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SERMONS ON PASTOR’S PAGE—WWW.WOR.ORG
Copyright © 2008 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
It seems that the understanding of God’s Kingdom, and also of the manner in which we are being fashioned by the Lord, is becoming increasingly clear. Perhaps these brief thoughts drawn from my sermons will be of help to the saints of the future.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
The Three Lessons of the Kingdom
The Gifts and Ministries of the Body of Christ
Believing About Christ or Eating Christ?
Getting Rid of Sin; Slavery and the Military
SERMONS ON PASTOR’S PAGE—WWW.WOR.ORG/PASTOR/PASTOR.HTM.
Introduction—Welcome to our site. You may notice some ideas that are new to you. Hopefully they will be helpful, or at least cause you to stop and think about what is being said.
We have come to the conclusion, after 60 years as a Christian, that some of our traditions need to be looked at again in the light of the Scripture. Our position is, if our tradition does not square with the Bible, then we need to change the tradition and not the Bible.
We certainly question the idea that our behavior does not affect our salvation, or that our salvation does not affect our behavior. Our salvation normally will be revealed in our behavior.
We question also the doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture."
The "prosperity" and "faith" messages do not fit the Scripture, as far as we are concerned.
We look for the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, rather than eternal residence in Heaven. Have you ever tried to find in the Bible where we are supposed to spend eternity in Heaven?
We want to be with Jesus where He is—in the center of the Person and will of God, not stuck in an unscriptural mansion somewhere.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is beginning to be preached in all the world for a witness. After that, the end of the Church Age will be here.
One Size Does Not Fit All. Sometimes a store will sell a product, declaring that “one size fits all.” It might be an adjustable watchband, or a pair of men’s socks. The Kingdom of God is not like that. It is true that when an individual comes to the Lord for forgiveness, he or she is just as forgiven, just as holy before God, as the most experienced saint. Also, he or she is raised with Christ to sit at the right hand of God. However, after this the demands made on the individual by the Spirit of God are as varied as there are believers.
(1/6/2008)The parable of the talents, in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Matthew, reveals to us that the Lord does not give the same responsibility to every believer. In another place it speaks of those to whom much has been given.
What is a Kingdom talent? It is whatever is given to us as an individual. It can be our level of intelligence, some special ability in the arts or sciences, our health, our children—in short, all our resources; all of that which we can use to further the work of the Kingdom of God.
The parable of the talents impresses on us that if we set aside our own ambitions that Christ may be served, our reward will be increased responsibility in His Kingdom. However, if we place our own life in the world ahead of our service to the Lord, we will be regarded by the Lord Jesus as a wicked, lazy servant. Our talent or talents will be take from us and given to another. Finally, we will be removed from the light and glory of the Kingdom of God and placed in spiritual darkness. From my experience I would say that such dire consequences can happen to us in this world, before we die.
So how we employ what has been given to us is an extremely serious business. I think the modern teaching is that somehow “grace” covers our laziness, such that no matter whether or not we use our resources to please Christ, we will be blessed and be received into Paradise in any case. Thus today’s preaching makes the Word of God of no effect. It is no wonder that America is in the state it is, as it is being weakened in every area of life!
So it absolutely is not true that if we bury our talent, so to speak, we will be regarded favorably by the Lord God because of His grace and mercy! It will happen to us just as the Lord said. It is obvious that much of today’s Christian teaching is coming from Satan himself. Such teaching is leading the Christian people to destruction!
Actually it is the greatest pleasure to serve Christ. Whether we are to be of high rank in the Kingdom, or have been appointed to a lesser place, the demands on us are always accompanied by love, joy, and peace. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. God’s commandments simply are not grievous!
Christ does require of every believer that he present his body as a living sacrifice. This means we approach every day with the attitude that what Jesus is desiring of us that day is of supreme importance. We look to Him continually for wisdom, strength, and joy in His service.
We never, never, never are to consider making a living to be more important than what Jesus wants of us. God’s Word promises us that if we place the Kingdom of God first in importance, and seek it at all times, our needs shall be taken care of. If this promise can be broken, then none of the Bible promises are trustworthy.
Each member of the Church, the Body of Christ, has a place of importance. Each believer has something to give to build the Kingdom of God. We do not have to fret ourselves trying to find out what it is. We just have to keep looking to Jesus at all times, listening to Him, and obeying Him strictly. If we do this, He will keep us from the judgments that are to come upon our nation because of abortion, sexual perversions, and other sins.
If you wish to know what your role is in the Kingdom of God, what you are to do, do not compare yourself with another believer. Do not be presumptuous and “step out of the boat” unless the Lord invites you. Neither be lazy, sluggish, bowed down with the cares of the world. Be content in the prison where the Lord has placed you, meanwhile letting your requests be made known to God. Walk hand in hand with Christ throughout your lifetime.
Jesus’ mother at the wedding said to the household servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” This is it in a nutshell. Do what Christ directs you to do. Follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Ask God in Jesus’ name if He will help you give up your own hopes and ambitions that you might live by the Life of Jesus Christ; that you might be His helper; that you might be an extension of Him. God will answer this prayer each day if you keep at it and don’t give up.
“One size does not fit all.” We are not to compare ourselves with another believer. We are entering an age of chaos in America that no new president is going to repair. This is because, as happened to the Israelites of old when they forsook the Lord, we are losing the Lord’s covering that has been on America in the past. No president, no matter how capable or sincere, can prevent the Divine judgments that are to come on America. We can see them already in so many areas, can’t we.
What can the individual believer do? Jesus said to me, “I have new and surprising things for every Christian who will forget about the ways of the past, wait on Me, listen carefully to Me, and be strictly obedient.” This word came to me a few months back during a pastors’ conference. I know it was the Lord, and still is the Lord.
Remember Jeremiah and Nebuzaradan. It does not matter how dreadful the circumstances, God will take good care of every person who is faithful to Him. Nebuzaradan invited Jeremiah to go and live safely in Babylon. Thus the world will “swallow up” the river of moral filth with which Satan hopes to the destroy the Lord’s people, and they will be saved if they are keeping the Lord’s commandments. But the Israelites, in their wickedness, carried off Jeremiah to Egypt.
Be of good cheer. Hope in the Lord. Serve Christ patiently and He will save you and your loved ones from the flood of Satan that is starting to cover our land.
Your friend in Christ,
Pastor Bob Thompson
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The End Game. I felt the Lord would have me speak a little bit about the end game, that is, where all of our Christian efforts are taking us.
Before I tackle this subject, I would like to emphasize something the Lord wants me to say. Change is coming to our lives in America. We Christian people need to make certain we are doing the will of Christ, and as much as possible leading our children and young people to do the will of Christ.
Many of us parents are endeavoring to make sure our children and young people get the best education possible so they can have a comfortable income; and that they are able to participate in all the activities of our culture. We ourselves may be spending considerable time making sure that in our “golden years” we will have enough money to live comfortably and independently.
I am not suggesting for one moment that we act foolishly regarding money or education. What the Lord is stressing to me is that we realize change is coming and life may be quite different in the near future.
For example, if the terrorists set of a plutonium dirty bomb in Manhattan it could leave several square miles uninhabitable for many years. If the terrorists set off an electromagnetic pulse bomb it could destroy all wireless communications over a large area. Can you picture what chaos that would cause in our daily lives? Our banking? Our employment? A great part of our daily life? It is almost unimaginable; yet not at all unrealistic.
A great part of our preparations for the future for our children and ourselves will not help in such situations, which very well may occur in our lifetime—certainly in the lifetimes of our children and young people.
The Lord is warning us strongly to prepare ourselves by walking with Him and listening to Him at all times. No matter how desolate the future may be in America, there is one aspect of life that will not change. That is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not subject to these changes. He is able to keep each of us who lives in His Presence at all times. Read about how the Lord protected Jeremiah when Jerusalem was being destroyed. Christ can do the same for you and me. Count on it!
The weight of this warning on my spirit makes me feel like Ze’ev Jabotinsky, as he traveled through Europe, warning the Jews to leave, pleading for the evacuation of the Eastern European Jews: “In the name of G-d. Let anyone of you save himself as long as there is still time. And time there is very little.” Some Jews left and went to other countries. Many did not. Then came the Holocaust.
(1/13/2008) I felt that today I should take a look at where we are, and the end game of all of this.
If we are to think clearly about the Kingdom of God we must realize we are dealing with three groups of people who will be saved into life on the new earth—that which will come down through the new sky, as described in the last two chapter of the Book of Revelation.
The three groups are as follows: the firstfruits of the Church: the entire Church, of which the firstfruits is a part; the nations of saved people on the new earth.
The program is as follows. The two thousand years of the Church Age have as their purpose the calling out of God’s elect from the nations of the earth; also the opportunity for those who choose to do so to overcome the obstacles they encounter and become part of God’s firstfruits of the earth.The thousand-year Kingdom Age has as its purpose the preparing of those of the elect who are not part of the firstfruits, for their eternal role as members of the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christian Church. The firstfruits will help the less mature members. The stronger will help the weaker.
Once the present sky and earth are dismissed from the face of Jesus Christ, and the glorified Christian Church comes down through the new sky to be settled on a high mountain of the new earth, God will place on the new earth those people whom He has found worthy of salvation.
If I were to give you the entire scriptural background for what may be to you a new and astonishing thought I would be writing all night. You can hear the references if you will listen to the morning and evening tapes of 1/13/2008.
As far as the firstfruits of the Church are concerned, you can find references to this group in the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon; in the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation; and in the seventh and eighth verses of the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. She is “the unique one of her mother.”As far as the whole Church is concerned, including the firstfruits, you can read about those people in the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation.
As far as the nations of saved people of the earth, who are not part of God’s elect, you will find them mentioned in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation.As you read Chapters 60 and 61 of the Book of Isaiah, you will see the clear distinction between, and the interaction between, the saved peoples of the earth and God’s elect. God’s elect are always Israel. God glorified Church is always Jerusalem.
We Gentiles have come to believe that the Church, the elect, primarily is a Gentile creation. This is not at all the truth. The Church, the elect of God, God’s Israel, began with Abraham. It continued through the physical land and people of Israel. After the resurrection of Jesus, the Church consists of elect Jews and Gentiles. There is only the one new Man. Until this is grasped firmly, the words of the Hebrews Prophets will not be comprehensible.
Peter, the Jew, told us that the Prophets were speaking of us—Jews and Gentiles who are part of the Messiah, Jesus.
So the end game is the new Jerusalem. The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” They say this to the peoples of the earth. Whoever chooses to do so may come to the members of the Church and receive healing and eternal life without cost. This is true even today, of those mature saints who are able to bring Christ to others. But the pattern of the members of the Church bringing life, healing, joy, deliverance, and every other good thing to the peoples of the earth is eternal. This is the end game.
So, Christian, do not quit. Press on! Press on! God loves the peoples of the earth He has created. But He cannot draw near to them except through you. And He cannot use you as a vessel of blessing until He gets the love of the world, the lusts of your flesh and spirit, and your self-will, out of you. Once He does this, and fills you with the Father and the Son, you will be the fulfillment of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah. This is the end game. Go for it.But remember what I said in the beginning. Very difficult times are coming to America. The way to prepare for trouble is not to amass money, or increase your education, or fortify and defend yourself and your loved ones in any other manner.
The only wisdom and power that will enable you to stand with your loved ones no matter what comes upon our nation because of sin, is the wisdom and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn to live in His wisdom and power today, and teach your family, as much as possible, to live this way also.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Holy City. I really have had a breakthrough in my thinking over the past few days. The breakthrough has to do with the holy city, the new Jerusalem.
The new Jerusalem, is the Wife of the Lamb, the glorified Christian Church. It is what I like to term the “end game.” You know, it is said that “without a vision, the people perish.” I believe that today we have an incorrect vision of Heaven, of what we are going to face when we die, of the goal of our salvation. An incorrect vision definitely affects how we live our Christian life. The goal of our salvation is that of becoming an integral part of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christian Church.
(1/20/2008) Before I tell you what I think God has shown me concerning the holy city, let me offer a design that is not always presented in Christian teaching. There are two, not just one, groups of saved people. By “saved” I mean eligible to be brought over to life on the new earth, after the present earth has fled from the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The two groups are the Church; and then a much larger group consisting of the saved people of the nations of the earth. This simple design has gotten lost somewhere along the line.
The members of the Church (hopefully of the new Jerusalem, if we obey the Spirit of God and do not turn back into the world) were chosen by the Lord when He created the earth. The term “Church” means “called-out.” The term does not refer to a building or to a denomination. There is only one Church, regardless of denominational affiliation. I think all true believers know in their heart this is true, although you wouldn’t think so the way we talk!
In the Old Testament, the Church was Israel. In the New Testament the Church still is Israel (the new covenant can be made only with Israel) but it includes many people who were born Gentiles, as well as those born of Jewish people.
There is only one Olive Tree, only one new Man. That Man is the Church, the Wife of the Lamb.Throughout the two-thousand-year Church Age, the Holy Spirit has been adding people to the Church. Our Evangelistic efforts are directed toward getting everyone “saved.” While the Apostles indeed have been commanded to preach the Gospel to every person, the main business of the Holy Spirit has been to add people to the Church.
God’s plan for the members of His Church, which is a called-out group of people, a small minority of Earth’s population, is twofold: first, it is to change them into the image of Christ, first internally and then, when the Lord returns, externally. Second, and equally importantly, it is to bring them into the Oneness that the Godhead Is. It an increase in the incarnation of God, with Jesus Christ remaining the supreme Head and Lord.
It may sound blasphemous to claim that God’s elect are to be made an integral part of God. But I can’t see any other conclusion from John 17:21-23.
When Jesus returns, those believers who, through Christ, have chosen to overcome the Satan, will be raised from the dead, caught up to meet Him in the air, and then will return to work with Christ in establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth. A great deal of Divine force, the rod of iron, will have to be exercised if the people on the earth are to be persuaded to do God’s will rather than their own.
Then there will be a period of one thousand years (whether literal or symbolic) during which those saints who were caught up to Christ will govern the nations of the earth.
The reason, as I understand it, for the thousand-year period, is that the members of the elect who did not attain to the first resurrection, will be brought to increased maturity while they are in the spirit world, and perhaps on the earth as well, while they still are here. Every member of the elect (except those who choose to withdraw from God’s plan for their life), must be made ready to descend through the new sky to be installed on the new earth.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)
We see a great, jasper wall separating the Church, the eternal Israel, from the nations of saved people on the new earth.For years I have been disappointed that I was not able to see within the wall. I wondered what activities are carried on; what kind of buildings there are; how people and/or families conduct their business.
I have always suspected that the wall, the street of gold, the river of eternal life, the trees of life, while they may have some kind of form, primarily are symbolic. The precious stones in the foundations of the wall represent the character of saints formed by extraordinary heat and pressure; the twelve gates being representative of the pearls formed in us as we patiently endure our tribulations.
And then, the other day, I think it began to become clear to me. There are no human activities or families or anything else we would expect to find. The new Jerusalem is not Paradise. Paradise is outside the wall, for the people of the nations, who are our inheritance, whom God loves dearly, to enjoy with their families.
The new Jerusalem is the Throne of God. What takes place inside the jasper wall is, first of all, the worship of God. The Throne of God and of the Lamb are in the center of the city. The holiness of God’s Glory and Presence proceed out from the Throne in concentric circles.
Each one of us is living at one of those circles. As we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, putting to death through the Spirit the actions of our sinful nature; learning to live by the wisdom and strength of the body and blood of Christ; being transformed little by little as we behold His Glory, move toward a circle closer to the Throne.
I repeat: we already have come to Mount Zion and to the spirits of righteous people being made perfect as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the work of becoming holy as God is holy.
How utterly and unspeakably marvelous to dwell in a city which itself is the Throne of almighty God! We are becoming more holy today, if we are walking hand in hand with the Lord Jesus.
We have been made one with one another in Christ in God so we can go forth through one of the twelve gates and bring the Presence and rule of God to the people on the earth. Again, this is true even today as the Lord leads.
The River of Life is to come out of us. We are becoming trees of life so people may be healed. The Spirit and we give the water of life without charging a cent, to all who will come and partake.
The street of gold is the way of faith. The righteous always live by faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Truth there is. He alone knows the way and the will of God. We hurl aside our own understanding that we may walk by total faith in Him who is the only Truth; the only Way; the only Life.
I am content now. I think I know what is within the wall. I know also that in the hearts of some is the desire to never leave that city. It is their destiny to be there eternally, to worship God and to add to the beauty of the city. They are God’s “doors,” whom we, as Christ guides, enclose in planks of cedar.
But in others of us there is a fervency to bring the Light and the Glory to specific people of the nations whom God has given us for an inheritance.
The demons are arriving in increasing numbers in our country, because we no longer regard sin as being against the law of the state. The temptation to turn aside into lust and other aberrations will become terrific. Only the strongest will stand. But it is they of whom it is written, “Many who are last shall be first.”
You have been invited to be one of God’s victorious saints, and to serve God in His Temple, the new Jerusalem. Whatever you do, do not trade your calling for the trinkets of the world.
The flesh profits nothing!
Remember Esau!
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Heaven, or the Earth? Today I spoke about the army of the Lord, and the Kingdom of God coming to the earth. It appears to me that for two thousand years the Christian churches have declared that if we believe that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, we will go to Heaven to live in a mansion for eternity. What we will be doing there is not clear, except that it will be enjoyable, if not actually fun!
Where do you suppose this concept of salvation came from? It certainly was not derived from the Old Testament or the New Testament. It clearly is a tradition, not a scriptural idea.
As far as I know, most religions have a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun. There certainly is a place called “Heaven,” where God and the angels are. There certainly is a place called “Hell,” where the wicked are. No doubt about these two facts. But they are not the main subject of the Bible. The main subject of the Bible is the coming of the righteous Kingdom of God to the earth.
So today we are being oriented correctly to the Bible and to the Kingdom of God. What a massive change in perception? I know from my experience in the public schools that human institutions move with all the speed of a herd of turtles. We are afflicted with “iron lids,” which I believe is an expression of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(1/27/2008) You know, I don’t think I have the ability to change anyone’s thinking to this great an extent. I guess the Holy Spirit will have to enlighten our minds. We really have had an incorrect view of salvation all these years.
Let me make an initial statement, to see if this helps: God’s purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ is to bring His Presence, His throne, Divine justice, into the earth. Man has gone his way without God for at least 6,000 years. Look at the world. It is getting worse every day. The politicians are making many promises, but there is little they can do. The problems are spiritual in nature and can only be solved by spiritual means, no matter how well intentioned people may be.
We have thought that God’s solution to the problem is to carry His believers to a wondrous world in the spirit realm and send the rest of mankind into the Lake of Fire. All we have to do to escape Hell and the Lake of Fire is to profess faith in Jesus Christ. A change in our behavior is not the main issue, it is to profess faith in Jesus Christ, even though we do not intend to give Him complete control over our decisions.
What an unscriptural wasteland Christian theology is! What a departure from God’s intention!
God is coming to the earth. The Throne is moving from Heaven to the hearts of the saints. Paradise shall restored on the earth. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, which is the glorified Christian Church, shall be located for eternity on the new earth. A new world of righteousness is on the horizon.
What has been the prayer of the Christian people for two thousand years? “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven.”
This is our chief prayer, is it not? What is our chief hope? That we will go to Heaven when we die, to live forever in the spirit world.
Our prayer is for God’s Kingdom to come and His will to be done on the earth. Our hope is that we will escape Hell and go to Heaven when we die.
What is wrong with our thinking? Why cannot we see that this is ridiculous? Why are we wasting time praying that God’s Kingdom will come and His will shall be done in the earth, when we don’t believe it ever is going to happen?
Assuredly if God’s Kingdom is coming to the earth, if His will is going to be done here, if His throne is going to be in the saints of the new Jerusalem on the new earth, and if Paradise is going to be on the earth once again, then most of us would not want to be stuck in the spirit world doing nothing of significance for eternity. I think I am correct in writing this.
Do you, dear reader, have iron lids that are opened with the greatest difficulty? Do you, when you are faced with the obvious, move from that which is unsound to that which is of greater clarity, with all the speed of a herd of turtles?
I hope better things of you. I hope you will move at once from “Heaven thinking” to “Kingdom thinking.” If you are willing to do this, the whole Bible will begin to make more sense.
Several of the Psalms speak of God coming to bring justice to the nations. Several passages in the Old Testament, and the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation, tell of the armies that are going to come from Heaven, destroy the power of the wicked, and then establish a godly society on the earth.
This is what the Bible is about. The Church is a called-out group of people who are being prepared to work with Jesus Christ in bringing Paradise to the earth and maintaining it.
Not everyone will be saved. There will be some who will refuse the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We cannot remain in God’s world and refuse the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
But the great majority of people who have been born on the earth shall indeed be brought over to life on the new earth. They shall be governed by the saints, whose base of operations is the new Jerusalem. They will not be “free moral agents.” They will obey God in all matters. “Your will be done on the earth”!
This is the true Gospel. The Kingdom of God is at hand. The proper response is to repent, that is, to stop our wicked behavior and to begin to walk hand in hand with Jesus. This is the good news. Paradise is on the way back to earth. If we would participate in the marvels that are at hand we must begin at once to practice righteous behavior; love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
The army that is going to follow Christ from Heaven is being prepared today, both on the earth and in the spirit world. Are you getting your directions from the Commander in Chief? Are you enduring hardships? Are you learning to walk straight ahead in your rank and not injure your fellow soldiers? Are you learning strict obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are not, you will not be ready to ride behind the Lord Jesus when He returns.
How about it? Are you willing to be trained as a soldier of the army of the Lord? I am, as the Lord helps me.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Eternal Sabbath. The theme of the Book of Hebrews is the “rest of God.” The writer warns us not to come short of it. Perhaps the rest of God needs some explanation. It may be that some of the Lord’s flock do not know what the rest of God is, and so they would not know if they were coming short of it. Yet, the rest of God is the climax of our redemption, and is the emphasis of the Spirit of God in the present hour.
(2/3/2008) The Eternal Sabbath. The theme of the Book of Hebrews is the “rest of God.” The writer warns us not to come short of it. Perhaps the rest of God needs some explanation. It may be that some of the Lord’s flock do not know what the rest of God is, and so they would not know if they were coming short of it. Yet, the rest of God is the climax of our redemption, and is the emphasis of the Spirit of God in the present hour.
Saturday is the seventh day of the week, the Sabbath day. Along with circumcision, the Sabbath day is one of the most important of the Jewish observances. And, like circumcision, the Sabbath points to a spiritual fulfillment that is as superior to the Old Testament observance as our Lord Jesus Christ is superior to Adam, with respect to being the image of God.
The eternal Sabbath was proclaimed by the Prophet, Isaiah:
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, (Isaiah 58:13)
The Lord Jesus lives in the eternal Sabbath of God. He has no works, no words, no motivations of His own. The words Christ speaks are the words of God. The desires Christ has are the desires of God. The works Christ does are the works of God.
This is the rest of God. This is our goal: to live by the Life of Christ as He lives by the Life of the Father.
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:57)
“Feeding” on Christ means living by His body and blood. How do we do this? Every time we resist temptation, not yielding to it, we are fed with the body and blood of Christ in the spirit realm. This is the “hidden manna.” It is hidden to all except those who resist Satan and obey the Spirit of God.
Think for just a moment. In what way does Jesus Christ live because of the Father? Christ lives because of the Father in that it is the Life of the Father that is in Him, governing all that Christ is and does. Christ has no desires, words, motivations, or actions of Himself. All Christ is and does comes from the Father, is of the Father, and—we might say—indeed Is the Father, in this sense.
Now, precisely what is the rest mentioned in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, and is the primary thesis of Hebrews?
The rest of God, which we are make every effort to enter, is that place where it is Christ who is living in us. We live because of Christ. We are to have no desires, words, motivations, or actions of our own. We are to be living by His Life.
Let us point out that it is God’s rest. God rested on the seventh day, of which there is no evening or morning because it is without end, being an eternal rest.
God finished all His work through to the coming down to the new earth of the new Jerusalem. Our life was ordained at that time. We are not to seek our own destiny. We are to press into that which God ordained for us. His works have been finished from the beginning of the world. God is resting. We are to enter that rest, ceasing from our own works.
We are to live by the Life of Jesus Christ, just as was true of the Apostle Paul. We are to live in Christ and He in us. Only then will we bear eternal fruit.
When we seek to live by the Life of Jesus Christ there is a trap we must learn to avoid. This is the trap of passivity. We may decide that we are an “empty vessel” and wait for God to fill us. We will not be filled by the Lord, if we adopt this stance. We may be filled with some spirit, but it will not be the Spirit of the Lord. This is not the true rest. We are not to become “empty vessels!” Did the Apostles write about empty vessels? This is a trap, a false rest.
The true rest of God is entered as we rest from our own works and seek to find out what Christ wants of us.
There are three forces that keep us from the simplicity of walking hand in hand with the Lord Jesus. The first force is our love of the things of the world, our trust in the world for security and survival. As we pray and ask Christ, He will enable us to reject the values of the world and trust in God for our security and survival.
The second force that complicates our effort to walk hand in hand with the Lord consists of the various lusts and passions of our sinful nature, our flesh, our spirit, our human mind. These forces war against us and keep us subject to Satan and his demons.
We are to cleanse ourselves from these. We do this by walking as close to Jesus as we can. As we do, the Spirit of God will reveal the several elements of our sinful nature. As He does, we are to confess them to the Lord, and then renounce them with all of our strength. Then we are to draw near to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing. After that we are to turn away from our former patterns of behavior.
The third force that complicates our efforts to live in the rest of God is our self-will, self-love, self-determination, self-confidence, self-assurance, self, self, self! This is the most difficult victory to gain. How can we enter God’s Live when we are attempting to live our own.
I have been “in Pentecost” for sixty years. I have felt in my spirit the change that the Holy Spirit of God is bringing about in our day. He is urging us to press forward to the work of redemption that follows the baptism with the Holy Spirit. That new work (to most of us) is to learn to say, “Not my will but Yours be done” in every area of our life.
The way the Spirit enables us to get rid of our self-determination is to place us in a situation that we do not enjoy. If we are willing to have our desires deferred for many years, and remain faithfully in our prison, the self-will shall be burned out of us.
During the last few years I have been giving every decision to the Lord. I do not trust myself to know or do anything. I try not to assume anything. I ask the Lord about everything from what number to set my metronome on, when I am practicing Chopin, to what to feed the dog. When you get accustomed to asking Christ about the details, you are apt to ask Him when you come to big decisions.
If you are under the impression that Christ is not interested in what you eat for breakfast, you do not know the extent to which He wants to be involved in all you think, say, and do.
I wonder how many Christians of our day are willing to look up to Jesus and say, “Jesus, from now on I am going to accept you as my personal Lord. I am going to stop living my own life and look to you for every decision, every word, every action, from the least to the greatest. I am going to press into God’s rest every moment of every day and night for the rest of my life.”
The writer of the Book of Hebrews warns us of the peril of having started in Christ and then coming short of God’s rest; of not finishing the job.
This is the burden of the Lord today. The major work of the last century was the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The major work of the present century is that of entering the rest of God, the Life of Jesus Christ.
Now I ask you, as your friend. Are you going to continue doing and grasping you religious works, or are you willing to cease from your own striving and give every second of every day and night to the Lord Jesus so He can guide, strengthen, and bless you, and make you fruitful? What is it going to be? Your way or God’s way?
I have made my decision. Come on in. The water is just the right temperature. You can swim in it, if you want to, and become a tree of life on the bank of the River of Life.
Brother, Sister, the dead sea of mankind is waiting for your decision.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Moses to Christ. I think Galatians 2:11-20 is difficult to understand; yet, its message is of vital importance to Christians today. Notice that the Apostle Peter was confused about the relationship of the Gospel to the Law of Moses. It appears that he took a stand for faith and grace, and then was influenced by Jews who were insisting that Christians keep all or part of the Law. Confusion over the relationship of the Law of Moses to the Gospel of Christ continues to the present hour.
(2/10/2008) It is my opinion that Christian believers are not clear as to their relationship to the Law of Moses, particularly to the Ten Commandments. There are two expressions of this lack of clarity, two responses.
The first expression, or response, is probably that of the minority of Christians. It is that we are under part of the Law, at least the Ten Commandments; possibly circumcision; possibly the Sabbath; possibly the feast days.
The second expression, or response, is that we are completely free from all law, including the Ten Commandments, except for the so-called “law of love.” This interpretation holds that our salvation is virtually unrelated to our behavior. We are saved by our faith in a sovereign work of God, which we did not earn, which we do not deserve, of which we cannot boast.
Both of these responses are incorrect, according to the second chapter of Galatians.
The first expression may result in lesser damage than is true of the second. The damage caused by an adherence to any part of the law, including the Sabbath day (Saturday), is that it causes us to remove our eyes from Christ in order that we may observe our religious duty. Refraining from working on Saturday in order to gain righteousness prevents us from entering the eternal Sabbath in which Jesus lives, and wants us to live. Also, it clearly is opposed to the teaching of the Apostle Paul.
The second opinion, that we are not under any law, has destroyed the Christian churches in America. This lack of moral law, working together with the philosophy of democracy, is having two results in our country. First, it is making possible the rise of unrealistic behavior, such as that of viewing gender as being an attitude of mind rather than a physical, biologic fact. This departure from nature is being carried to extremes in our public schools, perhaps because of the fear of lawsuits.
The second result of the lack of moral law and the philosophy of democracy working together is the increase of the Muslim religion in the United States, and in England as well. A hundred years ago, the idea that England or America could become Muslim nations would not be regarded seriously, I believe. Yet today this projection is entertained by serious scholars.
A strong emphasis on freedom of speech and of religion is part of the culture of America and England. There may be nothing we can do about this. And it well may result in a takeover of these two countries by energetic proponents of the Muslim faith.
But there is something we can do about the idea that we are under part of the Law of Moses, or under no law at all, except the “law of love.” Using “the law of love” as a basis for our behavior is ineffective, as Christians today struggle again their demon-inflamed temptations to sin.
What is the new covenant counterpart of the old covenant? It is summed up by the Apostle Paul as his own testimony: “I am crucified with Christ. I am not living, it is Christ who is living in me.” This is the same idea Christ expressed when He said it is the Father who is living in Him. This is the eternal Sabbath. This is what it means to live by every Word of God—every present Word of God, not only the words in the Bible.
We have died with Christ on the cross. We have been raised with Christ to the right hand of God. We live by Him as He lives by the Father. Paul states these as facts.
When we begin as a Christian we look to the Apostles to guide us in our moral decisions. We refrain from adultery, lying, and stealing, because of what the Apostles wrote in the New Testament. But our restraint, which we manage with the help of the Holy Spirit, is not the new covenant. Rather, our obedience to the words of the Apostles of Christ bring us into the new covenant.
The new covenant is fulfilled in us when Christ lives in our personality. We keep the moral laws of God because Christ who is being formed in us, and who is dwelling in that which is being formed in us, always keeps the moral laws of God—the laws which are what God is; which always have been in force; which always shall be in force.
We are not to attempt to keep any part of the law of Moses. We are to live by faith in Christ, not by faith about the things of Christ, but a living faith in a living Christ who guides and strengthens us in every detail of our life.
We do not die to Moses so we can do as we please. Doing as we please is the opposite of the eternal Sabbath. Rather, we die to Moses so we can be married to Christ. This is a far, far more comprehensive law than the law of Moses.
The Sabbath-day commandment of the Law of Moses required that we set aside one day of the week for the worship of God. The new-covenant eternal Sabbath results in our worshiping and serving God every second of every day and every night.
The eternal Sabbath is being observed when we are in interaction with the living Jesus at all times and in every area of our life. We feed on His body and blood in the spirit realm as we continue, by His assistance, to resist the temptations of the flesh and spirit. As we feed on His body and blood we begin to live by Christ precisely as He lives by the Father.
Thus there is one rest of God: Christ is resting in God’s Person, not doing His own works. We are rest in Christ’s Person, not doing our own works. Because we are resting in Christ, and Christ is resting in the Father, we actually are resting in the Father’s Person and will.
The goal of our redemption is that we may be formed in Christ’s inner and outer image, and also always abide in perfect rest in the Father’s Person and will. We cannot be at perfect rest in the Father’s Person and will, which is the eternal Sabbath, until we have been formed in Christ’s inner image. This is because every aspect of our personality that is not in the image of God will strive against our resting in God’s Person and will. Have you found this to be true?
So it is onward and upward as we lay aside our adamic personality, seeking at all times to be living by the Life of Christ. There is no other path to lasting love, lasting joy, and lasting peace. sting joy, and lasting peace.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Becoming a Tree of Life. In the 47th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel we read of four levels of water: to the ankles, to the knees, to the waist, and waters to swim in. The water is the Spirit of God, which is coming from God’s Throne in our day.
To the ankles is basic salvation.
To the knees is learning to follow the Spirit of God.
To the waist is the surrender of our will to God.
Waters to swim in is life lived in the Fullness of God.
(2/17/2008) Many people in our day have been forgiven through the blood atonement. A smaller number have entered the Spirit of God to the point they speak in tongues and perhaps prophesy.
Now God is looking for those who will surrender their will to Him so He may have His unhindered way in them.
Waters to swim in has to do with our being filled with all the Fullness of God. It is written of the Lord Jesus that in Him dwells all the fullness of God. Our destiny also is to be filled with all the Fullness of God. But it is a strenuous battle as we seek to move past Pentecost and enter the rest of God, the place where God’s will is performed in every aspect of our life, and at all times, day and night.
There is vastly more of God to be had if we are willing to minimize our involvement in the security and pleasures of the world system; are willing to confess, denounce, and renounce the evil that dwells in us; and are willing to let go of our own plans and ambitions that God’s will in its entirety might be done in us.
In God’s House, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, there are many dwelling places. These dwelling places are not small cubicles. They are great palaces. Each one of us is a great palace in which the Fullness of God and Christ can dwell for eternity.
The Lamb knocks at the door of our personality. We open the door. The Lamb dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood. In this manner we are married to the Lamb. The marriage of the Lamb is taking place now, as individual believers are willing to open the door of their heart and permit the King of Glory to enter.
Today is one of rare opportunity in the Kingdom of God. If we have been forgiven by trusting in the blood atonement made by Christ on the cross, and have yielded to the Holy Spirit, we are qualified now and competent to press forward to the Fullness of God. Paul wrote that we are to become strong in our inner man until we are filled with all the Fullness of God. All the Fullness of God! Think of it! All the Fullness of God!
But to what end are we to be filled with all the Fullness of God? So that we may give eternal life to other people—in particular to every person of the nations of the earth who will receive. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the last great feast of the Lord, the feast of Tabernacles.
We note in the 47th chapter of the Book of Ezekiel that after we are swimming in the waters of God’s Spirit we return to the bank of the river. Along the bank, on each side, there are trees of life. These trees are growing from the one Tree of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit and the Bride invite all who will to come and partake freely of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of eternal Life. God has not called us merely to teach our religious doctrines to mankind. God has called us to show forth in ourselves the light of righteousness and praise. When the people of the world see our light they will come. When they come we will not give them doctrine primarily, we will give them eternal life, flowing out from our personality.
But we cannot serve mankind as a tree of life until we have passed through the four levels of water.
We must turn away from finding our pleasure and security in the world system. We have to set ourselves to touch the media and entertainment lightly, and spend more time in prayer with the Lord and with Bible reading. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. This is water to the ankles.
Then we must press forward until we are conscious that the Holy Spirit is pointing out the various areas of darkness that dwell in us. The lust, jealousy, rage, covetousness, arrogance, and all the rest of the motivations of our sinful nature must be confessed, as they are pointed out to us. We must denounce them as evil, renounce them vigorously, stating we want nothing more to do with them. Then we are to walk carefully before the Lord Jesus every minute of every day and night of the remainder of our life. This is water to the knees.
Then we must press forward until we overcome every enemy that would cause us to be discontent while we are waiting patiently in God’s will. Satan fell through discontent with his God-given position. We are to abide in Christ, waiting until He gives us the desires of our heart. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Your will, not mine, be done. This is waters to the waist.
We are to persevere with all our strength and determination in each of the three areas, until we are filled with all the Fullness of God, and God brings us back to the bank of the River, so to speak. Now we are ready to bring Divine Life to whoever is willing to receive it from us.
God was angry with us for a season, and we had to walk through dry places, even while we were struggling through the water. But then God brings us into rest. God wounds us, and then God heals us.
God is raising up mighty men and women of God today from all parts of His Church. The invitation includes you. Tell God you want His best, and you are willing to give up everything He asks for, so you may receive His best.
You are not seeking God’s best so you can be some great one in the Kingdom of God. You are seeking God’s best so you humbly can serve mankind with eternal life. The people of the nations are dead and do not know it. But God loves them and wants to save everyone who will receive His salvation.
Don’t stop for anything. Don’t quit. If you keep doing God’s will faithfully, His mighty warrior-angels will hold Satan at bay. You will overcome and succeed if you do not quit.
You shall be filled with all the Fullness of God!You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The Messiah, the Anointed One, is presented in the Old Testament. The Jews assumed the Messiah would be a great king, like David or Solomon, who would deliver them from the Romans. I imagine this is what Judas thought; and he followed Jesus until he saw that Jesus was not going to bring His disciples into glorious rulership but into weakness and shame. Then Judas left.
(2/24/2009) We are making the same mistake today. We are looking for outward manifestations of the Glory of Christ, when the truth is, the Lord is coming to individual believers today to prepare them for His coming to the world. The Kingdom of God is first internal, then external. As the inner Kingdom is formed in us, the world see the results on the outside as we begin to behave in a righteous manner.
The burden of the Lord today is to warn God’s people that there is something going on right now. We are being prepared for the resurrection—that which will take when the Lord appears. It is an inner work. Our American culture is so materialistic that many, if not most, of the Christian people will not hear the Spirit and will not be prepared for the Lord’s outward coming. Therefore they will not be raised from the dead when Christ comes.
The call to the virgins is taking place today. Those who have the oil of the Holy Spirit are hearing the voice of the Bridegroom and are going in to the marriage. The majority of the “virgins” ran out of oil a long time ago. By the time they choose to leave the world and come to Christ the door will be shut. Hear me loud and clear—the door will be shut! Our American love of materialism is making it impossible for us to hear Christ today!
The Church of Laodicea is the last church of the Church Age, I believe. It is the church of the people. It is the church of democracy, of freedom of speech. Man is in love with himself. He does not need God.
To this church, the worst of the seven churches. Christ gives the two greatest promises of all, and these two promises are related.
First, Christ says if we will open the door, He will come in and dine with us. We dine on His body and blood in the spirit realm. He dines on our obedience and worship. This is the marriage of the Lamb, of which the Scriptures speak. It is taking place right now. It is necessary to enter into this marriage if we hope to rise from the dead when the Lord appears.
The second promise is that if we will overcome all the spiritual darkness that is thrown at us by Satan, just as Christ did, we will sit with Him on His throne as He sits with the Father on the Father’s throne.
The throne of which Christ is speaking is the throne that is within each human being. We were born with a throne in our heart.
As we open our heart to Christ, and we dine with Him and He with us, He takes His place on the throne of our heart. When Christ is on the throne of our heart, and He also is on the Father’s throne, then it is true that God and Christ are dwelling in us.
We were created to be the throne, the resting place of God. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is not our temple. We are in this temple which our body is, at the present time. But we have not been fulfilled as long as we are on throne of our own life. The throne belongs to God. Until we permit God to sit on the throne of our life, we cannot be fulfilled; because we were created to be the throne of God.
The great problem of today, in America at least, is that people believe they can receive Christ and be “saved,” and yet save their own life. This is an exercise in futility. We were not created to be saved. We were created to be the eternal house of God.
The rule of Christ in us has to be worked out in practical action. We must come to God in faith. We must declare clearly and resolutely that we no longer want to be the ruler of our life. We want the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Ruler of our life.
Such an action on our part requires much faith. By doing so, we are relinquishing the right to do as we please. The reason American people love democracy and freedom of speech is that through this form of government they are able to do as they please.
I noticed years ago that democracy and the Kingdom of God are opposing forms of government. The purpose of democracy is to enable people to govern themselves, to engage in the pursuit of happiness. It is government from the bottom, so to speak.
This is the opposite of the Kingdom of God. The government of the Kingdom of God is from the top down. The purpose of the government of the Kingdom of God is that all of God’s creatures will be obedient to Him and do His will.
God has made Jesus Christ a Monarch with total authority and power over the works of God’s hands. There is no human, angel, cherub, seraph, or whatever creature there may be, who can prevent the will of Christ from being performed. We humans can be hindered by other people and by Satan. But Christ Himself cannot be hindered.
The Father has given to His Son, Jesus Christ, all authority and power in Heaven and upon the earth.
This is why Satan emphasizes religion. The nature of religion encourages us to save our life, so to speak. Even if we enter a monastery, this still can be a form of saving our life, unless Christ Himself has directed us to seclude ourselves in this manner.
Satan does everything he can think of to keep us alive in our religion. We pose no threat to Satan’s grip upon the world and its peoples as long as we are alive in our religion. We do not begin to threaten Satan’s empire until we open up our life to Christ and live by His body and blood, putting Him firmly on the throne of our heart.
We had to take a conscious action when we came to Christ for salvation. We confessed our need of His atoning blood.
We had to take a conscious action when we were filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues. We had to get down before the Lord and ask Him to fill us. You know (speaking now to Pentecostal-Charismatic people), we don’t do enough seeking of the baptism today. When Audrey and I came into Pentecost, after every service, people came up to the altar and waited on God in order to be filled with the Spirit. We do not do this in the church, Mount Zion Fellowship, where Audrey and I pastor. Perhaps we will get back to this some day.
Those were great days, in early Pentecost. But greater days are upon us now, if we will seek the Lord with a pure heart.
In order to enter the rest of God, the “Tabernacles experience,” call it what you will, we have to take a definite action. We have to tell the Lord out loud that from now on He is going to direct our life. Then we have to back up this commitment by looking up to Jesus as often as we can throughout each day and each night, in order to make sure we are thinking, speaking, and doing what He wants us to think, say, and do.
You may believe such a life is impossible. It is not impossible at all! It is a whole lot easier to look to Jesus for guidance than to plan our own way.
Of course, there may be things we desire fervently, and the Lord Jesus is telling us to get away from them. Such deferral of desire certainly does take place.
What do we do then? We obey Christ. If this is difficult, we ask for His strength. To not obey sternly and in every detail the Lord who purchased us with His blood, is unthinkable.
If you are not serving Christ in strict obedience, you and your loved ones are going to suffer in the future in America. God is removing His covering from our nation. Satan and his demons are directing the activities of our government and our citizens with increasing power.
The present popularity contests, that we call our presidential campaigns, may yet put someone in the office of President who is totally unsuited to meet the hostility of the Eastern and Western nations that is directed toward the United States of America.
Be warned! Take action! Go to Christ right now and tell Him you will obey His will from this point forward and on throughout the endless ages of eternity.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Many Dwelling Places. It may be true by now that most Christians understand that John 14:2 is not talking about expensive houses in Heaven. The Father’s House is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the eternal Temple of God. In fact, Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the eternal Temple. There are many more living stones that all taken together will compose the Father’s House. You and I are stones, or dwelling places, in the eternal house of God, provided that we diligently follow Christ.
(3/2/2008) The fifth chapter of the Book of Second Corinthians tells us about the dwelling places of God. The thought begins in the fourth chapter, where we are told that our suffering is achieving for us a weight of glory.
Then in the fifth chapter, we find that the weight of glory is a body from Heaven that will clothe our mortal body when our mortal body is raised from the dead, in the Day of Resurrection when Christ appears with His saints.
What about this body, this house, this robe from Heaven that will swallow up our mortal body? It is fashioned from our behavior.
In the Day of the Lord, we will receive what we have done in our body. This does not mean that we will be rewarded for what we have done, it means exactly what it says in Second Corinthians 5:10. We will receive what we have practiced.
For instance, if we have made a practice of lying, Christian or not, we will receive lying in that Day. Our mortal body will be swallowed up by a house from Heaven that wants to lie. If we have been faithful to Christ, we will receive a body what wants to be faithful to Christ.
So often in our present circumstances, we have to fight against our body. Our sinful nature wants to lie, cheat, steal, fornicate, commit adultery, fight, covet, and so forth. Every unclean thing you can think of—that is what our sinful nature coaxes us to do.
If we yield to our sinful nature, then we are going to receive a body from Heaven that is filled with that sinful nature. Then the rottenness that is on the inside will be revealed on the outside. We will flee from the presence of the righteous, because we are ashamed.
If we resist the motives of our sinful nature, then that very resistance is added to our house which is being formed in Heaven. Every godly decision we make becomes part of that body. In the Day of Resurrection, when our mortal body is raised and clothed with our body that has been fashioned in Heaven, we will beside ourselves with joy and gladness because now we are living in a house that wants to serve God and resist evil. This is our reward for serving Christ faithfully.
I do not know about you, but I can think of few things as wonderful as being clothed with a body that wants to serve God. Yet that will be our state of being if we are faithful in living a victorious life in Christ.
Our body, our dwelling place for eternity, has the potential of being filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as our own soul, spirit, and mind. In addition there will be people who are living under our influence. They will look to us to bring God to them. We will be to them a source of life and healing.
Our inheritance is people. As God loves Christ, Christ will love us. Then that boundless love of Christ in us will extend to those people whom God gives us. Except for God, The only inheritance worth having is people.
Christ has prayed we will be one in Him and the Father, and one with each. Paul, in the Book of Ephesians, prayed that we would be strengthened in the inner man until we can be filled with all the Fullness of God.
Today Satan is attacking the idea of gender. Have you noticed that? It seems to be the new thing in America, particularly in the public schools. Little children are being asked if they want to be a boy or girl. This is, of course, satanic confusion.
Why would Satan be so interested in gender? It is because gender is something he does not have. No angel or cherub has gender. They are “its,” not he’s or she’s.
Because Satan does not have gender, he cannot truly love another creature. And so he molests children, rapes, perverts normal sexual drives, because he wants to experience the ability that God has given to His offspring, the ability to love, that is, to enter union with another person.
By enter union I am not referring to the flesh. Animals are flesh and have gender, but they cannot enter union with God or with one another.
But we humans can love God and enter union with Him. We also can love another person and enter union with that person. Again, I am not speaking of human love but of the Divine love that can come as a gift of God. According to Paul, we have to be strengthened in the inner man before we can have that love of Christ that passes knowledge.
God gave me that kind of love one time when I was on a brief missionary trip. He gave me such an overwhelming love for the people that I would have laid down in the middle of the street if one of these people could be brought to God. I guess I had to have that experience so I would know what Paul was talking about.
God is Love, and we are being formed in His image. Love is the desire to enter into union with another person, just as Christ prayed in the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of John.
In God’s House, that He is forming, Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone. We also are living stones in that one House. The House is for God, so God can live among His offspring—human beings.
We of God’s family, His elect, have been formed for the purpose of providing a house in which God can dwell and through which He can love and bless (and also judge) the people He has created.
God brings each of His elect through deep waters and hot fires. Sometimes we think we are going to perish. But then we find that we did not drown and were not consumed in the flames. Rather, we came out of our trials with a knowledge of God we did not have prior to our ordeal, just as was true of the patriarch, Job.
There are so many wonderful things at hand today. In the midst of the satanic playground that the United States of America is rapidly becoming, God is revealing to us through His Spirit treasures beyond our imagination. Such is His love for those who love and serve Him.
A future beyond description in its glory awaits each person who serves the Lord Jesus Christ diligently. A future beyond description in its pain and frustration awaits each person who understands what God wants of him or her, and turns aside in disobedience and rebellion.
The horrible travesty of Paul’s intention, when he taught the Jews that Divine grace has freed them from the laws and statutes of Moses so they can be married to Christ without condemnation, has destroyed the Gospel in the United States. Instead of people who are being transformed in the image of God, we have “grace” that we think trumps every commandment of Christ and His Apostles
We have been, and are now, terribly deceived. Grace is not an acceptable alternative to obeying Christ. How could it be? How have we been so blind we cannot see what was written by the Apostles of the Lamb—all godly men who taught godly behavior, not merely a profession of theologic facts about Christ and His redemption.
America is on its way to becoming a minor power in the world, because of the demonic practices it permits, particularly abortion. God is not mocked. Our nation is going to reap what it is sowing, and it is sowing the seed of demons.
We do not have to fall with America. If we will turn again to Jesus, keep His commandments and those of His Apostles, and walk humbly with God, we can save ourselves and our loved ones. But if we do not, if we stiffen our neck, as some have done, and say that God has to save us because of grace no matter how we behave, we are facing a terrifying future in the present world and in that which is to come.
I think it is time to blow the trumpet in Zion!You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Three Lessons of the Kingdom. The Three Lessons of the Kingdom<D>. Daniel spoke of a Kingdom that would demolish the other kingdoms on the earth and govern forever. When the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist announced that the Kingdom is at hand, I think the Jews must have remembered what Daniel had said.
What has happened to the Gospel of the Kingdom? How and when did it get changed to the Gospel of saved people going to Heaven? I do not know of any passage of the Bible that speaks of saved people going to Heaven. Do you? But there certainly are many passages, in both the Old Testament and the New, that tell us about the Kingdom of God, the will of God, coming to the earth.
(3/9/2008) During a funeral service yesterday I asked the question, “Why is the Lord Jesus going to return to the earth? I planned on using this question to introduce the topic of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
Someone, not of our church, answered: “To carry His Church to Heaven.”
I have been preaching the Kingdom of God for so long, I did not realize that people still believe that Jesus is coming “to catch His waiting Bride away.” I had been taught that, when I first became a Christian. But as I have studied the Bible, I see that the Lord Jesus is not returning to carry His Church to Heaven but to install His Kingdom, the rule of God, on the earth.
We do not preach the Gospel of the Kingdom today. We preach the gospel of Heaven. The gospel of Heaven is not found in the Scriptures, only in Christian thinking and teaching. This is so obvious from the Scriptures that I do not wish to spend more time on it.
There is only one world of people. Most people are in the spirit part of the world, and are invisible to us at this time. The smaller group are in the physical part of the world. This is the part of the one world we are familiar with.
Both parts of the one world are schools. The present physical world is a school. The spirit world, where deceased people are, also is a school—at least for people who are “saved.” In fact, “saved” means eligible to go to school.
The two parts of the one world are very similar, except for the environment, and for the fact we no longer have a physical body when we are in the spirit part, at least for the present. But the relation of people to God and people to people is identical as far as I know. People hope they will be changed when they die, but they won’t be.
What would change them? It is only Christ who changes anyone, and He can change someone in either part of the world. Peter told us that God judges the living and the dead.
The twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation tells of the coming down through the sky of the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is the glorified Christian Church, the Kingdom of God, the “house” of which Jesus spoke when He said, “In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places. Each saint is a living stone. Taken together, the saints compose the new Jerusalem, the holy city that is to govern the earth forever, according to the Book of Daniel.
The new earth, with its governing city, is the new world of righteousness that eventually will include all saved people. Before a new world of righteousness is possible, all the people in it, both of the Church, and of the nations of saved people which the Church will govern, must learn three lessons. No one can remain in the Kingdom of God if these three lessons are not mastered.
The first lesson teaches us that we must obey Christ in every aspect of our thinking, speaking, and acting. We no longer are “free moral agents.” We are the servants of Jesus Christ. God has made Christ our King. We absolutely must obey Him.
No person among the nations of the earth who is not a Christian knows he is supposed to obey Christ, that Christ is God’s King. It is true also that most Christians do not understand they are supposed to obey Christ. They have not been taught this. They do not understand we are to be presenting all of our decisions to Christ so He can direct us at all times and in all situations. We are not free to do what we want. We are free to pray and act according to what we are hearing from Jesus, rather than what we are imagining we ought to do.
Most Christians want Jesus to be their Savior, but they do not understand He is first of all our personal Lord. We must obey Jesus Christ in all matters if we wish to be in the Kingdom of God. Once we choose to walk in the light of the will of Christ, the blood will cleanse us from all sin. The issue is not the blood atonement. The issue is the Lordship of Christ!
The second great lesson of the Kingdom of God has to do with loving God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. This does not mean necessarily that we feel affection toward God. It means we put Him first in our life.
We Americans have many idols, including money, sexual lust, professional sports, and entertainment. We worship these in place of God. Whatever you spend your time and attention on is your god. Wherever you find fulfillment and security is your place of worship.
Jesus told us if we would seek God and His Kingdom, what we need will be added to us. The world does not understand this. Neither do most Christians. But we are not candidates for citizenship in the new world of righteousness until God is in first place in our life.
The third great lesson we have to learn has to do with loving our neighbor as ourselves. This does not mean we feel affection toward our neighbor. It means we help him or her when we have the power to do so. We leave all revenge with God. We feed and help our enemy when he has needs. This is acceptable to God, and is His image.
The physical part of the one world, and the greater spirit part, are schools. There are three lessons to learn: to obey Jesus Christ; to put God first; and to assist people we like and people we do not like, when they have need of our help.
There are people throughout history, as well as people of today, who have learned these three lessons. These are the only ones who will be raised from the dead and caught up to meet the Lord when He next appears. To “overcome” means to have mastered the three great lessons.
The task of those who are raised and then caught up to Christ is to instruct the rest of mankind in these three areas of behavior. The period of instruction will continue from this moment throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
The overcomers will inherit all that God is making new in Christ. They will instruct the members of the churches who did not learn their lessons satisfactorily. They will govern the nations with a rod of iron, forcing the mastery of these lessons.
After the thousand-year Kingdom Age has been completed, the Bride, the greater Church, shall have been made ready. Being made ready means every member of the new Jerusalem will obey Christ perfectly. Every member of the new Jerusalem will have put God in first importance in his or her life. Every member of the new Jerusalem will treat every other person with kindness, helping when help is called for.
The same lessons will be required of every individual who is to have a place on the new earth, even though he or she is not of the Bride; not of the holy city, the new Jerusalem.
Thus the brilliant new sky will look down on an enormous earth in which every person is in subjection to Jesus Christ; every person holds God to be of primary importance; every person treats every person in a kind, helpful manner.
These three lessons can be taught and learned, and they indeed shall be.
The Psalms teach us clearly that God is coming to govern the earth. This shall take place. God’s Kingdom shall come to the earth. God’s will shall be done on the earth.
God has permitted man for two thousand years to do pretty much as he pleases. Now our earth is part of Hell, and grows worse every day. People do not obey Jesus Christ. People put numerous gods in place of the one true God. People compete with each other, seeing how they can prevail over those around them.
There is a new world coming. The Lord’s prayer, that He taught us to pray, shall be answered. God’s Kingdom shall come to the earth. God’s will shall be done, first on this earth; and then forever and perfectly on the new earth.
This is the true Good News, the Gospel of the Kingdom. What is being preached today, that we are “saved” to escape Hell and to go into the spirit part of the world to live forever, is a lie.
“Grace,” as it is preached today, is not scriptural. The current teaching resembles Satan’s original statement: “You shall not surely die. Even if you never master these three lessons, you shall not surely die.”
Mankind bought this lie and has suffered for it for six thousand years.
The original lie still is being preached in the pulpits of America, as the ministers seek to build huge congregations.
The truth is, you surely shall die if you do not obey Christ sternly and consistently. You surely shall die if you do not put God in first place in your life. You surely shall die if you avenge yourself on those who harmed you and do not forgive them and place them in God’s hands.
You surely shall die if you trust in “grace” to protect you from Divine judgment, when you are refusing to serve God as you should.
You surely shall die! But you won’t die if you will turn to Christ, obey Him, and keep the two great commandments on which all the Law and the Prophets are based. Rather, you shall inherit all that God is making new in Christ.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Redemption. Assistant Pastor Stan Josephsen spoke this Sunday morning from the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans. As Stan mentioned, this chapter seems to suffer a muddled interpretation in many instances. Actually it is clear from this chapter that we are not supposed to continue in sin after we have been baptized in water. Perhaps the reason it is not preached with clarity is that the prevailing understanding of the Christian redemption does not stress that we are not to continue in sin.
In any case, Stan’s teaching is well worth listening to. If you will go to the Audio page, you can listen to his sermon. After he spoke he baptized two men in water.
(3/16/2008) The current understanding of the Christian redemption, or salvation, is that we are forgiven so we may go to Heaven when we die. The purpose of bringing us to Heaven when we die is that we may be happy and not experience any more pain or worry.
In actuality, the purpose of redemption is to conform us to the image of God and to create in us stern obedience to the Father.
The works of redemption that are in addition to forgiveness, are the primary subjects of the writings of the Apostles. But it often is true these additional subjects are not taught. This is because the Christian people, believing they have been forgiven and are on their way to Heaven by Divine grace, see no reason to become too concerned about further works of redemption.The purpose of conforming us to the image of God and creating in us stern obedience to the Father is that we might be able to fulfill all of God’s needs and desires; to assist in the building of His Kingdom.
Three examples of God’s needs and desires are: a living temple for Himself; a bride for the Lamb; brothers for God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
Let me point out that the goal of today’s preaching is that we might go to Heaven and be happy. The actual goal of redemption is that we might be conformed to God’s image and enter rest in His will so He can use us to build His Kingdom.
Of these two different goals, which sounds to you like it may be the correct, scriptural goal? If you have chosen the first, I can’t help you. It is not scriptural. If you choose the second, as I have, let us proceed to describe seven steps that we have to take if we are to satisfy God’s needs and desires.
It is important to remember, as we encounter these several phases of redemption, that we, in water baptism, have chosen to regard ourselves as having been crucified with Jesus Christ and raised from the dead with Jesus Christ. This position, firmly established in our mind, frees us completely from the authority of the Law of Moses.
We now are legally free to turn away from the Law of Moses and follow the Spirit of God as He leads us through the program of redemption. The Law of Moses cannot condemn us because we by faith have become an integral part of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Except for forgiveness and the resurrection of the body, the seven phases of redemption do not take place in order. They all are in the Lord Jesus Christ; so they are applied to us at various times and in various manners until they are brought to maturity.The first step of redemption is the forgiveness of our sins. Christ has made an atonement for the sins of the whole world. This was a sovereign act of God. Our task is to receive the atonement by faith. We then are completely forgiven, and qualified to follow the Holy Spirit in the next six steps of redemption.
The second step of redemption is deliverance from dependence on the world system. God helps us with this as we pray and seek His guidance. He sends suffering upon us, so the world no longer is pleasant. There may be sickness in our family. We may experience loss of income. Our children may become incorrigible. We may lose our job. People may treat us unjustly and harm us. All sorts of things may happen so we will turn from involvement in the world and seek the Lord.
The third step of redemption is that of following the Holy Spirit as He proceeds to point out the various elements in the body of sin that dwells in our flesh. Because we have counted ourselves crucified with Christ, the Law of Moses no longer can condemn us. The Law has no authority over “dead” people. We are free to follow the Spirit of God at all times.
We can think of the “body of sin” as a suitcase filled with poisonous snakes. It is baggage we bring with us when we enter Christ. As we confess and renounce these motivations, turning away from them with the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit takes the life out of them so we can reject them readily in the future.
As we follow the Spirit of God in our daily life the righteousness which would have been ours had we kept the Law of Moses perfectly is ascribed to us. We are free from condemnation, while we are following the Spirit of God.
The fourth step of redemption is that of learning stern obedience to the Father. As in the case of freedom from dependence on the world system, God has to create obedience in us through suffering. God permits Satan to put us in some kind of prison, into some situation that we do not enjoy. It is our responsibility to remain in that prison. If we try to break out, we will not learn the lessons of obedience and will lose our crown of rulership.
The suffering God sends to make us holy, to separate us from the filthiness of the world system, cannot be avoided. All we can do is pray and seek wisdom as to how to survive our pain and gain victory. Perhaps a son or daughter is taken from us by death or sickness, and there may be nothing we can do. But the tragedy may turn us away from the world as we seek Christ for His wisdom and guidance. The same is true if we are seriously injured in a car accident. Perhaps we are being sued unjustly and are not able to defend ourselves successfully.
However, the suffering God sends to teach us stern obedience to God can often be avoided. For example, Abraham could have refused of offer Isaac. Christ could have refused to drink the cup of suffering. The husband or wife who leaves his or her mate for another who seems more desirable, is refusing to remain in an unpleasant situation.
It is by refusing to break out of God’s prison, though we may have our hopes deferred for many years, that we gain the crown of life. We always are to pray that God will give us the desires of our heart; but we are not to move until we know God has released us.
It is your cross of suffering you can. You can choose to bear it patiently, or to escape from under it.The fifth step of redemption is that of being born again. When we repent of our ungodly life and are baptized in water, the Seed, Christ, is planted in our personality. We must patiently nourish this new Life with prayer, daily Bible reading, gathering with fervent disciples, giving, serving, and communing with Christ constantly.
As we faithfully nourish our new Life, our first, adamic, animal nature becomes increasingly weak while the new Life becomes increasingly strong. This is the Divine Nature of God that has been born in us, and it will bring forth an entirely new creation. The new creation itself is the Kingdom of God.
It is possible to kill the new Life by not taking care of it properly.
The sixth step of redemption is the resurrection from the dead. Our mortal body, minus its blood, will be raised from the dead. Then our behavior during our lifetime on the earth, which has taken the form of a house, or robe, in the spirit world, will descend from the spirit world and clothe our mortal frame.
If we have obeyed the Spirit of God, our house from Heaven will be a body of eternal life like that of the Lord Jesus. If we have obeyed our sinful nature, our house from Heaven will be filled with the corruption we have sown. In this case we have not been redeemed.
The seventh step of redemption is the coming of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to dwell with us in our new body. We now are seated with Christ on His Throne as He is seated with His Fatdy. We now are seated with Christ on His Throne as He is seated with His Father on the Father’s Throne.
What I have just set forth are the seven steps of redemption. Faithfully followed they will conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and bring us into perfect rest in the center of God’s Person and will. Then we will be qualified and competent to fulfill all of the roles in the Kingdom of God to which the Father may assign us.You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Preparation for the Change. It is interesting that the fifteenth chapter of the Book of First Corinthians does not mention the catching up. Since this chapter is referred to sometimes as the “Resurrection Chapter,” you would think the catching up (often referred to as a “rapture”) of the resurrected, or “changed” believers, would at least be alluded to. But it is not. The Important aspect of the resurrection from the dead is the “change” in the body; not what happens to it after that.
Why have we of today ignored the “change” and focused on the catching up? Is it because we are ignorant of the importance of the resurrection, the change, in the plan of salvation?
(3/23/2008) We had a play in the morning (Easter Sunday) that was a blessing to everyone. God really was present!
In the evening, Valerie told of how the Lord has been dealing with her. Again, God was present. Bill Ott intends to post on the Pastor’s Page what Valerie said. Also, if it works out, I will try to put the text of what Valerie said, somewhere on our site, and put a link to it. It really is right on!
Meanwhile I will fill up space here with an essay on the nature of the resurrection of the bodies of the victorious saints, seeing as how it is Easter and all.
Only the victorious saints will be resurrected, or changed, at the next appearing of Christ. The weaker believers will be resurrected at the general resurrection of the dead, at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, according to my understanding at this time.
When Christ returns He will bring with him the victorious saints of all ages, beginning with Abel, I believe.
Included in this first resurrection will be the “change” in the bodies of the victorious saints who are alive on the earth at that time.
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (I Corinthians 15:51-53)
“We will not all sleep.” That is, some will be alive when the Lord appears.
“We will all be changed.” Whether we have just appeared with the Lord from the spirit world, or are living on the earth at the time, we all will be “changed.”
What is the nature of the change? It is that our mortal body will “clothe itself” (an interesting expression!) with immortality.
Obviously, this change occurs prior to our being caught up together (the returned plus the present saints) to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. From there we shall return on the white war-stallions and work with Christ in the task of establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.
I guess what I have just written is clear enough from the Scriptures, so I will move now to the point of this brief essay, which is, preparation for the change in our body.
The last enemy that shall be overcome is physical death. We have to overcome all other enemies before we are eligible for the change in our body.
According to the Apostle Paul, if we live in the desires of our fallen nature we will die, that is, not attain to the redemption of our body. If, however, we put to death the desires of our fallen nature we will live, that is, be qualified and competent to receive the redemption of our mortal body when the Lord appears.
Jesus cautioned us to “remember Lot’s wife.” This is because experiencing the change from a mortal body to an immortal body, while we still are on the earth going about our business, is a very radical happening.
Picture so many of today’s professing Christians. It is Super Bowl Sunday. They are sitting in church, but their mind is on who is winning the big game. The moment the sermon is finished and the concluding hymn is sung, they rush home and turn on their television.
Worse yet, they may be watching the game on a big screen in the sanctuary. This is what the National Football League is permitting, I understand.
Let’s says the score is tied. The game has gone into overtime.
Suddenly the trumpet blows, and it is time for their bodies to be clothed with immortality. Such a change will require an inward nature that already has been accustomed to living by the resurrection power of Christ. The inward nature must be able to receive the outward change. New wine cannot be put in old bottles, Jesus told us.
Now I ask you: “How many believers do you know who