Messages | Messages |
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by Stanley Rankin
1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2. Upon what foundation is the Church built? Ephesians 2:20
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.
26 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.
Colossians 1:18, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”
5. How do you become a member of the Church?
6. The Church is:
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. TRUE WORSHIPERS We have many man-made doctrines which tell us what man thinks the Word of God says concerning what is happening, but what does God say is happening? The Holy Spirit has been poured out in this day so that we can hear from God and not have to listen to the same old teaching we had before we received the Holy Spirit. Many people are once again turning back to the old system of religion in order to understand God's Word. If these groups did not lead you into the Holy Spirit but left you with such a hunger that you not only desired something more, but had to go elsewhere to find it, how is it possible they can now help you with their worthless doctrines? No, brothers and sisters, I cannot see anywhere in God's Word that shows God desiring to lead His people back into bondage. Think of the trouble these denominations are going to have with all these Jonahs in their ships (organizations). To go back only means defeat, and who wants defeated people on their side? This is no great loss to those of us who desire to go on into the deeper things of God; but for those who are turning back, it is the greatest loss of all. You will never be happy in the old order after having tasted of the good things of God through the Holy Spirit. After having felt the exciting moving of God's Holy Spirit, the form of man and the religious services he conducts will not fill the hunger of the Spirit inside you. The Jesus whom you have come to love will not move in the dead order of formal religion. Oh, you may feel for a time that you can have more rest by joining the enemy's camp instead of continuing on in the battle. I remind you that it is hard for those whom you have left to receive you again with the same confidence that they once showed toward you. When the Galatian believers turned back to the old order of their day, Paul called them foolish. Galatians 3:1. I am glad that there are believers today that desire the good things of the kingdom of God. They no longer look back to the earthly realm, but they have set their affection on things above. Colossians 3:2. I know that it was not meant for some to go on but their coming out was to bring others out who will go on. It is to those who are going on that we have set forth our writing pen to stand with and encourage. It is to these that we direct the teaching which will make us all stronger and more able to stand in this day. What is God doing today? He is speaking to the true worshipers to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. The truth of God's Word is what makes us free. It is most needful for us to understand the Word of God the way in which Jesus intended. The words of the writer of the book of Hebrews burn within the heart of every true believer. "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God" (Hebrews 6:1). Why stay at the beginning of things when there is so much more for those who will move with the Spirit? Religious teaching puts everything off to the future, except for those things which they have put in the past. The truth is Jesus called Himself the "I AM" to those who see Him, not through the eyes of religious training, but by the Spirit. It is the Spirit who reveals the true nature of Jesus to us. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual:" (I Corinthians 2:12-13). The word "perfection" used in Hebrews 6:1 is taken from the Greek word "teleiotes" which means completeness. We should not stop with just the basic truths, but we should go on to receive the fulness of the revelation of God's eternal Word. It is easy to stop with something that you already know, but it is hard to go on to something better. Mature growth will change many of the basic beliefs one had when he or she was yet a babe in Christ. The more mature your understanding is of God and His Word, the more of the true meaning you will have of the basic beliefs. It is not so much that the truths change, but it is that you gain a fuller understanding of what they really mean. When a child looks at life, he sees it through the eyes of a child. An example: a young child may get the idea that when you need money, you just go to the bank and get it. An adult knows you must first have money in the bank before you can draw money out of the bank. It is for this reason that a child cannot cash a check at the bank without having an adult do it for him or her. It is much the same in the kingdom of God. A child sees things as only a means of getting his or her needs met, but a mature son of God sees that the will of the Father must first be done, and then his or her needs can be met. The mature sons put the good of the kingdom of God first. SPIRITUAL GROWTH It is God's will that His people grow to a deeper and fuller understanding of Him. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." It is the "revealing" of Jesus that reveals the true nature of the Father to us. In the Old Testament under the old covenant, it was not possible for the people to understand God, nor for God to understand the people. The entrance of Jesus into the world made it possible for God and man to come together. I have heard believers say that it is hard for them to understand the Old Testament and why God did the things He did. Well, under the Old Testament it was just as hard for God to understand man and the things he did. The mediator had to come and bring in a better testament (covenant). That mediator is none other than our Lord Jesus. Hebrews 8:6. The Son of God did will to leave the throne in glory and come down to earth in order that He might remove the separation between God and man. A great change began to take place the day that little child was born in Bethlehem. The glory of the temple in Jerusalem was replaced by the temple which was from above. No longer did God dwell among His people in the types and shadows of the Old Testament temple, but now He was dwelling in the temple which was the very image of Himself. Jesus called His body the temple, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body" (John 2:19-21). Little did the Jews know that the temple in which they so gloried had been replaced by a better temple. In AD 70, some forty years after Jesus spoke this, the temple in which they gloried was destroyed by the Roman army. Today where the temple once stood, there is not one stone left standing upon another; but the temple which Jesus spoke of, which was destroyed by the hardness of the hearts of the Jews, rose again on the third day. The glory of the Father dwelt in the Son. "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). Jesus was revealing to His disciples the true dwelling place of the Father. He was no longer in the temple where He had once been, but He was among them, and dwelling in Jesus' body. The very works which were seen by them were not the works of Jesus, but the works of the Father. How hard this saying must have been for them to understand. Jesus tells them about another temple that He and His Father will dwell in, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). Paul writes in Colossians 1:27, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." He also writes to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16). The dwelling place of the Father today is within the Spirit-filled believer. There needs to be this continual reminder within us that we are not our own. We are now the temple of the living God—the place where He lives. Herein lies the mystery of God; just as we are the temple of God, He also is our temple. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (Revelation 21:22). The new covenant has built a dwelling place with the Father for the Spirit-filled believer, and it has made it possible for the Father to dwell in the Spirit-filled believer. This is a realm of glory which could only be brought about through Jesus. We are faced with the need to go on in God. The body of Christ has waited when it should have been rising. They have waited for some magical day when all at once everything will change and they will be what the Father desires for them to be. This may be their desire, but it is not what the Father desires. He wants growth to take place in our lives daily, and He wants us to grow more like Him each day. If we will let the Holy Spirit do its work, we will be more like Jesus every day. But there is still something greater to consider—His place with us—the indwelling Christ. His growth is complete with the Father. He and the Father are one. This makes Jesus the Father. He lives in Spirit-filled believers. This also gives us an added power which is ours only through Him. Paul writes, "...Christ liveth in me: and 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" (Galatians 2:20). Instead of thinking about what we can reach in Christ, we must keep in mind what He is in us. There is a spiritual growth going on inside that reveals the nature of Jesus to us. At the same time that nature we are learning about is active in us. To say there is no manifestation of the Son of God in believers today would be the same as saying that Christ is not come in the flesh. This would be the spirit of antichrist which the early apostles cried out against. "And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (I John 4:3). Notice that John does not use the term "did come," but rather, "is come." This was not referring to Jesus before the cross, but after the cross. He was referring to Jesus who was in the present manifesting Himself through their lives. The writer of Hebrews so boldly declares, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?" (Hebrews 2:3-4). Praise God! It was not done by them, but by the Father according to His own will. The supernatural is not our place with the Father, but His place with us. We did not have any right to the things of God according to the natural. It was not until Jesus that the way was made for man to fellowship with God. That fellowship was only made for one man, and that man was the man Christ Jesus. Jesus, as the son of man under the soulish realm, defeated the devil and conquered sin. As through the disobedience of Adam, sin entered the world; even so, through the obedience of Jesus, sin was done away with. It was because of sin that the soul man died under the law having never attained life. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order..." (I Corinthians 15:22-23). Our rights as Spirit-filled believers in Jesus are because He has made us joint-heirs with Him. We have received our inheritance through Jesus. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:16-17).
OUT OF TYPES AND SHADOWS The Old Testament is a type, or a shadow, of the New Testament. In the New Testament Paul calls it ensamples. The word ensamples means types. In the book of Genesis we find the word image, "Let us make man in our image and in our likeness." And God created man in His own image. When you look up the word "image" in the Hebrew, you will find it comes from a Chaldean word meaning shade. In the Hebrew the word just before image is the word shadow. In other words, the "image" here comes out of the root word shade. We see that this was not the very image, but it was the shadow image. You have two images when the sun is shinning on you; you have your physical image and you also have your shadow image cast across the ground. Have you ever made shadow pictures? Can you recognize someone from a shadow picture if they don't reveal first who they are? In Hebrews 10:1 we read about the very image. Today we are in the very image of God through Jesus Christ. He has made us and brought us into that place in Him. We are the true sons of God. Now let us look at this word "world" in John 16:8. Speaking of the Holy Ghost, it says, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me." To whom did He come? He came to His own. He came to the Jews. He came to the Israelites. He preached the word of God to them but they did not receive Him. They rejected Him. "Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more: Of judgment, because the prince of this world (arrangement) is judged." In the eighth chapter of John, Jesus tells them who they chose to be their prince. "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do" (John 8:44). Who were these? The Bible tells us in the thirty-first verse that they were Jews who believed on Jesus. Now Jesus is saying to them, "You are of your father the devil." We know that under the old arrangement man could not live above sin. The reason the Jews crucified Jesus was because the prince of that arrangement was not Jesus. He is the prince of the new arrangement in which we now live. We have been transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. The children of Israel under the law lived in darkness. All the things of the Father were behind the veil of His glory and they could not see that glory. Jesus came as a light into the world. If He came as a light into the world, or a light into that arrangement, does not that signify that the arrangement was dark? Otherwise it would have no need of further light. Do you go into a room that is all lit up and turn on a light? When the sun is shining bright, you do not use a flashlight. You do not need a light until it gets dark. When there is darkness, you do need a light and that light causes the darkness to flee away. Light is stronger than darkness. When you are in a room that is lit up, you cannot see darkness coming into that room from under the door; but when you are in a dark room, you can see light come in under the door. Light is stronger than darkness. When light comes, the darkness disappears. Jesus became the completeness of the Old Testament by revealing what it really meant. As long as it stood as a shadow, it could stand; but once the truth was shared with them, they were to no longer looked the shadow. Have you ever seen someone coming around the corner when you could only see the shadow? You would say, "Someone is coming." You did not say who was coming because the shadow did not reveal just who was coming, only that someone was coming. Sometimes the shadow may be big and monstrous looking and only be a small child. When a person appears, and you know that person, you do not say, "Someone is coming." but rather you say, "There's Joe." or, "Susie is coming." The shadow did not reveal to you who was coming; but after seeing the person, you no longer talk about the shadow. You do not say, "The shadow was looking so good. It just lay there on the pavement and it looked this way or that way." No, you say, "She was pretty. Did you see the way she did her hair?" or, "He was handsome. Did you see the color of his eyes?" You could not see the color of someone's eyes in a shadow, nor would you fall in love with a shadow. You cannot embrace a shadow. When Jesus appeared, the reality of the shadow, those waiting for the appearance of that which the shadow revealed saw the reality of the glory of Jesus. John's disciples, hearing him on one day and seeing Jesus the next day, departed from John and followed Jesus. John was baptizing under the shadow and, when the reality of that shadow came forth, they departed from the shadow and followed Jesus. There is no word recorded where they went back to visit John although I am sure they loved him. John was willing to decrease. The more light you have, the more the shadow decreases. Have you looked for your shadow when the sun is at its glory? The shadow is decreased because of the brightness of the Son. John said, "I must decrease and He must increase." When you have the light, why look for darkness? The Father proved this point. John 3:19 tells us, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Isn't that strange. As long as they were living under the shadow a lot of things were covered up. Consider the woman at the well. She had been married many times and the man she was now living with was not her husband. When the light came He revealed that the one she was living with was not her husband. She realized that the light exposed all her life because she went back into the town and told the people, "Come see a man that told me all that ever I did." When you get close to the light, you must watch out. The light lightens up every area of our lives. Aren't you glad? Would you like to face God knowing there were areas of darkness in your life that were not revealed to you? You would not want that. You want to enter His presence and hear Him say, "Enter in thou good and faithful servant. Enter into all that I have prepared for you. All things are made ready." Would you like to enter in today? You might say, "Brother Rankin, I have already entered in." Would you like to stay entered in and enter in some more? There is a "going on" in God. There is no stopping place. I had a pastor friend who was "four-square." He had it all figured out and there was no way you could convince him God had anything else. It was a safe place for him because that was all for which he could be held accountable. He did not want to be around me because I would plant thoughts in his mind. Then he would have to think. He would accuse me of trying to confuse him. If someone can confuse you on the beliefs you have, you are not very sure of what you believe. John 3:20, "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light." Have you ever heard anyone say, "I just hate that preacher. He aggravates me." They always find something to pick at. "All he ever does is ask for money." Now he may spend twenty minutes of a thirty minute broadcast to ask for money, but what about the other ten minutes? It isn't the money they are worried about. Why worry about the money that preacher gets when they themselves don't give anything to him? They are just finding a way to condemn him because light is shining and they want to darken that light. Beware of someone who has too much condemnation in their mouth. Condemnation can be a cover-up for darkness. That is what a cover-up is, it is darkness. Every once in a while one of the small children in the church will hide herself from me. She hides herself by putting her hands in front of her eyes. Although she is visible to everyone, she feels she is hidden. That is a cover-up. Everything is exposed, but someone is trying to hide something. If you are convinced you are right, it does not matter who thinks otherwise. When the true light shines, it will expose you if you are doing something wrong. It irritates a person and causes them to strike back. There is that old serpent nature. Jesus said, concerning the Pharisees, the religious leaders, "Ye serpents and ye vipers." This meaning it is a nature in us, the serpent nature that wants to strike. It strikes by saying, "All those preachers do is ask for money." or, "There is no love in those churches." or, "I don't want to go over there. All they preach on is hell." They are not really worried about any of those things. They are worried about the light that has come into their life for it has irritated their darkness. Because their darkness has been irritated, they don't feel comfortable in that darkness any more. There was a policeman on a college campus whose job it was to keep the young couples off "Lover's Lane" because the college did not want to encourage such activity. It was surprising how the behavior of individuals changed when the light shined on them. A couple times he told the couples, "Go ahead, go back to what you were doing. Don't mind me." But they would not do anything because the light was there. Sometimes people do things in darkness that they would not do in the light. Sometimes the light makes a person feel naked, even when they are not. Many new stores are all lit up with lights and mirrors and glass. It is for security purposes. They have cameras back of the mirrors and glass to cut down on shoplifting. It can make a person feel like a thief because you know people are watching to see what you touch or if you are going to pick something up. The Bible says concerning the ungodly, "...neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." But concerning the Godly the Bible tells us, "But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." When your life is truthful, you like light. Light attracts you because there is light in you and you desire more light. I want to minister to the children of light. I want those who are attracted to truth. Someone else can fill the great auditoriums with those who prefer darkness. There can be nothing done with them for they are dwellers of darkness. We are the light when we preach the truth. We can light up dark places. We have the reality of His light. Let us go in and be possessors today. Let us reach beyond this natural realm and reach in and touch the hearts and lives of those around us. WITH SPIRITUAL EYES
"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh" (Hebrews 10:19-20). Think about men like Isaiah and Jeremiah seeing in the Spirit beyond the natural things. It is important for us to know what God is doing so we can have peace in what is taking place around us. We could say that we have the Bible. What a wonderful message it carries if you understand what it is saying. We can understand with the Holy Spirit of God opening up to us its message. The way things look is not the way of the Spirit. God took the unseen and made the seen. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 11:3). If we look at things as they appear, we are not looking at the creator but the creation. The Lord is in the unseen realm of the Spirit. The way has been made for us into the presence of God, so there is no reason why we should not understand the mysteries of His Word. The inner nature of man is like God—invisible to the eye but seen by its manifestation. The faith that Jesus is bringing forth in us is not that of confession, but insight—insight into the overall plan of God—knowing our direction and following in that direction with complete trust in Him regardless of how things may look in the natural. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, and that it is the evidence of things not yet seen. "Things not seen" is speaking of with the natural eyes. Hope in itself is an insight to the mysteries of God. We are not taking away from confession to receive by faith, but advancing to something greater. We do not have to walk as the spiritually blind, but we can walk with a vision of what God wants. While in the mountain Moses received the vision for the tabernacle by faith, before he started to put it together. Even though there seemed to be no way in the natural, he started with what he had—faith in what God had told him. Consider that the candlestick alone weighed around 125 pounds and was made of pure gold. I think from this we can begin to see the great task that was before this man of God. Also, he was going to have to tell a people that had been set free from the hard work of slavery that they were going to have to go to work again. It is not easy being a leader of people. To get others to carry out a vision given to you would be difficult. You do not win this place in God overnight. Moses’ ministry had been proven. He was not just starting to do what God told him to do. The many times he had heard God tell him to take the unseen and use it had prepared him for this time. Preparation is not something that is taught much in this day. We are told that we already have everything. In the overall provision that would be true, but have you ever tried to use something before God moved on you to use it? If you have, you may have found that it did not have the effect that you thought it was going to have. You may feel as if your prophecy is not as well received by the body of Christ as a prophecy brought by someone else. This could be because your ministry of prophecy has not been proven to the body as of yet. Your ministry must make a way for you. You do not make a way for your ministry. If God has called you to minister in prophecy, faith in that call may have to be the only witness to what you are doing until the prophecy begins coming to pass. I have known men who were called to the ministry. It looked, in the natural, as if there was no way for these men to be used in the office of their calling. But this vision had been set before them and faith became the substance that produced the hope that brought it to pass. After I had traveled for many years across the nation ministering the Word of God, I was in a city holding a meeting where a friend of mine was pastoring. I had known him even before my ministry started. One night after the Lord had moved in a glorious way, he said to me, "Even when no one believed you were called, you kept on. Today God has proven your ministry." It is not what you see that you start with, but what you believe. At the same time we can and should have that vision of the Spirit to see what God wants and move in that direction. Do not try to walk in something that has not been revealed to you. You will have to exercise your faith enough to just walk in what is being revealed to you. Do not copy after someone else, but let God lead you into what He wants for you. Teaching should not be me teaching you to live like me, but I should be helping you to understand God's Word so that you can do what He desires for you to do. Jesus, and His obedience of the Father, is the pattern for our life. Hebrews 11:26-27 tells us concerning Moses, "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." As we walk in the Holy Spirit, the invisible becomes the real and the visible remains a shadow of the real. Sometimes the mind lets us see things differently from what they are, but in the Spirit we have the mind of the Spirit to see things as God sees them. This takes complete trust in an eternal God. Faith is being able to see and trust in an invisible God. How is this possible? I hope to answer this question for you. It is what we have been writing about. Through the eyes of the Spirit you see something greater than what you can put into a form. Things that appear are often not as big or great as they appear to be. An invisible God is always greater. The Lord works from within and thereby can control our actions. As we let the Spirit take over, it will lead us in a way that will increase our faith in God and His Word for us. To tell someone to have faith in God and He will heal them is not enough. That is why God said the believers shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover. Faith in God is not something that comes in words, but faith in God comes as you walk with Him. I am not saying that faith in God will not produce healing, but that one must have faith before they can use it. Someone may say to just believe, but our faith depends on our faith. It is harder to believe when you are looking at what you can see. It is important therefore that faith work in the unseen first. We should look not at things which do appear but at the Christ in us which is the hope of our glory. There is an inner nature in us that Jesus is perfecting. The outer man may be suffering, but only because the inner man is taking over. The greatness of this Christ within us is yet to be seen. There is a great truth in knowing what we are in Christ, but there is a greater truth in knowing what He is in us. II Corinthians 4:16 tells us that though our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. Old things are passing away and all things are becoming new. Many of the things that have been taught to us are passing away. When a child is a child, it has toys to play with; but when that child grows up, it has responsibilities. We have been playing with the things of God long enough. It is time to be responsible. God has moved for us. Now it is time for us to move with Him. Those who are hungry need what we have as sons of God. As children of God we have become, without realizing it, a storehouse for God. A storehouse that is full of word and wisdom. The only word and wisdom that we are often aware of is that which is in our minds. This is always limited by what our minds are able to accept. The word and wisdom that are in the Holy Spirit within us are what God used to minister to others. It was not the wisdom of Moses' mind that told him to go into Egypt and deliver the children of Israel but the word of wisdom from God out of the burning bush. God's Word is full of people who did things that went against the natural mind. The God life comes from within. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us" (II Corinthians 4:7). The power of the Holy Spirit within us pushes out fear and makes us stand before giants of this day as David did in his day. We were weak and dead in trespasses and sin until Jesus quickened us with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). What words the Apostle Paul declared. Notice he wrote, "through Christ which strengtheneth me." Even though he had the strength of the Christ within, he also needed the covering without. Jesus is bringing us to a full knowledge of Himself. The sons of God will rise in the power of the Son of God. In II Corinthians 3:18 Paul speaks of the change that is taking place in the lives of God's people. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Thank God for the change. It will bring about greater victory than we have ever known in the body of Christ. Jesus overcame everything and, as overcomers in Him, so will we. When you think about the image of the Lord, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? I know that my mind becomes filled with many things which He did, does, and is to me. It says, "from glory to glory." Oh, how wonderful it would be if there was never a trial. Well, some of the greatest trials bring about some of the greatest glory and cause some of the biggest changes for the better. Victory comes when the battle is won, but victory starts when the battle starts. The Christ within won the battle for us on the cross. JESUS IS WHAT WE NEED You can think of many things that you may feel you need, but victory is in the Christ of Calvary. Into His image we will disappear only that He may appear; not forgotten, but forever in Him that He may appear as He is in us. Jesus the Savior will be seen by the eyes of those that are lost in sin. Jesus the healer will be seen by those that are sick, and Jesus the deliverer will be seen by those that are in bondage. It will be His ministry, not ours. Thank God that we are a part of the glory of His inheritance. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:18). PAUL THE LEADER
T FROM GLORY TO GLORY If we could realize that our life in God is going from one glory to another glory, how full our lives would be. The overcomer from within has already won the victory for us. The Spirit has been given to possess the kingdom. When it is Christ that we reveal to others and not what we believe, it will have a lasting effect. As it was the Father's nature and not Jesus' own nature that He revealed to the world as He walked the shores of Galilee, so should it be the nature of our Father Jesus that we reveal. "Then answered Jesus and said unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). We reach a place in the Lord where it is no longer what we want but only His will to be done. It is in this place that the real life of the Spirit begins. Others may run and play, but for you it is accepting His perfect work to be done. When you are walking in the Spirit only the Lord's will matters. The greater master potter is bringing the clay into the image of His son. Paul went as far as to say that Jesus' faith was what he was living by. "...and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God . . . " (Galatians 2:20). We can learn even more from II Corinthians 5:1 where he speaks of being dissolved. The earthly house being dissolved into the heavenly eternal house. Not being done away with, but being dissolved into the heavenly. "And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Corinthians 15:49). We are being changed into that same image from glory to glory that Christ might be revealed in us. GOD'S ORDER "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." (1 John 2:23). There are so many different religions in this world. Many Christian groups are now reaching out to embrace many of them that deny Jesus as the true Son of God. I often hear words like this, "They really love God, but they just don't know Jesus. They are good people." You can also hear people say that it doesn't matter what you call your god, because we all serve the same god. Well, I am here to tell you that it does matter what I call my God. I call Him JESUS. Without Him I could have no God; however, because I received Him, I know and have the Father. Today you can hear a lot of messages on the last days. But teaching on the last days is not new. It was the message that John was writing to the early New Testament saints. He said to them, "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time." (1 John 2:18). "Many antichrists." John used the word antichrist in the plural. This reveals to us that it is a spirit, a spirit that refuses Jesus, the true Christ. John makes it clear that the message of the hour was not the message of the antichrist, but the Christ. He wrote to them about the victory that has been given to the Church through Jesus Christ, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3:1). Yes, truly the New Testament believers are hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3). Outwardly the sons of God look like everyone else, but inwardly they have Christ living in them. (Colossians 1:27). Not off in the someday land, but right now at this present time. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." "As He is" and not as many think He is. Yes, the Lord Jesus is only real to His people. The rest of the world sees Him through His people, but we see Him face to face. We can see Him because He is Spirit and we are Spirit. Where do we see Him? We see Him in His Word as it is revealed to us by the Spirit through revelation. We are living in a day when the Lord desires to make Himself known to His people. There is an appearing of the Lord Jesus today as He reveals Himself through a revival of truth. I am somewhat a student of the history of revival, and when I minister on revival, I am often asked, "Why did the revival turn out bad in the end." My studies show that the bad comes when those in leadership turn from the truth (the truth being that which is revealed by the Spirit) to the doctrines imposed upon the Church by the minds of men. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful schoolteacher. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would teach us all things. Who are the revelation teachers in the Church? They are the apostles, prophets, and teachers. In 1 Corinthians 12:28, the Apostle Paul puts them in divine order for us, "first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers...." This order has nothing to do with importance, but it is revealing to us the divine order. The apostles bring the first revelation of salvation and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Once the people are completely convinced of their conversion and realize that they are now a new creature in Christ Jesus, they are then ready to be established in the things of God. The prophets are the revelation ministers of spiritual growth. The prophets are to be the overseers of the local church. The teachers work with the prophets in the local church to establish the people in the revelation brought forth by the apostles and prophets. The apostles are pioneers. They cannot stay for over a year or two in one place. They may work in and out of a local body in the same city, but they are always looking for new people to bring into the revelation of salvation and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They are to lay a sure foundation in this area. Never are the apostles, prophets, and teachers to go outside of God's Word for revelation. The Spirit of God only builds upon that which is written. In the book of Ephesians, we have a list of ministries, "And he (meaning God) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers." (Ephesians 4:11). In Paul's second letter to Timothy, he tells him to do the work of an evangelist. The evangelist seems to be an advanced place of spiritual authority in preparing men for ministry. Paul writes to Timothy, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 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." (2 Timothy 2:1-2). The word pastors used here is translated from the Greek word poimen and means shepherd or feeder. I'll not take away from the glory that has been given to this name, but it seems to speak more of the condition of the heart and this condition should be in the heart of all God's ministry. We know that Peter was an apostle, and yet, the Lord told him to feed His sheep. Please remember that we are writing about God's divine order and not what has been the custom of the churches. Up until 1974 most spirit-filled churches refused to accept apostles and prophets. This is one reason that the Church has suffered such a loss for so many years. Today God is restoring the divine order to the Church, and we will see a great moving of His Spirit in the local churches. Paul gave Timothy a word of wisdom that would be good for every minister and future minister to take to heart. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15). We must remember that God's Word is true, and we must minister it as truth. The more we are exposed to the Word of God, the greater our understanding of His Word becomes. A bishop is the superintendent and overseer of the local church. Someone has to be trusted with being in charge. The place of a bishop is not something to be worshiped, but it is a place of divine responsible. The requirements for a bishop are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9. One thing that he is not to be is a novice. The word novice is translated from the Greek word neophutos which means one newly planted. The one in charge must be from among the apostles and prophets and must be a mature minister of the Word of God. There can be only one person in charge of a local church, and the one in charge should meet the requirements. Not all the ministers of the local church have to meet all these requirements—just the one in charge. Every local church must have a bishop. The bishop of the local church must remember that Jesus is the true Bishop. "For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." ( 1 Peter 2:25). A city can have many local churches, but a local church must have only one bishop. Under that bishop can be other apostles, prophets, and teachers. The Word of God does not teach that there can be one bishop over a whole city. Only Jesus meets the requirements for that, but all local bishops are workers together in the kingdom of God. PERSONAL PROPHECY "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
I am very thankful to God for the day He spoke to me through a burning bush. It was a woman evangelist that moved in the gift of prophecy. Oh, how wonderful those words were to me. I was in a battle on every side. The call of God to preach the gospel was burning in my heart, but there were no doors opened to me. The evangelist came back where I was seated and said, "Thus saith the Lord, I have set before you an open door that no man can shut." It was at that point that I stopped looking for open doors and just walked in the Spirit. That was in 1962 and I am still walking in that open door. I have never wanted for a place to preach. That word of prophecy confirmed to my heart what the Lord had been speaking to me. The battles stopped? No, the battles didn't stop, but now they were not standing in my way because I had God's word concerning my ministry. Since that time I have brought words of prophecy to more than one hundred thousand of God's people, one at a time. Sometimes it would take over seven hours to minister words of personal prophecy to six hundred people at the close of a service. Night after night God would be so good to give me the strength to do so. Today there are prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, and evangelists in all parts of the world that once stood in those lines. God's word went forth over them and it will not return void. Churches and auditoriums would be packed with people wanting to hear from God. The Lord was faithful, for if they were willing to stay, they would hear from the Lord. Pastors would rejoice as the Lord would speak an answer to prayer over one church member after another. They would tell me later, "You don't know what these people have been going through, but I do. The word you gave them was right on target." That was because it was not me speaking to them, but it was God speaking through my lips in prophecy. God knows everything about us but, because of His forgiveness, He has forever forgotten our sinful acts. It is His desire to fellowship with us. Prayer is a great place to find that special relationship that God so yearns to have with us. There is no greater understanding that can be had than the revelation of God's love. Prophecy is the way in which God encourages us. It is also the way He reveals His desires for us to us. My heart has never been more encouraged than when it has pleased God to confirm my actions with a word of prophecy. I think that many of those who received a word from the Lord in the seventies did not realize the true importance of those words. It is understandable that so many of God's people are longing for something and do not know what it is that they are longing for. Many a minister has built a new building just to try and feel as if he is doing something for God. When the spiritual moving leaves, man will always reach back to something he can understand. Prophetic outpourings are not something that you can just make happen. Only God can cause the hearts of men and women to rise above the feeling of loneliness. Spiritual things can never be replaced by natural things. Century old buildings still stand as a witness that the natural man seeks after God. But you cannot find God through buildings which man has built. God does not dwell in buildings built with our hands, but He dwells in His kingdom which is spiritual. When we move in the Spirit, we are pleasing to Him. Turning to God is tuning God in. We are creatures of habit. We need to be listening to something. Even if we do not want to, we have to listen. The natural world requires it. There are people who cannot hear in the natural because of a loss of hearing. There are others that have never heard because they were born that way. I have heard people say, "I don't know why God let that happen." Is God to blame or is the fall of Adam to blame? I say God is not to blame. The reason I know is that these people are not without hearing in the Spiritual kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus speaks beyond the natural hearing. He speaks to the spiritual man. Even when the natural hearing is gone, Jesus still speaks to His people, and they hear Him. GOD'S CHURCH How often we hear someone refer to a building as being their church. They are referring, of course, to the place where they assemble for Bible study and worship. The first Church did not have a building of their own, but there was something very special that characterized them. The Bible says, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). It is not buildings or church names that is to show forth the true unity of the body of Christ, but it is being in one accord. The Lord Jesus has been so very good to pour out of His revelation knowledge to us. As we receive from Him, the eyes of our understanding are opened and we are able to come together in one accord. That is we are able to be of one mind. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 we find, "...But we have the mind of Christ." Jesus tells us that there are just two spirits and that we will serve one or the other. He said that we cannot serve both. He was referring to good and evil. God is good and the nature of man is evil. If we do not have the mind of Christ, we will have the mind of man. We will think like man does and we will receive the things of man. When we receive the Holy Spirit, something new takes place in our lives. We are moved by the Holy Ghost to a closer walk with good, or God. This in turn begins to change the way we look at things. We no longer see things through an evil eye, but we see things through the eye of God. Acts 2:4 tells us what happened to the early Church once they came together in one accord, "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." What does it mean to be filled? It means to fill up leaving no room for anything else. When we come together in the Holy Ghost everything else seems to just vanish away. While you are reading this, there is a coming together and the Lord Jesus is filling up your mind and thoughts with His Word. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit has great meaning to a believer. It means that the author of the Bible now lives in you. This enables you to have a true understanding of God's Word. Luke writes, "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus." Luke 1:3. How was it possible that Luke felt he had a more perfect understanding? After all, he had not walked with Jesus before the cross. He had not personally seen any of this take place as did Matthew, Mark and John. His understanding was given to him of the Holy Spirit. He was not an eye witness in the natural, but he was a spiritual witness. God's Word works two ways, it is a witness by the Holy Spirit in us and it is witnessed by the written Word. The Bible is the foundation on which to base everything that we receive by the Spirit. If the Bible does not agree with it, we cannot agree with it. (Please stay with the King James Version of the Bible.) The Church consists of the members of the body of Christ collectively, heavenly and around the world. Jesus said that He was where two or three are gathered together in His name. As you read this writing the two of us form a church for God to dwell in. We are not the Church, but we are able, through the Holy Ghost, to experience the presence of God together. As the revelation of God pours from me to you, you are filled with the Holy Ghost. As God pours the revelation through me for you, I am filled with the Holy Ghost. This happens to us over and over as we come together in the anointing of the Holy Spirit. It is a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle. THE PREACHER If you listen you can hear a lot of bad reports about preachers. What does God think about preachers? Well, bad reports and all, He chose for His only begotten Son the profession of preaching. The Prophet Isaiah declares concerning the Son of God, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Jesus told the disciples of John, "...Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." Matthew 11:4-6. Jesus chose for His faithful eleven disciples the work of a preacher. Preachers have a special place in the heart of God. When I was very young in the things of God, He called me to preach the gospel. I was so happy, but when I told some of the people in the church about it they said, "Poor thing, we will pray for you." This really had me worried. I thought God had put a curse on me in place of a blessing, but when I read that He had chosen the same calling for His Son, Jesus, I was so very thankful to be a part of such a great blessing. Some want to be preachers in times when preachers live in big homes and drive expensive automobiles, when churches are full and they are on colored television. A desire to be a preacher for any reason is not enough—you must be called of God. Jesus told the seventy, "As ye go, preach the gospel." Just this week a minister called me asking for prayer. He has been preaching to poor boys and girls that have gotten into trouble. When he invited them to come to church with him, the members of the church forbid it. He was very hurt about this, but I told him to rejoice over it. That church would not have had Jesus as its preacher. It was to just this kind of people Jesus said that He preached. God never called a man or woman to preach to the whole, but to those in need. How we need to praise God for preachers. Without preachers, the Bible says, we could not have been saved. This makes me glad to be a preacher. The Lord Jesus used this to encourage my heart just last night. I pray that your heart will be encouraged to go on with what the Lord Jesus has called you to do.
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THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
he Apostle Paul led the way into the place of rest where Jesus is all in all. By no means was Paul's life easy in the natural, but he found a place of perfect rest in the Spirit. From behind prison walls come some of his greatest writings and never did he write anything but victory. It seems he was never to know peace and joy in the natural, but he drew from that endless supply from within. It is possible to find joy in natural things, but when they are gone, so is your joy. Not so with the things of the Spirit for they are eternal as God is eternal. A place in God is what Paul considered to be the greatest call of all. For someone to say because you are a child of God there will never be hard times or trials would be to defeat the purpose of victory through Christ. But to say that we are overcomers and have, through Jesus, overcome the defeat of those things would be truth. The enemy is only working, though little does he know, to bring about greater victory for us in Jesus.