BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, OCTOBER 1-2, 2017

Try to imagine among fallen humanity, alienated and separated from Holy God and His eternal purpose for them, choosing to live as if Holy God didn’t exist! How long could that state of ‘life’ exist before it totally disintegrated or fell apart or came to a meaningless existence? Not very long, if at all!

Lawless living is no substitute for the blessing of the presence of God in one’s life! Willful living for ‘self’ alone IS “No Law – No Order”! Willful living for one’s ‘fleshly’ purpose alone is “godless existence” with eternal tragedy as its reward! If there is no law, if there is no order, whether in the universe or a life, there is no meaning for the universe or for one’s life purpose – but there is meaning, there is purpose! It’s why Holy God promised the coming of His Son to, yes, bring “the law of eternal love and Holy Purpose and Presence out of “disorder”!”

Do you remember Isaiah called by God to be a prophet? In Isaiah 6:1-3 the prophet wrote: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” But because of Satanic deception and godless living, “No Law – No Order” became daily darkness across the world and in the hearts and minds of deceived lives!

But, having encountered the Lord, something happened in Isaiah and he responded: “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.”

Hear me! Because there is no law, because there is no order, unless Holy God manifests Himself to men, you and I would be in deep, deep trouble! In Isaiah 9:2 the prophet wrote: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.” Walkers in darkness? Dwellers in the land of the shadow of death? But, yes, the “hopeless in the shadow of death” have the grace and mercy of God “in Christ” unveiling to them “The True Light”!

Oh, and King Jesus revealed for Israel, for a needy, lost world the reality of “light” that exposes their existence and ours in a land of “no law and no order” which is spiritual darkness! In Matthew 5:16-17 Jesus first quoted Isaiah 9:2, then said, “upon them..light has dawned.” Christ Jesus is God’s Light to a dark and deceived world, with Matthew 5:17 telling us, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

But what ‘kingdom’ have you chosen to be a part of? Do you ever sense a ‘kingdom’ of self-will or self-pleasure? Are you aware of the ‘kingdoms of darkness’? Are you aware of the end result of the ‘heathen raging’, manifesting, and unveiling’ their ‘kingdom idols’?’ Are YOU ever shamed, shocked, and, yes, sympathetically removed from a ‘love of the world around you’ to a passionate turning to the God who has exposed to you another “Kingdom-Rule” under the Lordship of Christ? What ‘kingdom’ does Satan unveil to you?

In Matthew 4:7 Jesus said to Satan, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ Verses 8-11 follows: Again, the devil took Him (Christ Jesus) 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 fall down and worship me.”

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.”

Question! “Has the kingdom of God been established in you through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, or are you still bound by the realm, the rule, the regulations in the ‘religious activity’ of the world, the old sin-nature, or the, yes, powerful influences of the devil himself?”

I hate to be the one to tell you, but apart from being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God, “new-born” in Spirit, and raised up to be a representative citizen of the Kingdom of Christ, you are bound, blinded, and belittled by Satan as one of his ‘captives in the “kingdom of darkness”, where there IS “no law and no order” because, ruled by your ‘flesh’, you’ve determined what you want to be ruled by, and your ‘law’ and your ‘order’ is all you desire! In 1 Timothy 3:7 Paul alerted us about “lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”

In 2 Timothy 2:24-26, as he was instructing young, new believers, he wrote: “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are 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.”

“No law – no order”? Why is that? Because godless men and women are bound to the fleshly demands of, yes, the world, the flesh, and Satan himself, and not recipients of Holy God’s presence in them, His promises for them through Christ, and His power abounding in and through Christ’s Resurrection Life in them! “No law – no order”? Because Christ Jesus is not automatically born into every birthing across the world of fallen humanity but is birthed by ‘flesh’ with the nature of mankind that must willingly become “Spirit-birthed” as God the Father calls them to Himself through the loving service of Christ at the Cross!

“No law – no order”? Because the fallen world fell away from God willfully, sank into sinful shame, and, as the “Fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’”, there still is a world of indifference to the love of God for every man: “God so loved the world”, but the same cannot be said that “all men love God!” Sadly, fallen men are so bound to their conception about what earthly life is all about that they do make ‘common sense’ strides to laws of nature but remain, many, to be bound, blind, and indifferent to the eternal wisdom of the Creator and Savior of the world, yes, void of the spiritual wisdom the Lord Jesus unveils!

“No law – no order”? Oh, yes and no – there are ‘laws’ and there is ‘order’ because Almighty God set it all into motion, and fleshly men can learn to ‘fly to the moon’ and yet know nothing about being “reconciled to God”! In fact, in 1 Corinthians 3:19 Paul was inspired to write wisely: “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” In the same letter, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul said: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and By the Spirit of our God.”

“No law – no order”? You are aware that there are ‘profound minds intellectually’ who are sadly void of any spiritual understanding. It was William Cowper, in his writing “Light Shining Out of Darkness” who said: “Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.” And He has! “God so loved the world!” God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in (trusts in, relies upon, adheres to) Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). John 3:17 then enlightens us more as we read, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED.” But ‘unbelieving men and women live contented in their spiritual blindness’!

“No law – no order”? In “The Cry of the Human”, written many, many years ago by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 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.”

Without a doubt, there are those who deny God for themselves literally as the one true and living God in their minds and hearts, but others will acknowledge His reality without any leaning toward Him because in themselves they sense all they need or want , for them, “I can live a good life without God’s help,” which may be true for their ‘flesh’ but live bankrupt, empty lives in His Spirit-realm – and that decision determines one’s eternal destiny, Heaven or Hell, even a “blessed life” or a life under the “curse” with its eternal consequences or a life blinded in Satanic deception, content to be satisfied in the kingdom of darkness, deception, and, yes, death apart from, even resentful of those who walk in “the Kingdom of the Light of the Lord Jesus”!

“No law – no order”? That choice of life introduces one early to the reality of eternal barrenness, to a life void of spiritual Fruit and fruitfulness, and to a life with a high, proud opinion of ‘self’ but unsympathetic to the need of the Savior! To live ‘godless’ or ‘faithless’ or ‘needless’ of the Redeemer, is to unveil a life, heart, and mind that, yes, exposes a criminal mind easily exposing the inner man: godless, in ‘love’ with one’s self and his/her destructive sin-nature, and certainly revealing a ‘superficial thinker’ who expresses no need of reconciliation with Holy God through Christ alone – he’s determined he’s able and doesn’t need God’s help! Listen to them! For what they say reveals a darkened heart or a “new life”, a blinded mind or a “new mind”, a fleshly intent of self-indulgence or the eternal intent of gladly being the “tabernacle” where the Resurrected Christ lives to be Himself in them and through them, or a successful-appearing lifestyle but absent of any True Faith and open to any lawless deed, like the Las Vegas murderer!

But if one, convicted by the Holy Spirit, convinced by the Holy Spirit, then confesses and surrenders and yields to Christ by the Spirit and opens their hearts’ doors to His presence, what HAPPENS? “CONVERSION”: “born again”, “raised to new life”, “commissioned by the Lord and Savior”, “releasing rivers of living water”, “birthing a true babe in Christ hungering for the milk and meat of the Eternal Word of God”, “understanding they are the vessel now – He’s the content”, not ‘my way’, but His Way, not ‘my desires’, but His eternal purpose and plan, His will, not our fleshly ways any longer!

Cecil Frances Alexander, in his writing “All Things Bright” wrote: “The rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, and ordered their estate.” And, it doesn’t matter – rich man or poor man; the man or woman who has yielded, trusted, and surrendered to Christ’s Lordship becomes the true wealthiest and most eternally significant man or woman on the face of the globe, and willfully lives to extend Christ’s “Kingdom-Rule” through them!

But around you, because they “choose” to live apart from His Kingdom-Rule, men and women, denying the need of God as their Lord and Savior, many enraged by a sense of injustice, “I deserve better than what I am and what I have,”, many gripped in the fleshly state of meaninglessness, others gripped in anger with the ‘right’ to make things ‘right’ for themselves, others suffering from loneliness and the motivation to be recognized, even if it’s criminal activity, will choose ‘dark paths’ rather than the “Highway of Holiness”!

Look at fallen humanity that surrounds you every day! Examine the ‘closed minds’ even to the reality of Holy God! Have you ever been astounded by those around you who treat the reality of God with a spirit of irreverence, living in those closed minds without a thought of His Calvary sacrifice to set them free from their bondage to sin and Satan, living captive to their sin-blinded minds rather than receiving the free gift of divine grace, mercy, and love in Christ that sets the captives free, breaks the chains that binds them, and floods the heart and mind with holy reverence of being graced as the tent, the tabernacle, the earthly abiding place and residence of the King of kings and Lord of lords?

You may have been living in “the cloud of conscious minds” that visualizes humanity as ‘god unto himself’, but the Holy Word unveils the awesome Holy God who created mankind in His likeness but with humanity having the, yes, ‘free will’ to choose His Lordship, His Will, His purpose, or to think, feel, and respond as they decide for themselves – Holy God has not, will not, does not force Himself on mankind apart from them “choosing for themselves whom they will serve”, ‘flesh or Spirit’, ‘wrong or righteousness’, serving ‘self’ or blessing others with the Redemptive Truth, maximizing ‘self-will’ or being “Master-ed by the only Savior and Lord”!

A very old hymn is entitled “Crown Him With Many Crowns”, speaking of course of Christ and His gracious, merciful crown. It Says: “Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne; Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns All music but its own! Awake, my soul, and sing Of Him who died for thee; And hail Him as your matchless King thro’ all eternity.

Crown Him the Lord of love! Behold His hands and side, – Rich wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified; No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight, But downward bends his wondering eye At mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of life! Who triumphed over the grave; Who rose victorious to the strife For those He came to save; His glories now we sing, Who died and rose on high; Who died eternal life to bring, And lives that death may die.

Crown Him the Lord of Heaven! One with the Father known, One with the Spirit through Him given From yonder glorious throne! To You be endless praise, For You, Christ, for us did die; Be Thou, O Lord, through endless days Adored and Magnified.”

Have YOU crowned Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life? Have YOU yielded to His Lordship as King of your heart? Have YOU crowned Him as Sovereign King over you, your family, your calling and ministry in life? Are YOU the “CHOSEN OF GOD” to be His tabernacle of the Holy Presence of His Son and our Savior? Do YOU receive Christ Jesus’ word about those of Redemptive Faith being “salt and light” in a deceived, self-centered, self-serving world, but you are contented blinded to His Kingdom of Light, Liberty, and unending love, grace, and mercy?

I’d say it’s time to look to the God who made you, lost you, but bought you with a price. Consider that the Resurrected Christ desires to make His personal home YOUR heart! He so desires to extend His Kingdom-Rule through the “new creations” bought by the blood of the Lamb of God and, yes, ready to be the “vessel” for His Resurrection-Life-pouring out through YOU! Why not now?

OF CHRIST’S NAME!”

By J.Farrell Fisher, September 28, 2016

You’ll remember that I wrote a teaching recently entitled, “Bearing the Name, Living With Shame”! And it certainly majored on “pretenders”, “imitation game-players in the spiritual arena”, or like the scribes and Pharisees about whom Christ Jesus spoke “woes”, in one case saying, (Matthew 23:14), “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.”

There is a powerful, encouraging, challenging word in Psalm 4:2-3 when David “sang”: “How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The Lord will hear when I call to Him”, saying in Verse 8, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

What you’ve just read from the Psalms is both a song of divine safety, Prince of Peace gifting, and a song of living to the Glory of Christ’s Name, because through His shed blood, we are reconciled to the protective arms of Almighty, Holy, Loving, Caring, Holy God and His family of redemptive faith!

“Shedding the Shame”? The prophet, Isaiah, in Isaiah 54, began the chapter alerting attention to the “barren ones…who have not born,” alerting us to the fact and reality that, “For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord!

Oh, but then in Isaiah 54:3, enlightening the “true remnant of Israel”, are God’s promises to them, and us, “For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”

And then in Verses 4-8, the prophet increases the intensity of excitement, saying, “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; (not Mohammed, not Confusius, not the idols of pagan peoples with their pagan gods); He is called the God of the whole earth!

For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused, says your God. “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; BUT WITH EVERLASTING KINDNESS I WILL HAVE MERCY ON YOU,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.”

And when Holy God “sheds your shame”, He then said in Isaiah 54:14, “In righteousness you [Now!] shall be established [or “made to stand!],” adding in Verse 17, “This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.

Nor a ‘self-attained’ righteousness but a divinely implanted righteousness, not a recollection in one’s mind about God, but reconciliation with God through repentance and faith, not a positive ‘best effort’, but a persuasive, perpetual, powerful, Prince of Peace miracle of grace, not a collection or gathering of like-minded folks, but a conversion of the flesh-minded to the very mind of Christ, not a mental adjustment of a moral nature, but the might and miraculous power of Holy God; Oh, but then Paul, in Titus 3:5-7, declared, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, THROUGH the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED [declared ‘just as if we’d never sinned’!] by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” WHAT A DECLARATION OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH!

In “The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations” that I turn to frequently as I write, I came across a statement by someone named Dwight E. Stevenson,(p.67), that shocked me! Whoever he is, Dwight Stevenson is credited with the following: “The Christian church is not a congregation of righteous people. It is a society of those who are not good.” And, I immediately was ‘sickened’, all because a man declares the ‘church’ ‘a society of those who are not good’! The ‘church’ of the Lord Jesus Christ is the “gathered” by Christ through their repentance and faith, and before Holy God the Bridegroom, Jesus, was united with you, His believing, trusting, yielded bride, “the righteous”, whom Jesus described in Matthew 13: 43, “Then the RIGHTEOUS will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

But as Jesus dealt with the ‘spiritual elite’ of Israel in His day of ministry on earth, the scribes and Pharisees, he spoke directly to a ‘seeking’ Pharisee, Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, in John 3:3-9, “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.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said, to Him, “How can these things be?”

“Shedding the Shame – Living To The Glory of His Name”! How familiar are you with Ephesians 2:8-16? Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

THREFORE REMEMBER that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time YOU WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, BEING ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel and STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE and WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.

BUT NOW in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, [That’s God and man!] and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinance, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”

Oh, we clearly know that man without God is fully described when in Romans 3:23 Paul said, “For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..”, but then in Verse 24-26 continues, (thank 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.”

Let Biblical Truth sink in!! “Brought near by the blood of Christ”, the open door to the Holy Presence of God! “No separation from God but oneness with Him” through the blood! “Holy God births ‘new men’ through faith in Christ’s sacrifice”!

“Reconciled to God through Christ’s Cross”! “Redeemed” by the blood of the Lamb”! “Peace with God through Christ alone”! “Justified freely by God’s grace through Christ’s blood sacrifice”! “From ‘strangers to God’ to sons of God through Christ”! “Hopeless without the hope only Jesus gives to be brought into the Holy Family of God”! “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus”! “Through Christ’s Cross, the old sin nature crucified – Resurrected, He grants Holy Presence within every true son and daughter of faith”! “Grit grounded and buried – grace the love gift of God in and through Christ Jesus”!

“No wavering before the promises of God in unbelief, but fully convinced that what God has promised, He’s ABLE to fulfill, in you”! “No excusing God’s sentence of death on your old nature, old man, old fleshly ambitions, but daily celebration and thanksgiving for being reconciled to God through the blood of the Lamb”! “No longer bound by the shame of a godless life, fleshly rebellion, loveless indifference, worldly desires, but NOW consumed with the passion to KNOW HIM and THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, and THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS”!

Do YOU rejoice “in Christ” every day? Do YOU thank Him, every day, for your new, eternal, heavenly identity? Do YOU praise God that NOTHING has to separate YOU from God’s love because of WHO Christ Jesus is? Paul says in Romans 8: 37-39, “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 things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But “the battle, the warfare,” to separate us from our Savior is not any ‘small disturbance’ as we live in this world, but the battle-fronts of the world, the flesh, and the devil are faced in our life’s journey, regularly, looking for opportune moments to turn us away from our Lord and Savior! Paul assures us of “Victory In Jesus” when we lean not to our own understanding BUT Lean on Jesus, the Spirit, and the Word, reminding ourselves to Whom we truly belong!

In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul reminds us again of the spiritual war-clouds, war-storms we will face! “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

How ‘strange’ a term Paul highlights for our modern day in America and American churches! Did he really say, “bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,” and as a result refute the point many churches, pastors, leaders assert: “To say Christians have to obey” is, for them, to assert you don’t have to obey – “that would be salvation by works”! No, True salvation births a yielded, surrendered, willing heart, desirous of pleasing the Lord, Master, and Savior who has made true disciples His Holy Temple!

“Christ in you the hope of glory”, but you choose the choice of whether today you want Jesus to be Jesus in you, but when and how and where you please?

True believers are temples of Holy Presence! True believers are men so desirous of honoring Christ in them! True believers understand He ‘predestined’ repentant hearts and yielded souls to, yes, be conformed to the image of God’s Son, and that they clearly understand God called them to His intent, justified them, sanctified them, and glorified them in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

“LIVING TO THE GLORY OF HIS NAME”? Is this why God inspired Paul to instruct us, enlighten us, empower us in Romans 12:1-2? “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.”

IF we are true believers living to the glory of His Name, are we, yes, praying daily, “Lord, your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, in us, through us, and by our devotion to Your Holy Presence to extend Your life to others, express Your love to others, and prove, yes, Your present life and power, extending Your Kingdom-rule, and fulfilling the eternal ‘heart-beat of the Father for His Kingdom-rule through others’”?

Even King David became awed by God’s purpose when in Psalm 40:5-10 he prayed: “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; my ears You have opened. [Are YOU hearing the voice of God speaking to YOU?]. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.

Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly; indeed, I do not restrain my lips, O Lord, You Yourself know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great assembly.”

“LIVING TO THE GLORY OF HIS NAME”? It was Leo Tolstoy, in his writing, “The Kingdom of God,” (Chapter 12), who wrote: “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 of the truth by each of us.” How true, and yet many believers remain “silent servants”, embracing ‘a tale told by others’ but not worthy enough for them to lay down their lives extending His Kingdom, expressing the fruit of His Spirit, and proving, by faithful trust, His power and able-ness in bringing others to His glory, grace, mercy, love, and eternal purpose through them! Are you “fruitful” in the extending and expressing and enlightening of Kingdom Living under Christ’s Lordship?

I heard a black disciple, not a pastor, speak in my son’s (Scott) church recently and hearing him say: “Churches are full but their doors are closed,” and what he was speaking about was a ‘cloud of unconcern’ for those of another race, with few outreach ministries, black or white, in both cultures!

I read an interesting quote from Frederick William Robertson, {“The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations”, compiled by Frank S.Mead, p.294}: “In these two things the greatness of man consists, to have God dwelling in us as to impart His character to us, and to have Him dwelling in us, that we recognize his presence, and know that we are His, and He is ours. – The one is salvation; the other, the assurance of it.” But I add a third: A deep awareness of responsibility in extending His Kingdom rule and expressing His love to the “lost” who need His “Blood-Redemption” also for their wayward walks apart from Him and His eternal purpose and plan through their redeemed lives!

“LIVING TO THE GLORY OF HIS NAME”? Holy God “convicts” one of his sin nature and need of redemption! Holy God “bears witness” through Christ’s Life, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and His desire to make your heart and life His earthly tabernacle and sanctuary of Holy Presence: Again, “Christ in YOU the hope of glory”! Holy God mandates in every new believer’s heart this word, 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.” Didn’t Paul say later, in Acts 2:32, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.” Glory!

It’s so interesting AND convicting when we read in Matthew 20:25-28 that as Jesus called His disciples to Himself, He said: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

“LIVING TO THE GLORY OF HIS NAME”? We just read that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The one thing you ought to be assured of in this moment is that Christ came to You, forgave you, redeemed you, and anointed and appointed YOU to live and share the glory of His Name!! Christ Jesus came to unveil God’s mercy to you and through you!

In John 10:10b, Christ Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” HE CAME TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY, but how many around YOU are you seeing who lay their lives down for the lost, the alienated, the separated from God who so needs His love, grace, and mercy?

Hear me, “The soul that sins (and keeps on sinning) shall die,” but the soul that repents, returns, confesses and forsakes his sin, finds mercy and grace through the Lamb’s blood! And the “new, bright, eternal day” dawns and one begins to live to the glory of His Name, His honor, His praise! Spurgeon quoted an old, old hymn from his day, (Spurgeon’s Sermons, Memorial Library, p.66), that says: “Come, guilty souls, and flee away, and look to Jesus’ wounds; This is the accepted Gospel day, Wherein free grace abounds….God loved His church, and gave His Son to drink the cup of wrath; And Jesus says He’ll cast out none Who come to Him in faith.” Faith is more than awareness – it’s trust!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1 John 1:5-7 John declared: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. BUT if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is Holy God at work in you, transforming the old man into the “new creation” of the Resurrection Life of Christ in your mortal flesh? Does “the piercing sword of eternal Truth” remind you that it was YOUR SIN AND SIN NATURE that brought about the crucifixion of Christ? Again, what did Paul remind us of in Galatians 2:20-21a? “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (bodily presence) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God…”! John Newton and B.B.McKinney wrote the hymn, “He Died For Me.” It says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 1 John 1:5-7 John declared: “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. BUT if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is Holy God at work in you, transforming the old man into the “new creation” of the Resurrection Life of Christ in your mortal flesh? Does “the piercing sword of eternal Truth” remind you that it was YOUR SIN AND SIN NATURE that brought about the crucifixion of Christ? Again, what did Paul remind us of in Galatians 2:20-21a? “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh (bodily presence) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God…”! John Newton and B.B.McKinney wrote the hymn, “He Died For Me.” It says:

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

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

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

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

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