CHAPTER TWO

“FAITHLESS ASSAULTS OR FAITHFUL ASPIRATIONS?”

An assault is defined as a violent attack with the intent of doing ultimate harm or serious damage, and certainly the opposition against Christ Jesus was intended to end His “assertions”, but three days after His crucifixion there was “The Resurrection”, eternally cementing the “Faithful Aspirations” of reconciliation, restoration, re-birth, and eternal recovery!

In the midst of hyperbolic exaggerations relating to “Redemptive Faith”, there are the true “soldiers of the Cross” who stand firm and faithful in the midst of humanity’s assaults against “Holy Truth”! In fact, across America today, whether in institutionalized universities or in the streets of illegal intruders or in the hearts and minds of truly ‘faithless’ people, you find a strong, vocal, demonic opposition to Eternal Truth.

Certainly you see and sense those clouds of terror, clouds of triviality, clouds of fleshly treason against the One True Living God, with God’s calling to the servants of “Faithful Aspirations” to stand firm, faithful, and fully clothed in His garments of true salvation, healing, and deliverance!

It’s the day and time and opportunity of remaining faithful in the very center of ‘faithless opposition’, living in submission and obedience to the King of kings and Lord of lords, or choosing, much like a majority of religious pretenders today, to live as consumers or confessors of religious fabrications, rather than converted and re-born in the “dress” of Eternal Truth in Christ!

Are you familiar with the word ‘pretense’? The Random House College Dictionary of 1975, by Random House,Inc., describes ‘pretense’ as “feigning, make-believe, a false show of something, insincere or false profession”, as one who professes but never possesses the reality of “new birth, born-again,” or truly “redeemed by the blood of the Lamb,” or biblical “At-One-Ment” with God Himself!

It was so interesting that my wife, Sue, shared with me, I believe, a “Facebook” post from a Dave Brat, dated February 20, 2016, about Judge Antonin Scalia, former Supreme Court justice who died sometime during the past six months to a year ago (?) – unsure. Brat said of Scalia, “He was a profound thinker with a simple faith, who urged Christians to live fearlessly.” His quote by Judge Scalia, “God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools… and He has not been disappointed…If I have brought any message today, it is this: ‘Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world.’” [That’s Justice Antonin Scalia, 1936-2016.].

“Faithless Assaults” are unmerciful, untruthful, unfounded, and sadly reveal how far and to what extent unbelief blinds, corrupts, and poisons many minds and hearts. “Faithless Assaults” are the “bad fruits” of godless lives, insulated through demonic activity, and though godless lives are normal, natural, and necessary, for them, in firmly establishing godless foundations to lives, families, the ‘fellowship of the fallen’, and their futures, they live and promote boisterously, “Who needs God?”, as their declaration of independence!

A “sophisticated world” today? But my question is, ‘has it ever changed’? I hate to be the one to tell you, but it’s been a “sophisticated world” from Adam and Eve to our senseless world today in most nations and peoples with both perilous times and perilous people who firmly believe they don’t need a “savior”! Paul described fallen humanity in his day and ours when in 2 Timothy 3:1-7 he wrote:

“But know this, that in the last days [of historic Judaism] perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Just how descriptive do you find those words of ‘yesterday’ for Today? Are there “Faithless Assaults” that are operative today across this modern world? Sadly, some believers see the “gift of salvation” as the “road of deliverance” from any trouble, torment, or even testing, when our Lord clearly said, “In the world you will have tribulation.” And, in Psalm 50:15, wise David wrote of Holy God testifying to His own people, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

“Faithless Assaults” are troubles that can lead to torments that become testings as to whether or not we live in biblical trust or simply “try your best to overcome.” I’m sure this is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:11-12, “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 wickedness in the heavenly places.”

“Faithless Assaults”? I find Paul’s writings in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 so illuminating as to a believer’s wrestling with “thorns in the flesh.” He said, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

But, as in Jesus’ day, so even today, He still says: Matthew 17:17, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” And you’ll remember the context: “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour.”

Sadly, a modern-day culture thrives on faithlessness, perversity, and satisfaction with the deplorable, the darkened, the demonic, and the devil himself! What was true in Timothy’s day is just as true today when we hear Paul instructing Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2, “Now the Spirit [the Holy Spirit] expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron…”

But it’s not only a modern-day culture in the world that experiences “faithless assaults” – it includes the “church-world”! In Acts 20:25-30 Paul said, “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. For I KNOW THIS, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.”

And “many savage wolves” are still devouring, deceiving, and destroying human lives, both in the natural realm and the spiritual realm! Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her writing entitled “The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning,” [J.E.Beale, Book Department, The Fancy Fair, Bournemouthe], wrote “The Soul’s Travailling. And as I read Browning, I wondered if her heart truly broke over “the mournful breath we name our souls! (Self-spoilt!), ‘traveling vainly’ to the grave”!

Psalm 2 begins with what I personally entitled “The Realness of Rebellion.” Verses 1-3 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 His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” And the next verse 4, speaks of “The Rareness of Laughter,”, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision;” oh, but then Verses 5-6, God speaks of “His Revelation of Compassion”, “Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion,” with Verses 7-9 upholding “The Richness of Relationship and The Declaration of Sonship” with His ‘birthed followers’! “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You 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.” And Holy God closed out His commissioning in Verses 10-12!

“Now therefore, be wise (“rest in His Light, His Word, His instructions”), 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 those who put their trust in Him.”

Are you aware that Christless, faithless, rebellious lives, though vocal in “faithless assaults,” will one day stand before Holy God at the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of their “faithless assaults”? In Romans 14:9-12 Paul wrote: “For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all attend before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."

In fact, in Matthew 7:21-23 the Lord Jesus declared, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

Let your world know it, let your family and friends know it, let your neighbors know it: “Accounting Day before the Lord Jesus for every human being is clearly announced: Judgment Day has come – were you one of faithless assaults or the faithful aspiration of “complete in Christ alone”?”

No more faithless assaults, but now, commitment, surrender, repentance and faith in Christ’s finished work, and our lives now offered as lives of faithful aspiration in what He did for us, in our place, suffering, bleeding, dying, then resurrected to the glory of Holy God, because death could not defeat Him, death could not destroy Him, death could not separate Him from Holy God, which, no doubt, is why Paul asked: “Death where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?”

I hate to be the one to tell you, but B.B. McKinney’s hymn, back in the 1920’s about “The Wayfaring Pilgrim” was intended for “good”, but overlooked the “Lord’s finished work” in all true, born-again, Spirit-filled, divinely-commissioned witnesses!

I’m not “poor” – I’ve been ‘enriched’ with “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”! I’m not a “way-faring pilgrim” – I’m a “blood-bought, heavenly birthed son or daughter of the eternal family of God – now, not ‘someday’, now,” not in ‘the sweet by and by’! I’ve been ‘crowned’ and sovereignly ‘commissioned’ NOW – not when I get to heaven! It’s not ‘when I die, I drop the cross of self-denial’ – when I repent, I have already accepted ‘crucified with Christ’, finished with the “old man of sin in me” NOW, not “in the sweet by and by”!

I’ve “read my title clear” and ‘already, in Christ’, I’ve “bid farewell to every fear”, and Now, I rejoice in His “finished work”! I have been “re-born”, I have been “in-dwelt by His Resurrection Life”, I have been ‘indwelt by His Holy Spirit’, I have been anointed in His fruit, His gifting, His promises, and I live in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ” NOW!

What did Jude write in Jude 24-25? So interesting, so illuminating, so inspiring! “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.” But especially Verse 1 where Jude said: “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Christ Jesus.”

And I want you to know that I personally was inspired and enriched by the Holman Study Bible editors who defined in their introduction to the Book of Jude the “Circumstances of Writing”: They said, “Jude called himself ‘a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James” (v.1). The James to whom Jude referred is not the son of Zebedee. He can be ruled out of consideration because he was martyred at an early date.

(Acts 12:1-2). The James to whom Jude refers to is surely the well-known leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13-21; Gal. 2:9). THIS IS SIGNIFICANT, for this James was the brother of Jesus (Mark 6:3). If Jude was a brother of James, then he was also a brother of Jesus. Rather than call himself Jesus’ brother out-right, Jude chose humbly to designate himself as Christ’s servant.” What a lesson to learn, what an attitude of mind and heart to be inspired by!

Do you think it might be that, by his life choices which often may be seen as “pride”, that Jude humbled himself, desiring to be known as Jesus’ “servant” – not a human, fleshly brother?

This may be why 1 Corinthians 10:31 gets the “high-level mark” of true disciples: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” AMEN?

“SPIRITUAL INSANITY OR SPIRITUAL REALITY?”

In Proverbs 16:9 we find man’s deceptive insanity and God’s eternal Truth. It says: “A man’s heart devises his way; but the Lord directs his steps.”

You do understand that there is eternal difference between self-educated men and men who “rest” in the revelation of the Word of God!?!

In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we read, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord.” Is Holy God “delighted” in your ‘self-allegiance’ over “trusting and resting in the finished work of Christ at Calvary’s Cross and the Empty Tomb”, more delighted in self-determination than the Savior’s declaration and Heaven’s determination of Christ’s “blood sacrifice” over fallen humanity’s “best effort”??

Are you aware of how deep, wide, and broad spiritual insanity is in a large number of mankind’s deceived minds and hearts as to Biblical Truth? The wise man, again in Proverbs 9:10, wrote, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Really? ‘The fear of the Lord?’ Many say without embarrassment, “I don’t fear God – I adore Him”, while they live in spiritual insanity doing as they ‘fleshly please’, unaware of spiritual consequences for their ‘religious, fleshly, worldly indulgences with no guilt, embarrassment, or conviction’ about the “holy life within” as they profess to follow while recklessly hold on to their ‘spiritual profession’, with no “fear of the Lord in hating evil”! (Proverbs 8:13).

I absolutely love the words of Proverbs 10:30 where the “wise man” wrote, “The righteous shall never be removed; but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.” Are you truly aware that God has an eternal plan of His Kingdom on earth being eternally established? I grew up in a church who sang regularly, faithfully, and in full conviction, “As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen!” Righteous never removed, but the wicked not inhabiting? The righteous never removed from the earth, (because Christ’s Kingdom is established in their hearts, while unbelievers ‘choose’ the world’s, the flesh’s, the devil’s eternal kingdom of separation from God and His chosen people?).

Joseph Parker once wrote (The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Company, p.183), “Have no fear for the unsettlement or the disturbance of the Kingdom of heaven. It began in eternity, it will go on through everlasting; there is no panic in the divine personality. God IS peace, God gives peace, God gives rest.”

You do understand that there are kingdoms of self-centered men and self-centered, worldly establishments, that want a “fleshly paradise”, but only God’s Kingdom on earth becomes faithfully His “Paradise”!

I don’t know who wrote it, but I remember growing up singing in my “home church” the hymn that says: “His kingdom is coming: Oh, tell me the story! God’s banner exalted shall be; The earth shall be filled with His wonder and glory, As waters that cover the sea.”

The heart, mind, will, purpose of God is that your earthly life would become, by repentance and by redemptive faith, God’s eternal Paradise on earth, yes, eternally! Your eternal life “in Christ” is His eternal Kingdom being established on, in earth, as it is in Heaven? “In Christ” one is through Him bringing Heaven to earth with His ever, abiding Presence??!!

It was Phillips Brooks who once wrote: “Be such a man, and live such a life, That if every man were such as you, And every man a life like yours, This earth would be God’s Paradise.” Is your life an extension, expression, an interpretation of God’s Paradise?

Do you remember the Lord teaching His new disciples to pray in Matthew 6:7-13? Christ Jesus said: “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore like unto them: for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.

After this manner therefore pray: ‘Our Father Who Is 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 lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” The kingdom, the power, the glory forever? On earth? Several Truths You Must “Rest in”!!

FIRST, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR EVERLASTING PROMISE OF A BLESSED LIFE! How necessary is the prophetic Word to your life in Christ?!? In Jeremiah 17:5-7 we read, “Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.”

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, is a hymn written by Edward Mote and William Bradbury that 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 His throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.” Your life on the Solid Rock of Christ or is it on ‘sinking sand’?

SECOND, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR SOVEREIGN HEAD! In Colossians 2:9-10 the Holy Word tells us: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power…”!.

But YOU are simply satisfied with God’s forgiveness through Christ, but unavailable to prove His love, express His power, and extend HIS KINGDOM, because, forgiven, you’re now thankful you can continue in the life of yours that He carried with Him to the Cross, so you hold onto ‘self’ as your sovereign ruler? Where is that in the Word of God?

Is your spiritual walk paths you interpret for yourself or do you “live” by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God? In Matthew 4:4 we read, “But Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not LIVE by physical bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

THIRD, CHRIST ONLY IS YOUR ETERNAL HEART! In Proverbs 28:26 we read, “He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered.” We know the Word is so clear and convicting and convincing when we read in Verse 13, “He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.”

Merit-minded men, intent on doing their own thing, even religiously, while still thinking they can’t do anything but sin even as a disciple of Christ, are men void of understanding of “Christ in you your only hope of glory.” In Romans 5 and 6 we learn that the grace of God is not fleshly grease allowing men to slide into heaven in their earthly, fleshly, demonic and satanic leanings, but the grace of God birthing “new lives” in and through the eternal heart of the crucified but resurrected Christ reigning NOW in His eternal spiritual Kingdom! Romans 5:1 2 tells us, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God THROUGH our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, AND REJOICE IN HOPE OF THE GLORY OF GOD.” And Romans 5:10? “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (being) saved by His (resurrected, reigning) life.” GLORY!!

Oh, but glory in God even more because in Romans 6:17-18 we also are trained, informed, inspired, and, yes, amazed at our calling! “But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was (and presently IS) delivered to you. Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

And understanding that “Christ only IS your eternal heart”, you daily take the sentence of death to the “old self” that the resurrection life of Christ may literally, daily, be yielded to His Indwelling Presence!

FOURTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR STRONG HELP! I don’t know how any ‘believer’ can read Psalm 42 and not rejoice in continual Hallelujahs! David wrote, Psalm 42:5, 8, and 11, the following words: Psalm 42:5, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.

Verse 8, Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Verse 11, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” Dare I ask? “How is the health of your countenance?” “IS CHRIST ONLY YOUR STRONG HELP?”

FIFTH, CHRIST ONLY IS THE HERALD OF LIFE’S BLESSING! Christ-less-ness is a curse, but “in Christ” is eternal blessing. Didn’t Jesus say, John 10:10, “I am come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly”?

How about “the river of God’s abundant pleasures”, Psalm 36:8? Or, beyond abundant life and pleasure, how about “the bank of God’s abundant grace”, 2 Corinthians 2:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that YOU, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work,” OR, “the reservoir of God’s abundant power, His ample supply, and His amazing entrance into His eternal Kingdom?

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”? OR,

The open door to amazing supplies that never run dry? Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by or in Christ Jesus”?

OR, His abundant entrance? 2 Peter 1:11, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

SIXTH, CHRIST ONLY IS OUR PERPETUAL HAPPINESS AND JOY! Oh, how clear is Nehemiah 8:10? “The joy of the Lord is your strength”? Or Psalm 16:11? “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Do YOU walk in perpetual happiness and joy? Do YOU walk in a state of ‘fleshly bliss’ or “Sovereign Blessing”? Is it ‘happiness attained in the best of human effort’ or is it the “Holy Estate of Heavenly Presence in the repentant rest of true Biblical Faith” that reveals Christ in you as your hope of glory?

Examine carefully Romans 4:1-5! “What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh has found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he has whereof to glory: BUT NOT BEFORE GOD. For what does the Holy Scriptures tell us?

Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto Him for righteousness. Now to him that works at it is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt? But to him that works not, but believes in, trusts in, relies upon, Him that JUSTIFIES the ungodly, that one’s faith is counted for righteousness.” That, my friend, is “Amazing Grace”!!

SEVENTH, CHRIST IN YOU IS THE ONLY DOOR INTO LIVING IN, BY, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD’S ABIDING PRESENCE! Follow carefully Colossians 2:6-10 and then Colossians 1:19-29!

Colossians 2:6-10 says, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.: Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are COMPLETE IN CHRIST.” What IS that “completeness in Christ”? Colossians 1:19-29 is so inspired, so informative, so liberating. It says:

“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has He reconciled In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight:

If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not removed from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God;

Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; WHICH IS ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily.” IS JESUS AT WORK IN YOU MIGHTILY?

EIGHTH, BECAUSE OF THE BIBLICAL FOUNDATION OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST, IS THE HISTORY OF YOUR ONENESS IN CHRIST THE RECOGNITION OF HISTORICALLY, PERSONALLY, INSPIRATIONALLY, DAILY CHOOSING DEATH TO YOUR OLD SELF SO THAT CHRIST IN YOUR NEW-BORN HEART IS ABLE TO EXTEND HIS LIFE, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, AND THROUGH YOU PROVE HIS POWER, TOUCHING THE WORLD THROUGH YOU WITH HIS NEVER-ENDING PRESENCE?

This walk in redemptive faith is not ‘trying’ but “trusting”, not ‘attempting’ but “allowing Him to be Himself in you and through you”, not ‘determining’ rationally what you choose to do as a disciple of Christ, but “depending upon Christ in you, Christ through you, Christ for you touching your world around you with His atoning power and amazing purpose!

For YOU, what is it? Spiritual insanity in “the best of human effort”, or is it the “spiritual reality of the new-born Life in Christ”? You do have a choice! “Choose you this day whom you will serve”, making yourself available to His Resurrected Presence! Amen?

I’ve paraphrased the old hymn “Saviour, Again” found in the old hymnal of Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, (1940). It says: “Savior, again to Your dear name we raise With one accord our parting hymn of praise; Once more we bless You ere our worship cease, Then, lowly kneeling, wait Your word of peace. (Is that “welcome to the Throne of Christ as your, truly, Lord and Savior”?).

A cloud of witnesses around Hold you in full survey; Forget the steps already trod, And onward urge God’s way, And onward urge God’s way.

It’s God’s all animating voice That calls you from on high; It’s His own hand presents the prize To your aspiring eye, To your aspiring eye.

Blest Savior, introduced by God, Have I my race begun; And, crowned with victory, (eternally!), at Your feet I’ll lay my honors down, I’ll lay my honors down.”

Examine Matthew 25:31-46! The day is coming when the King of glory, the Son of man, shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory:

And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, (That’s the King of Heaven AND Earth!!): Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was hungered, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in: Naked and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came unto me.

Then shall the righteous (the sheep but not the goats!) answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, and fed you? Or thirsty, and gave you drink? When saw we you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and clothed you? Or when saw we you sick, or in prison, and came unto you? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these me brethren, you have done it unto me.

Then shall he say unto them on the left hand (the goats), Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; For I was hungry, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we you hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto you? Then Jesus answered them, saying, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as you did not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”

Dare I ask? “Where are YOU headed? In whom or what have YOU “rested”? Finished with your old sin nature or finalized forever through repentance and faith in Him alone, “complete in Christ lacking nothing”?

OR THE ETERNAL TRUTH: “GOD LOVES ME”!”

APRIL 25-26, 2019 BY J.FARRELL FISHER

IN THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE FOR AN APPOINTMENT TODAY, AS I WAITED I BEGAN TO READ A CURRENT “SPORTS ILLUSTRATED” MAGAZINE. THERE WAS AN ARTICLE ENTITLED “DONTE’S EPIC” WITH AN EARLY MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT CALLED “WRANGLER” WITH A STATEMENT: “STAY IN YOUR ELEMENT: EVERYDAY VERSATILITY, OUTDOOR CREDIBILITY”.

I WAS STARTLED,DISTURBED,AGITATED,‘BECAUSE’, I WONDERED,WHAT DOES ‘EVERYDAY VERSATILITY OR OUTDOOR CREDIBILITY’ HAVE TO DO WITH “RECONCILED TO GOD”,BY BIBLICAL REPENTANCE AND TRUE FAITH, WHERE ONE FINDS “RECONCILED” TO GOD BY THE CONVICTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDING US INTO ALL TRUTH, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT SEEING TO IT THAT OUR HEARTS HAVE BECOME FERTILE GROUND OF THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE RESURRECTED CHRIST, AND THE THRONE OF GOD ERECTED IN THE TRUE DISCIPLE’S HEART!

HOW EASY, YET STRONGLY POISONOUS IN THE HUMAN HEART AND MIND IT IS TO LIVE WITHOUT GOD’S LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, OR THE TREE OF DIVINE LIFE SURELY PLANTED, THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT NOT BEING PRODUCED IN THE CONVICTED HEART, PLUS FAILING TO ALLOW THE INDWELLING GUIDANCE OF GOD HIMSELF TEACHING US BECAUSE, THERE IS NO FERTILE SPIRITUAL SOIL FOR THE SCHEDULED ERUPTION OF THE SEED PLANTED!?! “FLESH”, ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE IS UTTERLY UNABLE TO ‘PRODUCE’ THE LIFE OF GOD WITHIN APART FROM BIRTHED,MATURED,&GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

I’M SURE IT’S EASY IN DECEIVED MINDS AND HEARTS TO RELY UPON ONE’S ‘INNER SOCIAL AGENDA’ – TRYING TO BE THE FRIEND OF GOD WITHOUT “TRUSTING”, RELYING UPON A SOCIAL INNER SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE WITHOUT GOD ENLIGHTENING A TRUE REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART! “BEST EFFORT” IS MAN’S ‘SICK THEOLOGY’ WHILE GOD’S DIVINE CONVICTION, GRACIOUS “GIFT”, AND, HAVING TRULY REPENTED, TO THEN KNOW THAT HE,GOD,OPENED THE DOOR OF ONE’S HEART, AND THEN THEY HEAR JESUS SAY: “I’LL COME IN!”

I’M NOT OPPOSED TO ‘OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES’, BUT ‘EPIC’ LIVING APART FROM “RECONCILED TO GOD”? NO DOUBT MILLIONS AND MILLIONS ACROSS THE WORLD, INCLUDING AMERICA,ARE FLOUNDERING, DROWNING, IN SOCIAL,PHYSICAL,& SELFISH SATISFACTION, WITHOUT BEING CONVICTED,CONVERTED,COMPOSED, FULLY AWARE OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE WITHIN THE HEART AS HIS NEW TABERNACLE OF “PRESENCE” AFTER OPENLY REPENTING& TRUSTING IN A HEART, MIND, & SOUL,

WHO WANTS “RECONCILED TO GOD” BY HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTION, “RE-BORN” BIRTHED BY THE SPIRIT, NURTURED, MATURED, & REVEALING CHRIST IN THE “NEW-BORN LIFE”, & IN EVERY “NEW-BORN LIFE”,REVEALING WHAT THEIR CALLING, MISSION, & MINISTRY IS IN HONORING THE “RESURRECTED CHRIST” WITHIN THEM!

IN HEBEWS 12:28 WE READ: “WHEREFORE WE RECEIVING A KINGDOM WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED, LET US HAVE GRACE, WHEREBY WE MAY SERVE GOD ACCEPTABLY WITH REVERENCE & GODLY FEAR!” THIS REMINDS ME OF SOLOMON, IN 1 KINGS 3:5-15! IT SAYS: “IN GIBEON THE LORD APPEARED TO SOLOMON IN A DREAM BY NIGHT: & GOD SAID, ‘ASK WHAT I SHALL GIVE YOU.’ AND SOLOMON SAID, “YOU HAVE SHOWN UNTO YOUR SERVANT DAVID,MY FATHER, GREAT MERCY,

ACCORDING AS HE WALKED BEFORE YOU IN TRUTH,&IN RIGHTEOUSNESS,&IN UPRIGHTNESS OF HEART WITH YOU; &YOU HAVE KEPT FOR HIM THIS GREAT KINDNESS,

THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM A SON TO SIT ON HIS THRONE,AS IT IS THIS DAY.AND NOW,O LORD MY GOD,YOU HAVE MADE YOUR SERVANT KING INSTEAD OF DAVID MY FATHER;& I AM BUT A LITTLE CHILD:I KNOW NOT HOW TO GO OUT OR COME IN. AND YOUR SERVANT IS IN THE MIDST OF YOUR PEOPLE WHICH YOU HAVE CHOSEN, A GREAT PEOPLE,THAT CANNOT BE NUMBERED NOR COUNTED FOR MULTITUDE.

GIVE THEREFORE YOUR SERVANT AN UNDERSTANDING HEART TO JUDGE YOUR PEOPLE, THAT I MAY DISCERN BETWEEN GOOD & BAD: FOR WHO IS ABLE TO JUDGE THIS YOUR SO GREAT A PEOPLE? AND THE SPEECH PLEASED THE LORD, THAT SOLOMON HAD ASKED THIS THING. AND GOD SAID UNTO HIM, BECAUSE YOU HAVE ASKED THIS THING, & YOU HAVE NOT ASKED FOR YOURSELF LONG LIFE;NEITHER HAVE ASKED RICHES FOR YOURSELF, NOR HAVE ASKED THE LIFE OF YOUR ENEMIES;BUT HAVE ASKED FOR YOURSELF UNDERSTANDING TO DISCERN JUDGMENT; BEHOLD,I HAVE DONE ACCORDING TO YOUR WORDS; &LO, I HAVE GIVEN YOU A WISE AND AN UNDERSTANDING HEART; SO THAT THERE WAS NONE LIKE YOU BEFORE YOU, NEITHER AFTER YOU SHALL ANY ARISE LIKE UNTO YOU.

AND I HAVE ALSO GIVEN YOU THAT WHICH YOU HAVE NOT ASKED, BOTH RICHES & HONOR:SO THAT THERE SHALL NOT BE ANY AMONG THE KINGS LIKE UNTO YOU ALL YOUR DAYS. AND IF YOU WILL WALK IN MY WAYS, TO KEEP MY STATUTES & MY COMMANDMENTS, AS YOUR FATHER DAVID DID WALK, THEN I WILL LENGTHEN YOUR DAYS!” OH,! WHAT A WORD OF CONVICTION,

CONVERSION, CONSECRATION, COMFORT&CHALLENGE! AND “YOU” MUST REMEMBER 2 TIMOTHY 3:15-17 AS PAUL CHALLENGED A YOUNG SPIRITUAL SON & US!! HE SAID: “AND THAT FROM A CHILD YOU HAVE KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES,WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE YOU WISE UNTO SALVATION THROUGH FAITH “WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS”.ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, & IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE PERFECT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS.”

ARE “YOU” LIVING IN THE DECEPTION OF A FALLEN WORLD?” OR DO YOU KNOW THAT HOLY GOD “KNOCKS” ON YOUR HEART’S DOOR & MIND &WILL, TO SAY TO YOU, “OPEN THE DOOR & I WILL COME IN & I WILL GUIDE YOU INTO ALL BIBLICAL TRUTH!”?? I WROTE WORDS OF POETRY RECENTLY THAT SAYS: “STRANGERS IN A GOD-BLESSED LAND,SELFISHLY LIVE AS ‘SLAVES’ TO A WORLD, A DEVIL, & A ‘FLESHLY’ BAND;IGNORING GOD & SINGING THEIR OWN SONG, ‘OFF-KEY’, THEY’RE LOUD & SINFULLY STRONG.

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

“NEW LIFE IN CHRIST” IS TO THEM A ‘BORE’, BECAUSE LIFE ON THEIR OWN IN SINFUL PLEASURE, VOID OF GOD IS THE SIN-NATURE’S ‘LEISURE’:SO DAY BY DAY IN THEIR SELFISH WAY, THEY WILLFULLY LIVE BLINDED TO GOD’S “BEST DAY”; THE DAY OF REDEMPTION FOR SOULS N SIN, BUT MANY WILLFULLY CHOOSE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN!”

ARE “YOU” LIVING IN “THE DECEPTION OF A FALLEN WORLD-CULTURE OR “LIVING IN” THE TRUTH: “GOD LOVES ME & SO WANTS TO REDEEM ME,RECONCILE ME,& RE-TRAIN ME ABOUT “TRUE DISCIPLESHIP”, SO THAT I,YOU, THE “BODY OF CHRIST” IN EVERY CONTINENT & NATION, STATE & CITY, MAY TRULY BE HIS “ROYAL AMBASSADORS” EXTENDING THE KING’S MINISTRY!!!

“GOD LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO; LITTLE ONES TO HIM BELONG, THEY ARE WEAK, BUT HE IS STRONG! YES, JESUS LOVES ME,YES, JESUS LOVES ME; YES, JESUS LOVES ME – THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO!” IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”PUBLISHED IN 1933 BY ‘THE BROADMAN PRESS’, NASHVILLE,TENN.,IS A HYMN ENTITLED, “O COULD I SPEAK”,(P.11), THAT SAYS: “O COULD I SPEAK THE MATCHLESS WORTH, O COULD I SOUND THE GLORIES FORTH WHICH IN MY SAVIOR SHINE, I’D SOAR, &TOUCH THE HEAVENLY STRINGS, AND VIE WITH GABRIEL AS HE SINGS IN NOTES ALMOST DIVINE, IN NOTES ALMOST DIVINE.

I’D SING THE PRECIOUS BLOOD JESUS SPILT, MY RANSOM FROM THE DREADFUL GUILT OF SIN, & WRATH DIVINE: I’D SING HIS GLORIOUS RIGHTEOUSNESS, IN WHICH ALL-PERFECT, HEAVENLY DRESS MY SOUL SHALL EVER SHINE, MY SOUL SHALL EER SHINE.

I’D SING THE CHARACTERS HE BEARS, & ALL THE FORMS OF LOVE HE WEARS, EXALTED ON HIS THRONE:IN LOFTIEST SONGS OF SWEETEST PRAISE, I WOULD TO EVERLASTING DAYS MAKE ALL HIS GLORIES KNOWN, MAKE ALL HIS GLORIES KNOWN.

WELL,THE DELIGHTFUL DAY WILL COME WHEN MY DEAR LORD WILL BRING ME HOME, AND I SHALL SEE HIS FACE; THEN WITH MY SAVIOR, BROTHER, FRIEND, A BLEST ETERNITY I’LL SPEND, TRIUMPHANT IN HIS GRACE, TRIUMPHANT IN HIS GRACE.”

FOR YOU,YOUR CHOICE! SELF OR THE SAVIOR,LUST OR HIS LOVE, MY WORLD OR HIS KINGDOM, MY FLESHLY PLEASURES OR HIS ETERNAL PEACE, MY DARKNESS OR HIS LIGHT, MY ‘TRYING’ OR HIS WORD OF “TRUST”, MY SELF-EFFORT OR HIS SAVIOR’S LOVE EXCELLING, MY NATURAL BREATH OR HIS BREATH OF THE LOVING SPIRIT, MY ‘SPOTS’ AS SATAN’S MARKING OF SIN-CAPTURED LIVING OR HIS “SPECIAL GRACE” OF ‘NEVER-FAILING’ PRESENCE & POWER TO LIVE AS “MORE THAN CONQUERORS, BUT ETERNAL VICTORS” BECAUSE OF HIS BLOOD, HIS DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION, HIS ASCENSION, & HIS ETERNAL EYE ON YOU TO MAKE SURE YOU WALK IN HIS VICTORIOUS CONQUEST OVER SATAN, OVER SIN, & OVER PHYSICAL DEATH! CAN “YOU SAY, ‘HALLELUJAH! GLORY TO THE NAME OF KING JESUS!”

CHRIST’S MIND?”

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 12-14,2019

PSALM 31 IS A POWERFUL WORD WHEN A MAN DOESN’T SETTLE IN TO ‘FALLEN-AWAY-FROM-GOD-MINDS’ THAT SADLY CAN’T DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ‘SIN’ OR ‘RIGHTEOUSNESS’, BUT JUST SATISFIED WITH A CARNAL MIND TO ‘THINK’ (?) “AS I WANT TO THINK OR BELIEVE OR DECIDE FOR MYSELF WHAT MY MIND & MENTAL STATE WILL BE AS I PLAN FOR MYSELF-REAL MEN DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES WITHOUT YOUR GOD’S HELP!!” & IN THEIR PRIDE & ARROGANCE THEY WAVE THE HANDS, THE EYES, THE FEET, AWAY FROM “ETERNAL TRUTH” BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO DESIRE TO ACCEPT ANYTHING OR ANYONE WHO SPEAKS ABOUT ETERNAL MATTERS – “ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME IS TO DO AS I PLEASE – I HAVE A MIND OF MY OWN – & I WANT NO DIVINE INTERFERENCE IN MY LIFE – I’M SATISFIED WITH THE ‘TEMPORAL’, NOT THE ETERNAL; I’M SATISFIED WITH THE BEST MY ‘FLESH’ HAS TO OFFER –I’M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR GOD’S SPIRITUAL SLANTS; I’M SATISFIED WITH A WORLD VIEW THAT LEAVES GOD OUT – HE HAS NOTHING TO BRING ME IN TO HIS ‘RELIGIOUS JARGON’, I’M SANE, NOT SINFUL!” & YOU HEAR FROM A BLINDED MAN IN HIS FALLEN STATE AWAY FROM GOD’S LOVE, GRACE, MERCY, & HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE IGNORED BY A SELF-SUFFICIENT MAN WHO LIVES IN DISOBEDIENCE & REJECTION OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS.

“THE DIVERSIFICATION OF THE MINDS OF FALLEN MEN”? IN ROMANS 1:18-20 PAUL CLEARLY & CONVICTINGLY REVEALS “THE MUD, THE MIRE, & THE MISERY OF FLESHLY DECEIVED MINDS” THAT IGNORE SOVEREIGN GRACE & MERCY! HE WROTE: “FOR THE WRATH OF GOD IS REVEALED FROM HEAVEN AGAINST ALL UNGODLINESS & UNRIGHTEOUSNESS OF MEN, WHO HOLD (OR SUPPRESS) THE TRUTH IN UNRIGHTEOUSNESS; BECAUSE THAT WHICH MAY BE KNOWN OF GOD IS MANIFEST (OR UNVEILED) IN THEM; FOR GOD HAS SHOWED IT UNTO THEM. FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE, EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER & GODHEAD;SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.”

FALLEN MANKIND DOES HAVE A CHOICE! ACCEPT OR REJECT, RECEIVE OR REFUSE, CELEBRATE THE BLESSING OF KNOWING TRUTH OR CONDEMN THOSE WHO DO! PROVERBS 6:18 SPEAKS ABOUT THOSE WHO HAVE “A HEART THAT DEVISES WICKED IMAGINATIONS, FEET THAT BE SWIFT IN RUNNING TO MISCHIEF.” OH, & THEN, YOU READ JEREMIAH 23, ONE OF THE MOST ‘SHOCKING PASSAGES’ YOU’LL EVER READ! IT WILL (IF YOU HAVE ANY LEANING AT ALL IN YOU TOWARD HOLY GOD & HIS ETERNAL PLAN!); EXAMINE VERSES 1-22, “WOE BE UNTO THE PASTORS THAT DESTROY & SCATTER THE SHEEP OF MY PASTURE! SAYS THE LORD.(BACK TO THE ‘WORLD’ THE LORD LED THEM OUT OF, BUT ‘COMPROMISING PASTORS & PEOPLE SHRED THE FAITH OF MANY AS THEY, YES, CHOOSE TO LIVE ‘ADORING’ THE OLD SIN NATURE!).

THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL AGAINST THE PASTORS THAT FEED MY PEOPLE; YOU HAVE SCATTERED MY FLOCK, & DRIVEN THEM AWAY, & HAVE NOT VISITED THEM: BEHOLD, I WILL VISIT UPON YOU THE EVIL OF YOUR DOINGS, SAYS THE LORD. AND I WILL GATHER THE REMNANT OF MY FLOCK OUT OF ALL COUNTRIES WHERE I HAVE DRIVEN THEM, & WILL BRING THEM AGAIN TO THEIR FOLDS; & THEY SHALL BE FRUITFUL & INCREASE. & I WILL SET UP SHEPHERDS OVER THEM WHICH SHALL FEED THEM: & THEY SHALL FEAR NO MORE, NOR BE DISMAYED, NEITHER SHALL THEY BE LACKING, SAYS THE LORD.

BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAYS THE LORD, THAT I WILL RAISE UNTO DAVID A RIGHTEOUS ‘BRANCH’, & A ‘KING’ SHALL REIGN & PROSPER, & SHALL EXECUTE JUDGMENT & JUSTICE IN THE EARTH. IN HIS DAYS JUDAH SHALL BE SAVED, & ISRAEL SHALL DWELL IN SAFETY; & THIS IS HIS NAME WHEREBY HE SHALL BE CALLED, “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” THEREFORE, BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAYS THE LORD, THAT THEY SHALL NO MORE SAY, THE LORD LIVES, WHICH BROUGHT UP THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;

BUT, THE LORD LIVES, WHICH BROUGHT UP & WHICH LED THE SEED OF HOUSE OF ISRAEL OUT OF THE NORTH COUNTRY, & FROM ALL COUNTRIES WHERE I HAD DRIVEN THEM; & THEY SHALL DWELL IN THEIR OWN LAND. MY HEART WITHIN ME IS BROKEN BECAUSE OF THE PROPHETS; ALL MY BONES SHAKE; I AM LIKE A DRUNKEN MAN, & LIKE A MAN WHOM WINE HAS OVERCOME, BECAUSE OF THE LORD, & BECAUSE OF THE WORDS OF HIS HOLINESS. FOR THE LAND IS FULL OF ADULTERERS; FOR BECAUSE OF SWEARING THE LAND MOURNS; THE PLEASANT PLACES OF THE WILDERNESS ARE DRIED UP, & THEIR COURSE IS EVIL, & THEIR FORCE IS NOT RIGHT.

FOR BOTH PROPHET & PRIEST ARE PROFANE ( OR POLLUTED); YES, IN MY HOUSE HAVE I FOUND THEIR WICKEDNESS, SAYS THE LORD. WHEREFORE THEIR WAY SHALL BE UNTO THEM AS SLIPPERY WAYS IN THE DARKNRESS: THEY SHALL BE DRIVEN ON, & FALL THEREIN; FOR I WILL BRING EVIL UPON THEM, EVEN THE YEAR OF THEIR VISITATION, SAYS THE LORD. & I HAVE SEEN FOLLY IN THE PROPHETS OF SAMARIA; THEY PROPHESIED IN BAAL, & CAUSED MY PEOPLE ISRAEL TO ERR.I HAVE ALSO SEEN IN THE PROPHETS OF JERUSALEM A HORRIBLE THING: THEY COMMIT ADULTERY, & WALK IN LIES: THEY ALSO STRENGTH THE HANDS OF EVILDOERS, THAT NONE DOES RETURN FROM HIS WICKEDNESS (OR “LOCKED INTO IT! SOLD-OUT TO SELF-INDULGENCE! ‘TOP STUDENTS’ OF SATAN’S DECEIVED CLASSES OF CORRUPTION!”):THEY ARE ALL OF THEM UNTO ME AS SODOM, & THE INHABITANTS THEREOF AS GOMORRAH.

THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS CONCERNING THE PROPHETS; BEHOLD, I WILL FEED THEM WITH WORMWOOD, & MAKE THEM DRINK THE WATER OF GALL; FOR FROM THE PROPHETS OF JERUSALEM IS PROFANENESS GONE FORTH INTO ALL THE LAND.THUS SAYS THE LORD OF HOSTS, HEARKEN NOT UNTO THE WORDS OF THE PROPHETS THAT PROPHESY UNTO YOU; THEY MAKE YOU VAIN (IN YOUR ‘IMAGINATIONS’);THEY SPEAK A VISION OF THEIR OWN HEART, & NOT OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LORD. THEY STAY STILL UNTO THEM THAT DESPISE ME, THE LORD HAS SAID, YOU SHALL HAVE PEACE; & THEY SAY UNTO EVERY ONE THAT WALKS AFTER THE IMAGINATION OF HIS OWN HEART, NO EVIL SHALL BEFALL UPON YOU. FOR WHO HAS STOOD IN THE COUNSEL OF THE LORD, & HAS PERECEIVED & HEARD HIS WORD? WHO HAS MARKED HIS WORD, & HEARD IT?

BEHOLD, A WHIRLWIND OF THE LORD IS GONE FORTH IN FURY, EVEN A GRIEVOUS WHIRLWIND: IT SHALL FALL GRIEVOUSLY UPON THE HEAD OF THE WICKED. THE ANGER OF THE LORD SHALL NOT RETURN, UNTIL HE HAS EXECUTED, & UNTIL HE HAS PERFORMED THE THOUGHTS OF HIS HEART; IN THE LATTER DAYS (OF JERUSALEM’S HISTORIC PAST!) YOU SHALL CONSIDER IT PERFECTLY. I HAVE NOT SENT THESE PROPHETS, YET THEY RAN; I HAVE NOT SPOKEN TO THEM, YET THEY PROPHESIED. BUT!!,IF THEY HAD STOOD IN MY COUNSEL, & HAD CAUSED MY PEOPLE TO HEAR MY WORDS, THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE TURNED THEM FROM THEIR EVIL WAY, & FROM THE EVIL OF THEIR DOINGS.”

YOU’LL FIND IT VERY, VERY INTERESTING THAT I’VE LISTED THESE VERSES FROM MY “THOMPSON CHAIN-REFERENCE BIBLE” LAST PUBLISHED IN 1964! OH, & THEN I READ VERSE 28 THAT SAYS, “THE PROPHET THATHAS A DREAM LET HIM TELL A DREAM; & HE THAT HAS MY WORD LET HIM SPEAK MY WORD FAITHFULLY!” AND ALONGSIDE VERSE 28 I WROTE THE DATE: 3-10-83! AND 36 YEARS LATER, THAT HOLY WORD IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS IN JEREMIAH’S DAY AS IN MY DAY IN JUNE,2019!! OH, &, YES, VERSE 29 SAYS: “IS NOT MY WORD LIKE FIRE? SAYS THE LORD; & LIKE A HAMMER THAT BREAKS THE ROCK IN PIECES?”

IMPORTANT? VALUABLE? VIABLE?NECESSARY?ESSENTIAL? “GOD’S WORD LIKE FIRE?” “GOD’S WORD LIKE A HAMMER THAT BREAKS THE ROCK IN PIECES?” IN ROMANS 2:3-9 WE READ, “AND DO YOU THINK THIS, O MAN, THAT JUDGES THEM WHICH DO SUCH THINGS, & YET YOU DO THE SAME, THAT YOU SHALL ESCAPE THE JUDGMENT OF GOD? OR DO YOU DESPISE THE RICHES OF HIS GOODNESS & FORBEARANCE & LONGSUFFERING; NOT KNOWING “THAT THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADS YOU TO REPENTANCE”? BUT AFTER YOUR HARDNESS & IMPENITENT HEART TREASURES UP UNTO YOURSELF WRATH AGAINST THE DAY OF WRATH & REVELATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD; WHO WILL RENDER TO EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS; TO THEM WHO BY PATIENT CONTINUANCE IN WELL DOING SEEK FOR GLORY & HONOR & IMMORTALITY,ETERNAL LIFE:

BUT UNTO THEM THAT ARE CONTENTIOUS, & DO NOT OBEY THE TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, INDIGNATION, & WRATH, TRIBULATION& ANGUISH, UPON EVERY SOUL OF MAN THAT DOES EVIL, OF THE JEW FIRST, & ALSO OF THE GENTILE…”!! CONTENTIOUS TOWARD GOD, OR OBEDIENT, SUBMISSIVE, TRUSTING, SAYING “YES” MOMENT BY MOMENT & DAY BY DAY, TO “THE AUTHOR & FINISHER OF TRUE FAITH”, OR DISOBEDIENT, REBELLIOUS, ‘FIXED’ IN THE “DO AS I PLEASE MODE EVEN AS I PROFESS, I’M A FOLLOWER OF THE LAMB OF GOD”??

“THE DIVERSIFICATION OF THE MINDS OF FALLEN MEN”? THE ‘WARPED WILLS’ OF ‘RELIGIOUS FOLK’ LIVING UNDER THE DECEPTION OF THE AUTHOR OF DARKNESS, YES, SATAN HIMSELF? FEEBLE MINDEDNESS,A FAULTY LIFE OF FAITH FOUNDATION, THE ‘SHIFTING SANDS’ RATHER THAN THE “SOLID ROCK OF CHRIST FOUNDATION”? FLESHLY, YES, EVEN ‘RELIGIOUSLY-MINDED’ MEN, HAVE BUILT THEIR ‘LIVES OF FAITH’ (?) UPON A FAULTY FOUNDATION! IT WAS RICHARD CECIL WHOSE WORDS WERE PRINTED IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS,” (P.303), WHO SAID: “AN EXQUISITE WATCH WENT IRREGULARLY, THOUGH NO DEFECT COULD BE DISCOVERED IN IT. AT LAST IT WAS FOUND THAT THE BALANCE WHEEL HAD BEEN NEAR A MAGNET; & HERE WAS ALL THE MISCHIEF. IF THE SOUNDEST MIND BE MAGNETIZED BY ANY PREDILECTION, IT MUST ACT IRREGULARLY.” IRREGULAR ‘BEATING, SPIRITUAL HEARTS’ IS NOT THE EVIDENCE OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST BUT THE “BEST-EFFORT-MENTALITY” OF A RELIGIOUS BEING NEEDING THE MIRACULOUS “NEW-BIRTH” IN CHRIST JESUS THAT GOD CALLS THE NEW SON OR DAUGHTER OF FAITH TO LEAN UPON, NOT “GIVE OF YOUR BEST TO THE MASTER”, BUT RECEIVE FROM THE MASTER “THE BEST” OF HIS INDWELLING PRESENCE!!

THE INTEGRITY OF THE MIND IS NOT PERSONAL, INTELLECTUALL, HIGHLY-EDUCATED MINDEDNESS, BUT “DEAD INDEED TO THE MIND’S BEST THAT THE RESURRECTION, PRESENT, MIND-FILLED-NESS OF CHRIST HIMSELF MIGHT BE YOUR DAILY GUIDE! HEAVENLY FELICITY IS THE FAITHFULNESS OF THE INDWELLING MIND OF CHRIST HIMSELF – TRUE DISCIPLES LEAN NOT TO THEIR OWN UNDERSTANDING, BUT ALLOW THE CHRIST WITHIN TO OPEN & CLOSE WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE CLOSED & WHATEVER NEEDS TO BE OPENED TO HIS REVEALED WORD, HIS WAY, & HIS WILL!

IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” (PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN., IN 1940), IS A HYMN BY WILLIAM O.CUSHING & IRA D.SANKEY, ENTITLED “HIDING IN THEE.” (P129). IT SAYS: “O SAFE TO THE ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I, MY SOUL IN ITS CONFLICTS & SORROWS WOULD FLY; SO SINFUL, SO WEARY, THINE, THINE WOULD I BE; YOU BLEST ‘ROCK OF AGES,’ I’M HIDING IN THEE.

IN THE CALM OF THE NOON-TIDE, IN SORROW’S LONE HOUR, IN TIMES WHEN TEMPTATION CASTS O’ER ME ITS POWER; IN THE TEMPESTS OF LIFE, ON ITS WIDE, HEAVING SEA, YOU BLEST “ROCK OF AGES”, I’M HIDING IN THEE.

HOW OFT IN THE CONFLICT, WHEN PRESSED BY THE FOE, I HAVE FLED TO MY REFUGE & BREATHED OUT MY WOE; HOW OFTEN, WHEN TRIALS LIKE SEAS BILLOWS ROLL, HAVE I HIDDEN IN THEE, O ROCK OF MY SOUL.

HIDING IN THEE, HIDING IN THEE, THOU BLEST “ROCK OF AGES”, I’M HIDING IN THEE.”

IS THAT “HIDDEN IN CHRIST ALONE” OR “HIDDEN IN THE ‘BEST’ ONE DETERMINES FOR HIMSELF/HERSELF”? IS THAT A ‘BLESSED EFFORT MENTALITY’ OR THE “BLESSED PRESENCE OF THE INDWELLING CHRIST BEING HIMSELF THROUGH AN AVAILAVLE VESSEL FULLY SURRENDERED TO HIS LORDSHIP & HEAVENLY REIGN”? HOLINESS IS NOT ONE’S BEST EFFORT FROM THE PRESENCE & REIGN OF THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDING YOU INTO ALL OF GOD’S HOLY TRUTH! HOLINESS IS NOT ‘SELF-DETERMINED’, ‘SELF-PRESCRIBED’, ‘SELF-EXALTED’ SPIRITUAL HABITS, BUT THE MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST WITHIN YOU, YOUR HOPE OF GLORY!

IT WAS MARTIN LUTHER, IN HIS OWN WRITING ENTITLED “TABLE TALK”, WHO ONCE SAID: “THERE ARE TWO SORTS OF HOLINESS, SUBSTANTIAL & ACCIDENTAL.ST.FRANCIS WAS ONCE SUBSTANTIALLY HOLY BY HIS FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, BUT AFTERWARDS HE BECAME INFATUATED WITH THE ACCIDENTAL HOLINESS OF THE HOOD, AN ACCESSORY WHOLLY FOREIGN TO HOLINESS.” SUBSTANTIAL OR ACCIDENTAL? SUBSTANTIAL IS THE BLESSED WORK & MINISTRY OF THE ABIDING HOLY SPIRIT GLORIFYING CHRIST, WHILE ‘ACCIDENTAL’ IS THE ‘BEST EFFORT’ OF FLESHLY, SPIRITUAL INDULGENCE, NOT THE “FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT”!! THE ‘MODERN-MISGUIDED-MALEDICTED-MALIGNANT’ TEACHING, VOID OF THE GUIDANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ALL BIBLICAL TRUTH, LEAVES OPEN THE DOOR OF ONE’S OWN ‘RELIGIOUS’ MIND WITHOUT THE SPIRIT OF HOLY TRUTH, YES, SUPERINTENDING EVERY THOUGHT & TRUTH UNVEILED IN GOD’S HOLY WORD –IT’S NOT ONE’S ‘BEST OPINION’ BUT THE REVELATION OF GOD-BREATHED, HOLY TRUTH THAT ONE MUST DEAL WITH, ACCEPTING, ABIDING IN, OR IS IT ‘SELECTING’ WHAT ONE IS WILLING TO AGREE WITH, BUT NOT ALL IF A ‘FLESH-MIND’ DOESN’T AGREE? HOW DISRUPTIVE IS THAT OF THE HOLY TRUTH OF “THE INDWELLING CHRIST”?

NO! ONE “IN CHRIST” TRULY TURNS FROM ZEALOUS PROTECTION OF ONE’S ‘SELF-DESIRES’ TO THE “SOVEREIGN PROTECTION OF GOD’S GRACE & MERCY & LOVE”! ZEALOUS ‘SELF-PROTECTION’ FOR YOU, OR TRUST IN, RESTING IN, ASSURED OF, THE DIVINE PROMISES OF GOD HIMSELF BEING HIMSELF IN YOU & THROUGH YOU IN,YES, THE “SOVEREIGN PRICELESSNESS OF HIS AMAZING GRACE”? BUT “YOU”HAVE A BETTER CHOICE THAN “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, AS YOU OFFER GOD, IF YOU EVEN DO THAT, “YOUR BEST”? NO!! THAT WAS ,YES, HISTORICALLY CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST!, BUT TO SPIRITUALLY DEAD MEN MERCIFUL GOD OFFERS, THE RESURRECTION LIFE IN CHRIST TO THE TRULY REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART IN THE SAVIOR’S “FINISHED WORK”!!

IN THE OLD “BROADMAN HYMNAL” IS A HYMN WRITTEN BY MRS.M.P.FERGUSON ENTITLED “BLESSED QUIETNESS”. IT SAYS: “JOYS ARE FLOWING LIKE A RIVER, SINCE THE COMFORTER HAS COME; HE ABIDES WITH US FOREVER, MAKES THE TRUSTING HEART HIS HOME.

LIKE THE RAIN THAT FALLS FROM HEAVEN, LIKE THE SUNLIGHT FROM THE SKY, SO THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVEN, FALLS UPON US FROM ON HIGH.

WHAT A WONDERFUL SALVATION WHERE WE ALWAYS SEE HIS FACE! WHAT A PEACEFUL HABITATION! WHAT A QUIET RESTING PLACE!

BLESSED QUIETNESS, HOLY QUIETNESS, BLEST ASSURANCE IN MY SOUL! ON THE STORMY SEA JESUS SPEAKS TO ME, & THE BILLOWS CEASE TO ROLL.”

THERE IS “THE PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING” AS WE LEARN FROM (PHILIPPIANS 4:7)!

“PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING”? THE PROPHET ISAIAH WROTE IN ISAIAH 26:3, “YOU, GOD, WILL KEEP HIM IN PERFECT PEACE WHOSE MIND IS STAYED UPON YOU.” I’LL NEVER FORGET THE DAY IN A SOUTHERN CITY OF INDIA WHEN I WAS DAILY PREACHING ON THE STREETS WITH HUNDREDS OF THE CITIZENS OF THIS PARTICULAR CITY STOOD LISTENING TO ME PREACHING ON THE STREET THROUGH MY INTERPRETATOR, PASTOR ANAND, WHO PAUSED TO SAY, “PASTOR, IT’S NOT JUST THE TWO YESTERDAY WHO WARNED YOU ABOUT PREACHING ON THEIR STREET, BUT AT LEAST A DOZEN MORE MEN ARMED WITH CLUBS. I KEPT PREACHING, THEN I PRAYED – WHEN I OPENED MY EYES, THE TWO “GANG-LEADERS” WERE ON THEIR KNEEES BEFORE ME, & WE LED THEM TO FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, ENDING UP WITHIN A WEEK OF THE WHOLE “GANG” COMING TO FAITH THROUGH ANAND’S MINISTRY IN HIS LOCAL CHURCH!! AMEN?

IT WAS BAYARD TAYLOR, RECORDED IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (PUBLISHED BY FLEMING H.REVELL COMP., WESTWOOD,NJ (1965) P.327), SAYING: “LIKE ONE WHO LEAVES THE TRAMPLED STREET FOR SOME CATHEDRAL, COOL & DIM, WHERE HE CAN HEAR IN MUSIC BEAT THE HEART OF PRAYER THAT BEATS FOR HIM; RESTORED & COMFORTED, I GO TO GRAPPLE WITH MY TASKS AGAIN; THROUGH SILENT WORSHIP TAUGHT TO KNOW THE BLESSED PEACE THAT FOLLOW PAIN.”

HAS YOUR “TREE OF FAITH” IN CHRIST ALONE EVER BEEN SEVERELY SHAKENED BY AN UNBELIEVING WORLD AROUND YOU, OR EVEN A SATANICALLY-INFLUENCED OPINION ABOUT YOUR ‘PROFESSED DEVOTION’, OR EVEN ‘SELF-DOUBT’ ABOUT THE “TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST ONLY”? I CLOSE WITH WORDS FROM CHRISTINA GEORGIANA ROSSETTI FROM HER WRITING,”FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE”, SAYING: “ALTHOUGH TODAY HE (GOD) PRUNES MY TWIGS WITH PAIN, YET DOES HIS BLOOD NOURISH & WARM MY ROOT; TOMORROW I SHALL PUT FORTH BUDS AGAIN & CLOTHE MYSELF WITH FRUIT.”

GALATIANS 5:16-25 “SEALS THE EVIDENCE” OF THE, YES, TRUE FOLLOWER & DISCIPLE & REPRESENTATIVE ‘AMBASSADOR OF THE LJC”, SAYING:

EVERY HUNGRY SOUL”!

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER,JUNE 28-30,2019

YES, IT WAS KING JESUS, THE PROMISED MESSIAH OF GOD FOR ISRAEL & THOSE OF FAITH WHO WOULD COME LATER, WHO IN MATTHEW 4:4 SAID, “IT IS WRITTEN, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” SOME LEARN ETERNAL TRUTH, SOME NEVER HEAR IT, & SOME HEAR IT & WILLFULLY REJECT IT, WHILE OTHERS KNOW, YES, THERE IS A HEART & MIND HUNGER TO HEAR, RECEIVE, & WALK IN THE WORD OF HOLY GOD WHETHER THEY DO OR NOT! BUT WHERE DO YOU SIT, WALK, & STAND CONCERNING ‘YOUR SPIRITUAL APPETITE’?

IN 2 CORINTHIANS 13:5 PAUL STATED TO THE CORINTHIANS ‘FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST’ (?), EXAMINE YOURSELVES, WHETHER YOU BE IN THE FAITH (OR NOT);PROVE YOUR OWN SELVES. KNOW YOU NOT YOUR OWN SELVES, HOW THAT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU, EXCEPT YOU BE REPROBATES?”

GALATIANS 6:1-9 IS A TRULY CONVICTING, CHALLENGING WORD. IT SAYS,”BRETHREN, IF A MAN BE OVERTAKEN IN A FAULT, YOU WHICH ARE SPIRITUAL, RESTORE SUCH AN ONE IN THE SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS; CONSIDERING YOURSELF LEST YOU ALSO BE TEMPTED. BEAR YOU ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS, & SO FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST. FOR IF A MAN THINK HIMSELF TO BE SOMETHING, WHEN HE IS NOTHING, HE DECEIVES HIMSELF.BUT LET EVERY MAN PROVE HIS OWN WORK, & THEN SHALL HE HAVE REJOICING IN HIMSELF ALONE, & NOT IN ANOTHER. FOR EVERY MAN SHALL BEAR HIS OWN BURDEN.

LET HIM THAT IS TAUGHT IN THE WORD COMMUNICATE UNTO HIM THAT TEACHES IN ALL GOOD THINGS (THERE ARE ‘GOOD THINGS TAUGHT BY ALL MEN BUT ALL MEN WHO TEACH ‘GOOD THINGS’, MANY OR MOST, ARE ‘LOST’, ‘ALIENATED’, ‘SEPARATED’ FROM HOLY GOD, & APART FROM CHRIST’S BLOOD REDEMPTION & THEIR REPENTANCE, THEY MAY LIVE ‘GOOD LIVES’ BUT VOID OF THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING GOD IN THEIR HEARTS & LIVES THROUGH BIBLICAL REPENTANCE & ACCEPTANCE OF THE GIFT OF TRUE FAITH’, NOT EARNED BUT MERCIFULLY GIVEN BY THE HEART OF GOD!!). BE NOT DECEIVED; GOD IS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP. FOR HE THAT SOWS TO HIS FLESH SHALL OF THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION; BUT HE THAT SOWS TO THE SPIRIT SHALL OF THE SPIRIT REAP LIFE EVERLASTING. AND LET US NOT BE WEARY IN WELL DOING: FOR IN DUE SEASON WE SHALL REAP, IF WE FAINT NOT.”

CONSIDER THE VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ‘FARMER’ WHO PREPARES HIS FIELD FOR THE SPRING PLANTING OF HIS ESSENTIAL GARDEN TO SUSTAIN HIM & THE FARMER WHO DOES NOT PULL WEEDS, DOES NOT PLOW, BUT JUST “FEELS”, IF HE GETS SEED IN THE GROUND, WEEDS & ALL, THAT HE’LL BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN HIMSELF & HIS FAMILY! PROVERBS 19:15 SAYS, “LAZINESS CASTS ONE INTO A DEEP SLEEP, & AN IDLE PERSON WILL SUFFER HUNGER.”

WE CERTAINLY KNOW THAT IN PHYSICAL HUMANITY THAT A MAN CANNOT LIVE BY ‘PHYSICAL BREAD’ ALONE & THAT THE BODY, WITHOUT PROPER NOURISHMENT, MAGNIFIES IT’S SOON DEPARTURE – BUT, FAR MORE DISTURBING, IS THE MAN OR WOMAN WHO IGNORES THE SPIRITUAL CRIES WITHIN THE HUMAN HEART, BODY, SOUL, & MIND, NEEDING THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE & PROVISION & PRESIDING & PRESERVING OF THE LIVING SAVIOR & LORD WHO KNOCKS ON EVERY HEART’S DOOR, YES, ASKING TO HAVE “YOU” OPEN YOUR HEART’S DOOR & ALLOW HIM TO COME IN!

REVELATION 3:20 TELLS US, JESUS SPEAKING, “BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR & KNOCK. IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE & OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM & DINE WITH HIM, & HE WITH ME.” OH, & HEBREWS 12:25 SAYS, “SEE THAT YOU DO NOT REFUSE HIM WHO SPEAKS,” & THE RESURRECTED, REIGNING CHRIST, THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT, KNOCKS & HE KNOCKS, & HE KNOCKS – HE LONGINGLY DESIRES TO ENTER & BLESS YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY WITH, YES, HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE!!!

THERE IS AN “ETERNAL MYSTERY” THAT, SADLY, TOO MANY WORLD-BOUND PEOPLE HAVE NO DESIRE TO HEAR ABOUT, UNDERSTAND, & BE BLESSED BY: COLOSSIANS 1:24-29!! “I NOW REJOICE IN MY SUFFERINGS FOR YOU, & FILL UP IN MY FLESH WHAT IS LACKING IN THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST, FOR THE SAKE OF HIS BODY, WHICH IS THE CHURCH, OF WHICH I BECAME A MINISTER ACCORDING TO THE STEWARDSHIP FROM GOD WHICH WAS GIVEN TO ME FOR YOU, TO FULFILL THE WORD OF GOD, THE MYSTERY WHICH HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM AGES & FROM GENERATIONS, BUT NOW HAS BEEN REVEALED TO HIS SAINTS (OR ‘SET-APART-ONES’!). TO THEM GOD WILLED TO MAKE KNOWN WHAT ARE THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY: WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY. HIM WE PREACH, WARNING EVERY MAN & TEACHING EVERY MAN IN ALL WISDOM, THAT WE MAY PRESENT EVERY MAN PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS. TO THIS END I ALSO LABOR, STRIVING ACCORDING TO HIS WORKING WHICH WORKS IN ME MIGHTILY.”

THE QUESTION OF THIS VERY MOMENT IS: IS YOUR WALK IN THIS MODERN WORLD A WALK OF A “HUNGRY LIFE KNOWING ITS NEED TO BE FAITHFULLY ‘FED BY GOD HIMSELF THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD’ DAILY?” IN MATTHEW 4:4 THE LORD JESUS, CHALLENGED BY SATAN HIMSELF, SAID, “IT IS WRITTEN, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.” [IN THAT HISTORIC TIME PERIOD, IT WAS ONLY THE OLD TESTAMENT, BUT PRAISE GOD, GOD PRODUCED THE NEW TESTAMENT THROUGH OBEDIENT SERVANTS WHO HEARD HIS VOICE & OBEYED FOR THE WRITINGS OF EVERY NEW TESTAMENT BOOK & ALL ITS CHAPTERS!]

THE LORD JESUS, IN JOHN 6:60-71,SPOKE TO, YES, MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES THEN, WHO “CHOSE” TO WALK AWAY FROM HIM! THE WORD SAYS: THEREFORE MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES, WHEN THEY HEARD THIS, SAID, ‘THIS IS A HARD SAYING; WHO CAN UNDERSTAND IT?’ WHEN JESUS KNEW IN HIMSELF THAT HIS DISCIPLES COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS, HE SAID TO THEM, ‘DOES THIS OFFEND YOU? WHAT THEN IF YOU SHOULD SEE THE SON OF MAN ASCEND WHERE HE WAS BEFORE? IT IS THE SPIRIT WHO GIVES LIFE; THE FLESH (‘OLD SIN-NATURE’) PROFITS NOTHING. THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK TO YOU ARE SPIRIT, & THEY ARE LIFE. BUT THERE ARE SOME OF YOU WHO DO NOT BELIEVE.’

FOR JESUS KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING WHO THEY WERE WHO DID NOT BELIEVE, & WHO WOULD BETRAY HIM. AND HE SAID, ‘THEREFORE I HAVE SAID TO YOU THAT NO ONE CAN COME TO ME UNLESS IT HAS BEEN GRANTED TO HIM BY MY FATHER.’ FROM THAT TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT BACK & WALKED NO MORE WITH HIM. 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. ALSO WE HAVE COME TO BELIEVE & KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.’ JESUS ANSWERED THEM, ‘DID I NOT CHOOSE YOU, THE TWELVE, & ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL?’ HE SPOKE OF JUDAS ISCARIOT, THE SON OF SIMON, FOR IT WAS HE WHO WOULD BETRAY HIM, BEING ONE OF THE TWELVE.”

IT WAS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, IN HIS WRITING “MACBETH”, (ACT 1, SC.3,L.74), WHO SAID OF HIM, “STANDS NOT WITHIN THE PROSPECT OF BELIEF,” WHICH IS, SADLY, SO TRUE OF MANY PEOPLE WORLD-WIDE! IN HIS WRITING “THE ESSAYS: OF ATHEISM”, SIR FRANCIS BACON WROTE: “THEY THAT DENY A GOD DESTROY MAN’S NOBILITY; FOR CERTAINLY MAN IS OF KIN TO THE BEASTS BY HIS BODY; & IF HE BE NOT OF KIN TO GOD BY HIS SPIRIT, HE IS A BASE & IGNOBLE CREATURE.” WELL, THAT CERTAINLY DOESN’T SIT WELL IN AN ‘ATHEISTIC COMMUNITY’ OR STRICTLY UNBELIEVERS IN BIBLICAL SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST IN HIS CALVARY CROSS DEATH & THREE DAYS LATER HIS GODLY RESURRECTION! EXAMINE MARK 9:14-29! IT SAYS: AND WHEN HE CAME TO HIS DISCIPLES, HE SAW A GREAT MULTITUDE AROUND THEM, & SCRIBES DISPUTING WITH THE. IMMEDIATELY, WHEN THEY SAW HIM, ALL THE PEOPLE WERE GREATLY AMAZED, & RUNNING TO HIM, GREETED HIM. & HE ASKED THE SCRIBES, “WHAT ARE YOU DISCUSSING WITH THEM?”

THEN ONE OF THE CROWD ANSWERED & SAID, “TEACHER, I BROUGHT YOU MY SON, WHO HAS A MUTE SPIRIT. & WHEREVER IT SEIZES HIM, IT THROWS HIM DOWN; HE FOAMS AT THE MOUTH, GNASHES HIS TEETH, & BECOMES RIGID. SO I SPOKE TO YOUR DISCIPLES, THAT THEY SHOULD CAST IT OUT, BUT THEY COULD NOT.” JESUS ANSWERED HIM & SAID, “O FAITHLESS GENERATION, HOW LONG SHALL I BE WITH YOU? HOW LONG SHALL I BEAR WITH YOU? BRING HIM TO ME.” THEN THEY BROUGHT HIM TO JESUS. & WHEN HE SAW JESUS, IMMEDIATELY THE ‘SPIRIT’ CONVULSED HIM, & HE FELL TO THE GROUND & WALLOWED, FOAMING AT THE MOUTH. SO HE (JESUS) ASKED HIS FATHER, “HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN HAPPENING TO HIM?” & HE SAID, “FROM CHILDHOOD. & OFTEN HE HAS THROWN HIM BOTH INTO THE FIRE & INTO THE WATER TO DESTROY HIM. BUT IF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING, HAVE COMPASSION ON US & HELP US.” JESUS SAID TO HIM, “IF YOU CAN BELIEVE (TRUST, STAND ON, RELY UPON), ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO HIM WHO BELIEVES.” IMMEDIATELY THE FATHER OF THE CHILD CRIED OUT & SAID WITH TEARS, “LORD, I BELIEVE; HELP MY UNBELIEF!”

WHEN JESUS SAW THAT THE PEOPLE CAME RUNNING TOGETHER, HE REBUKED THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT, SAYING TO IT, “DEAF & DUMB SPIRIT, I COMMAND YOU, COME OUT OF HIM & ENTER HIM NO MORE.” THEN THE ‘SPIRIT’ CRIED OUT, CONVULSED HIM GREATLY, & CAME OUT OF HIM. & HE BECAME AS ONE DEAD, SO THAT MANY SAID, “HE IS DEAD.” BUT JESUS TOOK HIM BY THE HAND & LIFTED HIM UP, & HE AROSE. AND WHEN HE HAD COME INTO THE HOUSE, HIS DISCIPLES ASKED HIM PRIVATELY, “WHY COULD WE NOT CAST IT OUT?” SO HE SAID TO THEM, “THIS KIND CAN COME OUT BY NOTHING BUT PRAYER & FASTING.” SO IN OUR MODERN-DAY CHURCHES, WHO IS IT WHO PRAYS & FASTS FOR THE HEALING & DELIVERANCE OF SIN-BOUND, DEMON-BOUND, WORLD-BOUND MEN OR WOMEN? IS IT HAPPENING AROUND YOU?

IF IT IS TO BE A PART OF A MODERN-DAY DISCIPLE’S WALK OF FAITH, WHAT IS INVOLVED IN TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF DELIVERANCE, HEALING, &, YES, A TRUE SALVATION MESSAGE? AND, “IS THERE FOR EVERY HUMAN SOUL AN APPETITE FOR, YES, THE GOOD, THE ACCEPTABLE, OR THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD?” DARE I SAY IT? BELIEVE I WILL! “”ALL” THAT MATTERS IS “THE PERFECT WILL OF GOD”! THAT MEANS SEVERAL THINGS OF ETERNAL IMPORTANCE!

FIRST, AS A PHYSICAL DOCTOR EVALUATES YOUR PHYSICAL CONDITION, DO “YOU” ALLOW GOD AS “THE GREAT PHYSICIAN” TO DIAGNOSE YOUR SPIRITUAL STATE OR CONDITION? HIS CONCLUSION? ROMANS 3:23, “FOR ‘ALL’ HAVE SINNED & FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD!” & WHAT DOES ROMANS 6:23 TELL US? “FOR THE WAGES OF SIN “IS” DEATH…! BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.” (BUT HOW MANY PASTORS, CHRISTIANS, CHURCHES ARE THERE WHO TALK ABOUT, YES, “FORGIVENESS NOW – BUT ABIDING PRESENCE IN THE FUTURE”? THEY SAY, “GOD’S GIFT OF CHRIST IS KIND & GRACIOUS, BUT HE KNOWS OUR WALK (IN OURSELVES IN ‘BEST EFFORT’ WILL STUMBLE AT TIMES!”)” NO! A THOUSAND TIMES, “NO”! GALATIANS 2:20-21 SAYS, “I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME; & THE LIFE WHICH I NOW LIVE IN THE (FLESHLY BODY) I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME, & GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME. I DO NOT FRUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD.” UNDERSTAND! THE ONE “TRYING HIS BEST” HAS NOT CHOSEN THE GRACE OF GOD BUT HIS/HER ‘GRITLINESS’!

IN GALATIANS 6:14-18 PAUL WROTE: “BUT GOD FORBID THAT I SHOULD GLORY SAVE IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BY WHOM THE WORLD IS CRUCIFIED UNTO ME, & I UNTO THE WORLD. FOR IN CHRIST JESUS NEITHER CIRCUMCISION AVAILETH ANYTHING, NOR UNCIRCUMCISION, BUT A NEW CREATION.

AND AS MANY AS WALK ACCORDING TO THIS RULE, PEACE BE ON THEM, & MERCY, & UPON THE ISRAEL OF GOD. FROM HENCEFORTH LET NO MAN TROUBLE ME: FOR I BEAR IN MY BODY THE MARKS OF THE LORD JESUS. BRETHREN, THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOUR SPIRIT. AMEN.” WERE “YOU” CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS?

SECOND, THERE MUST BE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & ACCEPTANCE PERSONALLY OF YOU IN YOUR FLESHLY HEART, MIND, & SPIRIT AS, YES, ‘THE SINNER’ SEPARATED FROM HOLY GOD! IN GALATIANS 5:19-21 PAUL UNVEILED THE DANGER OF “THE WORKS OF THE FLESH” WHEN HE SAID, “NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE MANIFEST (UNVEILED), WHICH ARE THESE: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT, VARIANCE, EMULATIONS, WRATH, STRIFE, SEDITIONS, HERESIES, ENVYINGS, MURDERS, DRUNKENNESS, REVELLINGS, & SUCH LIKE: OF THE WHICH I TELL YOU BEFORE, AS I HAVE ALSO TOLD YOU IN TIME PAST, THAT THEY WHICH DO SUCH THINGS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”

DIDN’T PAUL ALSO SAY IN 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9, “KNOW YOU NOT THAT THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?” WHAT YOU HEARD IN GALATIANS UNVEILED AS “THE WORKS OF THE FLESH” IS THE NATURALLY BIRTHED PHYSICAL EXISTENCE IN NEED OF BEING MIRACULOUSLY “BORN AGAIN”! PAUL TOLD THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH, (1 CORINTHIANS 15:50), “NOW THIS I SAY, BRETHREN, THAT ‘FLESH & BLOOD’ CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD; NEITHER DOES CORRUPTION INHERIT INCORRUPTION.” IT IS A DANGEROUS, DEFILED, SIN-SICK LIFE THAT WILLFULLY DENIES, REFUTES, LIES ABOUT HOLY GOD’S CLEAR EXPOSURE OF A SIN-PRACTICING LIFE!

THIRD, IT REQUIRES “SPIRITUAL MEDICATION” FROM THE ETERNAL “GREAT PHYSICIAN”, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! IN MATTHEW 9:1-8 WE FIND OUR LORD’S HEALING MINISTRY AMPLIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT! IT SAYS, “AND JESUS ENTERED INTO A SHIP & PASSED OVER, & CAME INTO HIS OWN CITY. & BEHOLD,THEY BROUGHT TO HIM A MAN SICK OF THE PALSY, LYING ON A BED: & JESUS SEEING THEIR FAITH SAID UNTO THE SICK OF THE PALSY, ‘SON, BE OF GOOD CHEER; YOUR SINS BE FORGIVEN YOU.’ & BEHOLD, CERTAIN OF THE SCRIBES SAID WITHIN THEMSELVES, ‘THIS MAN BLASPHEMES’. & JESUS KNOWING THEIR THOUGHTS SAID, “WHEREFORE THINK YOU EVIL IN YOUR HEARTS? FOR WHETHER IS EASIER, TO SAY, ‘YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN YOU; OR TO SAY, ARISE & WALK?

BUT THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT THE SON OF MAN HAS POWER ON EARTH TO FORGIVE SINS, (THEN SAID HE TO THE SICK OF THE PALSY,) “ARISE, TAKE UP YOUR BED, & GO UNTO YOUR HOUSE.” & HE AROSE & DEPARTED TO HIS HOUSE. BUT WHEN THE MULTITUDES SAW IT, THEY MARVELED, & GLORIFIED GOD, WHICH HAD GIVEN SUCH POWER UNTO MEN.”