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AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, BOOK TWO
A six month devotional taken from the daily essays of Robert B. Thompson sent by E-mail.
Compiled and Edited by
Edward J. Reiter
Copyright © 2006 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
TREES OF LIFE
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [life-giving] spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45)
God’s purpose for all of His saints, His Christian people, is that they become, through Christ, life-giving spirits—not just living spirits but life-giving spirits.
Just how are we supposed to do that!
We do it through crucifixion and resurrection. Crucifixion and resurrection are the mainspring of the Christian redemption. The Christian faith is galactically more than a theology competing with the other theologies and philosophies of the world. The Christian faith is an experience with Christ, an experience of crucifixion and resurrection.
God is making man in two stages. The first stage is the adamic, animal creation. The second stage is the life-giving creation. As Christ is the Tree of Life, so are we to become through Him trees of life. This is our eternal role in the creation.
Adam never can become a tree of life. The first animal personality of ours is formed from flesh and bone. Its life is corruptible blood. Its mind is always hostile to God’s will and way. Its purpose is to serve as root stock on which the true and eternal humanity is to be grafted. It lives, moves, and has its being in blood-enabled metabolism.
The new humanity also is flesh and bone. But its life is incorruptible Holy Spirit. It lives, moves, and has its being in the Spirit of God.
We start as Adam and we end as an integral part of Christ, as a life-giving spirit.
Probably every reader would prefer to live in the incorruptible resurrection life of Christ rather than in our perishing animal nature. But how do we get there?
We get there by dying and being resurrected.
Paul said he was crucified with Christ and living by Christ. This is the true Christian life, that of the life-giving spirit.
Paul took it by faith that he was crucified with Christ and had the sentence of death in himself. From then on his life included numerous tribulations and imprisonments—suffering of all kinds. But God kept raising Paul up and the spillover of power brought life to those following him.
All true ministry comes from the death of the cross. We cannot sit in our walnut-lined study with The Pulpit Commentary and Jamison, Fausset and Brown, choose an introduction, three points, a conclusion, and three anecdotes, and expect to bring life to a congregation.
Life comes to others when we take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus through numerous tribulations and imprisonments. We are knocked down continually but God raises us up. As He does, that same resurrection life flows out to others.
This is how we become an eternal human being.
This is how we represent God to His creation.
"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Every member of the Seed of Abraham was known to God before the creation of the world. We have been chosen to bear fruit. We have been ordained to bear in ourselves the righteous, holy, obedient image of Christ.
July 2nd
THE BASIC STORY OF MANKIND
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17)
The story of the prodigal son is the basic story of mankind. It is the story of Adam and Eve, of Samson, of the Christian Church, of many of us.
When someone is given something of great value for the first time he often loses it. After he loses it he then sees the value of it. He sets out to gain it back. Sometimes he can and sometimes he can’t.
If after arduous labor he manages to get back what he lost he now appreciates it and will not lightly lose it again.
Samson had a marvelous gift of strength and he judged Israel many years. But he thought little of his relationship to God who gave him his great strength. He didn’t try to live a holy, righteous life, preferring to exercise his strength wherever it pleased him.The result was inevitable.
Adam and Eve lived in an unparalleled paradise on the earth. In the wildest dreams of mankind nothing ever could be produced that would rival the garden in Eden as a perfect setting for man. Adam and Eve were unaware of the unspeakable treasure they possessed, the very Presence of God walking around in their neighborhood. (What you or I wouldn’t give for that!)
They threw it all away carelessly.
The early Christian churches had the Apostles, evangelism, tongues, miracles, healing, revelation—all the blessings into which we now are arriving. After the Apostles died the believers and their leadership were not able to hold what had been given so abundantly. Men began to gain preeminence as theologians and scholars. For whatever reason the Spirit of wisdom and revelation departed. The Christians couldn’t hold the Glory.
In place of fishermen and tax collectors there arose one of the tremendous religious organizations of all time, an organization governed by the human mind. The ecclesiastical politics that always will attend human government often resulted in notorious corruption, and the torture and murder of the humble believers who really knew the Lord.
This is life. We are given (some of us) a good home, health, intelligence, talents, perhaps a wife and children, maybe an opportunity to accept Christ and learn in Sunday school, loving friends, a fine career.
If these come too easy we are in jeopardy. Waiting in the wings is alcohol, the cunning adulterer or adulteress in whose heart are chains, gambling, illegal business practices, the neglect of our physical health, overwork and other forms of intemperance, not to mention carelessness in the things of the Lord.
The consequences of our folly may be years in coming. The strong leader becomes addicted to alcohol, drugs, or gambling. He loses his job, his money. The office flirtations turn into betrayal and the wife (or husband) and children are left to make do while the cute secretary turns into a nagging, self-centered hag.
But the boys have grown up without Dad and his little girl is too big for her teddy bear and dolls and is living somewhere with her female "partner."
The Kingdom of God always is an inner kingdom. The outer form of the Kingdom is a manifestation and effect of the Person and rule of God in Christ established in the personalities of the individuals making up the Kingdom.
July 3rd
THE BASIC STORY OF MANKIND, continued
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17)
The respectable businessman finds himself in federal prison, disgraced, while his family attempts to survive the shame. "That’s all right, my wife has strong shoulders. We’ll make it."
The extra thirty pounds coupled with drinking, smoking, and the seventy-hour workweek end up under the big camera while the surgeon threads the catheter into the thigh. "Dear Christ, what if I die? Where am I going? Mother, can you hear me? Help!"
We thought we were God’s pet, the golden boy who was bound to live the good life forever.
Here we are, broken, sick, addicted to alcohol, without God or our family, without the respect of our acquaintances, maybe in prison, maybe with lung cancer or AIDS.
In the newspaper we read of those who at one moment are on top of the good life and the next moment are in the pits from personal tragedy.
What a way to learn!
Maybe it has happened to you. Believe it or not, I have good news for you.
There is a way back through Jesus Christ. And not just back, but back to heights that never could have been attained had we not suffered loss and then recovered.
Through the death of the blind Hebrew the whole company of Philistines was slain.
Out from the descendants of Adam and Eve will come the wiser, battle-hardened sons of God who will judge mankind and the angels.
The Christian Church has fought its way back from the Dark Ages until the Spirit of wisdom and revelation is beginning to rest on the assemblings. Never again will the saints lose the Presence of Jesus.
When the wall is rebuilt, as in the days of Nehemiah, the locks and bars are installed. The result is not as fancy as the original construction but far more deeply appreciated. That which we gain back the hard way we are apt to appreciate and maintain.
The Christian Church will march upward, clearing the stones from the Highway of Holiness, until our Lord returns and the sun rises on the new world of righteousness.
After six thousand years of insanity, by God’s help we’ll never lose Paradise again! "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
How about you? Are you in the pits? That’s the hard way to discover the value of what you once were given so freely.
Perhaps it’s not too late. Go to God. See what He will do for you.
Perhaps what will come out of your return home will prove to be the best that ever could have been.
But don’t be such a fool as to turn to the pigs in order to have the opportunity to be welcomed back home. Appreciate what you have. Make the most of it. You won’t have such a glorious testimony for the Full Gospel Businessmen but you will have your self-respect, a loving wife and children, friends, your health, and your God.
And Brother, those blessings are not to be taken lightly!
The outward man of the glorified saint will be a perfect vehicle for the inward man and will reveal the inward man; unlike today where we cannot determine the nature of an individual by looking at his outward man.
July 4th
TO MINISTER OR TO BEAR WITNESS?
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
There is a big difference between ministering and bearing witness.
Ministry is a means to an end. Bearing witness is the end.
The purpose of ministry is to build the Body of Christ to the measure of maturity as measured by the fullness of the stature of Christ.
The purpose of bearing witness is to reveal to God’s creation His Person, way, will, and eternal purpose in Jesus Christ.
Ministry is temporary and will be done away just as scaffolding is done away as soon as the building is completed.
The witness of God is eternal. Once we become a witness of God we bear witness for eternity.
Consider Noah, Abraham, Job, Daniel, Elijah. They were, are, and from now on will be witnesses of God. When we think of any one of them the Person, way, will, and eternal purpose of God come to mind. It shall always be so. Once a witness always a witness.
True ministry is a witness of God to the one being ministered to. But today we have ministry apart from true witness. We have people who are preaching, teaching, and evangelizing who not only are presenting a warped gospel but who themselves are bearing more of a witness of the devil than they are of God.
The televangelist pleads for money, wears his five hundred dollar suits and begs widows to send him their food money. ("God will send you back five thousand dollars.") Not only is his message incorrect as he oversells the grace of God, but the witness he is presenting by his appearance and actions is not telling the truth about God.
Our country has come to believe the whole Christian business is a money-making scam.
The pastor who has his eyes on the attendance rather than on the Lord is compromising the message of the Gospel so as not to drive people away. He talks of the rapture, of grace, of God’s love, of how to have a successful marriage, of how to be prosperous. His message is not balanced. The witness he is giving of God is false. God is not as he is presenting. God is as much a consuming fire as He is incomprehensible love. To stress the goodness of God and not His severity is to bear a false witness.
Sometimes when we speak of witnessing for Jesus we mean doing the work of an evangelist. The work of the evangelist is necessary. But perhaps even more importantly in our day in America is the witness of people whose lives have been changed. They now have integrity, are honest, joyful, dependable, truth-telling, morally pure human beings.
Perhaps most Americans have heard the Gospel. Many of them have "made a decision for Christ." A significant part of those who have made such a decision are in jail in the present hour.
Why? Because the preachers are emphasizing grace, grace, grace, and themselves are living spiritually careless lives. They are not witnesses of God. They may be ministers but they are not witnesses.
When there is no true witness of God the iron is not present to enable the preacher and his hearers to stand against sin.
This is where we are in America today.
A small deviation from your course becomes greatly magnified when you are journeying to the stars.
July 5th
A TWENTIETH-CENTURY EPISTLE
Whatever you want to do, do it now. You have a right to have fun and be fulfilled. Love yourself above all. Do not let anyone get in your way. The government has promised you life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Make sure you get yours. (Americans 1:1)
The following is taken from "an epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Christian churches of America."
"Dearly beloved, now that Christ has come you are not to be overly concerned with your behavior. Put your trust in Him, and even though you continue in your sin and self-seeking until you die it is impossible for you to incur God’s displeasure.
"In fact, when you sin you are magnifying the grace of God. When you fornicate, God sees only the holiness of Christ. When you lie, God sees only the truthfulness of Christ. When you murder, God sees only the gentleness of Christ.
"I have written some letters to the churches that appear to warn against certain behaviors. But you are not to regard these as necessary aspects of your salvation for even though they seemingly are addressed to the saints they actually are directed toward the unsaved and the Jews. Always keep in mind that faith without works glorifies the grace and mercy of God. Faith must stand alone. Your efforts to live righteously detract from God’s grace and are legalism. You may safely ignore all I have written to the churches concerning moral conduct.
"Remember, dearly beloved, God is love. You may leave your wife and children and live with a prostitute. You may give your word and break it as often as you like. God will not hold this against you, because you believe in the Lord Jesus. You may sin thousands and thousands of times, living in every kind of moral filth. Yet, God will continue to love you with His great Father’s heart.
"(Aren’t we having fun in the Son!)
"No matter how you live your life, no matter how many people you injure, no matter how unfaithful you are, how you despise the Scriptures, how unrighteously you behave, how much you despise mercy and love revenge, how arrogantly and haughtily you walk before God and men, you cannot possibly displease God or lose your salvation. God sees you only in Christ, having His righteousness.
"God loves you in your filth. Christ loves you although you continually disobey His commandments. The Holy Spirit loves you although you rebel against His every prompting.
"Beloved, there is no need for you to live a holy life. Jesus does it all. He will change you from within your personality apart from your having to obey any commandments. Remember, all efforts to obey His words or the words of the Apostles are ‘legalism.’
"If you have ever at any time professed belief in Christ Jesus, when you die you will go straight to Paradise to live forever in a golden mansion.
"Return to your father’s house with your girlfriend and a bottle of whiskey. Live it up. Have a party. Make your older brother jealous. Dad loves you so much he is ready to turn the whole ranch over to you. Maranatha."
It is time for repentance among Christians. Our doctrine is a shambles. Our moral stature is deplorable. We have been deceived.
July 6th
YOU CAN BE A VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN!
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:37)
The life of victory in Christ, of performing the will of God perfectly, is readily available to every human being.
The "Assyrians" have fled because of Calvary. The enemy has been defeated totally. He can work only in the realm of deception in his attempt to lead us into sin. He no longer possesses the authority or power to truly harm the saint. When we come to understand the Word of God and what Christ actually accomplished on the cross we are able to press into the Kingdom of God with all confidence.
Perfect victory in Christ indeed is for you no matter how weak and incompetent you may consider yourself to be. This moment, cast yourself and your cares on Christ Jesus. Do not worry about trying to explain all the details to Him. He understands perfectly every detail of your life.
With your mouth—out loud—tell Jesus that from this point on you will do the will of God as the Holy Spirit assists you. Tell Him you desire to be one of His conquerors, that you want Him to remove from you the overwhelming desires of the sinful nature, the world, and Satan. You want to belong to Christ and to Christ alone.
From this moment on, believe with all your heart and soul that Christ Jesus will enter you and become the Way, the Truth, and the Life in you. Do not allow yourself to be troubled, worried, agitated in your mind. Give yourself completely to His love, power, and wisdom.
Christ loves you more than you have any idea.
Has life on the earth become a heavy burden to you? Jesus will take you dancing among the stars. Are you concerned about whether you are pleasing to the Father? Jesus will bring you in His name into the Presence of the Almighty God, there to receive the blessing.
There is a song without end. Would you like to hear it? Would you like to have it created in you?
Whatever He says to you, do it through His grace. Instead of being one of those believers who is wandering about in guilt and confusion you can hold up your head in the realization you now are Christ’s responsibility and through the indwelling Christ you are walking forward in victory—in the center of God’s will.
The water is only waist deep. We overcome through Christ, not through superior spiritual ability. If you believe Christ when He states that what He begins He finishes, then lift up your heart and rejoice. Relax and stand up straight in the water. You received Christ by faith when you needed to be saved from the wrath of God. Now receive Christ by faith in order to become a conqueror, an attainer of the first resurrection.
Lord Jesus, we pray You will reach down now and touch the reader of these words. Give to him or her the assurance that You are the Finisher as well as the Author of his or her salvation.
Enter, we pray, into the heart of the reader as he begins to realize the acceptance of Your Presence will lift him from the state of "trying to be a Christian" to the level of the conqueror who, through the Spirit of God, is pressing toward the mark of the first resurrection from the dead.
Come, Lord Jesus, and shine through Your saints. Take to Yourself Your irresistible power and reign on the earth. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
Doing the Father's perfect will is the simplest thing in the world, once you make up your mind this is what you truly want.
July 7th
THY KINGDOM GO OR COME?
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
The Hebrew Prophets spoke much of the glory of the Kingdom of God and of how blessed Israel and the nations will be when Christ returns to the earth.
As far as we know, all New Testament doctrines can be found in the Old Testament in some form. The writers of the New Testament gained their understanding of the Christian salvation as the Spirit of God revealed the Old Testament to them.
"The just shall live by his faith" was stated by a Hebrew Prophet (Habakkuk 2:4). The explanation of what the just shall live by faith means is set forth in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, and all the examples are from the Old Testament.
Paul’s teaching concerning the Antichrist can be found in the Book of Daniel. The atonement made by the Lord Jesus is set forth in the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is presented in Daniel 12:2. The history of the nation of Israel is an object lesson to us Christians. We derive our comfort from the promises found in the Old Testament.
Righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God are the major emphases of both testaments. The new covenant does not have a different goal from the old covenant. The new covenant does have improved means of attaining the same goal.
Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude stress righteous and holy conduct in view of the return of Christ in His righteous Kingdom. The issue of salvation always is shown to be what position we will have, what our fate will be, in the Day of the Lord—the Day when Jesus and His saints return to the earth to establish righteousness among the nations. This is the same vision seen by the Prophets of Israel.
Christian believers are looking for the coming of Antichrist. The spirit of Antichrist already is being revealed and has undermined the Gospel of the Kingdom with a deception concerning the escape of the elect to Heaven to live in beautiful mansions.
Satan would be well pleased if all the elect would leave the earth and go to Heaven to live in beautiful mansions doing nothing of significance. Satan fears the coming of Christ and His saints into the earth to establish God’s Kingdom of righteousness and peace. Satan would much prefer that Jesus remove His warriors to Heaven and stay away from the earth. In view of Satan’s ambitions in the earth it is easy to recognize the source of the grace-Heaven model of salvation.
When we pray, "Thy kingdom come," what are we asking? Do we want to stay and see the Kingdom come or do we want to go to the spirit realm? Why don’t we pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, help us get up there"?
I would like to be here to see Jesus crowned on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. How about you? Maybe King David will be the one to place the crown on his Son’s head.
What do you really want, to have a mansion in the spirit realm, wear golden slippers, and play a harp, or have a part in the establishing of God’s Kingdom on the earth? Which would you rather have, gold and diamonds in Heaven or people to love on the earth?
How anxious are you to die?
Ask your heart. (from The Continuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament)
The Christian salvation is not a change in God's requirements, it is a change in man so he can meet God's requirements.
July 8th
IN WHAT WAY IS SALVATION A GIFT?
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Salvation often is presented as a gift from God with no strings attached. An evangelist will ask, "If someone would hand you a fifty-dollar bill you would take it. Why won’t you take the gift of salvation?"
The reason is, the gift of salvation is very unlike a fifty-dollar bill and the sinner understands this even if the evangelist doesn’t. This is why he won’t always take it.
Romans 6:23 (above) has been preached to the unsaved for many years. It really is addressed to believers.
In the early chapters of the Book of Romans Paul spoke to the Jews. He told them they could not earn God’s approval any longer by observing the statutes of the Law of Moses. God now has given us His own righteousness, a righteousness purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross. We receive the righteousness of God by placing our faith in Christ’s atonement apart from circumcision, the Sabbath, or any other part of the Law.
The inevitable occurred. People were saying "It doesn’t matter if we sin because God’s grace forgives us no matter what we do." (Sound familiar?)
Paul, a very moral, God-fearing individual, rose up in protest. "What then, shall we sin? God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin live in it any longer?"
Paul was referring to the fact that when we enter water baptism we are testifying we have died with Christ on the cross and have risen with Him to the right hand of the Father. Thus we, in accordance with our profession of faith, are to count ourselves dead to sin and walk in the newness of a righteous, holy life.
Paul goes on to teach (in the sixth chapter of Romans) if we, having received Christ and been baptized into His death and resurrection, yield our body to sinful practices, we will die spiritually.
But since we now are a Christian we have the authority and power (which non-Christians do not have) to choose to be the slave of the laws of righteous, holy behavior. If we so choose we will live in the eternal Life of God.
In view of these facts Paul, in Romans 6:23, reminds the Christians that to continue in the practices of sin will pay off in death. But God has given them the gift of eternal life provided they take advantage of their new spiritual position and begin to live a righteous, holy life.
It’s not like a fifty-dollar bill. The gift of eternal life is more like the gift of a piano. You have to practice it to get any good out of it.
How about you? Maybe you’ve been saved for several years. Are you still playing chopsticks or are we hearing something worth listening to?
The believer will never make a success of the Christian discipleship until he spends time each day in prayer, in waiting on the Lord, in meditating in the Scriptures.
July 9th
GETTING TO KNOW JESUS
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
Because of the revelation God gave us in Bible school many years ago we have devoted much of our ministry to describing the work of God that comes after Pentecost. There is the basic salvation experience, and then there is the Pentecostal experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, often accompanied with speaking in tongues.
But the Bible shows clearly the work of redemption in three stages. The many types, such as the feasts of the Lord, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, the days of creation, Noah’s ark, and so forth, portray three levels of redemption.
We could call the third work of salvation the fullness of God, or the Tabernacles experience, or total consecration, or the throne level, or conquest. (Let us not make another denomination for Heaven’s sake!)
But you know, after all is said and done, the third level actually is knowing Jesus.
When we first are saved we know Jesus a little. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we know Jesus a little more. But isn’t it true that most of our knowledge has to do with our church culture or formulas that we think will enable us to get what we want out of God?
We talk about Jesus.
If you don’t believe me, the next time you are in a meeting listen to what is being said. Jesus is in the third person singular. He does this and He does that. It isn’t You are doing this and You are doing that.
The only time Jesus is addressed directly is in prayer.
God has more than this for us. God wants us to practice the Presence of Jesus in our daily life, as well as in the assembling, much, much more than we are doing. It is not "He is with us," it is, "You are with us"!
Last Sunday I was sitting at the keyboard. We were in the middle of the song service and I had this feeling we were going to go through this service with something important missing.
Suddenly one of the song leaders said, "The Lord wants to do something."
The guitar player behind me said, "The waters are troubled."
I go up and kind of staggered around, telling the congregation we were supposed to do something but I did not know what. Isn’t that great? God’s man of faith and power without the answers.
The young people started marching around the church with their big banners. (I hope this doesn’t shock you!)
Our air traffic controller (the lady who keeps our banners, tambourines, dancing and so forth from becoming chaotic) said, "I think the whole congregation is supposed to do something." I felt the same thing and so I said, "Everybody stand up and do something."
Eternal life is the knowledge of God and Christ. The end of the new covenant is that all believers might know God.
July 10th
GETTING TO KNOW JESUS, continued
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (I Corinthians 14:26)
Even our head elder, an ordinarily sedate individual, came up to the front and started exhorting the people. Pretty soon the whole congregation was marching or dancing or walking around.
Then our worship leader decided to do a combination of singing choruses and inviting up people for prayer who needed release from bondage. Several came up and people prayed for them. Then groups of people went to different members of the congregation and prayed for them.
This went on for about half an hour. When everybody felt Jesus was finished with that part, we took the offering, I preached, we had an altar call, Communion was given (we serve communion to people at the altar while they are being prayed for), sang a song, hugged one another, and went home decently and in order.
The point is, Jesus moved from the third person to the second person. "Lord, You are here. What do You want done?"
My message, prepared before this uproar, was about everyone having gifts of the Spirit. So it kind of fit.
The best aspect of the whole business (apart from the fact we were hearing from the living Jesus) was that several people had the same witness and then everyone participated. There was Divine order. Godly elders were in authority and everyone recognized this. No one got in the flesh and tried to steer the meeting off sideways.
Meetings are much safer when you put in the bulletin everything you are going to do and then do it, even if the angel Gabriel walks in (the ushers will show him to the door).
This other activity is dangerous but it sure is more interesting.
This is the direction we want to go as a church until when a visitor comes everyone rises up and prophesies the secrets of his heart and he falls on the rug and cries out "God is in this place!"
Wouldn’t that be great? That’s like having church.
We need to know Jesus more. We need Him in our life, in our assemblings, not only someone who is a million miles away making intercession before the Father but right here in the middle of the service telling us what to do, leading His army in Person.
How about you? Do you want to know Jesus better? Why don’t you tell Him so.
"But I’m not even a Christian. How can I tell Jesus I want to know Him better?"
You don’t have to follow any formula. If you want to love Jesus and know Him better, look up right now and let Him into your life.
You can worry about "getting saved" later. (You already have the Judge on your side the moment you look to Him!)
It is the will of God that Jesus Christ become the Center and Circumference of every thing, every creature, and every situation to be found in the entire universe of God.
July 11th
POWER OR RIGHTEOUSNESS?
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
It has become fashionable in modern times to seek power with God. Much has been written about how to have power with God.
I doubt if hundreds of years ago the Catholic peasants coming in from the field at vespers thought much about having power with God. It’s probably a modern phenomenon.
The idea of getting power from the spirit realm goes along with the contemporary man-centeredness of everything. If we can get enough power we can build the Kingdom of God in the way we think best (in the way that will profit our own group).
The Bible doesn’t exhort us to seek power, as far as I know, but to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We need God’s power but for the right reasons. Righteousness always is an issue of power. It takes power to work righteousness and more power comes to us from God when we practice righteousness. So righteousness is the important topic.
The reason we cannot overcome the evil in our own life is that we lack power. We have to pray to get enough power to overcome temptation.
We cannot overcome the evil in our nation until we receive more power from the Lord. (Some day we shall!)
We try to get power by voting or seeking political office or by lobbying or threatening politicians running for office. I don’t know how much good these efforts do.
Since the evil of abortion and other problems are coming from Satan, how are we going to get rid of it by voting or threatening politicians? The source of the wickedness is spiritual. Spiritual battles are not fought with voting but with prayer, righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
It is the prayer of the righteous individual that avails much.
"Brother Thompson, I am righteous through Christ."
Are you sure? James, the writer who said the prayer of the righteous avails much, wasn’t too pleased with the idea of imputed righteousness. He was interested in helping the orphans and widows in their troubles.
The powers of Hell are running wild in the streets of America. We have invited all the demons from India, Africa, South America, and other places, and are protecting them with the Bill of Rights. They are enjoying themselves at the expense of our citizens. (Can you imagine the look on the faces of the framers of the Constitution?)
Yoga, a part of the Hindu religion, is practiced by people in our government, according to the newspaper. (It reminds us of the Book of Ezekiel.)
So you are not going to accomplish much by the democratic process.
As spiritually dark as the present atmosphere of America is, there is far more Divine power available than is necessary to totally clean up the environment.
God is ready to issue all the power we need the moment we turn away from our sins. God has the power. Are we going to do what He has commanded or not?
When we attempt to direct the Spirit of God we are taking away from the Lord Jesus His God-given authority to administrate the resources of the Kingdom of God. Man is in the driver's seat. This is the False Prophet.
July 12th
GOD’S SOLUTION FOR THE LAST DAYS
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:39)
What is God’s answer to the presence on the earth of Satan and the fallen angels?
The cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus and the personal cross of the believer. God will not save what man is. God will not save the race of Adam. The race of Adam died in Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The members of the Kingdom of God are a new race. They are humans, but humans in whom every element of personality has become part of Christ Jesus.
They have died; but behold—they live! They are crucified with Christ, yet they live. But it no longer is they who are living, it is Christ. God has provided the answer to every terror of the last days. The answer is our death and resurrection in Christ.
We must reckon ourselves dead, experience the judgment of God in every aspect of our personality (which includes much suffering and the denial of our fondest hopes), and then receive the Presence of the Father and the Son. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. It is the provision God has made for the spiritual oppression of the closing days of this age.
In the day when so many are falling into the trap of viewing themselves as God, the Spirit says:
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
We must bow the knee to God, turning away from our pride, our arrogance, our haughtiness. We must keep God’s righteous commandments. The Epistles of the New Testament are filled with guides to righteous behavior. We must keep faith in Jesus, guarding the word of His patience.
To follow the Lord in cross-carrying obedience, turning away from the "Christian" people who tell us we can have everything we want in the world, requires patience.
God is raising up a powerful army in our day. Each soldier has been judged thoroughly by the Word of God. In the moment of judgment the Lord’s soldier will stand because he cannot be harmed by Divine judgment. He can "fall on the sword" and yet not be wounded.
Patience! Patience! Patience and the Kingdom of God!
If we are to possess our soul we must exercise patience in the prison in which the Lord places us. Then, in the darkest of the night, the Lord gives us the solution:
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. (Revelation 14:13)
"Die in the Lord from henceforth."
From henceforth. From this time forth. From the time man begins to make himself God. From this moment those who die in the Lord are blessed. In the midst of the fire of judgment they will sing and dance in the height of Zion. They will enter rest. Their works of righteousness and holiness will accompany them wherever they go.
Nothing can hurt them. Antichrist cannot touch them. The False Prophet cannot deceive them. Satan himself cannot overthrow them.
Why not? Because it is not they who are living but Christ who is living in them. In order to conquer them, Satan would have to be able to suppress the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Do you choose to save your life or to lose it in Jesus Christ?
The warriors of the coming Kingdom have died already, so to speak, and are living now by the strength and wisdom of the body and blood of Christ.
July 13th
GOD HAS HIS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)
Let us ask a question.
Why would God create man on the earth, give him access to many kinds of things, relationships, experiences, and then command him to deny himself?
This sounds like poor planning on God’s part.
Why create little gods from the dust of the ground and then say to them, "Take up your cross and follow me"? "Present your body a living sacrifice to Me"?
The answer is, men are just that—little gods.
There are heavenly beings who are so tremendously large and intelligent, so filled with glory that we would be unable to stand in their presence. Some of these do God’s will. Others joined with Satan in the rebellion against the Father.
God, in His unfathomable wisdom, reached down to the dust of the earth and from it created little gods—creatures who one day will judge the angels, who one day will be served by the most exalted of God’s creatures.
What next?
The predictable—the first little god born on the earth murdered the second because of envy.
The little gods had to be given the chance to do whatever they wanted, although the Lord realized that the result would be six thousand years of agony as the dust-gods strove to glorify themselves.
Then God presented to these inexperienced divinities the only possible solution to their madness: "Take up your cross of self-denial so I may become one with you. Let Me bring forth My life in you. You can realize your foreordained destiny only by entering My death and My life."
It is the story of the prodigal son, the story of man. The Father gives us our inheritance. We end up with the pigs, having lost our inheritance in riotous living. We come to ourselves and return home—to the Father. We have learned we do not have the wisdom to use properly what has been given us.
For two thousand years the Christian churches have attempted to serve God by using His grace and gifts to build a tower that reaches to Heaven. The same attempt is being made today and soon will be supported with signs and wonders.
Some "Christian" leaders are busily engaged in teaching Christians how to live, how to profit by the grace and gifts of God, how to find victory and success in the present world.
They should be teaching the believers how to die in the Lord!
What God said to the Apostles of the Lamb He still is saying to His Church: "It is only by your death that you can live in My Presence. Enter My death and resurrection. Death is the only path to the Throne of God."
By death we mean the surrender of our personality to God, allowing Him to fill us with His Life. We tell the Lord we are His bondslave forever. Our delight is to do the will of God only. We have learned that to follow the desires of our own life brings frustration and pain.
Is this your point of view?
Jesus does not say, Here is life, take it. Rather, Jesus says, "I am life, follow Me." Jesus is the "way" to eternal life. He is the "door." We enter through Him and then walk in the pressured, narrow way that leads to life.
July 14th
LIVING STONES
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
The feast of Tabernacles, the last of the seven feasts of the Lord, reveals to us that God’s eternal purpose is to create a living Temple for Himself. The Temple of God is Christ—Head and Body.
Before we come to the feast of Tabernacles we must experience the Blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. The Blowing of Trumpets signifies the coming of the Lord Jesus to His churches to wage war against His enemies, and also to organize His saints into the Army of the Lord.
This is taking place now. The Lord is coming to His people before He appears in open glory to the world.
The Day of Atonement is the period during which each Christian is judged and reconciled to God. The Day of Atonement has begun and will continue throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Each of us must be reconciled to God so we may serve as a dwelling place for the Lord. We must be delivered from our love of the world. We must be delivered from the lusts of our flesh. Finally we must, through suffering and imprisonment of various kinds, be totally delivered from self-will, envy, presumption, supplanting, and disobedience to the Father. Only then are we ready to be a living stone in the eternal Temple of God.
The emphasis of the Spirit now—today—is that we cease from our own works and look to the Lord. It is a new day. The Lord is calling us to repentance and to listen carefully to His voice. He stands at the door of our heart and is asking if He may enter. We may have been a Christian for many years. Yet this is what is taking place. Are you finding it to be true? Is the Lord speaking to you concerning your thoughts, your words, your actions?
The Lord Jesus desires to enter and dine with us on His own body and blood. We become part of Him as we partake of Him. We become the Wife of the Lamb as we partake of the Lamb.
Are you ready to hear the trumpet of the Lord? Are you ready to be reconciled to God in your entire personality? Are you ready to enter the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, into the rest of God, into the Kingdom of God? Then open your heart to the Lord Jesus and discover what He has for you today, what your role is in the Kingdom of God that is at hand, and what part you are to play in the great latter-rain outpouring.
If the mystery of the Gospel were Christ with us the demands on us would be severe. But since the mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us, the demands on us are total. The Lord will have no idols in His house, no uncleanness, no presumption, no supplanting of the place of another, no envy, no rebellion of any kind against the Father’s will.
Is this what you truly desire—to be made in Christ’s image and to enter total, untroubled rest in the Father, in Him who is the Consuming Fire of Israel? If this is what you really want, then tell the Lord about it right now. Express your desire with your voice. Then get ready for the greatest adventure of your life as the Father and the Son make Their eternal abode in you.
If you are not making progress in purity you are not abiding in Christ. You are not being redeemed. Go to the Lord and ask Him to continue the program of redemption in your life.
July 15th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
There are two kinds of "Christian" believers in the world—the church-attender and the disciple. However, only the disciple is a true Christian.
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
"The disciples were called Christians."
The question is, what is a disciple; for it is the disciple who is the genuine Christian.
The Lord Jesus described what He means by a disciple.
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26,27)
How many "Christians" of our day have forsaken all in order to follow the Lord? Not very many, it appears. How many are following the Master, bearing their personal cross? Not very many!
The Christian churches of today are filled with church-attenders. They call themselves "Christians" but they are not. They are not disciples of the Lord Jesus—not at all! They simply are not genuine Christians.
Let us say that Fred Smith is an apprentice printer. He is twenty years old and is engaged to be married.
On Saturday he attends a trade school where he is studying lithography. The topic this Saturday is color registration. Fred watches carefully as marks are made on the plates to insure that the several colors will not overlap or be outside the specific boundaries set for them.
He understands that such knowledge will lead directly to his becoming a master lithographer with the salary and opportunities that such an attainment will bring. Although he is tired from working all week he forces himself to stay awake. He makes notes and sketches on a pad he carries with him.
On Sunday he and his fiancée, Shirley Samson, attend the morning church service. Fred and his future wife have been raised in church. They slip into a pew. The time comes for the sermon. The pastor delivers a message of great interest and concern to himself. He has prayed over it. The subject is child abuse. The pastor is able to express his indignation at such an outrage and hopes to make some social impact toward relieving this scandalous condition.
Fred has no children but he is interested in the subject. He becomes indignant at the examples of abuse given in the sermon. He looks at Shirley. They agree silently that they would never be guilty of such an abomination (not having experienced the demonic deceptions and pressures that come on all married couples—even Christian couples).
If we are given a piano we are given the gift of the opportunity to become a pianist. The gift of salvation, of eternal life, is the gift of an opportunity. God gives to us the opportunity through the Lord Jesus Christ to attain eternal life.
July 16th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Soon Fred’s head nods. He has worked hard all week. He was busy in school on Saturday. The pastor’s third point, although clearly and simply stated, is not heard by Fred because he is asleep. But when he becomes a father what he has heard may prevent him from venting his anger on his child.
Fred would not bring a notebook and force himself to think about every point made. Why should he? He doesn’t intend to become a minister. His ambition is to be a master lithographer. What would be the purpose of writing down the main points of the sermon and going over them at home? How would he use such information? Toward what goal would it lead him?
Fred is a clean-living, wholesome young person. So is Shirley. But they are not disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not members of the Body of Christ, of the Body of the Servant of the Lord, except in a nominal sense.
Fred and Shirley will not grow in Christ under these conditions. They have been going to church since early childhood. But they would never invite other young people to meet with them so they could impart the little knowledge of the Scriptures they have gained through years of exposure. They are too busy in the things of the world to set aside the time and energy to minister to others. After fifty years of church attendance they will know little more of the Scriptures than they do now.
Fred’s first interest is printing. His second interest is his fiancée. Church attendance is his religious duty that he performs faithfully. It could not be said truly that Fred is seeking first the Kingdom of God. He is not a disciple.
The current pastor-congregation set of role expectations (the role of the pastor is to preach and the role of the congregation is to attend on Sunday morning and listen) is a wasteful, inefficient system for going into the world and making disciples of all nations. This pattern never will fulfill the great commission given by the resurrected Christ.
The gathering of disciples, on the other hand, is quite different than the church service Fred and Shirley are accustomed to. The assembling of fervent members of the Body of Christ is similar to the gathering of apprentice printers at the Saturday trade school.
Raul Sanchez is a disciple of the Lord Jesus. So is his fiancée, Eliana Martinez. They are both in their early twenties and both have grown up in neighborhoods where violence and gang warfare are common. They had been using drugs since their high school days.
One day they found their way into the Center. The Center is operated by young men and women of their own age having backgrounds similar to that of Raul and Eliana.
The young Christians of the Center are fervent disciples, already having gained experience in conquering sin and the world. They live, breathe, and think about the Lord Jesus twenty-four hours of every day of the week. They are wholly absorbed in following Jesus. They are bearing their cross after Jesus.
Every person who practices perfect obedience to God is a blessing to those around him. But he who insists on his own liberty and happiness harms and deprives others.
July 17th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Raul and Eliana became Christians at the Center with the understanding that a Christian is someone who is following Christ with his whole heart. Christ is the Focus of his life, the Guide and Reason for every decision, every action. The disciples at the Center are learning every moment of their life how to serve the Lord more effectively. For each of them, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Raul and Eliana began to attend a church where the pastor is aware of the transition the Holy Spirit is making—the transition from the clergy-laity concept to the Body of Christ concept.
Their pastor understands he is training disciples who will learn and who will bring to other people that which he is teaching. He is not desirous of gaining large numbers of people to fill the building each Sunday. His concern is that each person whom he is instructing is receiving and mastering what is being presented so that individual soon may be able to present the Kingdom of God to others.
The pastor who is teaching people who will never carry on his teachings is wasting his time and God’s time. The Gospel never will cover the earth until every person who is being taught is committed to teach others also. There no longer is time to "play church."
The pastor of Raul and Eliana, because of his commitment to discipleship, is more interested in building up the saints than he is in building up the attendance. He understands thoroughly that in Kingdom work it is far better to have twenty dedicated disciples than two thousand casually interested church-attenders.
Two thousand lukewarm believers will do little else than seek counsel for their family problems and complain about their lack of convenience and comfort. But twenty dedicated disciples will shake the earth in the name of Jesus.
The assembling of saints that Raul attends is little different from the conventional church. The customary piano, organ, pews, pulpit are all present. The principal difference is that most of those who attend are active disciples. They are assembling in order to worship God and to charge their spiritual batteries so they can go forth as light bearers in this dark world.
There is prolonged, fervent worship in the Spirit. The time comes for presenting the Word of God. The pastor teaches on the subject of forgiving those who sin against us. He stresses the importance to the spiritual life of keeping one’s heart free from grudges, from bitterness, from revenge, from malice.
Raul and Eliana are intensely interested. They know how important grudges and revenge are to the gangs in their neighborhood. They take notes so they can study the Scripture references at home. They are so anxious to please Jesus that they are eager to know more of this spiritual principle. Forgiveness is, they learn, central to our fellowship with God.
Each member of God's elect has been called to serve God as a priest in the new world of righteousness. Whether or not we as an individual manage to lay hold on our own calling depends on the diligence with which we apply ourselves to doing God's will.
July 18th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
The number one vocation of Raul and Eliana is their discipleship. Their jobs by which they earn the money for their food and shelter are secondary in importance.
As soon as they relate the principle of forgiving others to their own spiritual condition they will be able and ready to share this understanding with others. It will not be long before they will be heard teaching the new young people who are coming to the Center that we have to forgive those who have harmed us if we expect God to forgive our sins.
There is a difference in kind between Fred Smith and Raul Sanchez. Fred’s chief interest is becoming a journeyman printer and finally owning his own shop. Fred does attend church each Sunday. Each service he hears a well-outlined sermon concerning the moral issues of our culture.
He will do his best to conform to the preaching provided he is not attacked spiritually to the point he is unable to overcome. If that happens he will go the route of numerous men—divorce, alcohol, anxiety, the worship of money. He no longer will find time to attend church.
Raul Sanchez is a dedicated disciple, working at mastering the principles of the Christian life as vigorously and selflessly as the most dedicated musician works at mastering the principles of his instrument.
Raul Sanchez will learn more of Christ in one year than Fred Smith will learn in his entire life. Raul Sanchez soon will find more open doors to share his faith than he will have the time and strength to manage. Fred Smith may never throughout his entire life bring a vital testimony to bear on another human being.
Fred will be taught that saving souls is important. But he will find no practical way to go about saving souls, except perhaps in a time of Sunday-school canvassing of the community.
Raul Sanchez will be taught how to worship and obey God, how to live and fight in the Spirit of God. His whole life will be a supremely powerful force effecting change in his family, his relatives, his friends, and a multitude of other people who are brought by the Holy Spirit to drink of Raul’s fountain of living waters.
When referring to people being blessed by Raul Sanchez we are not speaking of the Christian zealot who goes about attempting to get people to subscribe to the "four steps of salvation," alienating the Jews and others with whom he comes in contact, or to the Christian who has been given by the Spirit a special gift of soul winning.
Rather, our reference is to the true disciple of Jesus. The true disciple is a believer who is becoming a new creation, who is being made the living expression of Christ. Christ is the eternal moral law of God made flesh, the eternal Witness of God. Those who give their lives wholly to the Lord Jesus always have a profound effect on the individuals with whom they come in contact. They save themselves and those who hear them. They are true witnesses of God, and all true witnesses bear witness for eternity.
There will be no kings, judges, or priests in the Kingdom of God by imputation. Only those will be there who are both authorized and competent to be kings, judges, and priests.
July 19th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
There are billions of human beings today who are living their life without Christ. The pastor-congregation pattern of role expectations (the pastor preaches and the congregation sits and listens) never will reach the majority of this mass of souls and bring to them the knowledge of Christ.
But the Holy Spirit is calling out from these spiritually inefficient assemblings a warlike remnant of people, young and old, who are ready to be disciples of Christ in the New Testament sense of the word.
Before Christ returns from Heaven these new disciples will make an impact on every human being on the earth. Because of their acceptance of death with Christ on the cross, their absolute, single-minded obedience to the Father, they will accomplish more in the next few years than has been accomplished over the past two thousand years of church history.
There is a military aspect of the Christian discipleship. Discipleship and being a soldier have many points in common.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (II Timothy 2:2,3)
Notice the close relationship between discipleship and being a soldier of Christ. A soldier is a man under discipline. He is dedicated to the service of his king. He will give his life for his country. He will obey orders, even to death. He lives to serve his king and country. So it is with the disciple of Christ.
A good soldier endures hardness without complaining. He realizes that in order to win a war there must be much suffering, much danger, much discomfort to one’s self. He does not complain because complaining would weaken the hands of his fellow soldiers and aid the enemy.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (II Timothy 2:4)
A soldier has one goal in life—to keep himself prepared to destroy the enemy of his king. Every other matter is secondary in importance. A good soldier does nothing that will enable the enemy to catch him off guard and do damage to what he has been assigned to protect.
Fred Smith is entangled with the affairs of this life. His heart is set on making money so he can get married, buy a house, own a new car, furnish his home with nice things, and gradually acquire additional articles of comfort and convenience. The church is a place where he goes on Sunday because that is what a "Christian" is supposed to do.
Fred’s mind seldom is on "things above." He is not seeking first the Kingdom of God. He is seeking first the material riches. Matters pertaining to his religion are secondary in importance. He will give some attention to church activities when he finds the time.
God is calling out of the churches (not out of the buildings but out of the errors) a holy, warlike remnant of saints. They will proceed to establish their lives according to the Scriptures. They will be more than conquerors throughout the age of moral horrors and will encourage and assist many who otherwise would be swept away into the darkness.
July 20th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Fred does not view himself as a soldier of Christ. The concept that he should keep his involvement in this world to a minimum in order that he may effectively serve the Lord Jesus is foreign to him.
He believes he should work hard, and that if he attends church regularly it will help insure he will go to Heaven when he dies. Since he will not die until he is an old man (so he thinks) he will put off worrying about Heaven until he gets closer to it. By the time he is elderly his habits will have become so deeply ingrained that should he desire to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus he might find it quite difficult.
Raul’s attitude of mind is altogether different. His mind, his heart, are kept on "things above." The seeking of the Kingdom of God is first in importance to him. He deliberately keeps his involvement in the things of this life to a minimum so he always will be alert and ready to serve the Lord.
Raul, a skilled auto mechanic and a conscientious employee, already has turned down one excellent job opportunity because he would have had to work nights and Sundays frequently and this would have seriously interrupted his meeting with the saints and his ministry at the Center. By the time Raul is elderly he will have become a prophet—an eternal witness of God.
Raul has the spirit of the Christian martyrs. He would give his life for his testimony if that were required. To Raul, Heaven is not a far off place where he will go when he is seventy or eighty. Heaven is his homeland, the place that each day is becoming more real to him. He is ready to die in his twenties because his heart leaps with joy at the thought of seeing the Christ and the saints in glory.
When Raul’s pastor preaches on the cross, on suffering, on giving one’s life for the Lord, Raul is filled with glory and joy. His spiritual life is an adventure, a joy, a romance with Jesus. He is continually growing in power and vision.
When Fred’s pastor preaches on the cross, on suffering, on giving one’s life for Jesus (which is seldom because the congregation enjoys "positive" preaching and would soon leave if the pastor became "negative"), Fred is disquieted and dismayed. He sees no necessity for dwelling on pain and misery. He would far rather think about the passages of the Scripture that bring assurance to him that God loves him and will protect and bless him. His "promise box" at home contains no "negative" passages.
If the Lord Jesus were to call Fred to service in some foreign land, this would interfere with Fred’s ambitions, hopes, and dreams. He probably would not obey and would continue with his pursuits, hoping that the "feeling" would go away. Although he might be somewhat aware that he may be disobeying Jesus he would trust he will go to Heaven anyway because "we are saved by grace and not by works."
The Lord's people are being separated into two groups in our day. There are those who love their delicious religious experiences. There are those who put on the Lord's yoke and follow patiently after the Master. They leave bloody footprints in the snow as the true saints always have.
July 21st
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Fred is ignorant of the fact that the Kingdom of God will come to the earth in the near future. He never has been taught this. His concept of future events is that some day he is going to Heaven to live in a "mansion." If Fred is pressed hard enough he may compromise his Christianity. He does not have enough inner fire to stand up for Jesus if it means painful personal sacrifice or martyrdom.
Fred is not a soldier of Christ. He is not a disciple, a saint, a man of God, an active member of Christ’s Body. Because he is not a victorious, conquering saint he is not eligible for the first resurrection—the resurrection of God’s kings and judges. He is not ready to be revealed to the creation as a son of God. Fred is being taught he will be caught up in his lukewarm state in a rapture so he will not be called on to suffer tribulation.
The doctrines of the "rapture," of gaining material possessions by faith, of being saved by "grace" independently of the kind of behavior the believer practices (lawless grace), are perfectly suited to Fred. These doctrines, which are foreign to the concept of Christian discipleship, have deceived Fred into believing he can live as a worldling and yet enjoy the rewards of the Christian martyrs and prophets.
Raul is a soldier of Christ, a disciple, a saint, a man of God, an active member of Christ’s Body, His army. Raul is eligible for the first resurrection because he is an overcomer. In fact, his daily life is an attaining to the first resurrection as he begins to share in the incorruptible resurrection life of Jesus and the sufferings of Jesus. Raul is being prepared to be revealed with the Lord Jesus at His appearing. If the Lord called Raul and Eliana to the mission field they would be filled with rejoicing.
Fred is a man of this world, although he hopes that through his agreement with the doctrines of his church he holds a ticket to Heaven. He does not care particularly about dwelling in Christ and God or They in him. He just desires to avoid Hell when he dies.
Raul is starting out to become a prophet. Every true saint of God is a witness and a prophet. The Spirit of the most high God rests on Raul and dwells within him. He is walking in the steps of Moses, of Jeremiah, of Abraham, of Daniel, of Paul, of Peter, of James. He is one of the elect, the remnant of whom this world is not worthy.
Fred is at home in this world. Raul is a pilgrim and a stranger. He is spending his life looking for a city that has foundations, an abiding place of rest in the heart of God. He is seeking—and he shall find—the full knowledge of God through Christ, the "city which hath foundations."
Raul has the promise of Christ that he will be guarded during the hour of temptation that soon is to come upon us. He has kept the word of Christ’s patience and Christ will keep him throughout the age of moral horrors that is on the horizon.
Fred already has surrendered to the antichrist spirit, the spirit of worldliness and material gain, and therefore is in danger of everlasting torment.
Raul Sanchez and Eliana Martinez are disciples. They are Christians. Fred Smith and Shirley Samson are not disciples. They are not Christians.
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
The only persons who will survive the dark days that are ahead are those who are abiding in Christ. In order to abide in Christ and Christ in us we have to keep His commandments.
July 22nd
ANGIOPLASTY
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
Angioplasty is a medical procedure sometimes used to increase the flow of blood through an artery. A tiny balloon is inserted into the constricted artery and inflated.
God is totally righteous and holy. The eternal moral law is derived from God’s Personality. Because God never changes the eternal moral law never changes. Sin is the transgression of the eternal moral law and results in spiritual and physical death, that is, separation from God.
God gave the Ten Commandments as an abridged, covenantal form of His eternal moral law.
The personality of man is bent and twisted, given to worldliness, lust, violence, and self-seeking.
When man faces the Ten Commandments the warping of his personality is revealed but there is not the power to fix it.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth from Heaven. His personality is unblemished. Jesus kept the Law of Moses perfectly, thus incurring righteousness in the sight of God. Then Christ died and offered His blood such that the believer can receive by faith the righteousness that would have been his had he kept the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law of Moses in detail.
The believer now is absolutely righteous in the sight of God but his personality remains bent and twisted.
Now the angioplasty begins. The righteous One, Jesus Christ, is born in the individual. As the person reads his Bible, prays, fellowships with the saints, the "balloon is inflated." As Christ grows the elements of the personality are straightened out and lined up until every trace of sin and rebellion has disappeared.
Now the believer is able to keep the Law of Moses, because the law of God has been written in his mind and on his heart.
The disciple of Jesus Christ is not called to the abridged, covenantal form of the eternal moral law of God but to the fullness of the eternal law itself.
How can the human being obey God perfectly? Give attendance to doing what the Apostles commanded and Christ will be formed in the personality. Then the eternal moral law of God, which is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, will come naturally.
The great misunderstanding of our day is that Christ came to forgive men and bring them to Heaven. The truth is, Christ came to forgive men so He would have the opportunity to totally transform them.
Is faith in Jesus our ticket to Heaven? Or is faith in Jesus a means of giving us a daily contact with God that results in the creation of a new, righteous personality?
Let Christ be magnified (inflated) in you.
The new covenant is a new program and includes unprecedented grace; but the goal of righteous, holy, obedient behavior is the same from eternity to eternity.
July 23rd
THE SHEEP GATE
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel. (Nehemiah 3:1)
Under Nehemiah’s leadership many Jews returned from Babylon. They determined to rebuild the wall and gates of the city of Jerusalem.
The first gate to be built was the sheep gate. The second gate was the fish gate.
The rebuilding of the sheep gate represents the building up of the members of the Body of Christ. The rebuilding of the fish gate represents the work of evangelism.
This order is not accidental, it is symbolic. We have it backwards today. We are trying to build the fish gate before the sheep gate.
As long as I can remember as a Christian the emphasis in the churches has been on evangelism, sometimes even on Sunday morning. I cannot remember any pastor, in my limited experience, stressing the building up of the saints. There always has been a mighty emphasis on the numbers of people attending, but as to the actual building up the saints spiritually, "deeper life" or whatever you want to call it, this was reserved for a week-night meeting or ignored altogether.
The idea is, we don’t want saints "getting fat sitting in their pews." "Get out and bring in the lost and dying!"
The sheep gate needs building. The purpose of the gifts and ministries given to the Body of Christ is to build each believer to maturity as measured by the fullness of the stature of Christ.
The Bride is to be without spot or wrinkle. Right? Do you see any Christians around here without spots or wrinkles? Probably not.
Why? Because we are not emphasizing what Christ emphasizes.
Sometimes numbers of people is our criterion of "success." Spiritual growth probably is God’s criterion of success.
The sheep are not being fed. They are not growing. Sometimes they are unchanged after fifty years.
One reason the believers experience little spiritual growth is that the only way Christians can be built up to the measure of Christ is by the exercise of all the gifts and ministries of the Spirit. We must have apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers, gifts of healing, wisdom, knowledge, discernment and so forth operating throughout the churches if the saints are to grow.
The need today is for the saints to be fed! The main purpose of the gathering of the believers is to build up the saints. If Sunday after Sunday the emphasis is on "getting souls saved" the saints are not going to grow.
If the pastor is leading the songs, giving the announcements, taking the offering, preaching, and doing everything else, the saints are not going to grow. The Holy Spirit assigns gifts to every member of the church and until those gifts are operating the saints are not going to grow as they should.
We need to minimize or abolish the clergy-laity distinction.
The primary job of the pastor is to feed the sheep with the riches of the Word of God, or at least to see to it that the primary attention of the main service is dedicated to this goal. Pastor-teacher is really one ministry, I believe.
If the pastor doesn’t feel capable of feeding the sheep he needs to find someone who can. That does not mean he has to step down as pastor; he just needs to be a good administrator.
There are millions of believers in the United States but it appears many of them are spiritual babies. This is the army of the Lord?
First the sheep gate, then the fish gate. This is God’s order.
If you love me, feed My sheep!
The Divine Law is correctly expressed in behavior, not just in knowledge.
July 24th
THE PURPOSE OF GIFTS AND MINISTRIES
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (I Corinthians 12:11)
The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God gives grace to every member of the Body of Christ. The grace includes gifts and ministries. In Ephesians, five ministries are listed, the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher (or pastor-teacher, making four instead of five ministries).
The five (or four) ministries listed are not set forth as such anywhere else in the New Testament, and are placed by Paul in the same category as the gifts.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:28)
Therefore we view the gifts and ministries as examples of the grace given to the believers so they may perform the work of the ministry, without distinguishing between gifts and five super ministries.
The Old Testament reveals the ultimate purpose of the gifts and ministries.
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. (Psalms 68:18)
The purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit is to prepare a dwelling place for God.
But Christ who is the only dwelling place of God.
Therefore, the purpose of the gifts and ministries must be to build up Christ.
This is exactly what we find.
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12,13)
God has given to each believer one or more gifts and a ministry so that he or she may be equipped to accomplish the purpose of God, which is to provide a dwelling place for Himself. Since the dwelling place of God is Christ, then the goal of every gift and ministry given by the Holy Spirit is to bring each believer to a perfect man, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
In God’s great house there are many rooms. The chief Cornerstone of the house of God is Jesus Christ. You and I are living stones in that house so that the whole is one dwelling place of the Father.
However, the Father will dwell only in Christ. If we are to be the dwelling place of God, Christ must be formed in us. The purpose of the gifts and ministries given to the believers is to form Christ in each member of the Body of Christ.
We can easily see from this how important each member of the Body is. The ascended Christ has imparted grace to each one of us. Each member of the Body of Christ has an important role to play in building up the Body.
When Jesus spoke of the Father's house He was referring to Himself. God the Father dwells in His fullness in Christ. Christ is the only true and eternal House of God.
July 25th
THE PURPOSE OF GIFTS AND MINISTRIES, continued
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:15,16)
The Body must be built by that which every joint supplies. We cannot emphasize too strongly that every believer is given grace by the Spirit so that the members of the Body can come to the fullness of Christ. But how can a member of the Body of Christ find out what he or she is supposed to be contributing? The only way you can really find and enter your ministry is by presenting your body a living sacrifice. This is how you prove the will of God. The laying on of the hands of a godly presbytery accompanied with prophecy is very helpful, and scriptural. But all will come to nothing until you come before God in stern discipleship.
It is incumbent on the leaders of the assemblings of Christians to encourage widespread participation. An effort must be made to get the people moving, particularly the young people. It isn’t easy and takes lots of prayer. The old programs are not going to bring us into the Kingdom. We must bring the people to an awareness of what God wants.
Prayer is the main thing. We are having forty-five minutes of prayer in our Sunday morning service, just before the main service begins. People with needs come forward and the saints that are there pray for them. This "burden-bearers" time is conducted by elders and experienced Christians. I am in my office preparing the message. Never do for the congregation what they can do for themselves is a good rule to follow, I believe.
Much can be accomplished with banners and tambourines to get things moving, particularly with the young people and children. Expressive worship movements can occur as the children and young people come forward during the song service and portray with their bodies the words of the choruses. We have a group of men doing Hasidic dancing with some of the hymns. There are all kinds of things that can get the congregation involved. Mime is an effective way of communicating. Hopefully this is just the beginning. We still haven’t got to the place where the prophets are acting out their prophecies as well as speaking or singing the words.
It’s onward and upward. This is only the beginning. The people are not going to be able to stand during the age of moral horrors that is upon us if all we have is an introduction, three points, some anecdotes, and a conclusion. Final hymn. Stand by the door. Marvelous sermon, Pastor. God bless you. Football game this afternoon. Mickey Mouse tonight.
Vigorous expression in worship on the part of everyone is necessary to carry us through the week. Hopefully such participation will lead to more manifestation of the gifts and ministries of the Spirit.
Did you know the United States is by far the number one producer of pornography (U.S. News and World Report)? One hundred fifty hard-core pornographic videos are being produced each week. And America is a Christian nation? Business as usual in the churches is never going to prepare God’s people for what they and their children and grandchildren will be facing in the immediate future.
We are to be built up in Christ by that which every member supplies. The clergy-laity pattern must give way before the Body of Christ pattern. The goal is to provide a dwelling place for God. Your contribution is absolutely essential if God is to have the house He desires.
The exercise of faith results in more faith. The exercise of righteousness results in more righteousness. The exercise of eternal life results in more eternal life. Each blessing brings another as we follow the Lord. He who is faithful in the least will be entrusted with the greater.
July 26th
ONLY CHRIST IS THE SOLUTION
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (Revelation 12:3)
The second wonder in heaven is Satan. He has perfect wisdom, power in the world, and authority that God has given him to accomplish God’s purposes.
Much of what will take place in the days to come will be far, far beyond the mind of man to understand or to manage. It is time now to surrender all to Christ Jesus. Only He has been entrusted by the Father with superior wisdom, power, and authority. Only He can tear down and destroy Satan.
It is vain for us to struggle to save the world or to bring in everlasting righteousness. The battle will reach into the heavens and attack the host.
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. (Daniel 8:10)
We are on the brink of the reconciliation of the creation to the Lord God. God has determined that all of the universe will find its center and circumference in Christ Jesus. The wrath of God, smoldering since the original rebellion in the heavens, is about to be poured on the fallen stars of the heaven and on those people who worship them and accept their leadership.
The wisdom and power exercised in the war of the ages is so great as to make the efforts of human beings to be so much dust blown about in a typhoon. We simply are unable to think clearly or to act effectively.
The only hope is in the travail of Zion. The only hope is that the saints will avail themselves of the glory available in the latter-rain outpouring and become still long enough to permit Christ to be formed in them. Only Christ has the ability to conquer the wicked lords of the heavenlies.
Waiting on God is an attitude of the heart. It does not mean we cease performing the tasks that are before us. It has more to do with looking to the Lord in place of planning and scheming.
Will you be one of those who turns from the efforts of the flesh and waits on God until Christ is formed in you?
All the works of Christians in the earth are an annoyance to Satan. Satan does not fear the believers. Satan fears the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—no one and nothing else.
Satan is terrified at the thought that Christ will come forth in the churches in the earth. Therefore Satan will do all in his power to convince the churches they can build the Kingdom of God in their own strength. Antichrist will subsidize the churches and assist them as they attempt to relieve the suffering of the world.
As long as Satan can keep the saints busy in their religious works he has little to fear. But when the churches go to their knees and call on Christ to come and build His own Kingdom in the earth, Satan’s end is at hand. The mighty Christ will come and with superior wisdom, power, and authority will crush Satan’s kingdom and remove it from the earth.
How about you? Will you look to Christ or to your own strength to establish the Kingdom of God in the earth?
Christ cannot return until the Christian church has brought forth Christ in the members of His Body.
July 27th
DIFFERENCES IN THE KINGDOM
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)
It is taught that if we "accept Jesus" we will be made like Him when we die, and go to live for eternity in a land where there is no more opportunity for sin against God. The sin question is settled by physical death. Deliverance from the bondage of sin comes through physical death. The "last enemy," physical death, has become our redeemer.
Yet there is no evidence in the Scriptures that any spiritual improvement will take place in us as a consequence of, or at the time of, our physical death. The position of the Scripture is that every individual will be rewarded in the Day of Judgment according to his behavior on the earth. The Scriptures are almost silent concerning the period of time between our physical death and the appearing of Christ in the clouds.
The assumption is, what we are in personality, we are. There is no basis in Scripture for believing physical death will change what we are. When we awake in the Day of Judgment we will be unchanged in personality. In fact, what we have become during our lifetime on the earth will be revealed in that day.
The testimony of Christians who have been given insight into the spirit realm, into life after death, is that we experience no change when we die other than the relief of being shed of our earth-bound body.
Sundar Singh, a noted Christian visionary, testified that we go to the area of the spirit realm for which we are suited. Other Christian writers who have had visions of life after death confirm that we are placed according to our spiritual development, that the spiritual world is not divided only into the deepest Hell and the highest Heaven but into gradations of Heaven and gradations of Hell.
Given that the Scriptures do not speak to the contrary, given such grouping of people by spiritual development and calling takes place to a certain extent while we still are alive on the earth, and given such placement is reasonable and compassionate, it is our point of view that all persons—Christian by belief or not—will, when they die, pass into a realm suited to their spiritual development, there to await the Day of Judgment.
This is not to say that some are not lost to God by the time of physical death, or that the wicked will not go immediately into the flames of Hell, there to await the white-throne judgment. It appears evident from the Scriptures that such is the case. Our point is that there are others—a great "sea" of people—who will not be placed in the Presence of God and the Lamb at physical death, or cast into the burning flames, but will find themselves with people of similar development.
It is the writer’s point of view that the occasion of physical death does not result in the grouping of people into two uniform companies; rather, it results in the careful defining of each individual’s progress, or lack of it, in godly character. Let’s hope that such is the case.
God opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Would you rather be with people who are somewhat like what you are used to or people who are totally different?
If you are not happy with your present group maybe you better change or else find a different bunch. You might be stuck with them for a while.
The goal of salvation is to change us into Christ's image and to bring us into untroubled union in the Father through Jesus Christ. The holding of the scriptural goal is necessary if we are to make a transition from the current mythological concept of salvation to the true scriptural concept.
July 28th
THE IMAGE OF GOD
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Man is to be in the image of God. The image of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the first Man to be in the image of God.
The image of Christ’s personality is in part that which the Apostle Paul terms the fruit of the Spirit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23)
The image of Satan fills the earth today. Satan’s image is the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit: hatred, misery, unrest, impatience, harshness, badness, treachery, arrogance, lack of self-control.
We humans reveal in our adamic nature the image of Satan. We can try in our old nature to imitate the image of God, the image of Jesus. It is well that we use the Lord as our example of behavior.
We soon discover we have set ourselves an impossible task. We have been commanded to be in the image of God but we fail miserably when we are tested.
God’s plan of redemption is successful in converting us from the image of Satan to the image of Christ Jesus. God does not reform our adamic nature, He crucifies our adamic nature and gives us a new nature.
The change from the Adamic nature to the nature of Christ does not take place in a moment. But the blood of the Lamb, the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God work together with our circumstances (which the Lord orders) to change us from the personality of Adam to the personality of Christ Himself.
The elect have been predestined to be in the image of Christ, to be the brothers of Christ.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Adam and Eve were in the image of God in an elementary way. The Lord Jesus is perfectly in the image of God although His Divine Glory was concealed in a flesh and blood body.
The glorified Christ who appeared to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos is what God has in mind by pronouncing man in the image of God.
When the Lord appears with His saints they will be glorious to behold. They will shine as the stars of heaven. If they did not conceal their glory the peoples of the earth could not gaze on them. This is just the beginning.
After billions of eons have transpired we shall have developed further in the image of our Father. Then we shall be mountains of Divine fire—galaxies of power and glory. The eternities following will witness our coming to maturity in the image of God.
What is man that You are mindful of him?
Image makes union possible. Union makes fruitfulness possible. Fruitfulness makes dominion possible. When we possess image, union, fruitfulness, and dominion we are ready to inhabit and maintain Paradise and to bring Paradise wherever we go.
July 29th
THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING
And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. (Exodus 27:1)
If you know nothing about the Tabernacle of the Congregation, you might want to go to a Christian bookstore and read up on it. It probably is the greatest of the types (symbols) found in the Bible.
The Tabernacle of the Congregation consisted of a fenced-off area, the Courtyard, in which was a barn-like tent. The tent was divided into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.
The Tabernacle compound included three major areas: the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The Courtyard portrays the message of salvation to the nations. The Holy Place represents the Church, the Priesthood of God. The Holy of Holies speaks of the firstfruits to God and the Lamb. The firstfruits are an integral part of the Church but compose a dedicated remnant, a Gideon’s army who will work with the Lord in establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.
The Courtyard was lighted by the sun. There were two elements in the Courtyard, the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Laver. They speak of that which the Lord presents to the world: the blood of atonement (the Altar), and repentance and water baptism (the Laver).
There were seven furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The first furnishing encountered, as one entered the Courtyard, was the great Altar of Burnt Offering.
Whoever would approach God must come by way of the blood, by way of the Altar of Burnt Offering.
The Altar of Burnt Offering stands for Calvary. Whoever would be saved must meet God at the cross, must repent, turning away from the wickedness of the world, and must be baptized in water (the Laver).
Whenever blood was shed as an offering, whether for a whole burnt offering, the sin or trespass offerings, the morning and evening lambs, the blood offerings of the Day of Atonement and the other festivals, and so forth, the sacrifice was made at the Altar of Burnt Offering.
Sometimes people argue that they can repent and this alone will atone for their sins, or maybe do some charitable work, or perhaps be a good husband and father. While all these are commendable the Nature of God is such that only the shedding of blood will balance the scales of equity.
The present-day Jews make much of the Law and attempt to observe it. This is pathetic because they have no Tabernacle, no Temple in which they can offer blood. By their own Law they realize no atonement is being made in spite of their philosophical arguments.
We say to our Jewish friends, "the Atonement has been made for you as well as for us Gentiles. The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, is more efficacious than that of bulls and goats.
"You now have a perfect blood offering you can present for your sins. The atonement has been made in the Holy of Holies in Heaven. God has not left you with no way to satisfy His demands."
Hallelujah!
Before a person can be healed morally, obtain full fellowship with God, and enter his Divinely appointed inheritance in the Lord, his sins must be forgiven and the presence of sin removed from him.
July 30th
THE LAVER
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. (Exodus 30:18)
The Laver and the Altar of Burnt Offering were located in the Courtyard. This means their spiritual counterparts are to be presented to the nations of the earth. "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved" is the message to be given to all the world.
The Laver represents water baptism and also the washing of water by the Word of God. In water baptism the believer counts he has been crucified with Christ. His old life is over. He no longer is part of the world spirit. He is ready to enter the Kingdom of God. His body is dead because of sin but his new life has risen from the dead and has ascended in Christ to the right hand of the Father.
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. This is the Christian testimony to the nations of the earth. Water baptism of necessity includes repentance because baptism signifies a turning away from life lived in the malice and wickedness of the world.
How much easier would be our job of teaching sanctification if people were taught when they were baptized in water that their first life is over. They now are dead to the world, to sin, and to their own self-will. This is what they are saying as they go down and come up again. They now are risen with Christ, ready to walk in the new life of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
The bronze Laver portrays not only our water baptism but also our daily cleansing by the Word of God. The Laver was constructed from the bronze mirrors of the women of the congregation. As we read the Bible the Holy Spirit emphasizes to us those commandments He is dealing with in our personality. Suddenly we become aware of sin in our life. We then are to go immediately to the Lord, confess our sin, and receive the forgiveness and the cleansing. In this manner we keep our robe clean.
This is not a confession in which we merely enumerate our sin but a confession in which we resolve by God’s help to turn away from our sin. God will assist us if we mean business. But if we come halfheartedly, knowing we are going to do the same thing again, we are wasting our time and God’s time.
There is power in Jesus Christ—galactic power, irresistible power, unbelievable power. There is all the power you ever will need to resist your fallen nature.
Call upon God for power. Confess your immorality, your profanity, your treachery, your lying, your criticizing of others, your abuse of your body, your anger, your bitterness, your unforgiveness, your gossiping, your slandering, your witchcraft, your covetousness. Confess these things to God. Confess them to another believer if you wish and have him or her pray with you.
Confess your sins!
Determine to put an end to your sins. Yell at them! Condemn them to the Lake of Fire! You will be heard in the spirit realm. Tell that spirit of swearing that it belongs in the Lake of Fire. Get excited! Get angry! Drive the thing from you! If you tell a dog to quit following you and say, "Now Fido, go home," do you think it is going to mind you? You have got to act like this is the dog’s last minute on earth before he will pay any attention to you.
The same is true of the demons of sin. It does no good to talk in tongues at them. Don’t waste your time rebuking the devil. Resist the devil! Resist the devil! Do it with all your might and God will hear you—so will the demons.
The churches are full of sin. It is time to go to the Laver and get washed.
The Altar of Burnt Offering represents justification—forgiveness through the blood of the cross. The Laver represents sanctification—the cleansing through the Spirit and the Word of God.
Imputation without transformation is like a cart without a horse. You aren't going anywhere with it.
July 31st
THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD
SCRIPTURE =Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. (Exodus 25:23)
When one moved past the Laver and entered through the door of the Tabernacle into the Holy Place, the Table of Showbread was on the right. Twelve unleavened loaves of showbread were to be kept on the Table at all times.
The term showbread often is translated "bread of the Presence."
The Altar out in the Courtyard represents the blood atonement made by Jesus Christ. The Laver, standing just outside the door of the Tabernacle, speaks of repentance and water baptism.
The Table of Showbread inside the Holy Place portrays the born-again experience. It is by being born again that we enter the Kingdom of God.
The Table of Showbread tells us that the Substance of Christ is born in us and is being formed in us. The Word of God is being written in our personality, taking the place of our natural adamic life.
The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us. The concept of Christ being in us isn’t always emphasized. The Christian traditions of Christmas, Easter, and the return of the Lord usually are thought of in terms of Christ with us. When the saints have visions of Heaven and Christ He always is with them, never in them. I have seen no exception to this.
But God’s plan is to magnify Christ by having Christ formed in the believers. We are to be the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The full development of Christ in us is God’s goal.
If Christ were merely to be with us, if this were what salvation is, then the Christian life would be a simple matter: we believe, are baptized, and then go to live with Jesus in Heaven.
But this is not what salvation is. Salvation is the tearing down of our adamic nature and the creation of Christ in its place. To be "saved" in this sense requires a life of total commitment to Christ during which every moment of every day is occupied with following the Spirit of God as He brings about our death and resurrection in Christ.
None of the many roles and tasks God has in mind for the royal priesthood is available in full measure to the individual who merely has Christ with him. It is only as Christ is formed in us that we are authorized and competent to be a living stone in the Temple of God, a member of the Bride of the Lamb, a part of the Body of Christ, a judge of men and angels, a son of God, a brother of Christ and so forth.
We must be born again of the Divine Nature. Then we must submit to the ceaseless dealings of God as He crucifies our adamic nature and forms the Divine Nature of Christ in us.
The end of the matter is to come to maturity as measured by the full stature of Christ that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Apostles of the Lamb pointed toward the fullness of our salvation as coming in the future, maintaining that what we have now is a guarantee, a deposit on what is to be presented in full at a later time. We have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb and sealed by the Spirit of God. These constitute a pledge, a guarantee concerning future acts of redemption.
THE LAMPSTAND
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. (Exodus 25:31)
The Altar, the Laver, the Table of Showbread, and then the Lampstand, symbolizing the blood atonement, repentance and water baptism, Christ born and formed in us, and then the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. A remarkable symbolic portrayal.
There are only two ways in which a human being can conduct his or her life. One way is to live in the flesh, in the five senses of the body. The other is to live in the Spirit of God, deriving guidance and inspiration from Him. It is God’s will that every saved person think, speak, and act at all times under every circumstance in the