and nations! Sin is why Holy God raised up prophets like Isaiah to tell people, even His Own ‘So-called’ People of God! In Isaiah 5:11-13 God exposed the ‘coming judgment’ on His own ‘religious people’! “Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue in the night, till wine inflames them!…But they do not regard the work of the Lord, nor consider the operation of His hands. [Which means that there ARE some things Holy God WILL NOT HONOR OR BLESS OR EXCUSE!]. Therefore My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”

THAT SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO “SCARE HELL” OUT OF SOME FOLKS, BUT THEN READ CAREFULLY ISAIAH 5:14-16! “Therefore Sheol [or “place of death”] has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant [over his/her “party spirit”!] shall descend into it. People shall be brought down, each man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty or proud shall be humbled. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God who is holy shall be hallowed in righteousness.”

In Isaiah 30:1, again the Prophet of God amplified the “woe” of rebellious children that excuse ‘sin’: “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin…” SIN is a “Reproach”; SIN is deceit with deadly results; SIN multiplies, quadruples, without the concern in the minds and hearts of sinful men – they “add sin to sin”; SIN is even ‘worshipped’ as men have their own altars they erect to bow before and indulge the ‘sinful flesh’ as their supposed ‘worship’ – some call them brothels!

But more than anything else “SIN BRINGS DEATH” AND “SEPARATION FROM GOD”! Romans 5:12 tells us: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all men sinned…”

It’s astounding to me that many lives, even in the “church”, frown upon “Truth” yet worship at the altar of the “devil’s lies”: “You can sin and not die”! And, certainly, they will tell the world: “Sin doesn’t separate us from God,” when in Isaiah 59:2-4, God’s Word, declared through the Prophet tells us: “But your iniquities have separated you from God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.” Who IS THAT? That’s the “I belive-ers” who profess allegiance but go on continuing in their sin, when, again, Jesus said, “Go, and sin No More!”

Oh, and then there are the “Jonathan Edwards’ prophetic prophets today who teach transfers out of “death in sin” to the eternal victory over sin through the Lamb’s “shed blood”! He said in his closing comments from “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God”,

“God has laid Himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of Hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises of eternal life, or of any deliverance from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yes and amen. But surely [and Farrell Fisher adds, ‘sadly’] they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not children of the covenant, who do not believe in the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant.”

But, praise God, beyond “Sin’s Complications” IS “Sin’s Remedy”! How could any ‘sane’ person read Romans 5:8-11 and not be at the Throne of God’s Mercy repenting and trusting His “finished work” through Christ? It says: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ DIED FOR US. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being][ saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” [And the ‘reconciliation’ IS commitment in honoring Him daily through our walks, paths, assignments!].

How on target and inspiring do you find Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:18-21? “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, SO THAT your faith and hope are in God.”

And, as a result of one’s redemptive faith in Christ alone, Peter added in 1 Peter 2:9-10 these words: “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

Thank you Robert H. Coleman who in 1939 allowed his hymn, “Saved, Saved!” to be published in the old Broadman Hymnal by Broadman Press! It says: “I’ve found a friend who is all to me, His love is ever true; I love to tell how He lifted me And what His grace can do for you.

He saves me from every sin and harm, Secures my soul each day; I’m leaning strong on His mighty arm; I know He’ll guide me all the way.

When poor and needy and all alone, In love He said to me, “Come unto Me and I’ll lead you home, To live with Me eternally.” Saved by His power divine, Saved to new life sublime! Life now is sweet, my joy is complete, For I’m saved, yes, saved!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? HUMANLY DEVELOPED STRENGTH OR GOD-GIVEN POWER?”

A fleshly-life in its most perfect demonstration, by man’s opinions and standards, is so void and empty of God-given power by His grace and mercy through the anointing of the Holy Spirit!

The kingdom of a man ruled by his own heart and mind is not the Kingdom of God in a repentant, redeemed life! In fact, man at ‘his’ best without God is a ‘victim’ or ‘slave’ of the ruler of the physical world who is known as Satan or the devil.

Jesus said in John 12:31-33, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out,” and ‘the ruler’ Jesus spoke of was the devil who deceives fallen mankind, alienated and separated from Holy God.

If you didn’t know, Matthew 4:1-11 tells us of Jesus’ encounter with the devil which every man, without the born-again divine nature, lives under his control , or his assigned demons who so want to intoxicate you, knowingly or unknowingly, as the enemy of God! Receive the Truth!

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. NOW WHEN THE TEMPTER came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ [Lust of the flesh!].

But Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, ‘If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, [Boastful pride of life!], AND, In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’

Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if you will fall down and worship me.’ [Lust of the eyes!].

Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

Are you aware of what Paul revealed to Timothy and us in 2 Timothy 2:24-26? “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses, AND ESCAPE THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” [Your life? Will of God or the will of the devil?]

In James 4:7 the brother of Jesus wrote, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” But rather than resist, unredeemed men, mostly, don’t even know their lives have become the residences of Satan or his demon powers!

The first creation, having been captured by men under Satan’s control, became literally a battleground dominated, surrounded, subverted away from God’s eternal intention, to becoming a devilish kingdom of resistance to Holy God and the people He wanted for His own, which is why Paul told us in Colossians 1:10-14, “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the powers 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.” [And if God has delivered YOU, how is it you so easily entertain ‘demons unaware’?]

It doesn’t matter if one finished only the first grade in school or achieved the status of a PhD graduate, without Christ, he/she is a slave of Satan and led by demonic deception! “Old things” refers to a life of man/woman, fallen away, independent from God by his/her sin nature, living in fleshly kingdoms with Satan and demon powers, deceived and being deceived, but with the devil himself ruling over that kingdom of darkness – and without God as Lord and Savior, it’s the ‘kingdom’, even fleshly, that is the denial of God’s Sovereignty and a willing or even unwilling acceptance and captivity of the rule of the devil! A world of man’s “best”, a world of “fleshly goodness”, a world of even moral acceptance, without Christ it is the “kingdom of darkness and the devil”! It doesn’t matter to many, whether they know it or not, without Christ as Redeemer, Savior, and Lord, a man/woman is living under the domination of a devilish rule in the kingdom of darkness – and many feel, “I’m home! And I love it,” but Hell awaits their admission!

Even to believers, in 1 Peter 5:8-11, Peter wrote: “Be sober, be vigilant; because YOUR ADVERSARY the devil walks about like a roaring (“Toothless”) lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. BUT may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory By Christ Jesus, after you have suffered awhile, perfect, establish (‘make to stand’), strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever.”

Do you remember Shakespeare in his writing “Twelfth Night”? [Acts 111, sc.4,1. 108], “What, man! Defy the devil: consider, he’s an enemy of mankind.”

And that is not a “Hollywood” fictional story to scare the living ‘day-lights’ out of people, but the reality of the devil’s kingdom against the Holy Kingdom of God and the Eternal Rule of the King of kings and Lord of lords – and the devil is intent on enlarging and controlling and ‘dis-easing’ fallen humanity, with the desire to expand his darkened, demonic, diseased, and deadly kingdom!

It’s so interesting, at least to me, that John, in Revelation 12, unveiled a war in heaven! Verses 7-12 educates us as follows: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their own testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. THEREFORE rejoice, O heavens, AND YOU WHO DWELL IN THEM! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

I’d say, without hesitation and with full confidence, that if YOU deny the reality of the devil, you are a “dishonor-student star” in his class of “stupidity”! His devilish works saturate nations, even like America – but I’ve traveled every continent in our vast world and seen his ‘dis-artistic’ drawings in men’s and women’s lives! And, true educators, interested in world history, know beyond any shadow of a doubt that the devil dominates the world of faithless, flesh-poisoned men, women, youth, and even children! But let me assure you: HOLY GOD WINS! And because you appropriate redemptive faith and a true confessing heart and mind, so will YOU win out over the devil’s tactics!

How familiar are you with Job’s dramatic story? Job 1:6-12 reveals, Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, AND SATAN ALSO CAME AMONG THEM [even a Sunday morning worship service?]. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” [Have YOU seen him walking lately around your community and surroundings?].

Then the Lord said to Satan, [Get ready! You’re next!], “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

Job lost his fortune, his family, being severely tested by the devil! [But surely in our highly educated, affluent land, many believe devilish testings are unrealistic stories “out of YOUR unholy bible!”] – Oh, really?

Job 1:20-22 enlightens us: Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshipped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

The testing began to take its toll on Job! And Holy God allowed even more intense testing! Job 2:3 says: Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

Oh, and “through it all,” Job learned to trust more and more in the Living God! In Job 42:1-6 we read, Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

You asked, “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

Job then said, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Should we dare read Job 42:12-17? I believe so! “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.

And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. [Daughters names but not sons’ names? Not sure, but Jemimah means “dove”, Keziah means “cassic” or cinnamon, and Keren-Happuch means “paint-horn” or cosmetic box (or a beautifier)! Job was a blessed man!

After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.”

How would YOU describe “old and full of days”?

“Vital Awareness Unveiled? Humanly Developed Strength Or God-Given Power?” It is so vital that you and I allow the Word of God to illuminate us in His eternal Truth, and nothing is more vital for the victorious walk in Christ than the awareness of “God-Given Power, Anointings, In-Fillings, and Empowerment”! It is not by “our best” but submission to His Spirit!

Zechariah was given a word of the Lord for Zerubbabel in Zechariah 4:6, “This is the word of the Lord for Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, (fleshly initiative or flesh-pumped-up impotent power), but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Dare I tell you that victorious living as a disciple of Christ is the promised supply of the Spirit of God in His fullness, His authority, His power, His insight, His leadership, and His guidance?!?

When you come to the early history of the “Acts” of new, young, immature disciples, one of the first “musts” of every new disciple is the “must” of Spirit-anointing! And that’s with the Book of Acts in foundational training and equipping! It says, in Acts 2:14-19a,

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel (Joel 2:28-32):

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, [that’s the last days of the Old Covenant!], says God, that I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.

And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath…”

In Acts 2:38-39 the Holy Word declares: Then Peter said to them [specifically the Jews, the city of Jerusalem, the priests in the temple, the gathered house of Israel, AND every man, woman, boy, or girl whom the Spirit draws, Peter said, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Has the Lord called YOU?

In Ephesians 5:15-21, Paul instructs all gatherings of true believers: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, [ “making melody in your heart to the Lord? That’s agreement and submission to the Holy Spirit as the ‘conductor’ of your life of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord!], giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” GLORY!!

Let’s examine a portion of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the Word of God! If Genesis 1:1 tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth!”, we do know that the Holy Word reveals one God who expresses Himself in the Trinity of Truth: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit! [For example, one man who is man, husband, and father!].

In the last part of Genesis 1:2 it tells us, “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Could that be “the water of life” or “the water of the Word” or “the water of washing of men’s hearts” or “the water that separates the dark from men, the dirt in their hearts and lives, washing, cleansing, purifying, strengthening, equipping, ordaining, anointing for ministry and service”? In fact, do we not read in Genesis 1:26, Then God said, “LET US make man in our image, according to our likeness…?” Us? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

If YOU are a part of the true family of faith, I know you’re aware of David’s plea in Psalm 51:10-11, when in his ‘prayer of repentance’ to Holy God, he cried out: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” Was King David aware, because of his sin, that at that time there was no anointing on his life and walk as he transgressed the Holy Word of God? Had Holy Ghost conviction swept over his life?

John was so aware of the ‘brood of vipers’ called the Pharisees and Sadducees, the ‘spiritual elite’ leaders of Judaism, who came out to witness his baptism and baptizing of ‘convicted children of God’, that John said, in Matthew 3:7b-11, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? THEREFORE BEAR FRUITS WORTHY OF REPENTANCE, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He [King Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

Oh, and then one really gets an unveiling of the Holy Spirit’s necessity in the walk of the Redeemer’s Life and ministry when in Matthew 12:28 He said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” [Cast out demons? Evidence of the coming of the kingdom of God upon His servants? In the 25 years of my ministry in India, “casting out demons” was so normal – but “American ‘christianity’ of the 21^st Century? To speak of demon deliverance reveals one’s spiritual stupidity! That’s ancient ‘voodooism’!”, as they expose their Biblical ignorance!

In Matthew 28:31-32 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy AGAINST THE SPIRIT will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

If you’re faithful as the true disciple of Christ, you’re SO familiar with Luke 11 as the early disciples witnessed Him praying, and they cried out to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray!” And the “Lord’s Prayer” became new disciples firm foundation of a blessed prayer-life! He majored on true persistence in Biblical prayers! This is so vital, in Luke 11:9-13, that YOU must ask, “Has MY prayer-life included praying for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in my life, including His authority over demons?” The Word says: Jesus speaking: “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father GIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO THOSE WHO ASK HIM!” [Have YOU asked, have YOU received, and are you led by the Holy Spirit to “cast out demons”? “No, Preacher, we’re far beyond your spiritual immaturity – there is no modern-day ministry in churches and communities of “casting out demons” – demons don’t exist!” Really? THERE IS BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT – and the Lord Jesus said in Luke 12:10, “and if anyone speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.” [“Holy God, please, please, help the American church and even the church world-wide, because the ministry of Your Holy Spirit is, sadly, so void and unknown!”]

Notice from the Word: 1 Corinthians 2:9-14, But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, THAT WE MIGHT KNOW THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD.”

The Holy Spirit, in the believer, teaches us! Paul shared that the natural man (without Christ) does not receive the things of the Spirit of God! And the Lord Jesus, as He taught His disciples in Luke 12:11-12, so aware of opposition from an unbelieving world or an unbelieving religious world, said to His disciples, “Now when they [the opposition!] bring you to the synagogue and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit WILL TEACH YOU IN THAT VERY HOUR WHAT YOU OUGHT TO SAY!”

Don’t you find it amazing and encouraging to hear John say in 1 John 2:20, “But YOU [as a true disciple and follower of Christ] have an anointing from the Holy Spirit, and you know all things.”

The beloved John, in 1 John 3:16, amplified “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought lay down our lives for the brethren.” And then in 1 John 3:24, John said, “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” Is the very Holy Spirit of God confirming, affirming, testifying in you: “Yes! He/she lives ‘in Christ,’ labors through Me, and loves the Lord, evidenced by his/her laid-down-life to the Savior’s glory and honor. I affirm their testimony by My Holy presence within as the Very Holy Spirit of God!”

More than the Spirit’s testimony, consider what Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:11-14! “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.” Glory! And again, I say, Glory! Thank You, Lord, for not only the gift of our salvation, but the gift of the Holy Spirit to abide in us and glorify Your name through us by His ministry of grace, love, fruit, and power!

And receive Ephesians 4:30! “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption!” But how does one truly know? In Ephesians 5:8-12 Paul, anointed by the Holy Spirit, tells us: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.” Fruit-inspectors? You better believe it if you are a true disciple of Christ, because ‘modern- christianity’ smells of ‘rotten fruit’ as it tries to live out an unscriptural ‘faith’, filled with compromise, open sin and even proud of it “because Jesus forgives me as I can’t do anything but sin until I get to heaven someday,” and Jesus responds: “Garbage! Depart from Me; I never knew you!”

Edwin Hatch and B.B. McKinney wrote “Breathe On Me”, old hymn of the 1930’s? “Holy Spirit, breathe on me, My stubborn will subdue; Teach me in words of living flame What Christ would have me do…Fill me with power divine, Kindle a flame of love and zeal within this heart of mine.” Is that your prayer this very moment?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? UNFOUNDED EXPECTATION OR ETERNAL TRUTH UNVEILED?”

In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul made a powerful challenge and a call for true personal evaluation related to one’s ‘professed faith’ or ‘disqualification’ from it! He said, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified.”

How did Paul address the ‘Galatian followers’ (?) unless he was aware of the difference between “possessors of true faith” or the “pretenders of faith”? In Galatians 6:3 he stated: “For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

You do remember Paul’s word to the church at Colossae, and to the modern-day church now, when he warned them and us in Colossians 2:8, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”

Philosophy, void of God’s Word is empty, man-made beliefs and opinions with no true foundation based on God’s Holy Word! Empty deceit? “We’re ‘God’ in and of ourselves – no ‘Jesus’ has any claim on us”, only that He knew us all by name and still went to the Cross in behalf of us all, redeemed by the blood or a rejecter of His blood sacrifice!

And even with that awareness of divine reality, awareness of the broken heart of God over unbelieving faith, awareness of the crucifixion, burial, resurrection, ascension, or His coming again to judge all the world, past, present, or future, Acts 17:30-31 declares, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, (“winked at”), but NOW commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this by raising Him from the dead.” But “His-story” means nothing to you?

I think in the early verses of these particular chapters is evidence of John weeping as he witnessed the broken heart of God over men’s sins, but initially I want to major on four or five statements from eternal angels and blessed elders of the Eternal Faith Story out of Revelation, chapters 4 and 5!

Revelation 4:8b, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Revelation 4:11, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” In Revelation 5:8, the twenty-four elders falling down before the Lamb, sang a new song: Verses 9-10, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, AND have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:12 declares, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Oh, and then, in Revelation 5:13, we read: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

But there are unbelievers, ‘pretenders’, and out-and-out rebelling, defiling lives that resent God’s proven love, grace, and mercy! And they are firmly convinced Holy God should accept them “because of who we are, because of how intelligent we are, and because of our worthy earthly accomplishments – you couldn’t do any better, God, than accepting us for who we are and what we do!”

The Random House Collegiate Dictionary, [Revised Edition of 1975, by Random House, Inc.], defines “pretense” as “feigning, make-believe, a false showing of something, like ‘friendship’ when one is an enemy, an insincere or false profession, the putting forth of an unwarranted claim, a fabrication!” You are aware that there can be, and, sadly are, “High-priced counterfeits” or even “cheap imitations”!

Alexander Pope, in his “Essay on Man,” [Epis. 1, l,124], wrote: “In pride, in reasoning pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skies. Pride still is aiming at the blessed abodes, Men would be angels, angels would be gods.”

Perfection in Christ is not an achievement man even needs to attempt, but is the gracious gift of Holy God. Do you remember Nebuchadnezzar as Daniel informed Belshazzar of the king’s rise and fall? In Daniel 5:18-21 we read: “O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor. And because of the majesty that GOD GAVE him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whomever he wished, he executed; whomever he wished, he kept alive; whomever he wished, he put down. BUT when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit HARDENED IN PRIDE, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses;” and it’s for sure: God will appoint to bless a people OR God will appoint to curse, blame, instructing all men by whom He appoints!

Examine Ezekial 14:6-14, and be repentant, not shocked! God said through Ezekial, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people! Then you shall now that I am the Lord.

And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the Lord have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired, that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God,’ says the Lord God.’”

Question! If the Bible clearly declares in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work,” have there been those who read the Old Testament Word and then declared or declares, “That’s not for New Testament disciples! What you read in Ezekial referred to Israel, not to any modern-day man.” How blind do you sense modern-man who sees himself exempt from All Scripture inspired by God?

How familiar are you with Deuteronomy 30:15-20? God spoke and still speaks today: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land, (city, state, nation) which you go to possess.

But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan (the Mississippi, the Thames, the Nile!) to go in and possess. I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before YOU life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that YOU MAY OBEY HIS VOICE, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” Texas land? Tennessee? California land? Utah land? Lands of England or all of Europe? Lands of the Asian continent or African nations?

“Unfounded Expectations?” Unbelief of God, rejection of saving grace and mercy, the lawlessness of disobedience and the hunger for what the world ‘out there’ away from Him offers? Are you familiar with the “parable of the lost son” in Luke 15? He left the father, went into the world’s ways, wasted his possessions with prodigal living, spent all – don’t miss the next event! – his ‘boss’ sent him into the fields to feed swine, and Luke 15:16 says, “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”

Do you understand, comprehend a life away from Father-God, from the Lord Jesus Christ, from the Holy Spirit, from the Holy Word which is your eternal Milk and eternal Meat and eternal Bread? “Away-from- the Father” men and women, boys and girls, yes faithless families have become “dumpster divers” so alienated from God that they simply live by the world’s menu of godlessness, “pigging out,” being served slop rather than what is on the Table of the Lord, deceived even into treasuring trash and counterfeit rewards!

But the Bible says in Luke 15:17, “But when he came to himself…!” That’s a glorious turning! He returned to the Father! What will it be for YOU? “Vital Awareness Unveiled – Unfounded Expectations Or Eternal Truth Unveiled?” What did the Lord Jesus Christ say in John 14:6? “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

And whether in this moment you understand it or not, there has always been only One Way God ordained for reconciliation to Him, and it was the way of the Cross, the way of the “shed blood,” the way of Resurrected Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords.

All through the Old Testament, the sacrificial system was the foretelling of the coming of Emmanuel, “God With Us,” the Promised Messiah that, yes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob looked for! Galatians 3:5-9 tells us: “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? – just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of [Redemptive] faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

If you “receive the Truth”, are you aware that Jesus said of Himself in John 8:58, Jesus said to them, [unbelieving Jews!], “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM”?

Have you studied and studied and studied, yes, the Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as each unveiled from his perspective the reality of Jesus’ identity? Matthew? In Matthew 1;1 we read, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.” In Isaiah 9:6-7 is his prophetic unveiling of the Coming Messiah: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever!! The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” That’s “the Son of David,” King of kings and Lord of lords!

But Matthew 1:1, in unveiling ‘the genealogy of Jesus Christ,” also called Him “the Son of Abraham”, which tells us, Genesis 12:1-3, Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Mark, in his gospel, unveils another eternal dimension of Christ, and it is as, yes, “the Servant of Man.” I love the Holman Study Bible, NKJV Edition, by Holman Bible Publishers, [Nashville, Tennessee, Copyright 2013]. Their cover of Mark’s Gospel “emphasizes actions and deeds. Jesus is on the go – healing, casting out demons, performing miracles, hurrying from place to place, and teaching. In Mark everything happens “immediately.” As soon as one episode ends, another begins. The rapid pace slows down when Jesus enters Jerusalem (11:1). Thereafter, events are marked by days, and His final days by hours.” Mark was led to introduce the ministry of Jesus through John as Mark 1:7-8 says, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water (unto repentance!), but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” No doubt this is why Paul, in Galatians 4:4-6 equips us with the foundational truth of all born-again disciples: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father,” multiplying, increasing, ordaining the servant-spirit in all true disciples! Luke magnifies Jesus as “the Son of man,” I’m sure myself because Luke, as a physician or doctor, desired to uplift Christ Jesus as the “Great Physician” with a number of “healing events” through Jesus! Also, there should never be a doubt in any student of the Word study concerning John magnifying Jesus as the “Son of God.” Consider simply John’s Introduction, John 1:1-4!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things [that’s “all creation”!] were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John went on to say in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And the reason Holy God sent Christ Jesus into our, yes, sinful world? John 3:16-17 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to] should not perish but have everlasting life. For GOD DID NOT SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

It was Woodrow A. Geier, in his writing “Religion in Life”, who said: “In the Cross, God descends to bear in His own heart the sins of the world. In Jesus He atoned [the “blood atonement”] at unimaginable cost to Himself.” I don’t believe Holy God even viewed the Crucifixion but looked away, until the moment Holy God was ready to resurrect Him out of a borrowed grave!

What does Paul tell us in Romans 5:8-11? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having NOW BEEN JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [being] saved by His life.”

No wonder it was the famous missionary-pastor David Livingstone who once said: “I will place no value on anything I have or may possess except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.” [Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell Com., Westwood, New Jersey,p.55]

Do YOU even begin to fathom, understand, comprehend the fullness of the greatness of God’s love for fallen humanity, demonstrated through the guiltless blood of the Lamb of God for all guilty fallen humanity at the Cross, without the awareness in you of renewed guilt and sorrow, because it was YOUR sin and mine for which Christ Jesus shed His own blood and died in our behalf?

Barrington Booth wrote an old Hymn entitled “The Cross Is Not Greater,” [Published in the old Broadman Hymnal, by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1940!]. It says:

“The cross that He gave may be heavy, But it never outweighs His grace; The storm that I feared may surround me, But it never excludes His face.

The thorns in my path are not sharper Than composed His crown for me; The cup that I drink nor more bitter Than He drank in Gethsemane.

The light of His love shines brighter, As it falls on paths of woe; The toil of my work grows lighter, As I stoop to raise the low.

His will I have joy in fulfilling, As I’m walking in His sight; My all to the blood I am bringing, It alone can keep me right.

The cross is not greater than His grace, The storm cannot hide His blessed face; I am satisfied to know That with Jesus here below, I can conquer every foe.”

CHAPTER TWENTY

“VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED? THE REALITY OF HELL

AND HEAVEN?”

I’m sure that as you’re beginning this chapter, having come this far with me, that you are reasonably assured and confident in both the reality of Hell and the reality of Heaven! And if you began with your personal description of Hell, you’d probably say, “The abode and absence of redemptive faith – no help, no hope, no peace, no blessing – just worldly pleasures continuing into wild decay, a state of unbelief untouched by eternal grace, the reality of a death that will not die, pains and chains, a ‘fool’s dwelling’ that has no light, no love, no liberty – just suffering, sorrow, senselessness, and continuing satanic rituals!

I grieved when I considered Harry Leon Wilson’s evaluation of “The Spenders” when he said: [p.241], “Hell is given up ‘so’ reluctantly by those who don’t expect to go there.” And if you’re not fully aware of its dreadful benefits (?), it’s the gathering place of the crowd who wanted no God, no Savior, no Lord – just a place for the gathering of ‘good’ intenders, good intentions, or hurtful, cheap imitations of, yes, even ‘god-like’ desires, but of the idolatrous kind as many gathered at their ‘holy (?) tables’ of adultery and child sacrifices to show their full devotion! Has much changed in this “new” American or world century?

It was William Allingham, in his writing, “Blackberries,” who said: “I believe in This, That, and T’other; Whatever is current, no matter.” That sounds to me like a mind and heart, dominated by ‘flesh’, fully blown up by the devil in stupidity!

If Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through Me,” what is that man’s future reward who doesn’t come His way? In Mark 9:42-48 the Lord Jesus Christ said: “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire – where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

Sin-maimed lives are “Hell-bound”! Sin-infested old sin natures, unredeemed by the “blood of the Lamb”, are “Hell-bound”! A sin-dominated ‘eye’, Jesus said, better for one eye to be plucked out if one enters the kingdom of God, than two eyes cast into hell-fire – where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ Are you aware of how Job came to recognize that, if he turned to iniquity and lived in it, he would be ‘deserving of judgment’ followed by ‘a fire that consumes to destruction’?

At least King David knew his rock, his fortress, his deliverer, when strong enemies had surrounded him. He said, in 2 Samuel 22:5-7, and verses 17-20, “When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears.” [If you KNOW Hell awaits you, I’d say, it’s time to cry out to Holy God in YOUR distress, because Hell is real, and has open arms waiting to pull you in!]. But then we read, Verses 17-20, “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. [At this moment, what ‘waters’ are YOU swimming in?] He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support.”

And, thank God, for those who know “the Lord of my support”, but for those who have no faith, no trust, no surrender to the Sovereignty of God and His amazing love demonstrated in the sacrificial death of His own Son, Christ Jesus, AT THE CROSS, Hell awaits because they played with the fires of Hell itself, and have been burned, continue to burn, and will burn forever in those flames of godless burning that never cease, even after one dies!

In Mark 16:15-16, the Lord Jesus Christ, Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords, said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes in [trusts in, relies upon, adheres to], and is baptized [as a testimony of saving grace], will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.”

Psalm 9:17 also declares: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” How plain and so realistic with compassion and love when Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him [the Holy Father] who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Just a few words written in the last few years on blank side-pages of “The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations,” related to “Hell”! [By JFF!], “Torture intended and never ending, day and night in the darkness of no light! Violence it’s reality, though paved with good intentions, – torturing poor souls with senseless pretensions! ‘Self-love’ is a fleshly picture of love for the devil, pleasure-less decay that never brings one level, with Holy God or the Spirit or His Sin in Heaven, but the lies of the devil in his untruth – leaven. The leaven of lies is the devil’s strong suit, and Heaven awaits to expose its rotten root; Satan is his oft-called name, constantly attacking God for the devil’s blame. Sad but so true, his days of deception are through, because Christ’s shed blood put the arrow of Truth through Satan and his race,, released repentant hearts to their home in Heaven’s place!”

It’s so true: One doesn’t find his assignment to Hell with the expectation of celebrating with his friends! A rejecter of Christ may have many “friends” in Hell, but they aren’t smiling! Do you even think about “your friends, your family” who rejected Christ because of the absence of redemptive faith in their lives, but you feel, “Well, maybe they had no desire for Heaven but they’ll brighten up Hell with their parties,” when all they’ll experience is not parties but pity, no celebrations but curses, nor joy but the sour bitterness of the devil’s hate, nor self-confidence any longer but crushed outlooks for something beyond ‘bitter’, which is not better! Can you imagine the devil in Wall Street dress or Hollywood beauties with gorgeous gowns, but when they’re viewed, if one was even given a slight view from Heaven to there, you’d see only the very damnable of hell, stripped naked with bodies torn, carved on, bleeding in a state of death that will not die! Didn’t we read earlier in this chapter from Mark about ‘the worm that does not die,’ or where ‘the fire is not quenched’? It was Isaac Watts in his writing, “Heaven and Hell,” who wrote: “There is a dreadful hell, and everlasting pains; Where sinners must with devils dwell in darkness, fire, and chains.” Hell is real!

Mark used a few less words than Matthew when he recorded Jesus saying in Mark 12:4-5, “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him, who after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” That’s Holy God!

“Vital Awareness Unveiled? YES, THERE IS THE REALITY OF HEAVEN”! That’s the eternal “home-place” of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, His faithful angels, and the “blood-bought sons and daughters” through their repentance toward God and faith, follow-ship, friendship with Christ Jesus, God’s crucified, resurrected, reigning, ascended Son, Jesus Christ, who will be magnified on earth as He is in Heaven through “born again” children of His redemptive faith!

Yes, In Nehemiah 9 we find men of faith standing on the stairs of the Levites, crying out, worshipping the Lord their God, and in Verses 5-6 we read: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever and ever! ‘Blessed be Your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.’”

One of those very sad moments if Old Testament history is found in Isaiah 1 when the prophet sees the chosen people, Israel, as, Verse 4-7 tells us, “Alas, sinful nation! [That’s Israel!], a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. [That’s away from God and His holiness!]. Why should you be stricken again? [Stricken by God Himself!]. You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. [That’s cursed by God!].”

Yet, in Verse 9, the prophet said, “Unless the Lord of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.”

And whether ancient Israel or modern-day America, Biblical Truth is, “God always sees a remnant of true believers who uphold Hid honor and His Truth!” But still, whether Ancient Israel or modern-day American church, “the faithful city has become a harlot!” But, Isaiah 1:27-28, alerts us now, as He tried then, “Zion,[the Kingdom of God, the spiritual Kingdom of God!], shall be redeemed with justice and her penitents with righteousness. [But] The destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”

The prophet gave a word of hope AND a warning from God when in Isaiah 1:18-20 he heard God saying also: “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;” for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

But the prophet knew, by the grace of God, there would come the day when God would arise bodily through Emmanuel and He would shake the earth mightily – He has risen up, and He is still shaking the kingdoms of man as the Kingdom of Christ arises! [What do YOU believe Isaiah 7:13-14 is all about?]. Then He said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel means: “God with us!”

I pray you understand how vital it is in receiving the prophetic Word of God in the Old Testament, and then resting in its fulfillment all over the New Testament from Matthew through Revelation, but be patient as I share in this moment only 1 Peter 1:1-5, 10-12, and Verses 17-21!

1 Peter 1:1-5, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:10-12, Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully [diligently], who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.

To them it was revealed, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things which angels desire to look into.

1 Peter 1:17-21, And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

For YOU is it Immanuel, “God in flesh”, or simply the “best efforts” of one’s ‘religious faith’? For YOU is it the unveiling of your sinful heart and exposure to your only hope through Christ’s “blood Atonement”, or the futile heresy, a faithless frenzy, as a graduate of man’s private schooling in pride, false teachings, and even Satanic superstitions, or simply self-approval of anything that relates to even opposition to Holy Truth, Holy God, or a Holy Purpose and Eternal Plan?

I found Shakespeare’s words in “King John,” [Act 111, sc.1, L.175], so wise! “Blessed shall be he that doth revolt From his allegiance to a heretic.”

I’m sure the Apostle Paul had a clear understanding of “Faith in the Lamb of God” or faith in the ‘bondage’ of unbelief. He said in Titus 1:15-16, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”

Oh, but then the Apostle properly and in an anointed spirit instructed Titus and us when in Titus 2:11-14 he said, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

I pray you’ve seen, received, clearly understand, that true disciples, still ‘in the world’ but not ‘of it’, are disciples set apart, re-born, filled with the presence and Spirit of the Resurrected Christ, [“Christ in you…”], governed, regulated, instructed, and living in the “overcoming life and Presence of Christ”, extending His life, expressing His love, and proving His power!

Yes, and though true disciples are still in the world but not of it, our calling is “taking the sentence of death daily, that the resurrection life of Christ may be manifested in mortal flesh” for an unbelieving world to see “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

Edward mote and William B. Bradbury had their old Hymn, “The Solid Rock”, published in the Broadman Press Hymnal of 1940! [That’s Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee.]. It says: “My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the vale.

His oath, His covenant, His blood, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.”

Your “sure foundation”? 2 Timothy 2:19 is clear, sure, assured by Holy God Himself: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’”

CONCLUSION

This has certainly been an interesting journey! When Holy God put this in my heart and mind to write, I truly had no full understanding of where He would lead or to what extent He would allow me to unveil, yes, the small portion of “Vital Awareness Unveiled” that He’s given to me. I truly believe I’ve only touched the hem of the garment of this great Truth!

As I stated earlier, I approach my eightieth birthday, June 12, 2016! It’s been an interesting, exciting, fulfilling 80 years, and especially since God’s grace, mercy, and special blessing and love, granted me my Godly wife, Susan McNabb Fisher, THE most beautiful woman on earth and a true ambassador of the love of Christ, the love of His Word, and, yes, the love of her husband, four grown, saintly, caring kinds, nine grandkids, great grandkids with more on the way! Three sons and a daughter: Scott, Susan, Stan, and Steve, with three outstanding daughter-in-law, Tammy, Leann, and Diane! Blessed beyond measure by them! Oh, and grandsons blessing us with their own beautiful wives, and a granddaughter with a loving husband, with one with child and another on the way! [I believe Stephanie’s husband, Spencer Coleman, preferred sin boys and four daughters! Not sure about that!

As of June 10, 2016, we will celebrated our 60^th Wedding Anniversary! Sue has been so loving, so faithful so strong, so wise, so caring, so desirous of Christ being honored through her, not only to her husband and her church, but to the community she touches, yes, by her very presence! And, how blessed to have married a woman who wasn’t sure about how to boil water initially, but came to be an outstanding cook, canner, baker, pie-maker, creator of many, many fine dinners, tastes, and recipes – and especially if it has a little wine to intensify its taste!

I’m so thankful for God’s choice for me for a wife who loves the Lord Jesus, wise in His Word, faithful to His Name and reputation and honor, blessed with a heavenly wisdom that enriches His eternal praise and adoration – Proverbs 3:13 says, “Happy is the man who finds wisdom…” Her name is Susan Gail McNabb Fisher! Didn’t Proverbs 11:16 tell us, “A gracious woman retains honor,” and my dear wife’s amazing journey has been only to honor her Lord and Savior through her walk before Him and her walk before her world! Didn’t Proverbs tell me in Proverbs 31:10-12, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her; so she will have no lack of gain,” with Verses 30-31 stamping Sue’s life, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” The “good and faithful servant”? That’s my wife, my bride, my partner in ministry and service!

“THE JOY OF A HOLY HOPE!”

It’s so interesting, convicting, and illuminating to read the Book of Job, seeing the extremes of serious doubts and unbeliefs, but then to see a man coming into the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! There was a time period of doubts, fears, and unbelief, but by the grace and mercy and love of God Job became an overcomer, victorious through God’s faithful pursuit of his soul! In Job 42:5 we read Job saying to the Lord, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye sees You!” Verse 10 says, “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

In Job 31 Job highlighted the fatal, false steps of unbelievers who choose the ‘flesh walk’ totally void of the Spirit’s blessing, hearts ‘deceived’ and ending up experiencing ‘the consuming fire’, inheriting a consuming destruction, and rewarding one with spiritual bankruptcy eternally! I don’t know who said it, but I read in the “Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, (p.231), the following statement: “Life with Christ is an endless hope, without Him a hopeless end.” So very, very true! But there are many who refuse to answer God’s knock at their hearts’ doors, willfully, ignorantly slamming the heart’s doors when the Savior knocks!

“The Joy of The Holy Hope” but you choose a ‘faithless life’ that without Christ dissipates into a coveted state of eternal captivity under the control of the demons of Hell and Satan accepting you as their and his forever slave in darkness forever, separated from King Jesus and the Holy Father and the Holy Spirit who so desired to “guide you in all eternal Truth”? One never comes into the blessed state of life who never truly trusts in the eternal redemptive hope found in Christ’s crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension to the eternal throne of God patiently waiting for the full increase of redeeming grace manifested in the minds and hearts of all born-again-‘faithers’!!

As I write this truth I do so just a few weeks AFTER!! I’m sure if you’ve attended any churches you found some singing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem, The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight” – And that’s about the celebration of the birth of Christ who came to “set the captives free” through His sacrificial death, His Resurrection, His present reign at the right-hand throne of God, and ‘His resting men and women’ who, yes, let Christ in them BE their hope of eternal glory!

Dare I say it? Believe I will! “Lost eternal hope is the fainting, falling, faithless life that “play-acts” life’s purpose as he, she refuses to answer Christ’s “knock” at their heart’s door!”

Are you aware that there are, sadly, multitudes world-wide who, yes, choose to live in a darkened, gray, indeterminate world of spiritual unbelief, no mindful consideration of revealed truth, no “fix” on eternal spiritual Truth, and, for them, absolutely no consideration of anything the Holy Spirit, God the Father, or Christ Jesus has to say, and certainly, for many, no consideration of anything Christians or churches have to say?!?

“Christ in you the hope of glory”? Yet multitudes live their lives independent of Holy God and His “Holy Hope”, living lives in “false hopes”, not lives established on the eternal Truths spoken by God! Multitudes ignore God’s holy knock on their hearts’ doors, certain in themselves but uncertain about heavenly help! Are YOU living your life on uncertain foundations? Consider several uncertainties!

One, consider the uncertainty of one’s trust in his/her conception of true beauty! Psalm 39:11 says, “When you with rebukes correct a man for iniquity, you make his beauty to consume away like a moth; surely every man (without God in Christ as his/her Savior and Lord) IS VANITY!”

Two, consider the shallowness of fleshly trust in men! Psalm 146:3 clearly says, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help,” but put your trust only in God’s promises! How clear to you is 2 Corinthians 1:20? “All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are ‘yes’, and in Him “AMEN”, unto the glory of God.”

Three, consider the ‘fleshly pride’ in one’s self-allegiance that has no room for “trust in the finished work of Christ alone at Calvary”! In 2 Corinthians 1:9 Paul the Apostle said, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.” Men who are ‘fleshly alive’ and ‘preeminently alive’ in themselves exchange a false identity God never desired for them to be deceived in, and even for the ‘fool’, he says, “There is no God”, when forever and ever the Resurrected Lord and Savior reigns and keeps on reigning to the Father’s glory, honor, and praise!

Four, examine the reality of the troubling tombs of godless lives, yes, men/women, boys and girls, with “darkened hearts, warped wits, and worldly wills”, because there is eternal difference between ‘fleshly darkness’ and Christ Jesus God’s “Eternal Spiritual Light”!

Fifth, in 1 Thessalonians 2, Verses 4-13 we learn about our “calling” by Christ into His eternal Kingdom! Paul wrote: “But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts. Foe neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, whom we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear to us.

For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail; for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children, That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto His kingdom and His glory. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.”

Dare I say it? Simply mental belief apart from full surrender to the Lordship of Christ with His “gift” of resurrection presence, eternal forgiveness, and new life, new purpose, new power, and new privilege, IS ‘head knowledge’ absent of a “new heart”! And that end result? Religious activities with open doors to Satan’s realm of deception rather than “kingdom allegiance” under the Banner of the Resurrected, Reigning, Royal King of kings and Lord of lords!

But because of grace that leads one to faith, as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:13-15, we “gird up the loins of our minds, being sober (eternally seriously minded!!), and hoping to the end for the grace that is to be brought to us as Christ is revealed in us, As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in our ignorance; But as He which called us IS HOLY, so you be holy in all manner of conversation or your walk through the journey of your earthly pilgrimage with Christ as your Lord, your Savior, and your guardian presence with Christ in you!!

Do YOU truly have the spiritual understanding of reconciliation to Holy God in and through the blood sacrifice of Christ and His victorious resurrection, now continuing to reign at the right hand Throne of Holy God, yet telling us He also makes the redeemed heart His place of earthly residence? Do you daily take the sentence of death to your old man in order for the Resurrected, Reigning Christ to be Himself in you and through you?

Hear me! Living without “Christ in you” as Savior and Lord is to be a life residing in abiding, hellish darkness, not freed into the “Light” of Resurrection Presence!

I truly love what John Wesley wrote in his writing entitled “Christian Perfection”! Wesley said, “The holiest of men still need Christ as their Prophet, as “the light of the world.” For He does not give them light but from moment to moment; the instant He withdraws, all is darkness. They still need Christ as their King, for God does not give them a stock of holiness. But unless they receive a supply every moment, nothing but unholiness would remain. They still need Christ as their Priest, to make atonement for their holy things. Even perfect holiness is acceptable to God only through Jesus Christ.”

Much of modern-day ‘Christianity’ is based upon misdirected curiosity but with limited inquiry totally short of, yes, the divine revelation! Reject the mystery of Christ’s existence, or look upon Him as only a historic person and riddle of a past life short-lived for only about 33 years, and the mixed mess of examining Christ Jesus sadly surfaces for some as only an “inexplicable riddle”!

SO…what does one do with John 3:16? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes (or Trusts) in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Blaise Pascal once said, “Jesus Christ is God to whom we can approach without pride, and before whom we may abase ourselves without despair.” Why? How? Because we understand through the revelation of God’s Holy Word that “all sinners were crucified with Christ on His Cross, buried with Him in His grave, but raised with Him through God’s power, released in us by, yes, our God-given faith and heart-led repentance, new-born, then filled with the Holy Spirit, and commissioned as His royal ambassadors! YES! We willfully crown Him in our hearts as “Lord of all”, you and me included because He called us, convicted us, converted us, anointed us, and declared us as His chosen, adoptive children in the Holy Family of God!!

Is it any wonder to you that “in Christ”, through the gifts of repentance and faith, that guided by the Holy Spirit you live royally blessed with the whole treasury that flows out of God’s heart, through His throne, through His Son, and, yes, through His born-again, new-birthed sons and daughters as the richness of His grace abounds, His graciousness embraces the true child of faith, and continues from one’s spiritual birth, to enrich their lives of faith with Heaven’s treasures??

Hear me! The Christian faith is not an intellectual theory or a self-centered speculation – it IS Christ’s Resurrection Presence living in the repentant heart and life resting in His promises! I grew up from early childhood of my home church in Cleveland, Tennessee, singing from the very old “American Hymnal” the hymn by R. Kelso Carter entitled “Standing On the Promises”, but you do know that far too many ‘professing Christians’ just “Sit On The Premises”, mindless of Christ’s intent of a repentant heart and faith-captured life becoming the Temple of His Holy Presence, yes, Christ in you, through you, as you daily take the sentence of death to yourself so that He might reign through you, extending His life, expressing His love, and proving His power! The Hymn?

“Standing on the promises of Christ my King, Thro’ eternal ages let His praises ring; Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord, Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call, Resting in my Savior, as my all in all, standing on the promises of God.”

ARE YOU STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD? The “Promises” are Merciful God’s “Creative Providence” in action, in you, for all around you to discover the Christ in you which can be their hope of eternal life, eternal rest, and eternal “Victory In Jesus”!! AMEN?

Once an outcast – but in Christ NOW a son or daughter in His redeemed, blood-bought family! Once living in darkness – but NOW living in the “Light” of His abiding Presence!

Once separated from God – but Christ’s coming, Christ’s Cross, Christ’s empty tomb, Christ’s “faithful knocking” at the hearts doors of all redeemed sons and daughters, Christ’s abiding presence and His constant, personal persuasion, blessedly favors us not to rest in “best effort, human trying” but trusting His Word: “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you”!!

In the old “American Hymnal” published in 1933 by the editor, Robert H. Colman, written by Fanny J. Crosby and W.H. Doane, is the hymn “Safe In The Arms of Jesus.” It says: “Safe in the arms of Jesus, There by His love overshadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest. Hark! It’s the voice of angels, Borne in a song to me, Over the fields of glory, Over the jasper sea…Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by His love overshadowed, Sweetly my soul shall rest.” Amen? Are YOU “Safe In The Arms of Jesus”? Proverbs 29:25 states, “The fear of man brings a snare; but whoso puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe,” followed by Verse 26 which says, “Many seek the ruler’s favor; but every man’s judgment comes from the Lord.”

“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION-LIFE!”

RESURRECTION POWER, RESURRECTION PRESENCE, RESURRECTION PRIVILEGE, ARRIVING, ABIDING, ASKING, EVEN PLEADING,CHRIST JESUS, RESURRECTED AND REIGNING, SAYS: “OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR, AND I, JESUS, WILL COME IN.” CHRIST BLED, CHRIST PLEADS, CHRIST KNOCKS ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR”, COMPASSIONATELY SAYING, “SIN NO LONGER YOUR MASTER ANYMORE. MY BLOOD I’VE SHED, YOUR BOOK OF LIFE I’VE READ – AND MY SACRIFICE FOR YOUR SIN? IT’S FOR ME AS IF YOUR SIN NEVER HAD BEEN!”

THOUGH SIN IS ONE’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE FROM GOD, PRODUCING THE “GRAVE OF LIFE” IN WHICH ONE DWELLS, THE SAVIOR COMES SAYING, “THE GLOOM IS GONE, YOUR TOMB IS NOW EMPTY; MY RESURRECTION IS YOUR LIFE OF PLENTY!

MY PLENTY IS YOUR GIFT OF GRACE, MY INTERCESSION IS YOUR GIFT OF A NEW PLACE! MY PLAN IS ‘IMMORTAL HOPE THAT DISPELS THE GLOOM, WITH MANY ANGELS MAKING SURE OF YOUR ROOM’!

EARTH MAY STILL REMAIN EARTH, ASHES WILL HOLD ON AS ASHES, DUST WILL BE DUST – BUT IN RESURRECTION LIFE, WE LIVE OVERCOMING STRIFE, THE GRAVE, AND THE DUST HAS LOST ITS STING – WE ONLY HEAR THE ANGELS SING!

CHRIST IS WELCOMED AS DEPARTED SAINTS SING, AND WE WHO FOLLOW WILL MAKE THE HEAVENS RING! YES, JOY TO OUR WORLD NEVER TO SUBSIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD FOREVER ABIDES!

NEVER TO LEAVE US, NEVER TO FORSAKE US, NEVER TO SAY TO US, “THIS IS NOT YOUR PLACE! THOUGH EARTHLY TIME IS REAL, ETERNAL LIFE REMAINS, AND HEAVEN ON EARTH WILL NEVER BE RESTRAINED!

ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU –MARRIED IN MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE, YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THOUGH I DIED ON A CROSS, BURIED IN A TOMB, THREE DAYS LATER I ROSE AGAIN, SO YOU WILL TASTE DEATH BUT CELEBRATE MORE IN RESURRECTION LIFE ETERNALLY; THAT’S HEAVENLY PRESENCE IN SHARED IMMORTALITY.

THE ‘SON-DIAL’ IS SET, THE SON AND MOON NEVER FALL, BECAUSE CHRIST JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL! REJOICE YOU SAINTS; IN YOUR SAVIOR ABIDE, BECAUSE JESUS OUR LORD NEVER HIDES! HE’S EVER-PRESENT YOUR LIFE TO WATCH OVER, WHEN SATAN IN DARKNESS SEEKS YOU TO CLOSE, JESUS SINGS, BECAUSE HE AROSE!

AND OVER YOUR LIFE OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE AND SERVICE IN THE KING’S NAME, KING JESUS REJOICES AND REVEALS YOUR FAME – MADE FAMOUS IN CHRIST BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD THAT HE SHED, CONTINUALLY PRAISING BECAUSE OF THE FAITH YOU HAVE READ.

TRUSTING HIS WORD, PROVIDENTIALLY IN FAITH WE’RE FULLY BLESSED, CONFIDING IN ‘PROVIDENCE’, WE SURELY “REST”! THOUGH TESTED AND PRESSED AND HEMMED IN ON EVERY SIDE, CHRIST JESUS IS LORD AND SAVIOR REIGNING OVER YOU UNTIL HIS ETERNAL LIGHT SHINES THROUGH.

IN CHRIST YOU’RE VICTORIOUS, THOUGH IT SEEMS YOU OUGHT TO FROWN, BUT BECAUSE OF HIS RESURRECTION PRESENSE IN YOU, ALL SATAN CAN DO IS ACT LIKE A CLOWN. YOU ARE THE WINNER BECAUSE “IN CHRIST” YOU ABIDE, KNOWING JESUS STANDS WITH YOU, BEHIND YOU, AND BY YOUR SIDE.TOUGH, ROUGH, FIERCE TIMES MAY COME YOUR WAY, LIKE A SPARROW THAT SUDDENLY FALLS TO THE GROUND, BUT THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR WILL SURELY BE FOUND, KEEPING WATCH OVER HIS CHILDREN AS THE FATHER OF THEIR FAITH; STRONG IN HIS WORD, SOUND IN HIS WILL – WHEN HIS CHILDREN ARE TESTED, HE DOESN’T REMAIN STILL!

THE “PURE IN HEART” ARE THOSE WHO SEE GOD, WHILE THE SPIRITUALLY BLIND ARE THOSE WITHOUT HOPE WHO SPEAK IN FLESHLY ELOQUENCE WHILE THEIR CHAINS GROW TIGHTER, BUT THE CHILDREN OF FAITH AND OBEDIENCE ARE TRUE SAINTS WITH NO DESIRE OF ANY TAINTS! KNOWING GOD LOVES THE “PURE IN HEART”, A MAN OF TRUE FAITH NEVER LETS ‘RUST’ REMAIN, BUT EVERY DAY HE TAKES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH THAT HE MIGHT CONTINUALLY REJOICE IN HEAVEN’S DOMAIN! THE “PURE IN HEART” NEVER CONSIDER FORSAKING THE WORD’S BIBLICAL STANDARDS, BUT DAILY TAKE THE SENTENCE OF DEATH TO THE OLD MAN THAT THE NEW MAN “IN CHRIST” MAY UNCEASINGLY REJOICE, SECURELY RESTING ON HIS FAITHFUL PROMISES, MIRRORS OF HIS ABIDING PRESENCE!

“IN CHRIST” ONE’S HEART IS TO BE TRANSPARENT AS PURE CRYSTAL; “IN CHRIST” ONE’S MIND IS THE SOUL’S NEW IMAGE, EVEN FIGHTING TO BE BOLD TO KEEP IT PURE! “CHRIST IN YOU IS YOUR HOPE OF GLORY”, HIM FAITHFULLY STANDING TO FIGHT YOUR FIGHT OF FAITH WHEN THE ‘STORM CLOUDS’ RISE, SATAN SURE THAT HE AND HIS DEMONS CAN TAKE YOU DOWN HOPING YOU NEVER RISE TO RESIST THEIR FLOOD; SO IN FAITH PLEAD THE BLOOD!!“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED LIFE HAS NEVER LOST ITS POWER”! SO IN JESUS, IN THIS HOUR OF EARTHLY TESTINGS, RELAX IN THE WORD, THE SPIRIT, AND THE PROMISES, WATCHING JESUS FIGHT FOR YOU AS GOD’S VICTOR! HE’S MORE THAN CONQUEROR – HE’S ETERNAL VICTOR, OVER THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND SATAN!”

THAT’S THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN A VESSEL (ME,YOU!),THAT SO DESIRES HOLY GOD TO RELEASE,UNVEIL, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST’S PRESENCE, SAVIOR OF THE WORLD, HAVING HIS WAY “IN ME,IN YOU AS WE HEAR OR READ HIS MESSAGE”! ARE YOU FAMILIAR AT ALL WITH THE POWERFUL UNVEILING OF CHRIST JESUS IN JOHN ONE? THAT’S WHERE THE APOSTLE JOHN WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE THE FOLLOWING:

JOHN 1:1-5,”IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD.(IS THAT JESUS, “THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING, ‘RICH IN LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY’, THE SOVEREIGN MERCIFUL SAVIOR AND LORD?”)

THE SAME WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD. ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY HIM; AND WITHOUT HIM WAS NOT ANY THING MADE THAT WAS MADE. IN HIM WAS LIFE,(LITERALLY, “IN THE HOLY SPIRIT’S BIRTHING, AND WITH THE “CREATOR’S ETERNAL BLESSING”,JESUS PROMISING “I’LL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU!”); AND THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. (BUT) THE “LIGHT” SHINES IN DARKNESS; AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT.”

UNBELIEVERS, IN THEIR DARKNESS, HAVE TO HAVE A WITNESS THAT, YES, THERE IS “THE LIGHT OF CHRIST” THAT CAN TAKE ONE OUT OF THE EMPTINESS OF A SPIRITUALLY DARKENED, SIN-FILLED,SATANICALLY DEVISED,SELF-RULING EXISTENCE TO BRING ONE INTO “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!”

LET THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE “YOU” OUT OF SPIRITUAL DARKNESS INTO HIS MARVELOUS LIGHT UNVEILING FOR YOU THE HEAVENLY,ETERNALLY, LIFE-GIVING SAVIOR AND LORD WHO FOREVER REIGNS VICTORIOUSLY THROUGH REPENTANT, “TRUSTING” HEARTS AND SOULS, WHO “TAKE UP THE CROSS, CHOOSING TO FOLLOW JESUS”!

NOTICE,JOHN 1:6-7, “THERE WAS A MAN SENT FROMGOD, WHOSE NAMES WAS JOHN. THE SAME CAME FOR A WITNESS, TO BEAR WITNESS OF THE LIGHT, THAT ALL MEN MIGHT BELIEVE (OR TRUST, SURRENDER, YIELD!).” WHY? BECAUSE RELYING UPON ONE’S INNER,SOCIAL,SELF-ACCEPTED RIGHT TO RULE WITHOUT THE HEAVENLY FATHER’S, YES, INNER SPIRIT AGENDA IN A REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART, THAT, YES, CHOOSES “DYING DAILY TO ‘THAT’ SELF SO THAT RESURRECTED JESUS IS GIVEN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE TO LIVE IN YOU AND REIGN THROUGH YOU, TOUCHING YOUR WORLD WITH HIS LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, WITH YOU AS HIS “WISE, REPENTING, TRUSTING, YIELDED SERVANT,OBEYING TO ‘GO INTO ALL YOUR WORLD PREACHING THE GOSPEL, WITNESSING OF HIS ETERNAL ‘MASTER-WORK’ IN BIRTHING DEAD SPIRITUAL LIVES INTO TEMPLES OF THE INDWELLING LORD AND SAVIOR, HIS HOLY SPIRIT, AND HIS ETERNAL VISION OF WORLD REDEMPTION, THROUGH “YOU” IN FAITHFUL MINISTRY OF INTRODUCING THOSE AROUND YOU WITH THE “GOOD NEWS” OF CHRIST JESUS’S BLOOD SACRIFICE, RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD, AND REIGNING ETERNALLY IN REPENTANT MINDS AND HEARTS, ALLOWING, “JESUS, BE JESUS, IN ME – NO LONGER ME, BUT THEE; RESURRECTION POWER, FILL ME THIS HOUR, JESUS, BE JESUS IN ME!”

ALSO, IN JOHN 1, NOTICE VERSES 8-16! “JOHN WAS NOT THAT LIGHT, BUT WAS SENT TO “BEAR WITNESS” OF THAT LIGHT. THAT WAS THE TRUE LIGHT, JESUS, WHICH LIGHTS EVERY MAN THAT COMES INTO THE WORLD. (THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS AN AMAZING UNVEILING OF EVERY MAN IN ANY NATION – HOLY GOD HAS BORNER ‘WITNESS’ UNTO THEM WHETHER THEY RECEIVE IT OR NOT!!!). JOHN CONTINUES, VERSES 10-16,

JESUS WAS IN THE WORLD, AND THE WORLD WAS MADE BY HIM, AND THE WORLD KNEW HIM NOT. HE CAME UNTO HIS OWN (HIS JEWISH HERITAGE, HIS EARTHLY RELATIVES!), HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT. “BUT” AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM, TO THEM HE GAVE POWER TO BECOME SONS OF GOD, EVEN TO THEM THAT BELIEVE (OR “TRUST”) ON HIS NAME:

WHICH WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD, NOR OF THE WILL OF THE ‘FLESH’ (OR OLD SIN-NATURE’), NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD. AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF FATHER-GOD!DID “YOU”?), FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH.JOHN BORE (&BARES) WITNESS OF HIM, CRYING OUT, SAYING, THIS WAS “HE” OF WHOM I SPOKE, ‘HE THAT COMES AFTER ME IS PREFERRED BEFORE ME; FOR HE WAS BEFORE ME. AND OF HIS FULLNESS HAVE ALL WE RECEIVED, AND GRACE FOR GRACE.”

GRACE FOR GRACE? GRACE GIVEN-GRACE SHARED! GRACE WORKING IN ME – GRACE WORKING THROUGH ME! GRACE FOR THE LOST – GRACE FOR THE FOUND! GRACE TO EXPOUND-GRACE TO ENLIGHTEN OTHERS! GRACE TO GROUND ONE ON THE TRUE FOUNDATION OF VICTORIOUS LIVING – GRACE TO TRANSPORT US THROUGH THE GRAVE UNTO OUR EARTHLY MINISTRIES THEN UNTO OUR ETERNAL HOME AROUND CHRIST’S THRONE, GOD GRACIOUSLY ALLOWING US TO ETERNALLY BE CHRIST’S “FOOT-WASHERS” AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE KING OF GLORY!

DEATH IS AND HAS NO “STING” –IT’S THE OPENING OF THE DOOR TO UNENDING SERVICE TO THE RESURRECTED SAVIOR AND LORD ON HIS THRONE! RESURRECTION LIFE! RESURRECTION POWER! RESURRECTION GLORY AND GRACE AND GLOW!

IN THE OLD BROADMAN HYMNAL PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, COPYRIGHTED IN 1940, IS THE OLD HYMN “PEACE!BE STILL!”, WRITTEN BY MARY BAKER AND H.R.PALMER. IT SAYS:

“MASTER, THE TEMPEST IS RAGING! THE BILLOWS ARE TOSSING HIGH! THE SKY IS O’ER-SHADOWED WITH BLACKNESS, NO SHELTER OR HELP IS NIGH: “CAREST YOU NOT THAT WE PERISH?” HOW CAN YOU LIE ASLEEP? WHEN EACH MOMENT SO MADLY IS THREATENING A GRACE IN THE ANGRY DEEP?

MASTER, WITH ANGUISH OF SPIRIT I BOW IN MY GRIEF TODAY; THE DEPTHS OF MY SAD HEART ARE TROUBLED; O WAKEN AND SAVE, I PRAY! TORRENTS OF SIN AND OF ANGUISH SWEEP O’ER MY SINKING SOUL! AND I PERISH! I PERISH, DEAR MASTER; O HASTEN, AND TAKE CONTROL!

MASTER, THE TERROR IS OVER, THE ELEMENTS SWEETLY REST; EARTH’S SUN IN THE CALM LAKE IS MIRRORED, AND HEAVEN’S WITHIN MY BREAST. LINGER, O BLESSED REDEEMER, LEAVE ME ALONE NO MORE; AND WITH JOY I SHALL MAKE THE BLEST HARBOR, AND REST ON THE BLISSFUL SHORE.

“THE WINDS AND THE WAVES SHALL OBEY GOD’S WILL, PEACE, BE STILL!” WHETHER THE WRATH OF A STORM-TOSSED SEA, OR DEMONS, OR MEN, OR WHATEVER IT BE, NO WATER CAN SWALLOW THE SHIP WHERE LIES “THE MASTER” OF OCEAN AND EARTH AND SKIES; THEY ALL SHALL SWEETLY OBEY MY WILL; PEACE, BE STILL!” ARE “YOU”AT PEACE WITH HOLY GOD, BY CHRIST JESUS, CONVICTED, CONVINCED, CONSECRATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT?

IN EXODUS 14:8, PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT, LIKE SATAN OVER HELL, HAD HIS HEART HARDENED, AND HE CONTINUED PURSUING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, LIKE SATAN TODAY STILL PURSUES THE SONS OF FAITH, THE CHILDREN OF GOD, THE JOINT-HEIRS AND ANOINTED AMBASSADORS OF CHRIST JESUS,BUT IN VERSES 13-14 WE READ: AND MOSES SAID UNTO THE PEOPLE, “FEAR YOU NOT, STAND STILL, AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, WHICH HE SHALL SHEW TO YOU TODAY; FOR THE EGYPTIANS (THEN, BUT THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, AND SATAN NOW!) WHOM YOU HAVE SEEN TODAY, YOU SHALL SEE THEM AGAIN NO MORE FOR EVER. THE LORD SHALL FIGHT FOR YOU, AND YOU SHALL HOLD YOUR PEACE.”

“THE HOLY TRUTH OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE?” THAT’S INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST IN YOU AS YOU DAILY DIE TO YOUR OLD SELF THAT THE “NEW MAN” IN CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH! AND YOU KNOW IT’S REALITY BY THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT OF CHRIST WHO ESTABLISHES THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITHIN AND BEARS FRUIT! GALATIANS 5:22-25 SAYS, “BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONGSUFFERING, GENTLENESS, GOODNESS, FAITH, MEEKNESS (TEMPERANCE OR SELF CONTROL!); AGAINST SUCH THERE IS NO LAW. (AS A RESULT) VERSE 24 SAYS, AND THEY THAT “ARE CHRIST’S” HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!?!) WITH ITS AFFECTIONS AND LUSTS. VERSE 25! “IF WE LIVE ‘IN THE SPIRIT’, LET US ALSO “WALK IN THE SPIRIT”!

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY OF FAITH IN THE CHURCH, YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR NATION, AND THE WORLD! ARE YOU THE “FAITHFUL AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST THE LORD”? IN A BOOK I HAD PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER, 2006, ENTITLED “OUR GRACIOUS GOD”, ON PPS.90-91, I WROTE: “I CAME ACROSS A STORY THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN MY LIFE. LOCATION –BELLE CHASE, LOUISIANA. A COUPLE WAS OUT ON A ROMANTIC DRIVE THROUGH A WOODED SECTION. ONE OF THEM GLANCED ASIDE TO SEE A SHIMMERING, WHITE GLOW THAT CAUGHT THE EYES. THEY DECIDED TO INVESTIGATE AND FOUND A DEAD TEENAGER HANGING FROM A TREE LIMB WITH A BED-SHEET WRAPPED AROUND HIS NECK. HE LEFT A NOTE ADDRESSED TO “MOM AND DAD.” IT SAID:

“I NEVER DID DEVELOP INTO A REAL PERSON AND I CANNOT TOLERATE THE FALSE AND EMPTY EXISTENCE I HAD CREATED. WHAT FRUSTRATED ME MOST IN THE LAST YEAR WAS THAT I HAD BUILT NO TIES TO FAMILY OR FRIENDS. THERE WAS NOTHING OF LASTING WORTH AND VALUE. I LED A DETACHED EXISTENCE. I AM A BOMB OF FRUSTRATION AND SHOULD NEVER MARRY OR HAVE CHILDREN. IT IS SAFEST TO DEFUSE THE BOMB HARMLESSLY NOW, SIMPLY CREMATE ME AS JOHN DOE.” I WENT ON CLOSING OUT THAT CHAPTER, WRITING: “NO ONE EVER CLAIMED HIM OR TO HAVE KNOWN HIM. HE TRULY DIED ‘alone’,(a lonely, godless, unbelieving ‘child’!).THAT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN THE STORY OF MY LIFE. COMING OUT OF A FAMILY OF A BROKEN MARRIAGE, I WAS THREE YEARS OF AGE, TAKEN TO LIVE WITH MY GRANDPARENTS –AND EVEN THOUGH THEY LOVED ME, THERE WAS THAT GNAWING EMPTINESS OF UNIMPORTANCE TO ANYBODY. ALL THROUGH THE YEARS OF MY LIFE (EVEN COLLEGE & SEMINARY!!!) UNTIL MY LATE THIRTIES SUICIDE WAS A POSSIBILITY – BUT SOMETHING HELD ME BACK UNTIL I WAS BORN AGAIN IN FEBRUARY, 1974!! IT WAS THE LOVE OF MY WIFE, SUE, MY CHILDREN, THE LOVE OF FAMILY, AND YES THE LOVE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, THEIR LOVE FOR HIM SHINING THE LIGHT THAT GOD HIMSELF ALWAYS LOVED ME AND WANTED TO BE MY SAVIOR, MY SHIELD, AND MY PROTECTOR AND PROVIDER AND PROVISION OF “CHRIST IN ME, MY HOPE OF GLORY”, YES, MY GUARANTEE OF “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR THROUGH CHRIST WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.

TELL ME! WHAT ABOUT YOU NOW, THROUGH DEATH’S DOOR, ENTERING AN EVERLASTING HOME: “IN CHRIST”, HEAVEN! APART FROM HIM, “AN ETERNAL HELL WITH SATAN, THE WORLD, AND UNREDEEMED LIVES”! CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY!!