By: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 21-23, 2017

It’s really astounding to me that some immature believers sincerely believe they are the “called” to fight the good fight of faith “in Christ’s place” – and if that is their ‘frame of reference’ in living out their calling as a believer, be assured, they are greatly deceived!

In Matthew 16:21-25 we find Christ Jesus telling His disciples about His coming death. It says: From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Then Jesus said TO HIS DISCIPLES, “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.”

In our modern-day there are many who feel by ‘joining a church’ that they are ‘fighting for’ the honor of Christ, but, sadly, that attitude, that frame of reference about discipleship is foreign to what Jesus taught and explained by His life journey. The “fellowship of believers” in and through the church fellowship is vitally important! “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is!” But when it comes to “serving the Lord” the disciples were “discipled” not to “fight for” Christ but to “fight from” Him!

In 2 Corinthians 1:9 Paul wrote: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, THAT WE SHOULD NOT TRUST IN OURSELVES but in God who raises the dead…!” He said later in 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us DIFFUSES the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.”

The “triumph” in the walk and witnessing of redemptive faith is not well-planned, fleshly best, but is ‘willful choice daily’ to be dead to the old man and allowing Resurrected Jesus to have an available vessel in and through which He expresses Himself, or a ‘temple’ yielded to His abiding Presence in and through which He chooses to validate Himself in a passionate, Spirit-anointed witness through YOU! Our lives are the ‘book-covering’ while Christ Jesus is the content! This is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:2-6,

“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an EPISTLE OF CHRIST, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.”

“Fighting For” is the absence of the sentence of death in ourselves, “Fighting For” is ‘peddling the word of God’, “Fighting For” is emitting the spirit of fleshly death at its best, “Fighting For” is ‘the aroma of death leading to death’, and, sadly, ensuring it, “Fighting For” is ‘church-mentality’ void of the ink of the Spirit of God, “Fighting For” is human self-sufficiency written with imitation ink and void of the Spirit who, yes, gives life.

“Fighting For” is ‘walking in craftiness’, ‘handling the word of God deceitfully’, and sharing with others a ‘veiled gospel’, the ‘god of this age’ blinding unbelievers and choking believers lest the glory of Christ would shine through them!

“Fighting For” is taking pride in one’s ‘earthen vessel’, even treasuring it unwittingly, wanting the “power” to be the best of flesh rather than the very power of God! “Fighting For” is the immature believer, undiscipled, who is “restricted by his/her own affections”, not the heart of the Indwelling Christ beating within them!

In 2 Corinthians 10:1-6 Paul reminds the Corinthian believers and us of where our “strength” in fighting the good fight of faith comes from, or more clearly, “IN WHOM”! He said, “Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness OF CHRIST – who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (or ‘fleshly’) 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 when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Paul the Apostle didn’t choose to live by the “best effort” philosophy of some immature disciples in their spiritual walks, by ‘arming’ himself with the best human invented war weapons, or by his own invention of ‘flesh-minded’ rhetorical or philosophical reasoning, stating strongly, anointed in the Spirit, in Ephesians 6:10-18,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having gird your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

Tell me about your prayer ministry from the “best efforts” of your flesh OR do you pray resting in the Christ within and appropriating the POWER of HIS MIGHT? We do face “the wiles of the devil”, but THERE IS THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, not your ‘fleshly desires’ to be an overcomer by YOUR “self-determination”! It’s “your best”, which means you’re “whipped”, or Christ Jesus in you being YOUR “more than conqueror Victor” over the world, the flesh, or Satan himself!

“Fighting For or Fighting From”? Do you understand how Holy God desires to have available “vessels” through which He is able to be Himself and touch individual lives, needs, and purposes THROUGH YOU? Have you overlooked, denied, or never known the eternal Truth? “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY”? In YOUR spiritual journey, day by day, is it with the TRUTH? The TRUTH? 2 Corinthians 2:14 says, “Now thanks be to God who ALWAYS leads us in triumph in Christ, AND THROUGH US diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” I’d say that that is “Living In” and “Fighting From”, not ‘living trying’ but Living Triumphant, Fighting From His abiding presence within!

In 1 Peter 4:2 Peter challenges all believers “that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” If God says, and He does, “I have chosen you”, dare we congratulate God on His wisdom for being able to discern our ‘potential’, or is it His grace, mercy, and love, willing to use our ‘will-less awareness’ of “Why me?” Almighty God, the Faithful Creator, the Loving Father, the Discerning Genius of spiritual matters, desires the “empty” vessels that He fills with Holy Presence, or as Oswald Chambers wrote: “Paul’s secret joy was that God took him, a red-handed rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive, and now that is all he is here for,” and, praise God, you learn you’re a cleansed vessel by the blood of the Lamb, through which Loving God, obedient Son, and the Holy Spirit, touches your world around you with Christ’s Presence released through you!

If God sovereignly chose you before the foundation of our world, and He did, was He interested in ‘robots’ or rescued, renewed, re-born sons and daughters, washed in the blood of the Lamb and available to all He desires to be and to do in you and through you? He crucified your ‘old life’, and by grace and mercy and love, raises it up as He resurrected Jesus, “giving us a future and a hope”, and that is, “a new, useful vessel” in which the Resurrected, Reigning Christ is able to extend Himself and express His love for all of sinful, fallen, alienated and separated humanity, yes, in need of the Savior and Deliverer from Satan’s grasp!

Natural men and women have the opportunity of witnessing SUPERNATURAL, DIVINE PRESENCE making their bodies the “Holy Temples” of Resurrection Presence! Do you fully understand or grasp the reality of God as the “Faithful Creator”? Examine the undeniable physical cosmos and its glory – is its future firmly in the hands of its Creator? If so, in the spiritual realm of a “new-born Life”, do we fret or faith His faithfulness in fulfilling the work He started within us? Why do doubts and fears even arise? Is it from demonic influences of, “Has God really said?”, or worldly philosophies that major on man’s genius of “flesh abilities”, or the ‘flesh-nature’ itself that so wants ‘fleshly advancement’ apart from the grace and power and provision of God “in Christ”?

In Psalm 71:1-2 the psalmist was a realist concerning true awareness of the victorious status of one “fighting for” or “fighting from”. He said: “In You, O lord, I put my trust; let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and cause me to escape; incline Your ear to me, and save me.” But have YOU decided it’s YOUR “best effort”, it’s YOUR “self-determination”, or your “confidence” in your own abilities that makes the difference in your journey of the ‘flesh’ or the Spirit?

How is it that “famous Christians” became famous? Do YOU understand that “famous Christians” never advanced their personal abilities, but they saw their “ordinariness” in Kingdom Living to be authored by the Holy Spirit of God? What does Matthew 6:33 tell us? “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” So, if God clothes the lilies of the field, can He cloth you in Kingdom ministry, not “your best”, but His faithful provision of the Christ within you as His hope of glory for you and through you?

Religions abound worldwide, but where, in the Word, did Holy God ever endorse fallen men’s devotion to their own religious ideals? Yes, it was not only for fallen humanity that Christ Jesus came to sacrifice His life for their reconciliation to God, but to replace ‘religious ideals’ with the “redemption through the blood of the Lamb of God”, thus through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s “finished work” at the Cross, men and women, boys and girls, would learn to live by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus! No other way exists before the throne of Holy God!

B.B. McKinney and Hattie Bell Allen wrote the Hymn, “Christ for the Whole Wide World!” It says: “Christ for the whole wide world! Our task has just begun, For millions wait in every land The message of God’s Son. Shall they be left in sin, To die without His Word, Without the Savior Jesus Christ, Because they never heard?

Christ for the whole wide world! His message must be sent To millions dying in their sin To call them to repent. Christ Jesus died to save, But they can never know Until we bring our gifts of love And bid His heralds go!

Christ for the whole wide world! His heralds will proclaim Salvation for men everywhere in Jesus’ blessed name. And we who cannot go To bear His tidings far Will pray for those who take the Word – And witness where we are.

We will give, we will pray, We will witness every day, That the millions of the whole wide world May know our Savior’s love.”

Is that YOUR song OR do YOU no longer sing?

By J. Farrell Fisher, Written July 22,2014

Forgiveness is divine, turning ‘dirty water’ into wine; a Sovereign blessing for the taking as God is eternally making, a broken life, a shattered relationship – yours for the taking.

Life can be difficult, and at times very hard, because around all is broken and you’re very scarred.

Heavy burdens you must bear but every day it seems more and more snares. Offenses happen, and you feel so blurred: “Why did it happen, why did it occur?”

But God has appointed a day of Sovereign healing, Because His Word so unveils His Eternal Purpose revealing.

God so loved He gave to keep our souls from the eternal grave, God so loved His Son to share, to nail Him to the Cross and our sins to bear.

Resurrected Jesus came out of the Tomb to reveal God’s able-ness to save us, deliver us from the sin of death, and to stamp us with His image and likeness, forever enveloped in His Holy Presence.

New life, new hope, new power, new opportunity to honor His Son, and our hearts inspire, glorious living to bless our God and our testimony uplifting Jesus in each and every hour.

Flesh was crucified as Jesus took us all to His Cross, granting death to our old man but not to our loss, Because in His resurrection we come to life anew, beginning again a life of blessed hope with Spirit-control to forever ensue.

Each day a new day to bless and honor Him, knowing for certain His Light never dims; Holy Presence to inspire our walk, as moment by moment we so intimately talk.

His faithfulness is promised as our guarantee, no fears, no doubts, no questions will abound, because by His mercy and grace we will not turn around, but forever press in to His shining presence, so kept and guided by His illumining ablebodiedness

Able to save, able to keep, able to comfort, even when we weep; able to lift, able to love, able to inspire in one’s darkest hour, because His love is strong and to Him we belong, and “Glory to our Lord” is our forever song!

Able to defend when the enemy attacks, our loving God will never turn His back, but boldly reach out His Name to protect, and in love and mercy will defend His elect.

“Our God is able” is the hymn of the saints, and by His faithful promises the Blood is His paint – He covers our canvas with the Lamb’s precious Life, and, yes, when the enemy comes to blur with strife, when he stirs our ‘seas’ with stormy waters, our Lord and Savior stands up, “Don’t be bothered”!

Jesus says “Peace” when the devil says “trouble” – our Lord says, “Look unto Me,” and we understand: He’s our overcomer!

By: J.Farrell Fisher, Nov. 19-21, 2017

Interesting verses for your consideration in 1 Corinthians 15:44b-49 for Paul wrote saying: “…There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man,” telling us that true manhood IS the exact image, likeness, presence of Christ in His Resurrection Presence highlighted by the Holy Spirit who, yes, “guides us into all Truth”!

But “nutty-natured” unbelievers and pretenders of religious activity? In Titus 1:15-16 Paul enlightened a young disciple named Titus, telling Him, “To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.” Are “nutty natured” people ‘defiled’ because they do not possess the nature and character of the Resurrected Christ? Does ‘unbelieving’ describe the atheist, the agnostic, the unbelieving, or the pretender?

Oh, but then look at Paul’s words in Titus 2:11-15! He said, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, TEACHING US that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Dare I say it? I believe I will! “It’s a ‘nutty-natured’ individual that denies the need of the “Blood Redemption” in and through Christ alone! Impure hearts deny the need of a “Redeemer”! Self-pride and love of their fallen sin-natures easily identifies ‘unbelievers’! There are those among men who live selfishly to be admired by ‘world-captured, sin-bound men, and Satan himself’, and this because they are ‘lovers of themselves’ and not God, ‘lovers of money’ rather than Truth treasures, they are boastful, fleshly proud, blasphemers of biblical truths and those who stand for Truth, being unloving, unforgiving, unholy, easily slanderous, void of self-control, at times ‘brutal’, especially some ungodly ‘bosses’, resentful of the good, easily even a traitor to friendship, vows, or oaths, headstrong rather than heart-strong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, some even possessing ‘a form of godliness’ but deny its power, resisters of Truth, corrupt in the mind AND heart, bankrupt of any faith but experts in what God calls foolishness! (Be sure you check that very last statement out!)

Tell me: “Lately, have you heard preachers, teachers, religious leaders, even disciples, talking about God’s JUDGMENTS when He sends ‘the mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance of those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of the Lord and from the glory of His power’?” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Sadly, it’s not only unbelievers we ought to be concerned about but also the uninformed, who’ve never seen, sensed, or heard one word of truth about the need of the Savior and Lord! Who is accountable for that situation?

Even as ancient, early men sought to live apart from God, even today there are those who live under a ‘cloud’ of indifference and unbelief because there still are recurring tides and strong waves of encroachment against the Author and Finisher of eternal salvation. Many men are, yes, obstinate to God and His will, His Word, and His way! ‘Self-willed individuals’, cemented and set in their own ambitions and fleshly, even religious desires, will, like the ‘religious Pharisees’ of Jesus day, live today to deny, reject, cloud over, and darken anyone’s attempts at turning them to “revealed Truth”, yes, even to King Jesus, the Promised Messiah!

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ really laid out heavenly concerns, biblical heartaches, and personal examinations for all life situations, believers or unbelievers! In Mark 4:13-20 Jesus declared a Word you must have understanding about! He said: And Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. BUT these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” From this parable do YOU gain understanding about “Nutty Natures” or “New Minds”?

“Nutty Natures”? That’s not only the “stars” of flesh achievement but also the “slow minded” who have no confidence at all in what it truly means to have ‘faith’ in God – both intuitively knowing, yes, ‘there is God for sure’, and they are sovereignly designed for Him but with a ‘free will to choose’ their sinfulness, their ‘shallow’ minds, and their devotion to “natural individuality”, blinding most unbelievers because they take great pleasure in satisfying their ‘tyranny of fleshliness’ with no concern for reconciliation to Holy God!

In 1 Corinthians 15:33-34 we read: “DO NOT BE DECEIVED: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’ Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame,” and Paul was writing to the church in Corinth!

Oswald Chambers had Spirit-instilled understanding when in “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.59) he wrote: “If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He does not ask you to put it right; He asks you to accept (what) the light (exposes), and He will put it right. A child of the light confesses instantly and stands bared before God; a child of darkness says – “Oh, I can explain that away.” When once the light breaks and the conviction of wrong comes, be a child of the light, and confess, and God will deal with what is wrong; if you vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of darkness.” WOW!

In 2 Chronicles 14:9-12 Zerah marched out against (God’s people) with a vast army…(As God’s people or God’s person of faith, do YOU know about “the enemy” that comes against you and your faith?). Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in Your name we have come against this vast army. O LORD, you are our God; do not let man (the world, the flesh, the demons, or Satan!) prevail against you.”…and The LORD struck down the Cushites.”

I don’t know who wrote the following, but it is so true! “We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides, The spirit blows and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.”

And the task in you is accepting ‘the light’ the Spirit brings, exposing in you, what He needs to make right, IF you will let Him! But ‘self-effort’ of correcting ‘sin’ always fails, but The Holy Spirit convicts, convinces, yes, and corrects what He knows only He can eternally correct what is opposite the nature and character of Holy God!

The New Living Translation of 1 Samuel 17:45-47 tells us: David shouted to Goliath, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty, whom you have defied. Today the LORD will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head…And everyone will know that the LORD does not need weapons to rescue His people. It is His battle, not ours. The LORD will give you to us.”

I know you’ve heard of “prayer warriors”, but I’ve wondered at times if they are also truly “trusting warriors”! Are you aware that “big ships” don’t leave shorelines at low tides? And could we say that “big believers” (which all are who are truly “born again”) are those who don’t trust themselves but are those who yield to “High-Tide, Holy God” as He says, “I’m able to handle your warring enemy – give Me My place in your “low-tide moment” – I can take care of you and defeat your Enemy of darkness, deceit, and devilishness!!” No doubt this is why Paul wrote: (Galatians 2:20b-21a), “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith IN THE SON OF GOD, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God…!” And the better translation of “faith IN THE SON OF GOD”, what about “the faith OF THE SON OF GOD”? Oswald Chambers wrote: [“My Utmost For His Highest”, p.58], “This faith is not Paul’s faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith that the Son of God has imparted to him “the faith OF the Son of God”. It is no longer faith in faith, but faith which has overleapt all conscious bounds, the identical faith OF the Son of God.” AMEN?

“Nutty Natures OR New Minds”? Do I dare to say that there are those “New Minds” that displace the Resurrected Christ within them for moments, days, weeks, and years for “illusions of a self-conscious ability of self-improvement in the faith” for “Christ in you the hope of glory”? Of course it happens! Immature, young disciples, at times, betray their ‘saving faith’ for a “best-effort” mentality that they ‘think’ will free them when it’s not emancipating but enslaving them to one’s old sin-nature! Is that the ‘ancient, rampant individualism’ of the Pharoahs of the past who saw no need for the True God because they’ve invented their own or, yes, ‘determined believers today’ who are deceived they can live “Christ-like” without the Christ!

“Nutty Natures OR New Minds”? Does ‘religious thinking’ define “new-born sons and daughters”? I don’t think so! ‘Religious thinking’ apart from Holy Spirit conviction and Holy Spirit conversion leads to the establishment of ‘false religions’, even much of modern-day ‘Christian’ (?) thinking! Societal secularization can, and often is, birthing ‘false faiths’ and, yes, birthing enemies of the crucified and resurrected Christ Jesus!

David F. Wells, in his book, “No Place For Truth”, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Mich. (1993),p.84) wrote: “Amid the peals of freedom, there are the modern thunderclaps of damnation.” In Psalm 87:7, didn’t the singers sing, “All my springs (my fresh springs) are in You, God”? Best-effort in Christian living is a contaminated spring – if you are His, you were “crucified with Christ”, and any hope you have for victorious living in the Faith is when daily you take the sentence of death to yourself that His Resurrection Presence be manifested in your mortal flesh – that’s Jesus being Jesus “in YOU!” “New Minds!!” How?

From the world, the flesh, or demonic bondage of darkness to the Kingdom of Life in the Lord of Light AND to the Victor over darkness and spiritual death in and through and by the Lamb’s shed blood…

From the temporal, outward beauty and pleasure of the flesh-nature-indulgence to the gift, the blessing, and the power of His Resurrection Life in one being “born again”, “born the second time by repentance and faith,” and “born again by the power of the Promised Holy Spirit who came and still comes”!!

From the darkness of the soul’s night to the Day of the Savior’s Light, from the bondage of slavery to the nature of sin and death under the devil’s and demons control TO the freedom of liberty and LIGHT and everlasting love, crucifying the soul’s drought of faith, and by the Holy Spirit giving the gift of eternal life!

From the seizure of sin, ‘self-paralysis’, and soul death to the Savior’s healing grace and “New Life’s giftings”, including a “new creation”, a “new garment of eternal righteousness”, “NEW FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT”, a “new name”, a “new heart”, a “new testimony of a re-born life”, a “new and living way”, a “new name written down and recorded in glory for even angels to rejoice in”!

It was E.Edwin Young and Gypsy Smith who wrote the old hymn, “Jesus, Revealed in Me”, (Copyrighted in 1931 and printed in London, England). It says: “Christ, the Transforming Light, Touches this heart of mine, Piercing the darkest night, Making His glory shine.

Here, Lord, I bring my heart, My love, my strength, my will; Cleanse me in every part, With all Your Spirit fill.

Life is no longer mine, I yield it all to Thee; Fill me that I may shine Until Your face I see. Triumphant peace is mine, Now Jesus reigns within; He gives joy divine, And victory over sin.

Oh, to reflect His grace, Causing the world to see, Love that will glow Till others shall know Jesus, revealed in me.”

In Psalm 16:8-9 David came to a clear, convicting, consecrating understanding of “New Minds” rather than “Nutty Minds”! He wrote: “I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.”

One of the Verses of the old hymn, “A Child of the King”, written by Hattie E. Buell and Rev. John B. Summer, says: “I once was an outcast stranger on earth, A sinner by choice, and an alien by birth; But I’ve been adopted, my name’s written down, An heir to a mansion, a robe, and a crown…I’m a child of the King, A child of the King; With Jesus my Savior, I’m a child of the King.”

I don’t know of a better word in closing: “Nutty Natures or New Minds”!! Amen?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, JULY 11-13, 2018

There’s no doubt if one “lives” in, through, by “The Word of God”, that he/she would be familiar with the fifth book of the New Testament that is referred to by many as the “Acts of the Apostles”, although faithful Bible students truly know that it WAS and IS “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” as the Spirit came at Pentecost to, yes, unveil Christ the Redeemer, Savior, and Lord of the Eternal, Heavenly, Resurrected Life in Christ! Without a doubt, it is one of the most thrilling, demanding, life-changing messages in all the Word of God! It unveils the “blood-bought”, “Christ-Indwelling Disciples”, AND their “mission” under the anointing of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit! And true disciples are told by Christ, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” “Be filled with the Holy Spirit,” “Be guided by the Holy Spirit,” “Be empowered and led by the Holy Spirit”!!

But for many ‘professors of faith’, their service in honor of Christ is a call to “best effort” without any consideration of the need of the Holy Spirit to magnify, honor, or glorify Christ through them – “My best effort is all God asks of me”! Really? Is YOUR ‘faith’ what you hold in yourself as to your ability ‘to do’ whatever Holy God would ask of you? OR, is there “the raising up from spiritual death by the Holy Spirit” what must occur, has occurred, and will occur as loving God seeks to ‘save’ whoever is captive to their old sin natures and separated from Holy God, doing so by Christ’s purchase of men bound and enslaved to their sin natures by shedding His own precious blood FOR “their salvation and deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan’s ‘hold’ on their lives”, freeing them to be “vessels” or “tabernacles” or “Temples” of His Resurrection Presence?

In Jeremiah 29 there are words from God through Jeremiah unveiling God’s heart not only for “captives” then, but I’m convinced even “captives” now enslaved to their old sin natures and under “satanic’ control! In Verses 11-14a we find a “Thus says the Lord”! “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”! Are YOU “free in Christ” or still bound in ‘flesh-allegiance’, a strong ‘self-will’, or, even worse, ‘bound in Satanic allegiance though unaware YOU allowed him in your life’?

IN Luke 4:16-21 Jesus was rejected at Nazareth, but He still had Eternal Words that had to be shared then and now, The Word saying: So Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written (from Isaiah 61):

“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.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Several questions that each one reading this passage must answer! If Christ Jesus, the Son of God in a human body, necessitated the Holy Spirit’s anointing on His Life of Faith and Obedience, are we, like Jesus, to receive the Holy Spirit in our walk of faith and obedience? (Yet, I would dare say that at least 90% of the Christian community, past, present, and future, have, or will, remain ‘brainless’ about Spirit-Anointed living!).

Beyond ‘Spirit-Anointed Living’, like Christ Jesus, as an eternal necessity, there is the ‘divine unveiling of the necessity of response to the Holy Spirit’s will’! Luke 4:18b tells us, “because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” – and without hesitation, I’m convinced ‘the poor’ includes but is beyond ‘street beggars’ but includes the vast volumes of life stories poor in God’s intent of the need of ‘lost men’ being reunited to Holy God! And King Jesus was fully aware of the necessity of Holy Spirit “Anointing” in fulfilling God’s call upon one’s earthly walk and journey of “Redeemed Faith Through Holy Spirit Anointing”!!

To be “in Christ” is to live in understanding of our new “eternal calling”, being witnesses of God’s “amazing grace through the blood redemption of the Son of God”, yes, enlightened by the Holy Spirit!

Oh, and then in Luke 4:20b, we read of “eternal enlightment”! “And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were FIXED ON JESUS.” Sadly, there is a ‘world’ surrounding you, even in most churches, whose “eyes” are “FIXED ON EVERYTHING BUT HIM”!!

I personally look upon the Book of Acts as “The Introduction To True Discipleship”, more than likely penned by Luke as a further explanation of his “The Gospel of Luke”! And Acts 1:1-3 is Dr. Luke telling us: “The former account I made, O Theophillus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Hear me! To have eyes fixed upon Jesus’ resurrection presence is TO SEE AND HEAR AND LEARN OF ‘born-again disciples’ learning of, yes, the reality of Jesus’ ushering in “the kingdom of God in the here and now” AND “new disciples” being enlightened to the reality of extending His kingdom rule, expressing His kingdom love, and proving His kingdom power in touching the needy world with His love, His grace, His mercy, and His power through every new ‘citizen of His Kingdom-rule’!

In Acts 1:6-8 we read, “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.”

But throughout ‘human history’, which has been and still is resistant to the Holy Spirit “guiding us into all truth”, in Romans 1:18-25, the Apostle Paul alerted us saying: “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 clearly known of God is manifest in 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? One can ‘sin’ and not die!), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

In “The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, published writings from 1826 to 1844, she had one writing entitled “The Soul’s Travelling” where she introduced it (p.76) saying: “I dwell amid the city, The great humanity which beats Its life along the stony streets, Like a strong unsunned river In a self-made course, is ever Rolling on, rolling on!” Oh, and a few sentences later she wrote about, “The whine of voices that have made Their own grief’s sacredness a trade – The curse that rings hollowly The crime against the misery –“!

Throughout all of human history, Holy God IS honored by some as they “rest” in the finished work of Christ, being guided by the Holy Spirit into all of Christ’s embodiment of Holy Truth! Has the Holy Spirit unfolded in you an understanding of what Christ Jesus was all about in His earthly walk, His faithful ministry, and His historic personal sacrifice “At The Cross”?

In “Unger’s Bible Dictionary”, compiled by Merrill F. Unger and published by Moody Press, (the twentieth printing in 1974!), he defines a “Christian” as follows: “A Christian is a believer in and a follower of Jesus Christ the Messiah. This name is more widely employed than any other designation of those who believe unto salvation. However, it occurs in the Sacred Text only three times: “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26); “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, ‘Almost you persuade me to be a Christian’” (Acts 26:28); “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed” (1 Peter 4:16).

The term Christian is clearly a Gentile designation for believers since the word Christ upon which the term was constructed, suggestions recognition of the Messiah, which no unbelieving Jew was prepared to do. Becoming a Christian, according to the N.T., is a very definite act with significant results. According to Lewis Sperry Chafer, no less than thirty-three simultaneous and instantaneous divine undertakings and transformations, which collectively constitute the salvation of a soul, take place the moment one exercises faith in Christ and is saved.

Among these is that a believer in Christ has the guilt of sins removed. Secondly he is taken out of Adam, the sphere of condemnation, and placed in Christ, the sphere of righteousness and justification. Thirdly, he is given a new standing by virtue of his being placed “in Christ” by the Spirit’s baptizing work (1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:3-4) and “made…acceptable” (Ephesians 1:6). (Chafer continues):

A Christian then, as Chafer says, “Is not one who does certain things for God but…one for whom God has done certain things; he is not so much one who conforms to a certain manner of life as he is one who has received the gift of eternal life; he is not one who depends upon a hopelessly imperfect state but rather one who has reached a perfect standing before God as BEING IN CHRIST.” (This came out of “Systematic Theology”, Vol.7, p.75).

(Question! “If there are “false Christs” professing to be the “new Messiah”, are we to suppose there are “no false Christians”?). AND, in 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter, inspired by the Spirit, confronts, whether in New Testament historic days or modern-day ‘Christianity’, the reality of the “pretenders” who must be challenged by the Living Truth! He said: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

When what you’ve been reading here, or in the Word of God, begins to “sound out” Biblical Truth, what does one do? Adapt to the ‘majority’ of Biblical followers who know NOTHING of redemptive truth, OR, be ‘sold out’ to full surrender to the Christ and His error free, Living Word?

Several truths to bring this teaching to an eternal, life-blessing fulfillment and completion: 1) THERE IS THE POWERFUL, SPIRITUALLY MAGNETIC, AWESOME PULL OF GOD ON ALL MEN, BEYOND AND ABOVE WHAT HE/SHE DETERMINES FOR ONE’S SELF! I will never forget C.S.Lewis’ statement in his book entitled “Mere Christianity” published by Simon & Shuster in 1996, p.121, “If I find in myself a desire that no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Could that be the ‘other world’ entitled “the kingdom of God” where Christ Jesus IS Lord over all?

I have no hesitation in saying to you that the “trash” of warped, fleshly, worldly, man-educated minds is not the “Treasure of Truth” that IS Christ the Lord Himself, the True –Redemption- Savior- the Master of the “blood-bought sons and daughters” who have understood, repented, rested in Christ’s “finished work” at the Cross, yes, becoming sons and daughters in the Eternal Family of God, having been transformed out of repentance and faith into “new creations” in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

2) THERE IS THE “AT TIMES” SAD AWARENESS OF MEN’S LIVES WHO ARE, YES, TOTALLY SOLD OUT TO A LIFE-WALK VOID OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE GOD AND SAVIOR AND SPIRIT OF LIVES LIVED IN ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS! How ‘wise’ was Solomon when we read in Proverbs 10:6-9, 22-25, “Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall. He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.

Verses 22-25, “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. To do evil is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wisdom. The fear of the wicked will come upon him, and the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS HAS AN EVERLASTING FOUNDATION.” Glory!

Blessed or cursed? Walking securely or walking void of the presence of the God of unending promises? ‘Trying’ or “TRUSTING”? “Tiring through life’s journey or ‘resting’ in His abiding strength and power”? Whirlwind existence but with no Promise of Assurance to see you through your storm?

3) I PRAY THAT “YOU” KNOW THERE IS ETERNAL HOPE FOR THE BLESSED LIFE IN CHRIST AS DAILY THE “New-Born” in Christ TAKES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO THE OLD MAN THAT, YES, DAILY, CHRIST JESUS MAY HAVE HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE ON HIS THRONE IN YOUR HEART, MIND, AND DAILY WILL OF FULL SURRENDER TO HIS LORDSHIP! In Romans 5:9-11 we read, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (being) saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE RECONCILIATION.” Are YOU “reconciled to God through Christ”, and YOU KNOW IT?

What does Romans 8:1-6 and Verses 9-17 tell us? There is therefore NOW no condemnation TO THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh BUT (walk) according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Verses 9-17 follows: But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH HIM, THAT WE MAY ALSO BE GLORIFIED TOGETHER.’

4) ONE MORE VITAL POINT OF INTEREST AND CONCERN ABOUT “FAITHFULNESS FOREVER”! Get Ready! Some are going to be shocked by what they are about to read, even angry with God and with anyone who shares “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”! In Hebrews 3:7-19 we read:

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Did you hear it and catch the spirit of those who, yes, do “fall away”? THEY DID NOT OBEY, THUS FALLING AWAY THROUGH UNBELIEF!! (PLEASE read carefully Luke 12:35-46, earth-shaking, foundation quaking in many professing lives who live their “faith” in self-awareness, not in and through Christ’s eternal Presence within them, truly their only hope of eternal glory!). (Even 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 Paul the Apostle scared Hell out of a lot of professing believers who lived a compromised ‘faith-journey’, assured they were OK when Hell’s gates had already been opened wide for their entrance!).

I close with an old hymn by Charles Wesley and Lowell Mason entitled “A Charge to Keep”, found in The Broadman Hymnal published in 1940 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify; Who gave His Son my soul to save, And fit it for the sky;

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

Arm me, Lord, with jealous care, As in Your sight to live; And O, Your servant, Lord, prepare A strict account to give!” Are YOU ready to be examined by your Master as to His will, walk, and ways, being done in you by His Abiding Presence?

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, JULY 11-13, 2018

There’s no doubt if one “lives” in, through, by “The Word of God”, that he/she would be familiar with the fifth book of the New Testament that is referred to by many as the “Acts of the Apostles”, although faithful Bible students truly know that it WAS and IS “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” as the Spirit came at Pentecost to, yes, unveil Christ the Redeemer, Savior, and Lord of the Eternal, Heavenly, Resurrected Life in Christ! Without a doubt, it is one of the most thrilling, demanding, life-changing messages in all the Word of God! It unveils the “blood-bought”, “Christ-Indwelling Disciples”, AND their “mission” under the anointing of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit! And true disciples are told by Christ, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” “Be filled with the Holy Spirit,” “Be guided by the Holy Spirit,” “Be empowered and led by the Holy Spirit”!!

But for many ‘professors of faith’, their service in honor of Christ is a call to “best effort” without any consideration of the need of the Holy Spirit to magnify, honor, or glorify Christ through them – “My best effort is all God asks of me”! Really? Is YOUR ‘faith’ what you hold in yourself as to your ability ‘to do’ whatever Holy God would ask of you? OR, is there “the raising up from spiritual death by the Holy Spirit” what must occur, has occurred, and will occur as loving God seeks to ‘save’ whoever is captive to their old sin natures and separated from Holy God, doing so by Christ’s purchase of men bound and enslaved to their sin natures by shedding His own precious blood FOR “their salvation and deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan’s ‘hold’ on their lives”, freeing them to be “vessels” or “tabernacles” or “Temples” of His Resurrection Presence?

In Jeremiah 29 there are words from God through Jeremiah unveiling God’s heart not only for “captives” then, but I’m convinced even “captives” now enslaved to their old sin natures and under “satanic’ control! In Verses 11-14a we find a “Thus says the Lord”! “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”! Are YOU “free in Christ” or still bound in ‘flesh-allegiance’, a strong ‘self-will’, or, even worse, ‘bound in Satanic allegiance though unaware YOU allowed him in your life’?

IN Luke 4:16-21 Jesus was rejected at Nazareth, but He still had Eternal Words that had to be shared then and now, The Word saying: So Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written (from Isaiah 61):

“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.”

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Several questions that each one reading this passage must answer! If Christ Jesus, the Son of God in a human body, necessitated the Holy Spirit’s anointing on His Life of Faith and Obedience, are we, like Jesus, to receive the Holy Spirit in our walk of faith and obedience? (Yet, I would dare say that at least 90% of the Christian community, past, present, and future, have, or will, remain ‘brainless’ about Spirit-Anointed living!).

Beyond ‘Spirit-Anointed Living’, like Christ Jesus, as an eternal necessity, there is the ‘divine unveiling of the necessity of response to the Holy Spirit’s will’! Luke 4:18b tells us, “because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor” – and without hesitation, I’m convinced ‘the poor’ includes but is beyond ‘street beggars’ but includes the vast volumes of life stories poor in God’s intent of the need of ‘lost men’ being reunited to Holy God! And King Jesus was fully aware of the necessity of Holy Spirit “Anointing” in fulfilling God’s call upon one’s earthly walk and journey of “Redeemed Faith Through Holy Spirit Anointing”!!

To be “in Christ” is to live in understanding of our new “eternal calling”, being witnesses of God’s “amazing grace through the blood redemption of the Son of God”, yes, enlightened by the Holy Spirit!

Oh, and then in Luke 4:20b, we read of “eternal enlightment”! “And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were FIXED ON JESUS.” Sadly, there is a ‘world’ surrounding you, even in most churches, whose “eyes” are “FIXED ON EVERYTHING BUT HIM”!!

I personally look upon the Book of Acts as “The Introduction To True Discipleship”, more than likely penned by Luke as a further explanation of his “The Gospel of Luke”! And Acts 1:1-3 is Dr. Luke telling us: “The former account I made, O Theophillus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

Hear me! To have eyes fixed upon Jesus’ resurrection presence is TO SEE AND HEAR AND LEARN OF ‘born-again disciples’ learning of, yes, the reality of Jesus’ ushering in “the kingdom of God in the here and now” AND “new disciples” being enlightened to the reality of extending His kingdom rule, expressing His kingdom love, and proving His kingdom power in touching the needy world with His love, His grace, His mercy, and His power through every new ‘citizen of His Kingdom-rule’!

In Acts 1:6-8 we read, “Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And Jesus said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 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.”

But throughout ‘human history’, which has been and still is resistant to the Holy Spirit “guiding us into all truth”, in Romans 1:18-25, the Apostle Paul alerted us saying: “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 clearly known of God is manifest in 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? One can ‘sin’ and not die!), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

In “The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, published writings from 1826 to 1844, she had one writing entitled “The Soul’s Travelling” where she introduced it (p.76) saying: “I dwell amid the city, The great humanity which beats Its life along the stony streets, Like a strong unsunned river In a self-made course, is ever Rolling on, rolling on!” Oh, and a few sentences later she wrote about, “The whine of voices that have made Their own grief’s sacredness a trade – The curse that rings hollowly The crime against the misery –“!

Throughout all of human history, Holy God IS honored by some as they “rest” in the finished work of Christ, being guided by the Holy Spirit into all of Christ’s embodiment of Holy Truth! Has the Holy Spirit unfolded in you an understanding of what Christ Jesus was all about in His earthly walk, His faithful ministry, and His historic personal sacrifice “At The Cross”?

In “Unger’s Bible Dictionary”, compiled by Merrill F. Unger and published by Moody Press, (the twentieth printing in 1974!), he defines a “Christian” as follows: “A Christian is a believer in and a follower of Jesus Christ the Messiah. This name is more widely employed than any other designation of those who believe unto salvation. However, it occurs in the Sacred Text only three times: “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26); “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, ‘Almost you persuade me to be a Christian’” (Acts 26:28); “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed” (1 Peter 4:16).

The term Christian is clearly a Gentile designation for believers since the word Christ upon which the term was constructed, suggestions recognition of the Messiah, which no unbelieving Jew was prepared to do. Becoming a Christian, according to the N.T., is a very definite act with significant results. According to Lewis Sperry Chafer, no less than thirty-three simultaneous and instantaneous divine undertakings and transformations, which collectively constitute the salvation of a soul, take place the moment one exercises faith in Christ and is saved.

Among these is that a believer in Christ has the guilt of sins removed. Secondly he is taken out of Adam, the sphere of condemnation, and placed in Christ, the sphere of righteousness and justification. Thirdly, he is given a new standing by virtue of his being placed “in Christ” by the Spirit’s baptizing work (1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 6:3-4) and “made…acceptable” (Ephesians 1:6). (Chafer continues):

A Christian then, as Chafer says, “Is not one who does certain things for God but…one for whom God has done certain things; he is not so much one who conforms to a certain manner of life as he is one who has received the gift of eternal life; he is not one who depends upon a hopelessly imperfect state but rather one who has reached a perfect standing before God as BEING IN CHRIST.” (This came out of “Systematic Theology”, Vol.7, p.75).

(Question! “If there are “false Christs” professing to be the “new Messiah”, are we to suppose there are “no false Christians”?). AND, in 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter, inspired by the Spirit, confronts, whether in New Testament historic days or modern-day ‘Christianity’, the reality of the “pretenders” who must be challenged by the Living Truth! He said: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.”

When what you’ve been reading here, or in the Word of God, begins to “sound out” Biblical Truth, what does one do? Adapt to the ‘majority’ of Biblical followers who know NOTHING of redemptive truth, OR, be ‘sold out’ to full surrender to the Christ and His error free, Living Word?

Several truths to bring this teaching to an eternal, life-blessing fulfillment and completion: 1) THERE IS THE POWERFUL, SPIRITUALLY MAGNETIC, AWESOME PULL OF GOD ON ALL MEN, BEYOND AND ABOVE WHAT HE/SHE DETERMINES FOR ONE’S SELF! I will never forget C.S.Lewis’ statement in his book entitled “Mere Christianity” published by Simon & Shuster in 1996, p.121, “If I find in myself a desire that no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” Could that be the ‘other world’ entitled “the kingdom of God” where Christ Jesus IS Lord over all?

I have no hesitation in saying to you that the “trash” of warped, fleshly, worldly, man-educated minds is not the “Treasure of Truth” that IS Christ the Lord Himself, the True –Redemption- Savior- the Master of the “blood-bought sons and daughters” who have understood, repented, rested in Christ’s “finished work” at the Cross, yes, becoming sons and daughters in the Eternal Family of God, having been transformed out of repentance and faith into “new creations” in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

2) THERE IS THE “AT TIMES” SAD AWARENESS OF MEN’S LIVES WHO ARE, YES, TOTALLY SOLD OUT TO A LIFE-WALK VOID OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE GOD AND SAVIOR AND SPIRIT OF LIVES LIVED IN ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS! How ‘wise’ was Solomon when we read in Proverbs 10:6-9, 22-25, “Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall. He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his ways will become known.

Verses 22-25, “the blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. To do evil is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wisdom. The fear of the wicked will come upon him, and the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS HAS AN EVERLASTING FOUNDATION.” Glory!

Blessed or cursed? Walking securely or walking void of the presence of the God of unending promises? ‘Trying’ or “TRUSTING”? “Tiring through life’s journey or ‘resting’ in His abiding strength and power”? Whirlwind existence but with no Promise of Assurance to see you through your storm?

3) I PRAY THAT “YOU” KNOW THERE IS ETERNAL HOPE FOR THE BLESSED LIFE IN CHRIST AS DAILY THE “New-Born” in Christ TAKES THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO THE OLD MAN THAT, YES, DAILY, CHRIST JESUS MAY HAVE HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE ON HIS THRONE IN YOUR HEART, MIND, AND DAILY WILL OF FULL SURRENDER TO HIS LORDSHIP! In Romans 5:9-11 we read, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be (being) saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE RECONCILIATION.” Are YOU “reconciled to God through Christ”, and YOU KNOW IT?

What does Romans 8:1-6 and Verses 9-17 tell us? There is therefore NOW no condemnation TO THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST JESUS, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh BUT (walk) according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Verses 9-17 follows: But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH HIM, THAT WE MAY ALSO BE GLORIFIED TOGETHER.’

4) ONE MORE VITAL POINT OF INTEREST AND CONCERN ABOUT “FAITHFULNESS FOREVER”! Get Ready! Some are going to be shocked by what they are about to read, even angry with God and with anyone who shares “the whole truth and nothing but the truth”! In Hebrews 3:7-19 we read:

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ IF we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Did you hear it and catch the spirit of those who, yes, do “fall away”? THEY DID NOT OBEY, THUS FALLING AWAY THROUGH UNBELIEF!! (PLEASE read carefully Luke 12:35-46, earth-shaking, foundation quaking in many professing lives who live their “faith” in self-awareness, not in and through Christ’s eternal Presence within them, truly their only hope of eternal glory!). (Even 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 Paul the Apostle scared Hell out of a lot of professing believers who lived a compromised ‘faith-journey’, assured they were OK when Hell’s gates had already been opened wide for their entrance!).

I close with an old hymn by Charles Wesley and Lowell Mason entitled “A Charge to Keep”, found in The Broadman Hymnal published in 1940 by Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “A charge to keep I have, A God to glorify; Who gave His Son my soul to save, And fit it for the sky;

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

Arm me, Lord, with jealous care, As in Your sight to live; And O, Your servant, Lord, prepare A strict account to give!” Are YOU ready to be examined by your Master as to His will, walk, and ways, being done in you by His Abiding Presence?