By: J.Farrell Fisher, October 26-27, 2017

Before we get to the major thrust of the message, “Imitation or Actualization?”, I sense the need to make you fully aware that there are unbelieving men and women across the world who have no shame that, yes, they are “enemies of God”! Unbelief IS the major calling card of many people who are content in the ‘darkness’ of their minds and hearts of no need of God – they are ‘sufficient’ in themselves and what they stand for and want to hold on to it!

You may not be familiar with the Pharoah of Egypt that Moses and Aaron confronted in Exodus 5:1 on appointment from Holy God. They told Pharoah, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” But in Verse 6 Pharoah said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.”

There are many ‘pharoahs’ across our known world who are staunch enemies of our loving, merciful, caring God! There are many ‘pharoahs’ who are so ‘self-mastered’ that to suggest submission and surrender to the Author of Life and His authority is to release from within resentment of, hatred for, and opposition to the King of kings even if it ushers in more and more of unbelief, and they’ll willfully “crucify the Christ” over and over, again and again, in their hearts and minds!

There IS ‘the counsel of the ungodly’, there ARE ‘paths of the sinners’ clearly marked out, and there are those who “sit in the seat of the scornful”, fully opposed to Divine, Eternal Truth! Around you are “the chaff which the wind WILL DRIVE AWAY,” with the way of the ungodly becoming a ‘wall of separation eternally’ because they refused to bow before the King of kings and Lord of lords, not fully surrendered to His good and perfect will for their lives but content with the “best” sinful flesh has to offer! There ARE highly intelligent individuals in man-made ‘philosophies’ who, for themselves, “have no need of God or your Savior”, and they are strong, at times even, vindictive in their responses, but they ARE THE ONES FOR WHOM CHRIST JESUS SHED HIS INNOCENT BLOOD ON THE CROSS FOR THEIR REDEMPTION AND RECONCILIATION, Jesus even knowing there would be those who turn from Him, not to Him!

Unbelievers, yes, are ‘savorless salt’, yet they sense the world around them can’t do without them, even though they themselves ‘drink’ the poisoned waters of their own intellectual philosophies! Unbelievers speak of “my good chosen lifestyle” but void of abiding peace with God and with his/her fellow man. Unbelievers choose life apart from the sacrificial nature of Christ as He willfully gave Himself to fulfill God’s perfect will; unbelievers live without divine, sacrificial love, lives without the foundation of true faith that lights the way in and through their dark world, and, certainly, for them, no true foundation to withstand life’s, at times, brutal storms; oh, and void of sustaining power against the world, one’s old sin nature, and Satan Himself!

Unbelievers are unaware they’ve been totally blinded by Satan and the powers of darkness; they are unaware of Heaven’s intent, and without knowing it, blinded to demonic intent through Satan’s ‘disciples’ – they are well-trained in the deceptions of darkness; and, in Luke 14:34-35, Jesus describes lives who know nothing of “salt’s intent”, who are not ‘fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out’! Consider that for a few moments before continuing!

Unbelievers ARE slaves to their old sin-natures, carnal in a man’s ‘self-will’, always “behaving like mere men” (1 Corinthians 3:3!), ‘natural men’ bound by what their sin-natures dictate! There are ‘unrighteous men and women’, and they do not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9), Paul then saying, 1 Corinthians 6:9b-11, “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, not thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.”

And true believers forsake the world, their old sin-nature, and the Satanic deceptions, yes, even willing to die for the “Eternal Truth”! Do you remember what Christ Jesus said to the ‘religious’ (?) scribes and Pharisees, products of the false teachings of Judaism in Matthew 23:2-5, self-appointed, and, yes, out to deceive true seekers and true believers? “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe AND DO, but do not do according to their works; FOR THEY SAY, AND DO NOT DO. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; BUT they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men.” [Do you understand? There’s no radiant life in the ‘scribes and Pharisees’ unveiling Christ but only unbelieving men ‘trying’ to religiously pump their ‘flesh’ up to an acceptable level before God’s eyes and feel themselves ‘superior’ even to ‘grace-birthed-disciples of Christ; in fact, they’ll see to it you’re crucified or banned from legitimate, fleshly lives like theirs !].

I was awed recently reading again Dallas Willard’s book “The Great Omission” where in it he wrote the following: (pps. 11-12), “Nothing less than life in the steps of Christ is adequate to the human soul or the needs of our world. Any other offer fails to do justice to the drama of human redemption, deprives the hearer of life’s greatest opportunity, and abandons this present life to the evil powers of the age. The correct perspective is to see following Christ not only as the necessity it is, but as the fulfillment of the highest human possibilities and as life on the highest plain. It is to see, in Helmet Thielicke’s words, that “the Christian stands, not under the dictatorship of a legalistic ‘You ought’, but in the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of the ‘You may’.”

And I must ask! Do you understand “the magnetic field of Christian freedom, under the empowering of ‘You may’”? Here’s how Paul explained it in Colossians 1 as he unveiled “the mystery”! He said in Verses 26-29, “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints (that’s those set apart by God FOR the dwelling place of His earthly presence!). To them God willed to make known what 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. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.”

That, my friends, is a “Wow Word!” It’s not you ‘trying your best’ to serve Jesus! He crucified your worst and your best, raising you up to be the temple of His Holy Presence, so that His Resurrection Life, His Resurrection Hope, and His Resurrection Power would be continually manifested in and throughout the ages through any life finished with its self but available to Him as the earthly abode of all He is and all He desires to do through them! Most ‘church folk’ are so in love with their own ‘Christian identity’ that Christ is shut out from being Himself in and through them, and a lost world around them never sees the Savior and Lord being Himself!

But, in Galatians 2:20-21a, Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God…”! I am an A.W. Tozer fan because his writings truly align with Biblical Truth! Many years ago Tozer wrote about, his “feeling that a notable heresy has come into being throughout evangelical Christian circles – the widely accepted concept that we humans can choose to accept Christ only because we need Him as Savior and that we have the right to postpone our obedience to Him as Lord as long as we want to,” adding that for one to profess that falsehood is to deny its tragic deception but heighten the Truth “that salvation apart from obedience is unknown in the sacred scriptures”, with Jesus speaking in Luke 6:46, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, and not do the things which I say?”

Christ Jesus Himself declared that obedience to Him is not an option in the day of grace and mercy! In John 6:63-64 the Lord Jesus said: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (that’s the best and the worst of all fallen mankind!) profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

He went on to say, because He knew there were some who professed, followed, but did not ‘believe’, AND they eventually did and eventually will betray Him! (Of course, there are those who say: “It happened with early disciples, but not in our day or our time or in our ‘assembly of believers’!” Really?). And John 6:66 then says: From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. (For you, how sad is that?).

You understand, I pray, that there is a natural world AND there is a spiritual world, the world of fallen humanity AND the spiritual world of the Kingdom of God, a world of ‘self-direction’ AND the world, the kingdom, the family of faith, trust, and obedience who give King Jesus His rightful place as Savior and Lord and Sovereign Administrator ushering in His Kingdom-Will in repentant, available vessels who accept “crucified with Christ” but through Redemptive Faith have become vessels, temples of His Holy Presence!

No doubt this is why the Lord Jesus said in John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life”! Do you think this just might be why Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST worship Him in spirit and truth”? Jesus said and still says, “You MUST be born again,” stating the reality of spiritual birthing through repentance toward God and faith alone in Christ’s “finished work” at the Cross AND through “His empty tomb” presence and living as intercessor at the right hand throne of Holy God!

In Colossians 2:11-15 Paul testifies, teaches, and trains true disciples in Truth! He said, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism (that’s the ‘baptism’ of crucifixion-death’!), in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Dare I tell you? Believe I will! “If you NOW don’t see yourself crucified with Christ, you and your old sin nature, then you are still captive of the world philosophies, satanic deception, and your own brainless, godless nature!”) – “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!”

Again, remind yourself of John 6:63! “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh (your old sin-nature!) profits nothing.” To give you understanding, let me take you to 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 where Paul wrote, “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.”

What does 1 Corinthians 2: 14 declare to us and, yes, witnessed by us in the spiritual blindness of many unbelievers? “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” which affirms Jesus’ words, “God is Spirit; and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”, affirming, “You must be born again, born of the Spirit, for new life in Christ alone!”

But, having moved away from the initial statements about “unbelievers”, has there been clarity for you of the difference between “imitation” of the faith and the “actualization” of re-born, Spirit-birthed, “new creations” through their repentance toward God and, yes, faith alone in Christ’s redemptive work at the Cross, taking ‘natural mankind’ to be “crucified with Christ”, and aware of it, repented, and then “rested” in His Resurrection Presence? HEAR ME:

No more ‘knowledgeable’ awareness of the ‘good self’ substituted for God’s verdict of worthiness of the Cross alone, what one author called “an embarrassing encumbrance”, but, yes, now, the Bible confession, “it was for my sin, my sin nature, my devotion to ‘self’ rather than all-out allegiance to “God’s Way” that Christ Jesus willingly, lovingly, obediently, submitted Himself to God’s perfect will and Way, and in the willful laying down of His own life for the sin of all the world because of God the Father’s still great love for all of fallen humanity, enduring the Cross”!

I close with Jesus’ words in John 7:16-18! “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.”

And, I ask, WHAT DOES JESUS’ WORDS EXPLAIN OR EXPOSE IN YOUR TRUST IN HIM ALONE OR ARE YOU STILL LEANING ON YOUR SELF-CENTERED UNDERSTANDING AND EXPRESSION OF YOUR ‘RELIGION’ BUT NOT HIS TRUE SCRIPTURAL FAITH OF AN INTIMATE, LIFE-EXCHANGE THROUGH YOUR DEATH WITH HIM AT THE CROSS, ACCEPTING HIS RESURRECTION PRESENCE AS YOUR HOPE ALONE – NOT ME, BUT CHRIST IN ME THE HOPE OF ETERNAL GLORY?

HAVE YOU “DIED TO YOUR OWN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS”, NOW CONSCIOUSLY AWARE HE TOOK YOUR OLD SIN NATURE TO THE CROSS THAT IT MIGHT DIE WITH HIM, BUT THEN GLORIOUSLY RAISED UP TO BE HIS “MASTER-FILLED” “NEW CREATION”?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER,MAY 20-21,2019

IN THE RANDOM HOUSECOLLEGIATE DICTIONARY OF 1975, THE WORD ‘AFFIRMATION’ IS DEFINED AS “THE ACT OF AFFIRMING,THE STATE OF BEING AFFIRMED,AN ASSERTION OF TRUTH OR EXISTENCE OF SOMETHING; A PROPOSITION OR IDEA SUPPORTED BY SUCH AN ASSERTION; CONFIRMATION OR RATIFICATION.”

‘ASPIRATION’? SAME DICTIONARY: “STRONG DESIRE,AIM OR AMBITION; A GOAL OR OBJECT DESIRED”! SO, WHAT ABOUT “THE AFFIRMATION TO ASPIRATIONS?” 1 TIMOTHY 3:1 SAYS, “THIS IS A FAITHFUL SAYING: IF A MAN DESIRES THE POSITION OF OVERSEER, HE DESIRES A GOOD WORK.” BUT…IF ASPIRATIONS ARE NOT INSPIRED BY GOD,THOUGH ZEALOUS, BECOME NOTHING MORE THAN ‘FLESH-EFFORT ZEAL’ WITHOUT AN OUNCE OF “SPIRIT-ANOINTING & APPOINTING& AFFIRMING”!!

IT WAS JOHN ARBUTHNOT, IN HIS WRITING “GNOTHI SEATON” (L.3), THAT SAID: “TO BLISS UNKNOWN MY LOFTY SOUL ASPIRES, MY LOT UNEQUAL TO MY VAST DESIRES.” ABSOLUTELY! BECAUSE “GIFTINGS,CALLINGS,

TALENTS,AMBITIONS,DREAMS OR VISIONS, THAT COME IN MAN ARE NOT GOD’S DESIGN, INTENT, CALLING, & EQUIPPING” – THERE MUST BE: “FATHER-GOD, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME TO BE, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME TO DO?” DESTINY IS A MAN’S PEACEABLE BUT GODLESS CHOICE OR TROUBLED ‘SEA OF LIFE’ IF HE/SHE CHOOSES TO “GO IT MY WAY”,RATHER THAN THE GOOD, ACCEPTABLE,& PERFECT WILL OF GOD!

JOHN MILTON,IN HIS “PARADISE LOST”,(BK.X11,L.64), WROTE: “EXECRABLE SON! SO TO ASPIRE ABOVE HIS BRETHREN, TO HIMSELF ASSUMING AUTHORITY USURPED, FROM GOD NOT GIVEN.” THAT STATEMENT ISN’T EVEN STRANGE TO YOU IS IT? OR,ARE YOU A SINATRA, “I DO IT MY WAY” KIND OF GUY OR GAL?

SO, FALLEN MANKIND, THE UNREDEEMED, THE ‘SEPARATED FROM GOD CROWD’, THE SELF-CENTERED, YES, ‘god unto myself’ guy or gal, BRUTALIZING, BRUTIFYING, BLASTING,BATTERING DIVINE TRUTH TO SETTLE FOR THE “HIGHWAY OF THE WORLD, THE FLESH, & SATAN HIMSELF”!!

BUT,I’M SURE IF YOU’RE READING THIS MESSAGE, THAT YOU KNOW THERE IS SUCH A VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ‘FLESHLY AMBITION’ & THE ASPIRATION TO BE OR TO DO WHATEVER “GOD” DESIRES FOR YOUR LIFE! AN ASPIRATION OF LEADERSHIP WITHOUT A WILLFUL CRUCIFIXION OF ‘SELF-GLORY’ BECOMES NOTHING MORE THAN A CORONATION TO VAINNESS & SELF-IMPORTANCE. THE ASPIRATION OF LEADERSHIP THAT HONORS GOD IS NOT CARNAL AMBITION BUT SPIRIT-ANOINTED PASSION TO BE FREE OF “SELF”, FULLY YIELDED & SURRENDERED TO THE LORDSHIP MANAGEMENT OF “CHRIST IN YOU, THROUGH YOU, FOR YOU”, STILL PRESENT IN YOU TO BE HIMSELF, THE “SACRIFICIAL, CRUCIFIED, RAISED-FROM-THE-DEAD JESUS” BEING HIMSELF!!!

SPIRITUAL ASPIRATION IS NOT THE ‘BEST EFFORTS OF FALLEN FLESH’ BUT REDEEMED, BLOOD-BOUGHT MEN & WOMEN AS “TEMPLES” IN WHICH THE HOLY SPIRIT LIGHTS THE FLAMES OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTED PRESENCE EXTENDING HIMSELF THROUGH “YOU”!! SPIRITUAL ASPIRATION IS NOT BASED ON HOW MANY SERVANTS I HAVE IN THE LITTLE KINGDOM I’M BUILDING, LIKE A ‘STREET-GANG BOSS’ RUNNING HIS CRIMINAL ‘ENTERPRISE’, BUT THE NUMBER I SERVE IN JESUS’ NAME BECAUSE THE SAVIOR IN ME DESIRED THROUGH ME TO POUR OUT TO THE ‘THIRSTY’ A DRINK OFFERING. SPIRITUAL ASPIRATION IS ALSO NOT AN UNSATISFIED THIRST FOR POWER & PROMINENCE, BUT A SATISFIED THIRST FOR MEETING OTHERS’ NEEDS EXPECTING NOTHING IN RETURN. SPIRITUAL ASPIRATION IS NOT A CONSIDERATION FOR A PLACE OF RANK OR TITLE BUT AN INWARD PASSION TO SEE THAT CHRIST IS UPLIFTED & HONORED AS I BOW AT THE FEET OF OTHERS TO DO AS CHRIST STILL DOES!

OSWALD CHAMBERS, IN “SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP,” (P.16) MADE A POWERFUL STATEMENT ABOUT THE NEED OF THE CHURCH: “THE OVERRIDING NEEDS OF THE CHURCH, IF IT IS TO DISCHARGE ITS OBLIGATION TO THE RISING GENERATION, IS FOR A LEADERSHIP THAT IS AUTHORITATIVE, SPIRITUAL, & SACRIFICIAL…(LISTEN!)…AUTHORITATIVE, BECAUSE PEOPLE LOVE TO BE LED BY ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE HE IS GOING & WHO INSPIRES CONFIDENCE. THEY FOLLOW ALMOST WITHOUT QUESTION THE MAN WHO SHOWS HIMSELF WISE &STRONG, WHO ADHERES TO WHAT HE BELIEVES…SPIRITUAL, BECAUSE A LEADERSHIP THAT IS UNSPIRITUAL, THAT CAN BE FULLY EXPLAINED IN TERMS OF THE NATURAL, ALTHOUGH EVER SO ATTRACTIVE & COMPETENT, WILL ONLY RESULT IN STERILITY & MORAL & SPIRITUAL BANKRUPTCY…SACRIFICIAL, BECAUSE MODELED ON THE LIFE OF THE “ONE” WHO GAVE HIMSELF A SACRIFICE FOR THE WHOLE WORLD, WHO LEFT US AN EXAMPLE THAT “WE SHALL FOLLOW HIS STEPS.”

ALWAYS REMEMBER WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT THE ESSENCE OF TRUE LEADERSHIP, MATTHEW 20:25-28: “BUT JESUS CALLED THEM TO HIMSELF & SAID: ‘YOU KNOW THAT THE RULERS OF THE GENTILES LORD IT 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, & TO GIVE HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY.”

SECOND: I WANT YOU TO SEE THE AFFIRMATION OF THE ASPIRATION OF THE PLEASURE OF GOD! IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:1 WE READ, “FINALLY THEN, BRETHREN, WE URGE & EXHORT IN THE LORD JESUS THAT YOU SHOULD ABOUND MORE & MORE, JUST AS YOU RECEIVED FROM US, ‘HOW’ YOU OUGHT TO WALK & TO PLEASE GOD.” TO THE GALATIANS PAUL MADE IT EVEN CLEARER: GALATIANS 1:10, “FOR DO I NOW PERSUADE MEN OR GOD? OR DO I SEEK TO PLEASE MEN? FOR IF I STILL PLEASED MEN, I WOULD NOT BE A BONDSERVANT OF CHRIST.”

DO YOU REALIZE HOW FOREIGN A CONCEPT THIS IS TO FALLEN HUMANITY? THE WHOLE BENT OF MOST FOLKS IS THE APPROVAL OF MEN MORE THAN THE APPROVAL OF GOD! RECEIVE ROMANS 15:1-3! “WE THEN WHO ARE STRONG OUGHT TO BEAR WITH THE SCRUPLES OF THE WEAK, & NOT TO PLEASE OURSELVES. LET EACH OF US PLEASE HIS NEIGHBOR FOR HIS GOOD, LEADING TO EDIFICATION. FOR EVEN CHRIST DID NOT PLEASE HIMSELF; BUT AS IT IS WRITTEN ‘THE REPROACHES OF THOSE WHO REPROACHED YOU (GOD) FELL ON ME.”

THIS IS WHY PAUL STRONGLY AFFIRMS “SPIRIT-ANOINTED LIVING” AS IN ROMANS 8:8 WHEN HE SAID, “SO THEN, THOSE WHO ARE IN THE FLESH (OLD ‘SIN-NATURE PROMINENCE’!) CANNOT PLEASE GOD.” SPIRIT-ANOINTED LIVING IS TAKING WILLFULLY, DAILY, THAT SENTENCE OF DEATH UNTO OURSELVES THAT THE RESURRECTION LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED OR RELEASED IN OUR MORTAL BODIES! LISTEN TO JOHN 8:29, JESUS SAYING, “AND HE WHO SENT ME IS WITH ME. THE FATHER HAS NOT LEFT ME ALONE, FOR I ALWAYS DO THOSE THINGS THAT PLEASE HIM.” I’M GOING TO TALL YOU, 1 SAMUEL 12:22 OUGHT TO RATTLE THE RAFTERS OF YOUR REDEEMED LIFE! IT SAYS: “FOR THE LORD WILL NOT FORSAKE HIS PEOPLE, FOR HIS GREAT NAME’S SAKE, “BECAUSE” IT HAS PLEASED THE LORD TO MAKE YOU HIS PEOPLE.” (THAT’S HIM “MAKING YOU”, NOT YOU TRYING TO INTERPRET HIM!!).

ARE YOU THE POSSESSOR OF A WHITE-HOT AFFECTION TO PLEASE GOD? AND THAT WHITE-HOT AFFECTION TO PLEASE GOD IS ALWAYS BECAUSE OF GOD’S GRACE WHICH FAR TOO MANY PROFESSING BELIEVERS HAVE MISINTERPRETED AS “GREASE” – JUST SLIDING INTO HEAVEN DOING THE SAME THINGS THE DEVIL GOT KICKED OUT FOR!

TRUE GRACE IS SO MUCH MORE THAN “PARDON” – IT’S POWER! 2 THESSALONIANS 1:11-12 SAYS, “THEREFORE WE ALSO PRAY ALWAYS FOR YOU THAT OUR GOD WOULD COUNT YOU WORTHY TO THIS CALLING, & FULFILL ALL THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS GOODNESS & THE WORK OF FAITH WITH POWER. THAT THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST MAY BE GLORIFIED IN YOU, & YOU IN HIM, (LISTEN!) ACCORDING TO THE GRACE OF OUR GOD & THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!”

GRACE THAT IS POWER? TITUS 2:11-14 SAYS: “FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGS SALVATION HAS APPEARED TO ALL MEN, TEACHING US THAT, DENYING UNGODLINESS & WORLDLY LUSTS, WE SHOULD LIVE SOBERLY, RIGHTEOUSLY, & GODLY IN THE PRESENT AGE, LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE & GLORIOUS APPEARING (OR FULL MANIFESTATION) OF OUR GREAT GOD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, WHO GAVE HIMSELF FOR US, THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM US FROM EVERY LAWLESS DEED & PURIFY FOR HIMSELF HIS OEN SPECIAL PEOPLE, ZEALOUS FOR GOOD WORKS.”

(GOOD WORKS? “BEST EFFORTS” OR THE ‘GOOD WORKS’ OF DAILY DEATH TO SELF THAT CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED IN & THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH, YES, YOU, DYING DAILY, THAT CHRIST MAY BE RELEASED TO BE HIMSELF THROUGH YOU, WE THEN “WITNESS” HIS PRESENT MINISTRY & CARE OF OTHERS THROUGH US?) I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE TRUTH JOHN PIPER WROTE WHEN HE SAID: “WE ARE HIS PLEASURE WHEN HE IS OUR TREASURE.” (THE PLEASURERS OF GOD, MULTONOMAH PUBLISHERS, SISTERS, OR.,97759, P.250.). WE’RE NOT “IVORY TOWER” INHABITANTS, BUT INITIATED TRUSTEES OF THE INSPIRED TRUTH OF GOD THAT, THAT WHICH TRULY PLEASES GOD, IS A LIFE LAID DOWN DAILY CHOOSING “CHRIST IN US AS OUR ONLY HOPE OF GLORY”!

IN ISAIAH 55:11, GOD SPEAKING, “SO SHALL MY WORD BE THAT GOES FORTH FROM MY MOUTH; IT SHALL NOT RETURN TO ME VOID, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH WHAT I PLEASE & IT SHALL PROSPER IN THE THING FOR WHICH I SENT IT.” (ARE YOU ‘PROSPERING’ BECAUSE YOUR PASSION IS TO PLEASE GOD OR YOUR PASSION IS.. “THE SENTENCE OF DEATH DAILY TO YOUR OLD SELF THAT THE RESURRECTED LIFE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED DAILY THROUGH YOUR MORTAL FLESH”?

THIRD, THE AFFIRMATION OF ASPIRATION MUST BE YOUR ASCENT TO HEAVENLY LIVING IN THE HERE & NOW- NOT AFTER YOU DIE! THE PASSION OF TRUE BELIEVERS? IT’S THE PASSION OF SEEING, REALIZING, SUBMITTING TO SEEING CHRIST ON HIS THRONE NOW, IN YOU, BEING HIMSELF,NOT SEEING HIM AFTER YOU DIE & ‘GO THE HEAVEN’! PSALM 37:4 IS SO CLEAR: “DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD, & HE SHALL GIVE YOU THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART.” DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE HEROES OF THE FAITH IN HEBREWS 11? VERSE 16 SAYS, “BUT NOW THEY DESIRE A BETTER, THAT IS, A HEAVENLY COUNTRY…”

WHEN YOU’RE PRESSED IN THE FLESH, YOU’RE ASKING, “IS THERE ANYTHING OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD WORTH LIVING FOR OR DYING FOR?” WHEN YOU KNOW YOUR “LIFE IS A VAPOR THAT APPEARS BRIEFLY & THEN VANISHES AWAY,” YOU’RE ASKING, “IS THERE ANYTHING OF ETERNAL SIGNIFICANCE?” WHEN YOU BECOME AWARE OF HOW INFANTILE, FLEETING, & UNIMPORTANT YOUR FLESHLY THOUGHTS ARE, YOU’RE ASKING, “WHAT IS THERE OF VALUE TO RENEW MY MIND?” WHEN YOU SEE THE DOWNGRADING, THE DEGRADATION, THE DARK SIDE OF A “BRITTANY SPEARS,” YOU BEGIN ASKING YOURSELF, “IS THERE A BETTER REFLECTION TO LIVE OUT BEFORE MY WORLD?”

RECEIVE COLOSSIANS 3:1-4! “IF THEN YOU WERE RAISED WITH CHRIST, SEEK THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE, WHERE CHRIST IS, SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD. SET YOUR MIND ON THINGS ABOVE, NOT ON THINGS OF THE EARTH. FOR YOU DIED (DID YOU?), AND YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD. WHEN CHRIST WHO IS OUR LIFE APPEARS, THEN YOU ALSO WILL APPEAR WITH HIM IN GLORY.”

MANY YEARS AGO IN A CHURCH I PASTORED SOMEONE CAME WITH A BROKEN HEART…”PASTOR, YOU KNOW ‘SO&SO’,A LEADER AMONG OUR YOUTH BUT SHE’S FAST GAINING THE REPUTATION OF BEING PROMISCUOUS & I’M REALLY CONCERNED FOR HER, FOR OUR YOUTH, BUT MOST OF ALL THE CAUSE OF CHRIST SINCE SHE’S SO VOCAL ABOUT HER FAITH.” I TOLD HER, ‘I’M GLAD YOU CAME.I’LL REACH OUT TO HER.’

I ASKED HER TO COME BY MY OFFICE FOR A VISIT. AND WHEN SHE DID I TOLD HER OF HER FAST-GROWING REPUTATION THAT WAS NOT GOOD. I ASKED HER, “WHEN YOU GAVE YOUR HEART TO CHRIST DID YOU BELIEVE THAT DIDN’T INCLUDE YOUR GLANDS? DO YOU NOT KNOW THAT YOU’RE FAST BECOMING LIKE A TACKLING DUMMY ON AN ATHELETIC FIELD THAT BOYS LIKE TO HIT ON OR…DO YOU NOT REALIZE GOD MEANS YOU TO BE A JEWEL, A ROYAL TREASURE, A HOLY GIFT OF THE HUSBAND HE’S PICKED OUT FOR YOU?” AND SHE BROKE DOWN & WEPT & SOBBED & REPENTED & GAVE HER GLANDS TO GOD! HER REPUTATION CHANGED & SHE BECAME A GLOWING WITNESS OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!

LIFE IS MADE OF CHOICES: THE GLORY OF GOD OR THE GORINESS OF A MANGLED, MESSED-UP, MISDIRECTED, SELF-INFLICTED SICKNESS CALLED ‘SIN’? THE CURSE OF ONE’S FALLEN SIN-NATURE OR THE BLESSING OF GOD’S PRESENCE? THE WRECK & RECKLESSNESS OF A MISSPENT LIFE OR THE “LIFE” OF ETERNAL PRESENCE, ETERNAL VALUES, & ETERNAL PROMISES?

I REALLY LOVE WHAT WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT WROTE LONG AGO: “SO LIVE THAT WHEN YOUR SUMMONS COMES TO JOIN THE INNUMERABLE CARAVAN WHICH MOVES ON..TO THAT MYSTERIOUS REALM WHERE EACH SHALL TAKE HIS CHAMBER IN THE SILENT HALLS OF DEATH…YOU GO NOT, LIKE THE QUARRY-SLAVE AT NIGHT, SCOURGED TO HIS DUNGEON, BUT SUSTAINED & SOOTHED…BY AN UNFALTERING TRUST, APPROACH YOUR GRACE LIKE ONE THAT WRAPS THE DRAPERY OF HIS COUCH ABOUT HIM, & LIES DOWN TO PLEASANT DREAMS.” ISN’T IT SAD THAT SO MANY DO NOT LIE DOWN TO PLEASANT DREAMS BUT NIGHTMARES BECAUSE THERE IS NO ASPIRATION OF THE ASCENT TO HEAVENLY LIVING ?

FOURTH, THERE IS THE AFFIRMATION OF ASPIRATION TO THE APPROPRIATION & ASSIMILATION OF YOUR GOD-APPOINTED, GOD-ANOINTED SPIRITUAL GIFT & MINISTRY! 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1 SAYS, “PURSUE LOVE, & DESIRE SPIRITUAL GIFTS, BUT ESPECIALLY THAT YOU MAY PROPHESY.” DID PAUL SAY, “DESIRE SPIRITUAL GIFTS”..? IT OUGHT TO BE AN ALL-CONSUMING PASSION THAT THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD & THE HOLY SPIRIT YOU DISCOVER THE SPIRITUAL MOTIVATION OF YOUR LIFE AS DEFINED BY GOD!

LOOK AT 1 CORINTHIANS 12:11, “BUT ONE & THE SAME SPIRIT WORKS ALL THESE THINGS, DISTRIBUTING TO EACH ONE INDIVIDUALLY AS HE ( GOD) WILLS.” ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING IN HER “SONNETS FROM THE PORTURUESE”,( NUMBER 26), WROTE: “GOD’S GIFTS PUT MAN’S BEST DREAMS TO SHAME.” SO TRUE! EXAMINE ALSO 1 CORINTHIANS 12:7-10 & 18-31! IT SAYS: “BUT THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT IS GIVEN TO EACH ONE FOR THE PROFIT OF ALL: FOR TO ONE IS GIVEN THE WORD OF WISDOM THROUGH THE SPIRIT, TO ANOTHER THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THE SAME SPIRIT, TO ANOTHER FAITH BY THE SAME SPIRIT, TO ANOTHER GIFTS OF HEALINGS BY THE SAME SPIRIT, TO ANOTHER THE WORKING OF MIRACLES, TO ANOTHER PROPHECY, TO ANOTHER DISCRNING OF SPIRITS, TO ANOTHER DIFFERENT KINDS OF TONGUES, TO ANOTHER THE INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES.

VERSE 18-31, BUT NOW GOD HAS SET THE MEMBERS, EACH ONE OF THEM, IN THE BODY JUST AS HE PLEASED. AND IF THEY WERE ALL ONE MEMBER, WHERE WOULD THE BODY BE? BUT NOW INDEED THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS, YET ONE BODY. AND THE EYE CANNOT SAY TO THE HAND, ‘I HAVE NO NEED OF YOU’, NOR AGAIN THE HEAD TO THE FEET, ‘I HAVE NO NEED OF YOU.’ NO, MUCH RATHER, THOSE MEMBERS OF THE BODY WHICH SEEM TO BE WEAKER ARE NECESSARY. AND THOSE MEMBERS OF THE BODY WHICH WE THINK TO BE LESS HONORABLE, ON THESE WE BESTOW GREATER HONOR; & OUR UNPRESENETABLE PARTS HAVE GREATERMODESTY, BUT OUR PRESENTABLE PARTS HAVE NO NEED. BUT GOD COMPOSED THE BODY, HAVING GIVEN GREATER HONOR TO THAT PART WHICH LACKS IT,THAT THERE SHOULD BE NO SCHISM IN THE BODY, BUT THAT THE MEMBERS SHOULD HAVE THE SAME CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER. AND IF ONE MEMBER SUFFERS, ALL THE MEMBERS SUFFER WITH IT; OR IF ONE MEMBER IS HONORED, ALL THE MEMBERS REJOICE WITH IT.

NOW YOU ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST, & MEMBERS INDIVIDUALLY. AND GOD HAS APPOINTED THESE IN THE CHURCH: FIRST APOSTLES, SECOND PROPHETS, THIRD TEACHERS, AFTER THAT MIRACLES, THEN GIFTS OF HEALINGS. HELPS, ADMINISTRATIONS, VARIETIES OF TONGUES. ARE ALL APOSTLES? ARE ALL PROPHETS? AREE ALL TEACHERS? ARE ALL WORKERS OF MIRACLES? DO ALL HAVE GIFTS OF HEALINGS? DO ALL INTERPRET? BUT EARNESTLY DESIRE THE BEST GIFTS. AND YET I SHOW YOU A MORE EXCELLENT WAY.”

LISTEN TO CHUCH SWINDOLL IN “THE QUEST FOR CHARACTER”, (P.146), “MARBLES OR GRAPES, WHICH WILL IT BE? EVERY CONGREGATION HAS A CHOICE. YOU CAN CHOOSE TO BE A BAG MARBLES, INDEPENDENT, HARD, LOUD, UNMARKED, & UNAFFECTED BY OTHERS. OR YOU CAN BE A BUNCH OF GRAPES..FRAGRANT, SOFT, BLENDING, MINGLING, FLOWING INTO ONE ANOTHER’S LIVES. MARBLES ARE MADE TO BE COUNTED & KEPT. GRAPES ARE MADE TO BE BRUISED & USED. MARBLES SCAR & CLANK. GRAPES YIELD & CLING.” SO TRUE! GRAPES MAKE SWEET WINE – MARBLES BANG AROUND & MAKE NOISE! WHAT’S CALVARY MADE OF? LOUD MARBLES OR SWEET WINE?

FIFTH, THE AFFIRMATION OF ASPIRATION IS AN ARRIVAL OF BEING WHAT, WHERE, & WHY GOD WANTS ME TO BE, WHO I AM “IN CHRIST”& WHAT CHRIST WANTS TO DO IN ME & THROUGH ME, WHICH IS WHY WE CHOOSE DAILY, “DEATH TO SELF – THAT CHRIST’S MANIFESTED PRESENCE MIGHT BE RELEASED THROUGH US! IN ROMANS 15:22-24,29,32, WE READ: VERSES 22-24, “FOR THIS REASON I ALSO HAVE BEEN MUCH HINDERED FROM COMING TO YOU. BUT NOW NO LONGER HAVING A PLACE IN THESE PARTS, & HAVING A GREAT DESIRE THESE MANY YEARS TO COME TO YOU, WHENEVER I JOURNEY TO SPAIN, I SHALL COME TO YOU. FOR I HOPE TO SEE YOU ON MY JOURNEY, & TO BE HELPED ON MY WAY THERE BY YOU, IF FIRT I MAY ENJOY YOUR COMPANY FOR A WHILE. VERSE 29, BUT I KNOW THAT WHEN I COME TO YOU, I SHALL COME IN THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, VERSE 32, THAT I MAY COME TO YOU WITH JOY BY THE WILL OF GOD, & MAY BE REFRESHED TOGETHER WITH YOU.”

GALATIANS 4:4 TELLS US: “BUT WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME HAD COME, GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON, BORN OF A WOMAN, BORN UNDER THE LAW, Verse 5, TO REDEEM THOSE WHO WERE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE ADOPTION AS SONS.” GOD SENT FORTH HIS SON –RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT PURPOSE!

RECEIVE JESUS’ RESPONSE IN JOHN 4:34! “MY FOOD IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME, & TO FINISH HIS WORK.” WHAT IS THE “FOOD” THAT YOU’RE PARTAKING OF? THE “FOOD” OF SELF-WILL OR THE “FOOD” OF THE MASTER’S WILL? IN JOHN 5:30, JESUS SAID, “I CAN OF MYSELF DO NOTHING…I DO NOT SEEK MY OWN WILL BUT THE WILL OF THE FATHER WHO SENT ME.” IN JOHN 6:36 JESUS SAID, “FOR I CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, NOT TO DO MY OWN WILL, BUT THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME.” AND HE SAID IN JOHN 10:18, “NO ONE TAKES (MY LIFE) FROM ME,BUT I LAY IT DOWN OF MYSELF. I HAVE POWER TO LAY IT DOWN, & I HAVE POWER TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN.” WHAT AWESOME POWER!

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE GOSPEL? DO YOU UNDERSTAND “ADOPTION AS SONS”? DO YOU UNDERSTAND “PLACED BY GOD ACCORDING TO HIS TIME, HIS PLACE, & HIS PURPOSE”? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WALKING ON THE BASIS OF DIVINE WILL – NOT FLESHLY LIKES OR DISLIKES? CAN YOU REALLY SAY, “YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH, IN MY LIFE, THROUGH MY SOVEREIGNLY CIRCUMSCRIBED PLACEMENT, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN?” CAN YOU REALLY SAY, “I WANT TO BE WHERE GOD WANTS ME TO BE –EVEN A CROSS ON GOLGOTHA’S HILL?”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, IN HENRY V111,(ACT 3, SCENE 2, LINE 456) WROTE: “HAD I BUT SERVED GOD WITH HALF THE ZEAL I SERVED MY KING, HE WOULD NOT IN MINE AGE HAVE LEFT ME NAKED TO MINE ENEMIES.” OH, HOW MUCH TRUTH IS IN THAT POETRY? WE SERVE OURSELVES ABOUT WHERE WE’RE GOING TO BE & WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO, RATHER THAN THE WILL OF GOD –AND,AS A RESULT, WE GO “WELL-DRESSED” IN OUR OWN WAY WHEREVER WE WANT TO BE…BUT DO NOT KNOW, BEFORE GOD, WE’RE STRIPPED NAKED! PROVERBS 16:7 SAYS, “WHEN A MAN’S WAYS PLEASE THE LORD,HE MAKES EVEN HIS ENEMIES TO BE AT PEACE WITH HIM.”

IS YOUR HEART-CRY, “GOD, I WANT TO BE EXACTLY WHERE YOU PLACE ME, WHERE YOU WANT ME, WHERE I WILL BE A VESSEL UNTO YOUR HONOR & THAT THROUGH ME THE RESURRECTED CHRIST CONTINUES TO HONOR HIMSELF & YOU IN THE GREATEST FASHION OF HIS RESURRECTED PRESENCE, RESURRECTED POWER, & RESURRECTED PURPOSE?” CAN “YOU” SAY AMEN TO THAT?

IN THE “BROADMAN HYMNAL”, PUBLISHED IN NASHVILLE,TENN.,IN 1940,(P236),IS A HYMN ENTITLED “LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL.” IT SAYS: “LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL, THE DAY OF MARCH HAS COME;HENCEFORTH INFIELDS OF CONQUEST YOUR TENTS SHALL BE OUR HOME;THRO’ DAYS OF PREPARATION YOUR GRACE HAS MADE US STRONG, & NOW,O KING ETERNAL, WE LIFT OUR BATTLE SONG.

LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL, TILL SIN’S FIERCE WAR SHALL CEASE, & HOLINESS SHALL WHISPER THE SWEET AMEN OF PEACE; FOR NOT WITH SWORDS LOUD CLASHING, NOR ROLL OF STIRRING DRUMS; WITH DEEDS OF LOVE & MERCY, THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM COMES.

LEAD ON, O KING ETERNAL, WE FOLLOW, NOT WITH FEARS; FOR GLADNESS BREAKS LIKE MORNING WHERE’ER YOUR FACE APPEARS; YOUR CROSS IS LIFTED O’ER US; WE JOURNEY IN ITS LIGHT: THE CROWN AWAITS THE CONQUEST;LEAD ON,O GOD OF MIGHT.”

WHAT’S THE SONG YOU SING IN YOUR PRESENT DAY JOURNEY OF FAITH, OR SONGLESS BECAUSE YOU STAND ON A FAULTY FOUNDATION OF FAITHLESSNESS, UNBELIEF, & EVEN RESENTMENT THAT “GOD” KNOWS YOU NEED TO BE SAVED, WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB, BORN-AGAIN, & COMMISSIONED AS, YES, THE ROYAL AMBASSADOR OF CHRIST JESUS? OR ARE THERE JUST NO SONGS IN YOU TO DESCRIBE A FAITHLESS LIFE?