BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 19-20, 2017

Extremely interesting Verse is the ‘spur’ from the Spirit for this message in Psalm 42:6, “O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember You.” And then in Verse 11 the ‘forgetful mind’ examined deeper as he clearly examined himself: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.” And as I read those Verses I had to pause, consider, reflect when the psalmist said, “For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God,” because I see him at that moment still in the grips of a forgetful mind! “Yet praise Him?” Yes, there are times in spiritual immaturity when one has to work through his ‘down moments’ of, yes, devotion to the One who redeemed us!

And, spiritually, forgetful minds are usually the result of neglect intentionally of failing to “be still” before Holy God because one gets wrapped up ‘soul satisfying’ as that person yields to his/her ‘flesh’ and not yielded to the Spirit! If one “thirsts for God,” “hopes for God,” “has known the health and help and holy purpose of God”, how does one get swept away from “the River of Life” into a “down-stream of forgetfulness”?

One of Job’s counselors said in Job 8:11-21, “Can the papyrus grow without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, (“hypocrites are ‘play-actors’!”), whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. (Is that the problem of forgetful minds? They lean on themselves and ‘fall away’?). He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows in the green sun, and his branches spread out in his garden. (His garden? How easy is it for some to choose ‘God’s garden’, their professing lives, but no trust in the God who blesses you with your own garden with insistence of ‘my way’ but not God’s way, will, and awesome wonder of birthing, raising, and using His sons as, yes, He used Christ Jesus?). Bildad continued in Verse 17, His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ Behold, this is the joy of His (God’s) way, and out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will He uphold the evildoers. He will YET fill your mouth with laughing, and your lips with rejoicing.”

Do YOU get the feeling, the sensing, the hoping, that even if a man of faith finds himself overcome by the cloud of forgetfulness that Holy God still shines behind one’s dark cloud, and He is able to blow it away to reveal He had no desire to cut you off, but to pick you up, and kick you in your rear to get you back in His Way? It’s so interesting in studying the history of Israel, God’s initial ‘chosen people’, in seeing them, as Judges 3:7 describes them, “So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs,” “gods and goddesses” of the ‘brain-dead’ and ‘fleshly-minded’ “chosen of God”, again, yielding to the old sin-nature rather than faithfulness to their divine calling!

Is it any different today in the divine calling of God, in, yes, the “chosen people” sovereignly birthed by the Holy Spirit, being built up as the “temple of Christ’s Holy Presence”? As Israel was fragmented by many, and shame came on God’s Name because of them, does it happen in the Christian community at times that some have no desire to be identified in Christ’s sufferings since they want to, at times, share in the world’s shame? Oswald Chambers once said, “Men have sought to procure the carrying out of God’s order by a short cut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering, the way of the “long, long trail.””

And, if according to Romans 8:28-29 that “All things work together for good to them that love God,” or as the New King James Version (Holman Study Bible) interprets it, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

A “forgetful mind” takes no time, moment by moment, daily, some never even weekly, to sit before God the Father, Jesus the Son seated on the Throne by the Father, or the Spirit of Christ within, the Holy Spirit, but certainly have the time hours at a time to “watch” television broadcasters and shows ignoring, “Father, what would YOU have me to do?” A “forgetful mind” has no desire for Holy God to obliterate in them their “personal ambitions” void of eternal will or to see Him wipe out “selfish, fleshly desires, or my personal determinations which are my individual rights”, telling God the Father and the True Master of one’s life for eternal blessing, “I am my own boss – you should, as God, appreciate my personal ingenuity”! Just how stupid is that?

As most know who hear my messages or read them, I love Oswald Chambers’ writings in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest”. In one writing (p.231), he highlighted Romans 8:28-29, which says: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are THE CALLED according to His purpose. For whom HE FOREKNEW, HE ALSO PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren,” entitling it: “The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances”, saying,

“The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint (one set apart to the glory of God!) there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you cannot understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God is bringing you into places and among people and into conditions in order that the intercession of the Spirit in you may take a particular line. Never put your hand in front of the circumstances and say – I am going to be my own providence here, I must watch this, and guard that. All your circumstances are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange concerning the circumstances you are in. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to enter into the agony of intercession, but to utilize common-sense circumstances GOD PUTS YOU IN, and the common-sense people He puts you amongst by His providence, to bring them before God’s throne and give the Spirit in you a chance to intercede for them. In this way God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints.”

Remember, “saints” are those “set apart” to honor, glorify, praise, by yielding, submitting, obeying, taking advantage of every situation He places you in certain circumstances to testify of His love, His grace, His mercy, His intent for that life in that very situation he/she finds himself/herself in!

“Forgetful minds” are minds of men and women who easily become personal “back-slappers” and forget, omit, or overlook the VERY MIND OF GOD REVEALED THROUGH HIS HOLY WORD! “Forgetful minds” easily proclaim allegiance to “my Savior and Lord”, when in reality their day by day journey ‘in the faith’ is utmost confidence in their own abilities, bowing before their natural virtues, reminding God of how fortunate He is to have them on His team!

Just as it is in our modern-day ‘religious culture’, so it was in Jeremiah’s day as Holy God unveiled the true and the false devotees to the One True Living God! In Jeremiah 29 there is an amazing Word from God for “the captives of the Jewish faith” who’ve been in bondage. Receive Verses 4-14 as a prophetic word for YOU in the life settings, circumstances, and, yes, the divine place of opportunity Holy God has allowed you to be in!! It says:

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel (the God of the U.S.A., the God of your present location and abiding), to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and begat sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters – that you may be increased there, and not diminished. AND SEEK THE PEACE OF THE CITY WHERE I HAVE CAUSED YOU TO BE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel (the God of Bedford, Texas, the God of Cleveland, Tennessee, the God of New York, California, all of North America, South America, Europe, Asia): Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams WHICH YOU CAUSE TO BE DREAMED. For they prophesy falsely in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.

For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. (GET READY!!!). 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 seek Me, and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I WILL BE FOUND BY YOU, says the Lord, AND I WILL BRING YOU BACK FROM YOUR CAPTIVITY…”. Dare YOU to examine yourself and your pilgrimage up to this moment? And are you WHAT AND WHERE AND WHO merciful God desires you to be? OR, are you STILL “a captive in a land foreign to the nature and character of loving God?”

One of the saddest Verses in God’s Word is John 6:66 after the Lord Jesus had spoken about “eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood”, because Jesus said, “If you don’t, you have no life in you” – and they didn’t receive that, couldn’t understand it, and certainly didn’t want to appropriate the Life of Another other than themselves! John 6:66 then says: “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him, Jesus then saying to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Are Your “thoughts” God’s “Truths” with your journey of discipleship grounded, founded, sustained on the abiding truth of “Christ in you, through you, for you” to His glory and His praise for, yes, His hope of glory through you, humbling people around you because they sense the presence of the Resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords in you? Or is it for you ‘maturity in the faith’ denied, overlooked, abandoned, because one ‘senses’, “How proud God must be to have ME on His team”, rather than you the vessel, the temple, the tabernacle, in which willfully through repentance and faith in Christ alone HE DWELLS, RESIDES, and PRESIDES TO HONOR HIS FATHER THROUGH YOU? Natural virtues, which most men hold onto, were “crucified with Christ”, your good and your bad! Your ‘best’ and your ‘worst’, yes, was crucified with Christ! When your best and your worst finally dries up in you because you see it crucified with Christ, Holy God rejoices and releases all of Heaven’s advantages to be expressed through you.

In Psalm 87:7 there is the psalmist praising God for His blessings and cloud of glory on “the Holy City”, but, for me, I see God no respecter of just cities, churches, or groups of peoples, but the individual, heart-trusting lives redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God, new “cities”, new “lives”, new “dwelling places” like the Holy Temple where Christ Jesus the King, Lord, and Savior has taken up residence! Psalm 87:7 clearly says” “All my fresh springs are in YOU.”

I pray that you are fascinated by, enlightened by, encouraged by every emphasis Christ Jesus put upon His “new-born servants” coming into His fullness of the blessing of His gospel or His “good news”. And a part of that “good news”? Follow John 4:7-26! A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “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.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as wells as his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this (physical) water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 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 in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.” AND I ASK: DO YOU TRULY KNOW THE TRUE MESSIAH, AND HAVE YOU DIED TO YOURSELF THAT THE RESURRECTED CHRIST MAY RULE, REIGN, AND BRING “ETERNAL REST” TO EVERY NEEDY SOUL AROUND YOU?

I close with words again from Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.271), saying: “The sign that God is at work in us is that He corrupts confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but remnants of what God created man to be. We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ which can never be described in terms of the natural virtues.”

YES, your ‘natural virtue life’ was crucified with Christ that you may be confronted by the greatness of God’s love for you in exchanging your ‘old man of sin’ for the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which IS: “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

S.Walcott and W.F.Sherman wrote the hymn, “Christ For the World We Sing.” It says: “Christ for the world we sing; the world to Christ we bring; With loving zeal; The poor and them that mourn, The faint and overborne, Sin-sick and sorrow-worn, Whom Christ does heal.

Christ for the world we sing; The world to Christ we bring, With fervent prayer; The wayward and the lost, By restless passion tossed, Redeemed, at countless cost, From dark despair.

Christ for the world we sing; The world to Christ we bring, With one accord; With us the work to share, With us reproach to dare, With us the cross to bear, For Christ our Lord.

Christ for the world we sing; The world to Christ we bring, With joyful song; The new-born souls, whose days, Reclaimed from error’s ways, Inspired with hope and praise, To Christ belong.”

How settled in your heart and mind are you that Christ Jesus IS your Lord and Savior to the glory of God the Father who in His marvelous grace and mercy “CHOSE” YOU? Settle it, if you haven’t!!

By J.FARRELL FISHER, SEPT. , 2017

‘Soul Travel?’ Is that one person, maybe, leaning toward God or leaning further away from God? ‘Soul Travel?’ It was Aristotle, in his writing “Nocomachean Ethics”, who wrote: “As sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul.” And when I read that statement I wondered if Aristotle’s writing was “No-Common-Sense-Spiritually- If-God’s-Truth-Is-Avoided”? Reason in the soul can be the ‘traveling’ PhD professor who desires to live intellectually as far from God as his dense and empty and dried-up and rebellious mind will allow him, but he ‘travels’, and daily his ‘bright light’ of intellectualism grows darker and darker each step he takes!

‘Soul Travel?’ “Fate will carry me wherever fate wants to take me”! Would that be ‘soul-stupidity’ speaking? “I roll the dice, go with the flow of the world around me, determined by my own soul to succeed in life, yes, without your God!” ‘Soul Travel becomes Soul Tragedy’ when one has heard and determined ‘Soul Transformation’ by the blood of the Lamb of God is his/her only hope but is unnecessary for a man who knows he can prove himself worthy by his “best effort” way of life, saying, “Jesus didn’t have to die – we all have ‘worthiness’ in our bones!”

Would it amaze you to learn that most astronauts are true believers , that early mathematicians, even scientists of their day before our space crowd, saw God as the mathematical genius He is, and sought the mind of God in what they were unveiling in space travel, even in its infancy? Yes, there are still many like David’s song of praise in Psalm 19:1-2 that say: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork; Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

“Soul Travel” is not a new thing, although modern, spiritually blinded men and women still try to omit Holy God and a Loving Savior from “their world”, from the beginning of earthly humanity, through Old Testament days, even still in New Testament times, down to our modern day! In Romans 1:16-32 the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wisely and with a broken heart for the unredeemed, shared the Truth! He wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT IS the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, [The lie? “You can sin, it’s OK, you’ll not die!”], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason GOD GAVE THEM UP TO VILE PASSIONS. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

AND even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE DESERVING OF DEATH, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

That, my dear friends, ought to “scare” Hell right out of you, if even a ‘hair’ of Hell hangs around your head or heart! It’s sad when, whether public or private, fallen mankind insists on thrusting their fists in the face of God, unaware of the Judgment Day that comes, and Jesus Himself faces them to say, “Depart from Me – I never knew you, you who continue in your sin!”

You’re aware in our natural world of government relationships with the general public, if a citizen fails to file their tax returns, that impending judgment is close at hand! I was reading again Chuck Colson’s book, “Burden of Truth”, when he said: (p.241-242), “Finding psychological disorders to excuse human behavior has become a cottage industry in America today”, and he was speaking of lawyers filling out tax returns for their clients, but failed over and over to file their own returns! Could it be that some pastors are faithful in teaching “being reconciled to God through repentance and faith” yet in themselves confession and forsaking sin seldom occurs?

As a result, yes, across America, in ‘church life’ today, numberless pastors “preach the Word” while they practice acceptance in the sinful world, doing what God has already condemned! Would you even, as an American citizen today, think that our spiritual, social, political, economic, religious liberty hangs by a thin thread? If you don’t, you’re descending into the deep grave of death to all Holy God holds onto for you, yes, Him reaching out to you to pull you, your family, your business, your city, county, state, and nation out of the grave of despair in the hands of Satan, intent on bringing you and yours down with him, but compassionate God proving His love for you and yours in the sacrifice of His Son as, yes, our only Savior and Lord!

A life, a family, a government, a business, a school, a church even, can find itself ‘divorced’ from union with Holy God and His eternal purposes! And the heavy majority of those being dismantled from His eternal foundations have no awareness at all of being “reconciled to God” – they think they’ve already determined the best way: “Us at our best for Him”, when He crucified ‘us’, ‘our worst and our best’, with Christ at the Cross, and they live ‘blinded’ to the “fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” and absent of the redemptive truth, “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

Are you aware of spiritual jaded times when, for many, there are no consequences to human godlessness, or even no consequences for ‘church-member’ emptiness of an independent heart, and a lack of spirit loyalty to the Lordship of Christ? Are you aware of the ‘self-declared-intellect’ of man who assumes he’s “redeemed” because upon his soulish mind upon which he, not God, has printed, “I’m a believer”, while in his so-called ‘walk of faith’ he rejects God’s “Highway of Holiness”, and God responds, “I never knew you”?

Are you aware of the masses of humanity, world-wide, who major on the importance of the education of the mind but never consider the condition of the heart? As a major representative of King Jesus, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, (that’s the human body), 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 thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience (in yourself!) when your obedience is fulfilled (in your constant yielded-ness to the Indwelling, Resident Christ!).”

Our “old man sin-nature” was “crucified with Christ”! But Satan, the world around us, AND our own crucified sin-natures will seek to impose upon the lives He purchased with His own blood, and will seek to “take you down” to the disaster of “old-life domination”! What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 10:5? “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

SO…!! Rather than “Soul Travel”, there must be in our hearts the reality of, yes, “Soul Transformation”! If, which all fallen men live with, there is the deep, devilish, and demanding ‘natural’ fallen nature, is there “Hope” for lives that are slavish to the natural, enslaved to a ‘world spirit’, and bound by the power of Satan and his slavish demons? And when you do come to Christ in repentance and redemptive, saving, regenerative faith, are the wars over? Hate to tell you, but they’ve just begun!

But in Galatians 6:14-15 Paul gives us a strong word for the foundation of our ‘born-again-lives! He said: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. FOR in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” There’s an amazing word from Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.266), where Chambers wrote under the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit great Truth. He said:

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the Cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self – to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin. Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you; or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death. (JFF: I dare to ask you: ‘How many ‘church folk’ do you know who understand the ‘old sin-man was crucified with Christ’?’ Not many, because they’ve been convinced they can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven!).

Chambers wrote on: Immediately you transact in confident faith in what our Lord did on the Cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place, and you will know with a knowledge that passes knowledge that your “old man” is crucified with Christ. The proof that your old man is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.” WOW!

Do you rest in the reality of Biblical Truth? Colossians 3:3 says, Paul declaring, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Glory! My Holman Study Bible (NKJV) says in the footnotes of Colossians 3:3, “The Greek verb form of “hidden” connotes that God fully completed the action in the past with permanent results.” Are YOU ‘exposed in your old sin nature’ or “hidden with Christ in God”? Are YOU accepting of the historical fact that YOU “were crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live (victoriously)” because the Resurrected Christ resides, reigns, and continuingly raises you up in His fullness? Were you, through Christ, delivered from the domination of the world, the flesh or old sin nature, and from Satan’s deceit and domination of your ‘former’ life without Christ?

Do you know “the peace that passes all understanding”? Do you know “I am more than conqueror through Christ”? Have you “been raised up into heavenly places”, yes, living in His Kingdom under His Sovereign reign? Have YOU, because of His shed blood and resurrection, because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, been made free from the law of sin and death? Are YOU ‘spiritually minded’, living in His life, His peace, and His purposes in you and through you? Are YOU “led by the Spirit of God”, unveiling you as a true son of God?

What was it Paul recorded in Romans 8:28-32? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

What HAS God GIVEN TO US WHO REPENT AND REST IN CHRIST ALONE? I close with Ephesians 1:3-14 where Paul defines our “gifts”, not our “trying our best”: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED (THE LORD JESUS!).

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.

In Him (In Christ Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also “trusted”, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” CAN YOU SAY “AMEN” TO WHAT YOU’VE JUST HEARD?

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, there’s a hymn entitled “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.” It says: “Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your imprint we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Help us Your likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others Stream of rich blessings will flow.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make us Your own this hour; Let me be useful, dear Master, Seal us with witnessing power.

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.” I ask you: Do you daily choose the altar of sacrifice to your “old man” that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested daily in you and through you to His honor, His glory, and His praise? Let’s choose “empty tomb” living releasing Christ in us and through us!

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!

“I NEVER KNEW YOU!”

SIGNED: “GOD”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER TWO

VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SECOND, VITAL AWARENESS UNVEILED IS ETERNAL TRUTH THAT IS ONLY, YES, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF “CHRIST IN YOU” – ALL ELSE? HUMAN DECEPTION! What was it Paul said in Galatians 4:19? “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

The best of human flesh, regardless of its realms of performance, cannot, will not honor Holy God! The best efforts of human flesh never attain to even a small glimpse of the nature and character of Christ! God didn’t call us out for grand performances to look like Jesus, but He called us out to “rest” in Him! In Philippians 2:12-13 we read, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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