By J.Farrell Fisher, July 19-22, 2017

The reason some pastors, churches, individual believers, or ‘denominations’, do not major on ‘militancy in evangelism or missions’ is that their ‘brand’ of church faith or a disciple’s personal calling exempts them from caring about a lost and dying world around them! Their faith, their preaching, their ‘calling’, to them, is not worth the time or effort to touch the world around them with a militant approach to extend the Christ within them to the needy world around them – they’re content to show up in ‘Sunday worship’ and let the world around them “Go to Hell”!

Pagan hearts miss out on the “Amazing Grace” of God if there are not loving hearts willing to share as “witnesses” of Christ’s redeeming love and awesome power to raise them out of spiritual death into the Oneness in Christ of forgiveness, redemption, raising them out of death into life everlasting, and being commissioned as His “messengers”, being “equipped” by caring pastors who trains every new disciple in his/her calling!

In the infancy of the New Testament church, before His Ascension, what did Christ Jesus tell that early assembly of believers in Acts 1:6-8? Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or season 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.”

Luke gives us even a clearer picture when in Luke 24:46-49 he recorded Jesus’ words: “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, AND that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. AND YOU ARE WITNESSES OF THESE THINGS. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

There’s an interesting verse in Romans 13:11 when Paul the Apostle wrote: “And do this, KNOWING THE TIME, that NOW it is high time to awake out of sleep…”, and do you think that, as it was then in Paul’s day, it can be in our day that far too many pastors and disciples and churches are ‘asleep’ when it comes to “Militancy In Evangelism and Missions”? And, I say to you, without a doubt it’s true – certainly not of a number of churches crossing denominational lines, but true of too many who never develop and train their church members in the ministry of extending Christ’s life, proving His love, and expressing His power through “blood redemption” of the spiritually unborn! (This just may be why some ‘churches’ see baptismal pools as unimportant to their ministries!).

How clear was Paul when he wrote in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…”?

But not all men are true, born-again, Christ-honoring individuals! Oh, we know that the justified, living through repentance toward God and faith in Christ’s blood redemption through His Cross and empty tomb, live in and under “blessed assurance”, but unbelievers, ‘sinners’, the self-proud in all their flesh offers them, centered in the world or one’s old sin-nature, and, yes, Satan’s control, have no awareness of Christ Jesus’ intervention!

This is why Paul continued in Romans 1:20-23 saying: “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 (or images in men’s minds) made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

All men, past, present, and future, are not born ‘blind’ to God, but because they are birthed with the old sin nature, they will suppress the Truth, crucify it, or bury it in the darkest regions of their brainlessness existence so they can choose their own ‘fleshly destinies’! Examine the Holy Word of God from the beginning in the Garden until the present day, and you’ll not be shocked but sorrowful that fallen men deny the Truth, gripped by a blindness to moral truth, descending away from God not toward Him, and intentionally rationalize for themselves what “satisfies” their self-promoting darkness getting as far away as they can from the only True Light!

Oh, it’s true! Fallen men KNOW God! Psalm 19:1 declares: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork,” King David continuing in Verses 2-6, “Day unto day UTTERS SPEECH, and night unto night REVEALS KNOWLEDGE. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He (Holy God) has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”

What did the Lord Jesus say in John 8:12? “I AM the light of the world. He who follow Me shall never walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” That Light of Life is Resurrection Life in Christ, Resurrection Power in the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and Resurrection Hope in Christ Jesus’ abiding words, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”

But, sadly, Paul was deeply moved, disturbed, heart-broken after his conversion because he understand that there was and would be those who desire no part with the life and ministry of Christ. Come back with me to Romans 1 and let’s examine what the inspired Word of God has to say about unbelievers! Follow Romans 1:21-32!!

“…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. [Let me pause right here for a moment! Does that mean ‘foolish hearts, darkened by self-will, can never be enlightened’? No! A thousand times, No! There IS the mercy, grace, and love of God that can be extended if a darkened man wants the True Light!]. Paul went on: 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.”

And the result? Verse 24 and following: “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 of Satan? “You can sin and not die!”), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason…

(Verse 26) God gave them up to vile passions…, (Verse 28-32) God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

And if you “stand out” after reading what you just read, is there any hope for you, for me, or for any man or woman, boy or girl, that the Word just exposed? “Rest” in the Apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 1:9-18!! “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers on the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him AND FOR HIM.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things consists. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINENCE.”

Are YOU personally “LIVING” under the “PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST IN ALL THINGS”? And that relates personally to who you are “in Him” and what you’re to be about! It relates to whatever ‘path’ He opens for you to walk in. It relates to every decision you have to make in your personal life, asking as others already have, “Lord, what would YOU have ME to do? What’s my calling in life? Who is Your chosen mate for me in dating, in marriage? And, Lord, make clear to me Your “open doors” or “closed doors” because I desire to walk only where and in what You choose for me to walk!”

Oswald Chambers wrote in his book “My Utmost For His Highest”, (p.170), “Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the diving up of your life by the influence of friends or circumstances; beware of anything that is going to split up your oneness with Him and make you see yourself separately. Nothing is so important as to keep right spiritually. The great solution is the simple one – “Come unto Me.” The depth of our reality, intellectual, morally and spiritually, is tested by these words. In every degree in which we are not real, we will dispute rather than come.”

Belonging to Christ Jesus does not mean He frees us to do as we desire, at times, but to be fully committed to His present, perfect, eternal will in the here and now, as daily we choose to take the sentence of death to our fleshly desires, desiring only to please, honor, and give Him His rightful place as Lord and Savior in us and through us!

Do you remember Christ Jesus’ words about “Kingdom Character” in Matthew 5:3-12? ( Examine yourself as you seek to discern whether you are IN THE TRUE FAITH or “playing spiritual, ‘church-games’”?). Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs if the kingdom of heaven. (Where, when, how, who, brought you to the awareness of your ‘poverty of spirit’?). Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. (How many ‘mourners’ have you witnessed at your church’s altar recently?). Blessed are the meek (the teachable) for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see god. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The truly “blessed” are paupers? The “raised up in Christ” are those who were ‘cast down’ in their awareness of alienation and separation from God, unveiling a mournful heart and spirit? The “new creations” are the ‘teachable’ who inherit the earth, by the grace of God? The “children of redemptive faith” are those who “hunger and thirst for divine righteousness” and know Holy God is the benefactor of His eternal gifts? “Merciful citizens of His heavenly Kingdom on earth”? “Possessors of pure hearts” by the pure, shed blood of Christ? The “go-between-ers” in behalf of God for the “troubled”? Hearts and minds willing to be rejected, persecuted for righteousness’ sake? Falsely accused, but eternally blessed by God on His throne? IT IS YOUR CHOICE!

And when one “chooses” Christ, though everything about his/her unredeemed life crumbles and falls away, he/she knows, Praise God!, I’ve gone from self-consciousness to Christ-consciousness, out of death into eternal life, out of temporary satisfactions to eternal blessing, out of the weakness of self-strength into the eternal, never-fading or receding power of the God of creation, but my life now and forever is in His never-fading power in and through His Son, my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Dallas Willard, in his marvelous book entitled “The Great Omission,” made several points of utmost importance to all disciples spiritual journey. He said: “The missing note in evangelical life today is not in the first instance “spirituality” but rather “obedience”. First point, We have generated a variety of religion to which obedience is not regarded as essential.” Second point, “Life in Christ is a matter of the “spirit”. Third, spiritual life is a matter of living our lives “from” the reality of God. Fourth, Christian spirituality is supernatural BECAUSE obedience to Christ is supernatural and cannot be accomplished except in the power of a “life from above.” Fifth, “Spiritual formation refers to the “process” of shaping our spirit and giving it a definite character. It means the formation of our spirit in conformity with the Spirit of Christ.” Sixth, “spiritual formation is a whole life process dealing with change in every essential part of the person.” Seventh, “the aim of spiritual formation is the transformation of the self, and that it works through transformation of thought, transformation of feeling, transformation of social relations, transformation of the body, and transformation of the soul.” Eighth, “no pew potatoes, (but lives) simultaneously engaged in spiritual formation in Christ’s likeness.”

Question: Do YOU see yourself as the ‘holy temple’ in which Christ dwells to be Himself, extending Himself through YOU, and expressing God’s love and power to the needy world through YOU?

“God, help us to be delivered from ‘natural church business’ into the amazing body of Christ as the ‘lamp’ and ‘light’ of His everlasting presence shines in us and through us!” “Militancy in evangelism and missions”? Jesus said: “I came to seek and to save the lost!” Is He able to be Himself in you and through you?

“ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR

APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?”

In Exodus 19:5-6 we find an illuminating statement from God about His “chosen people.” And you have to ask, “Did the people God intended His word for become the “special treasure to Him above all people”? Sadly, some didn’t, but with thankful hearts some did! What did Holy God say?

“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

What an awesome calling yet easily ‘adaptable’ by many churches today! Today it’s ‘one priest’ without the equipping of all saints to touch the darkened world with the True Light, the Lord Jesus Christ, with many, many churches maintaining their survivability without directions, examples, or equipping of the church’s calling to be “witnesses” to the needy world – evangelism is a lost ministry in many churches, even discipleship training is absent in many churches, and to think that a pastor has the role of equipping saints to “do” the work of the ministry is an ‘archaic, religious tradition’ – not the ‘way of a super-saint’ calling!

In fact, if one truly devoted himself/herself to the inspired words of Simon Peter, one might come to a different conclusion and a more sound foundation to ‘church building’! In 1 Peter 2:7-9 Peter wrote: “Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they were also appointed. BUT YOU (in Christ) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

How much preparation is given in far too many churches nation-wide to being “witnesses”, equipping ‘saints’ to touch their needy world with Redemptive Truth? Sadly, it’s near or about ‘zero’!

Come to Acts 13:1-5a where we find an obedient witness to the Promise of the Holy Spirit to every disciple to fulfill our calling as a follower of Christ! It says: Now to the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manean who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. SO, being sent out by the Holy Spirit…” How awesome do you find that commissioning upon every disciple of Christ!?

You can be assured that I for one do not distinguish between ‘leadership’ responsibility and the role and ministry of every true born-again believer. Are there different callings and ministries under the same tent of faith? Of course, but not in excluding or excusing some from being “witnesses”!

I pray you’ll follow with me through John 17 as I look at the prayer of Jesus to His Father in heaven. Don’t miss this! John 17:1-3, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent…”

John 17:6 says, Jesus speaking, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given me out of the world.” Oh, and then look at what the Lord Jesus said in John 17:17-18! “Sanctify (or “set apart”) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You (God the Father!) sent me INTO THE WORLD, I ALSO HAVE SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD.”

And then in John 17:25-26 Jesus thanks the Father and reflects upon His eternal ministry and ours! “O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

And are you familiar with the rest of John’s gospel? Jesus’ betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane, even disciples’ denial, the choosing of Barabbas’ freedom over Christ’s, the soldiers scourging of the Lord Jesus, Pilate’s deliverance of Christ to be crucified, His piercing, His burial, and then, praise God, “the empty tomb”! Oh, and then, before His ascension, He said to His disciples, “Follow Me!” And that following is a willful surrender of self-will to the divine will of Father-God! Oh, and then Acts 1 unfolds the eternal purpose, the sovereign grace, and the all sufficient supply to fulfill divine intent through our re-born lives!

In Acts 1:7-8 Jesus spoke to the “gathered assembly of true believers”, saying: “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.” And, praise God, Acts 2:32 declares, “This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all WITNESSES!”

You are aware that there is a worldwide battle for the souls of men by the world, the flesh, and the devil himself with his demonic forces opposed to anyone or anything that relates to the “blood redemption” of our world – why? Because “God so loved the world” that He desired to rescue as many as received His message and the Master of true life, the Lord Jesus Christ – salvation of the “lost” and alienated from God reduces his kingdom numbers who’ve been the devil’s enslaved!

Notice Paul’s emphasis in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5! “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” [Hear me! I know that much of what we just read relates to the warfare between the old man and the new man, between flesh and spirit – but, at the same time I see our weapons in Him fighting against those spirits that have men and women, boys and girls, enslaved in the demonic kingdom of alienation from Holy God and the Eternal Word!

Apart from Christ fallen mankind ‘drinks’ of worldly streams, devilish rivers, and lakes of unredeemed curses and ‘snake-like’ strangle-holds with its released poisons of godlessness! When Jesus said you’ll know people by their ‘fruits’, it’s either the “Fruit of the Spirit” or the “Foul Fruit of Satanic indifference” to the things of Holy God and His Kingdom rule and reign. I believe the Lord Jesus “celebrates” the child-like obedience of children of the faith to allow their bodies to be the kingdom of His holy presence and through which He bears witness Himself!

It’s really, really interesting that in Revelation 1:5-6 the Holy Spirit unveils the beauty and blessing “from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness,” but continuing, “the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, AND HAS MADE US KINGS AND PRIESTS to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” That’s ‘kings’ and ‘priests’ in His heavenly kingdom, sovereignly appointed to be the vessel to a world of self-rule, self-worship, and self-gratification, and the change comes in that world when disciples of Christ allow Him to be Himself through them!

No wonder Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14, “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.”

But my concern in this modern day is that, sadly, “Apostolic Assemblies” are set aside for “Adaptable Churches” that want to be so accepted by the world that they tone down biblical truth to make it acceptable, ignore specifically “Preach the Word”, fearing to say what God has said would limit their attendance, and, certainly feel justified to do their best at Bible teaching without encouraging pure devotion to His commissioning to be His witnesses in our lost, needy, alienated from God world!

According to Paul in Ephesians, 3:10-12, there is a divine design by God in maturing the ‘saints’ one has and the mobilizing of the body of Christ in reaching out to a needy world even if it costs us our lives! Paul said, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.” That’s confidence in boldly approaching the very throne of Holy God AND boldness in touching our needy world; and that has, can even today, cost you your physical existence!

I’m convinced that much of the problem of churches that do not have mission support worldwide, evangelism outreach locally, or even discipleship training and equipping of the saints to do evangelism ministry, is that “heavenly joy” in Jesus has been ignored, denied, or never understood. In John 15:11-17 Jesus said:

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends IF you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” Yes, rather than an “Adaptable Church,” what about making sure your fellowship of believers is an “Apostolic Assembly”!!

I guess one of the huge questions one must deal with initially is: Do I have a teachable spirit anxious to know what Christ Jesus has to say to me? It was David’s heart when he said in Psalm 27:11, “Teach me Your way, O Lord..” Is that the attitude of YOUR heart?

FIRST, PLEASE NOTE THAT GOD PERSONALLY LOVED YOU ENOUGH THAT EVEN IF YOU WERE THE ONLY HUMAN BEING TO EVER LIVE, BECAUSE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR YOU CHRIST WOULD HAVE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU ALONE, BUT HE DIED TO SAVE ALL MEN, BUT SOME DO NOT BELIEVE IN, RELY UPON, TRUST IN, OR ADHERE TO HIM!

In Romans 8:35-39 Paul gives us a powerful word of hope that should strengthen your ‘faith journey’! He said, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor death, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And our Savior, the Lord Jesus, said in John 3:16-17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Rev. J.M. Driver wrote an old hymn entitled “Wonderful Story of Love. [Broadman Hymnal, Broadman Press, Nashville, Tenn., 1940]. The first verse says:

“Wonderful story of love; Tell it to me again; Wonderful story of love; Wake the immortal strain! Angels with rapture announce it, Shepherds with wonder receive it; Sinner, O won’t you believe it? Wonderful story of love.”

SECOND, AWARE OF HIS GREAT LOVE, THE SINNER WHO IS DESIROUS OF FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION, IS LED TO THE ALTAR OF REPENTANCE. In Romans 2:4 wise Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads to repentance?”

When you look upon an ungodly world, one is saddened that a man in his sin and sin nature is not aware of his separation from God and from Holy God’s divine design for his life, so “messengers” are sent praying initially for the truth of the burden of sin and death, then the crucifixion of Christ in his stead! This is why in 2 Corinthians 7:10 the Holy Word instructs us, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

I so admire Oswald Chambers and his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.254). In it Chambers wrote: “The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God’s grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I HAVE SINNED. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says it and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.”

Examine John 16:5-11 Jesus explains: “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” And apart from repentance, there is no reconciliation with Holy God!

THIRD, HAVING BEEN CONVERTED THROUGH FAITH AND REPENTANCE, THE WORD TELLS US THAT THE “APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES” LIVE VICTORIOUS, OVERCOMING LIVES BY HOLY SPIRIT GUIDANCE INTO BIBLE TRUTH! In John 16:12-15 Christ Jesus’ holy instruction for new disciples says: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. HE will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine, and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

Christ Jesus emphasized the ministry role of Spirit-assistance, the ministry as faithful guide, the “Joy-Giver” of the full unveiling of Christ in you, and grants each disciple a forceful empowerment!

In Romans 8:26-27 Paul unveils this ‘representative ministry’ of the Holy Spirit before the Throne of God in our behalf. Receive the Word with joy and gladness! “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

And there is no Spirit-anointed victories in “Apostolic Assembles” or ‘professing lives of allegiance to Christ’ if there is no allegiance to, awareness of, and willfully “yielding” daily to the Holy Spirit’s ministry! Paul asked a penetrating, challenging word in Romans 6:16: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Are YOU yielded to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, whose God-inspired role is to glorify Christ through your daily walk?

As Jesus was profoundly concerned about “false prophets” early in His ministry, he warned in Matthew 7:15-16a, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit.”

I want to close out this teaching with the solid scriptural challenge of Galatians 5:16-25! It says: Paul speaking, I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

BUT the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Has that changed somewhere along the line or path of discipleship? Is it that some in the 21^st Century feel we’re so intellectually superior that “Christians” shouldn’t be concerned whether they need to walk in the Spirit or Not? The “Abnormal Christian Life” is avoidance of Spirit-ministry in an available vessel! The challenge to be filled with all the fullness of God does not become a reality apart from the Spirit’s abiding and anointing! The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in us and through us, and only as we willfully yield to the Spirit’s control is Christ’s presence in us fully revealed! Walking in the Spirit is not an option believers hold but an eternal necessity!