The Spirit of Revival

by Michael
Free photo from Unsplash.com

I have been watching this revival spirit moving among colleges in the United States with great interest. Fifty-three years ago this same Spirit swept through our country, Canada, Europe and most of the world among the young. Oddly enough, it started in Wilmore, Kentucky in that same chapel at that time as well. Back then it broke out on the west coast in numerous places not long after. Many of the youth God moved on had experimented with drugs and eastern religions for the Hippie movement was in full swing. God was answering the prayers of many a prayer meeting that these young people would get saved and He move on the youth, but not in the way most religious people expected. This new move still had long hair and funk clothes, but they loved Jesus! With its coffee houses and tabloid papers and zeal for evangelism it became known as the Jesus Movement.

On the week of June 7th, 1970, a group of freshly converted hippies held some park meetings in our town. I had been hearing rumors about God moving among the young people elsewhere in the U.S. So, I decided to go see what it was about. At this time my wife and I had been attending a Free Methodist church and I was desperate for God to do something in my life to the point that I had considered suicide if something didn’t change. I was angry and had a dismal mindset. At one point about three months earlier my dear wife said to me one evening, “Michael, this hate inside of you is killing you and it’s killing me and the kids. I don’t think we can live with you like this much longer.”

Those words rattled around in my head for the next three months. I had been of a radical right wing persuasion and fed on that propaganda for some time. With this mindset, I hated what America had become and hated anyone that I saw as part of its degradation. So, hippies with their long hair, drug abuse, free sex and anti-war culture became a target of that hate in me.

God Chooses the Foolish Things to Confound the Wise

So there I was in the local hippie park with my wife and sons in our Sunday best after seeing a handbill (it was on our windshield after church) announcing a Christian outreach called “The Jesus People Army.” Soon some of them gathered out of the rest of the hippies, and though they also had funky clothes and long hair, these kids were different from the pot smoking and wine drinking crowd in the park. This group had faces that shined. They got on a stage and started talking about what Jesus had done in their lives. As each of them gave their testimonies laced with singing songs about Jesus, I became more and more intrigued. As the week went on, I went to other meetings they had in a different park in the evenings. Finally I had to find out why they were so happy and different from me and all the rest of the Christians I knew, yet they loved Jesus.

Later on the night of June 10th I found out. I went with one of them to a coffee shop and church outreach downtown called “The Way Inn.” While I sat with him he told me that the difference among them was the Holy Spirit and asked me if I had received the Spirit. I told him that I didn’t know, but I had said a “sinner’s prayer” with a pastor two years earlier. He then said, “If you had the Holy Spirit in you, you would know the difference! I asked him what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He took a paper cup filled with coffee and set it beside an empty one and said, “The cup that has the coffee in it is you. How much air is in it?” I said, “Not much. You filled it with coffee!” He then dumped it into the other cup and said, “Now how much air is in it?” I said, “Now it is full of air.” He said, “This is what you have to do. You need to pray, confessing all your sins in the past and present and give everything that is you have and your are over to Him and let God have complete control over your life.”

That night I went back into their prayer room fully expecting to lose everything that was once dear to me as I surrendered to God. What did I have to lose? My life was in a shambles. Two years earlier when I prayed with that pastor, I was not ready to give my life totally to Jesus. I only gave Him the things that I thought were “bad.” The problem is, if God is not in it, it is ALL bad! This time I got alone and started confessing everything that came to mind. At one point I had the dry heaves as He delivered me of a spirit of hate that I had ever since my involvement in the Vietnam War. After praying that night I went home slept, but the next morning I awoke a new man. Like the prophet Isaiah said, He gave me, “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they (I) might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified” (Isa 61:3, KJ2000). My life was totally changed after that because I now had Jesus’ life in me. Paul wrote about this.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. (Gal 2:20, KJ2000)

Dear saints, this is what real revival is. It happens when God moves on people to exchange their old lives under their own control and become filled with and led by Jesus Christ’s Spirit within.

After He changed me, I wanted to everyone to have what I had discovered. There is so much more to Jesus than Sunday church attendance! I went back to my church with my enthusiasm and my new found love for Jesus and started telling everyone about being filled with the Holy Spirit and that they could be filled with His love and joy, too. To my surprise, the pastor and the elders were upset with me and one warned me that this “Holy Spirit stuff” was dangerous and not welcome in their church. Yes, the Holy Spirit is dangerous to those who want to remain in their fleshly ways. God has this problem: He thinks HE is God. If we let Him in, He takes control of our lives by crucifying our old adamic nature and giving us His Son’s life instead. This is what real Christianity is! It’s and exchanged life.

It is refreshing to see that this same thing is happening among the young people today as revival spreads across the country among college campuses. It also blesses me that there are no “special speakers” or church programs behind any of this… just young people getting right with God and letting His Spirit do the rest.

But I can tell you from my own experience that inevitably, men will rise up and lay their hands on what God is doing if these people don’t heed Paul’s warning,

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. (Acts 20:29-31, KJ2000)

Jesus also warned us.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruits… Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out demons? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. (Matt 7:15-23, KJ2000)

This is a real danger and, sad to say, and it happened with us in Spokane, Washington and other places where the Spirit moved. Men entered in among us, even Bible teachers, and we gave them place. Soon they were in control and the Holy Spirit was there no longer. In our case, the man who had been teaching us out of the Bible moved further and further away from sound teaching and was influencing us to take up smoking and drinking in our new-found freedom. It took nine years for us to have his spell broken off. One of us read a pamphlet on alcoholism, and the attributes of an alcoholic described there fit our leader perfectly. We had been duped. What a shock! Many of us grew up with abusive alcoholic fathers and it didn’t dawn on us that we were submitting to that same spirit again because it came cloaked as a Bible teacher. After he shared that AA pamphlet with the rest of us, and the truth lit up our darkness it wasn’t long that group disbanded. They had been slaves to an alcoholic. Some had their eyes opened much earlier and left the group, and the ones that no longer jumped at his commands or were no longer considered an asset to his program were “graduated.” We all were in constant fear that we would be next. After all this was the body of Christ as we knew it. To be cast out of the group was to be excommunicated from Jesus.

If any of you reading this have been touched by this current revival, I pray you will heed this warning and not give up the “fish” our good Father has given you and accept a serpent in its place. Beware of false teachers and false prophets. While writing to the church about the Antichrist. John told those believers this:

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us— eternal life. (1John 2:18-25, ESV2011)

Today these antichrists most often come in among us in the form of false teachers and false shepherds who win our devotion away from Christ to themselves. This is what it means to deny Christ. They deny Him of His rightful place as the Head of the body of Christ in the congregation, drawing attention to themselves. The following is an example of righteous leadership.

And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who are you? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What say you of yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And they who were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptize you then, if you are not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there stands one among you, whom you know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s thong I am not worthy to unloose. (John 1:19-27, KJ2000)

Though there was much adulation of John among the Jews, he always point to Christ and away from himself.

The Greek word antichristos not only means against Christ, but it also means instead of Christ. They might not deny Jesus is the Christ openly, but you will know them by their fruit. They set themselves up as infallible leaders in the Church and deny us our devotion to Christ alone. They also drown out the voice of the Spirit who is teaching us all things we need to know. Speaking of the importance of the Holy Spirit as our Teacher, Jesus said,

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-14, ESV2011)

Does God want teachers in the Church? Yes, He does as long as they are speaking what the Holy Spirit is giving them to share in His timing.

Paul wrote the saints in Ephesus saying,

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of His might… (Eph 1:15-19, ESV2011)

Lord Jesus, please watch over your flock and lead them into all righteousness and truth. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we might know your leading in our lives. Especially protect these young people from the working of the wicked one. Amen.

The Greatest of These is LOVE – by Michael Clark and Susanne Schuberth — Entering the Promised Land

by Michael

It has been a very long time since Michael Clark and I wrote our last joint article. As we are both dependent on God’s leading and inspiration, we know that we cannot ‘produce’ any blog post unless the Holy Spirit nudges us to write and publish. We are also aware of the fact that Satan has […]

The Greatest of These is LOVE – by Michael Clark and Susanne Schuberth — Entering the Promised Land

Power to Become the Children of God

by Michael

He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name: Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10-13, KJ2000)

What a magnificent passage this is! “The world knew Him not. He came to His own and His own received Him not.” He was the very One who created the heavens and the earth, but its inhabitants didn’t know Christ when He came and dwelt among them. Sure, they knew He was from Nazareth and everyone knew that no good thing could come out of that backwater town. But very few who lived in Israel at that time really knew Him. Yet there were those who were given the power to become the children of God. How many who claim His name today really know Him in a love relationship?

Once again we see this Greek word ginosko translated knew and it means not only a mental knowledge of who Jesus was and is, but it means that there is an intimate relationship with the One who is known. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the children of God.” There is a receiving and taking Him into us and not just a mental knowledge of who He is. Formal education of the Bible or theology does all of us a great disservice until we can cut through our mental gymnastics into a heart to heart and Spirit to spirit relationship with Him. The Jewish establishment knew a lot about Jesus and they thought that they knew just how and when the Messiah would come but they did not receive Him. It was the harlots, publicans and tax collectors that received Him into their homes and to them it was given the power to become the children of God. These were the most despised people by the “righteous” ones of Israel, yet it was to these that the power to become the children of God was given.

This week while we were shopping for a car for my wife Dorothy, I met a man by the last name of Singh. It was one of those divine appointments that happen ever so often when you least expect it as we abide in the Spirit of Christ. As I was listening to this man, the Lord spoke to me and said, “He is one of mine.” I asked Singh if he was from India and he affirmed that he came to Canada from India as a young boy and later his family moved to the USA. This man was in charge of making sure that the payment and all the paper work for the cars sold on this lot were done properly. We were in the process of trying to electronically transferring the funds and it was not going easy when the Lord told me to tell Him what He was showing me about this man. Finally I said to him, “God is showing me that you are one of His.” He blinked a couple of times and then said, “Don’t worry about the electronic transferring of the funds, I can see that you are honest people and can be trusted. We will accept your check.” Imagine that a personal check from total strangers from an out of state bank for thousands of dollars!

Jesus spoke of the final judgment.

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ (Matt 25:37-40, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

Mr. Singh received us as God’s children. I had to give him a hug. It was a wonderful moment of the love of God flowing between us even though we were strangers a half hour earlier. After the deal was done, he invited us to stop by and see him again.

This morning I was reading in my daily devotional “Open Windows” this quote from T. Austin-Sparks spoke to me:

All of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled faces, we are becoming more like Him with ever-increasing glory by the Lord’s Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18 ISV)

I believe that if we are living in the radiance of Divine Life, there will be something of it betrayed by our faces. At any rate, the world will know something if we are really living in touch with the Lord, and there will be a language which only the spiritual can enjoy and understand. There will be those spiritual counterparts of the seed of Abraham, a people different from all the rest…

You cannot fit them in with other things, and it is not because they are awkward and difficult and deliberately irritate people, but there is that which by reason of their spiritual constitution marks them off; and if they did but know it, this is the secret of their influence in the world.

The progress and increase of spiritual Life means this, that the gap widens all the time between the children of God and those in the world who are not such. That is not to be taken literally in this sense, that we begin a mistaken system of hiving off, shutting ourselves up, getting out of touch. That is a wrong application of the principle. The Lord Jesus is preeminently our example in that He could move in any circle, and He did so deliberately, publicans and sinners, all classes, He moved among them, but His power over them was in His basic difference from them. Let us be careful how we are caught in this great movement of conforming to this age. To conform is to lose spiritual power.

https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/000428.html

Photo courtesy of NASA on Unsplash

We Have the Answer of Death that We Might LIVE!

by Michael

Newborn bunnies with their mother- photo by Michael Clark

You haven’t heard from me on this blog in quite a while. Sometimes God is silent while He digs deeper into us that we might know His ways more perfectly and during these “dry times” it’s best to be silent. But just lately He has prompted me to share the following about what has been going on in my life. Paul wrote the following…

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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. (Gal 2:20, KJ2000)

[We are] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (2Cor 4:10-11, ESV2011)

Yes, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead: Who gave us salvation from so great a death: on whom we have put our hope that he will still go on to give us salvation; (2Cor 1:8-10, BBE – emphasis added)

In the above verse many translations read, “we had the sentence of death in ourselves.” The answer to all our struggles with our flesh that wars against the Spirit of God within us is the death of our carnal minds so that the mind of Christ may prevail (see Philippians 2:5-8). It’s not the will of God that we should die in our sinful ways, but rather that we are crucified IN Christ. By this act of crucifixion with Christ on the cross we are saved from that old adamic mind within us.

For many months, now, I’ve had no brother locally in Christ to fellowship with. George Davis with whom I have written many articles and books over the last 22 years has moved out of the area and he often has no cell service. Another brother, Bob N. with whom we had fellowship in Christ for the last few years, recently died of cancer and most other Christian men I have met lack the ability to meet IN the mind of Christ together. I know that many of you are going through the same experiences these days.

A few weeks ago I stumbled onto a group of men in this area who have coffee together at the local supermarket deli. Some of them are Vietnam War vets and we have that in common. It has been interesting to watch and listen for any hint of the Spirit speaking through any of them and even myself. One of them, Rodney, is an “ex-pastor” who sneaks in a phrase out of the Bible once in a while. He seems to be quite outgoing and inclusive in his attitude towards others which is refreshing. I found the following quote from him on his church’s website that is most interesting.“I enjoy being a part of a fellowship that sees every person as valuable. If one person matters then everybody matters.” Excellent!

George Davis once had a conversations with a pastor who was trying to exalt his position over George. The man said, “George, how will I ever be your pastor (unless you yield to me)?” George said, “If you want this kind of relationship with me it will be with great difficulty. But if you are willing to be my brother we will get along famously.” This all reminds me of what Paul wrote,

So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Rom 12:5, ESV2011)

So, what does all this have to do with where I started in this missive? The temptation I have faced for many years it to “be one of the boys” and to be accepted and make friends. But when I join in their worldly conversations if I feel this check in my spirit, so I have learned to not do so and seek His grace to listen for the voice of the Lord before I speak. The Lord spoke through Isaiah:

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. (Isa 30:20-21, ESV2011)

Jesus said, “But you are not to be called rabbi [teacher], for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.” (Matt 23:8, ESV2011)

Ezekiel heard this same voice behind him!

Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. (Ezek 3:12, KJV)

I, like many of you, have known a lot of adversity and affliction during my 77 plus years (not to mention being in constant physical pain) on this earth so the tendency is to avoid anything that makes for conflict or rejection. In short we tend to seek to “save” our lives by mingling with people just like us. The problem is that we cannot obey the Spirit if we are constantly listening to the wrong voice within us telling us to “just get along” and “be accepted as one of boys.”

I have been made aware lately of the nature of these two voices, the one within and the one who speaks from behind me say, “This is the way of the Lord, walk ye in it” and to quit looking to the left and the right. You see, a lot of the conversations I have been drawn into become political; Left – liberal, and Right, conservative. Yet, Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world…” You would think that I would have overcome this temptation to be accepted in this world by now! Meeting with these guys has taught me to discern which voice I am listening to and to obey the Spirit before I speak.

God helps us by giving us the “answer of death in ourselves, so that our hope might not be in ourselves, but in God who is able to give life to the dead.” Taking up our crosses and following Him daily, as Jesus said, involves a lot of crucifying of that old man within us so that we might walk in HIS life and not our own. May we all become more than overcomers IN Christ Jesus as we learn to walk after the voice of the Spirit and not after that old Adam within.

But the LORD God called to the man [Adam] and said to him, “Where are you?”And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid… and I hid myself.” (Gen 3:9-10, ESV2011)

Instead, let us learn the lesson given to young Samuel in a time when in Israel the word of the Lord was rare.

Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” (1Sam 3:6-10, ESV2011)

The Simplicity of Being in One Mind with Christ

by Michael

Susanne Schuberth’s new blog post “The Simplicity that is Ours in Christ” [1] spoke clearly to me about the struggle I have been going through. She wrote, “If our Christian life does not always appear to be that easy or simple, maybe, there is a reason why we sometimes struggle so much. This Bible verse… [2 Corinthians 11:3] suggests that our focus might turn out to be the root cause of our conflicts.” She went on to speak about the simplicity with which a baby sees the world when they are discovering the things around them for the first time. They look upon everything and every person in wide eyed wonder and if we look back into their eyes they will soon smile at us. It is so refreshing to see such innocence in this corrupted world. Infants are fascinated by little things. They can play with their toes for hours, a simple mobile hanging over them in their crib can keep them entertained, especially if they can reach it and make it twirl. The simpler their toys are the better. Little kids can spend hours in a cardboard box, pretending it is a house, a car or a boat and they will drag their favorite “banky” into it with them and happily fall asleep.

Three of our grand daughters when they were young.

So in light of this truth about the simplicity that is born in a child, Susanne quoted the following words of warning that Paul wrote to the church in Corinth that had lost its innocence in Christ.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2Cor 11:3, AKJV)

And after taking a little child into his lap Jesus said,

“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 18:2-4, ESV2011)

I was drawn to the word “simplicity” in the above verse and looked up its meaning in the Greek.

haplotes (ha-plo’-tees) n.

1. singleness.

2. (subjectively) sincerity (without dissimulation or self-seeking).

3. (objectively) generosity (copious bestowal).

This verse speaks of the battles we go through when we walk by our own wills. Satan tempts us in his subtle ways to do his will and not rest in the will and timing of the Lord. If we submit to his ways we lose the simplicity of our relationship IN Christ. Oh, how the flesh wants to run out ahead of God’s leading. In so doing we lose the singleness of mind that is ours with the mind of Christ.

Simplicity! When God is leading us everything is simple. Everything falls into place in our lives, but not necessarily the way we would have planned it according to our fleshly thinking, but according to His wonderful foreknowledge and guidance of the Holy Spirit. In Psalms and Proverbs we read:

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in His way; ​though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24, ESV2011)

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. (Proverbs 4:18, NIV)

While we walk in His simplicity, He gives us that peace that surpasses all understanding because we are walking in God’s rest.

Photo by Michael Clark

Recently a thought came into my mind that we should move down to Texas to be near two of our grown children and their families who live there. I reasoned, “I am so tired of these cold winters and battling with all this snow, trying to keep us plowed and shoveled out. Those grandkids of ours down there in Texas are rapidly growing up without us really knowing them and having a relationship with them, and we are running out of time. They are starting to establish their own lives without us (three of them have already married and had babies of their own)!” I went on to reason that our youngest and only daughter lives down there with her husband and we have a lot in common with them both, so why not move so we can have more time with them as well as the others?

So, I set out to make it happen without asking God first. When will I ever learn? For the past three weeks we tried to get lined up with a bank loan and what a battle that has been! The more we gave into their demands for more information the more forms that had to be filled. The more we gave, the more they wanted. It was crazy! Then there were all the forms that the realty agency wanted filled out… all this being done by remote over the internet with their broken websites and broken lines of communication. Around in circles we went! Arg!

Then came the house hunting. The prices down there in Texas were lower than here in Idaho so everything seemed right to make the switch. BUT we soon found out that “all that glittered was not gold.” Finding fault with the places we were interested in, the banks would not loan on the ones in our price range, even with a large down on our part. It was an uphill grind for the last three weeks, and I finally threw in the towel. What we wanted might have been God’s plan, but it sure was not HIS timing. The more time went on, the more the interest rates were going up… daily! The more they went up, the less we could afford because the monthly payments also went up to cover the increase in interest. Also a lot of people from richer states were moving to Texas with their large wads of cash from selling their real estate and they were willing to pay more. This was driving the prices of housing up rapidly in Texas just as it has in Idaho. In short, it just was not falling together as I thought it would. And I know from experience when God is in something, it REALLY comes together and it doesn’t require a lot of struggling on our part. In short it became evident that, GOD WAS NOT IN IT!

In this three week battle with me determined to make it happen, I quit walking in singleness of mind toward God and in His will. I was not walking in “sincerity without self-seeking and abundant generosity.” The simplicity of my walk had ceased.

I finally laid it all down and stopped trying to make happen what I had reasoned was a good thing sanctioned by God. Something might be God’s will, but it also has to be done God’s way and in His timing. As it turned out, down deep inside I was running from something He wanted me to take care of right here in northern Idaho… my relationship with our oldest son and his dear wife.

I’ve had a stingy heart toward our oldest boy and he has been a lot like Jacob of old, always wanting his birthright and he seemed to know inwardly that it was his right to ask for it. He always wanted me to bless him as his father and affirm him in whatever he was doing. We would move away from where he was living and soon he and his wife would move to be close to us once again. This happened numerous times. It was like Jacob wrestling with that angel and saying, “I will not let go of you until you bless me!”

I had a hard time with what should have been a natural thing between a father and his son, because my father never blessed me and rarely showed me that what I did in my life pleased him, though I followed in his footsteps in so many ways, both good and bad. I just wanted to be like my Dad and have his approval. I think that this must be a common thing between boys (girls, too) and their fathers. This is exactly what our oldest son was doing with me, and I was unable to give him a blessing just as my father was unable to give it to me. It has been like a generational curse because my grandfather was the same way with my dad.

This week after I quit trying to escape to Texas and my eyes were opened to what God wanted me to take care of and I obeyed, the curse was broken. God prompted us to sign over the house we owned in a nearby town in which our son and wife were living. So we invited them over and gave them a “Quit Claim Deed” to the place. And not only that, I was able to hug our son and tell him how proud I was of all that he had become. God had opened my eyes to see him as He and his dear wife sees him, a generous and loving man who was a success in life as he went on to grow proficient in the electrical trade, just as I had before him. Now that gulf between us is well on its way to being healed, thanks to the working of God’s Holy Spirit in our two lives as well as in our spouses. We are looking forward to seeing more of them in the days ahead and fellowshipping with them in the Spirit as God leads. After seeing the tears that were shed by them two nights ago, it is obvious that an open door has been placed before us that was not there before.

One time years ago after a couple sessions with a Christian counselor he told me, “You are a runner, aren’t you?” At first I wasn’t sure what he meant, because I hated running track in high school. But he told me that running was the way I dealt with my problems, and he got me to see it. Then he said, “YOU ARE THROUGH RUNNING!” There are many instance of people who were runners in the Bible. Elijah ran from Ahab and Jezebel. Moses ran from Pharaoh and his calling to deliver the Hebrew people from their slavery, but he had to go back after hiding out for 40 years. Jacob ran from Esau after he stole the birthright from his older brother, but he had to go back and “face the music.” The night before they met again Jacob wrestled with an angel, the result was the angel touched him in his thigh so that he could not run any longer! And when day dawned, he limped toward his brother and his band of rough looking men expecting to die, but God had changed Esau’s heart to not only forgive Jacob but to love him and embrace him when they finally met. God had done a miracle in both of their lives.

Free Pexels-photo-258045

God will not let us run away from our problems or any open wounds with members of our families or other believers. He will make us deal with them so we can move on in Christ. He has “held my feet to the fire” regarding this so many times. I have run away from broken relationships and He has arranged it so I had to go back and try to be restored with them in each case. Each time I obeyed Him in these matters it was like a big weight was severed from a hot air balloon and afterward I went through a season of rising ever higher in the Lord. We might want to flush the offenders from the “bathroom of our hearts,” but God doesn’t.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17, AKJV)

We are His instruments to bring His love and healing to this dying world, not to run from it.

Dear Father, once again I agree with your will in my life and ALL your ways. Thank you for not letting me run any longer especially from my own family. Amen.

[1] https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2022/01/22/the-simplicity-that-is-ours-in-christ/#more-7247

What Does it Mean to Be In This World, Yet Not Of This World?

by Michael

What is the “world”? Is this word kosmos in the New Testament Greek speaking of the earth? Not most of the time; rather it is speaking of the systems on this orb that are ruled over by “the prince of this world” and Jesus said this about it:

“…for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” (John 14:30-31, KJ2000)

Oh yes, dear Christian, “let us rise up and go” from this world system, its emotions, its drives and its ways of thinking and acting! A brother sent me this quote recently,

“Christianity began in Palestine as an experience, it moved to Greece and became a philosophy, it moved to Italy and became an institution, it moved to Europe and became a culture, and it moved to America and became a business! We’ve left the experience [of Holy Spirit guided lives] long behind.” [1]

So true! Speaking for the opposite of this in a positive light, T. Austin- Sparks wrote:

You only need to read John to see how unattached everything is, how everything is lifted clean out of this world, and everything is bound up with the fact that Christ is in heaven, and that the Lord’s people are here, but not here; here, but not known; in the world, but not of it; a mystery people in this world so far as the world is concerned… unrecognized, unknown. And yet by that very means and for that very reason, the most potent force that this universe knows: the spiritual, hidden, secret people of God in this earth. To take hold of Christianity and mold it, and shape it, and systematize it, and crystallize it, and make it some mighty movement here; with its roots here, with all its associations such as man can see, appreciate and approve; to register itself upon the ordinary consciousness of this world as being something; all of that is contrary to the Word of God and is contrary to spiritual life and spiritual power. Christ is in heaven, and we are lifted out, translated, seated together with Him in the heavenlies. Our present purpose in this world is testimony only, by which others will be taken out of the nations, a people for His name. – T. Austin-Sparks [2]

It seems that every attack of the enemy is an effort to bring our focus and thoughts away from God and HIS kingdom and down to this world and the system that rules over it. Think about our daily existence. Aren’t we consumed with the cares and pleasures of this life? How much of our thoughts are focused on Jesus who sits at the right hand of God and His Spirit who abides in us? Even if we have thoughts and works that are by Him, how long until the enemy redirects those thoughts and works down to this worldly level?  Isn’t that what Satan was trying to do when Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness?

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. ”But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him,  “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (Matt 4:1-11, ESV2011)

Jesus had just been Baptized by John the baptizer and empowered with the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the dove at His baptism that had just taken place, and the Spirit lead Him into the wilderness. The same thing happened to Paul after His encounter with the Living Christ on the road to Damascus. He spent the following three years in the Damascus wilderness. In our new found zeal and excitement after becoming Spirit filled, we want to run right out and do exploits “for God.” Yet the most important thing Jesus (yes even He had to learn obedience through the things He suffered) and Paul learned was that there is no good thing in our flesh, and as Jesus said, “apart from Me you can do NOTHING!”

In Christ’s temptation Satan was trying to get Him to do anything, absolutely ANYTHING apart from hearing it from His Father, but He was not moved from His place IN the Father. This temptation was constantly put before Him all through the gospel accounts, even by His disciples. Satan knows that if we are bent on doing God’s work, he must pull that work down to an earthly level. So what happens? We are first tempted to ask men for the support of “our ministry” so we can do the work and still eat and have a roof over our heads, right? Young aspiring people who want to go out and preach for God are encouraged to go around to the churches and get pledges from people to support their work as missionaries or find a pulpit to preach from where the people will support them. “And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” How many of us seek First the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and [let] all these other things be added unto us?

Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Oh yes! We must go to the holy city and do our works there! The people of that city cry out, “So you are a Christian? What church are you going to? Who is your pastor? Who is your covering?” The city of Christendom is there waiting with its embrace that squeezes the life of the Spirit out of you until you are conformed into their image and not the image of Christ. There is room for lives ruled by the Spirit there.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

I remember a “holy man” of renown in our area whom I met with one time in my spiritual youth. After I told Him what God put on my heart he said, “You have a good message, but if you would just tone it down and soften it a bit you would find more Christian platforms from which to get your message out.” Yes, the devil took me to that high mountain, the mountain of Christendom, and tempted me to tailor what God had put in me so that I could have all their kingdoms open to me. I refused and as a result it is like Sparks wrote.

“Everything is lifted clean out of this world, and everything is bound up with the fact that Christ is in heaven, and that the Lord’s people are here, but not here; here, but not known; in the world, but not of it; a mystery people in this world so far as the world is concerned… unrecognized, unknown. And yet by that very means and for that very reason, the most potent force that this universe knows: the spiritual, hidden, secret people of God in this earth.”

This is why Jesus said even of Himself, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.” (Luke 4:24, ESV2011)

In Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, a town filled with churches and church Christians, I am totally unknown, especially among all the pastors and potentates of these churches or their people. Yet, as I wait on the leading of the Lord it is His “little ones” that He puts me in touch with at a restaurant here or a grocery store there in my daily life, even on the street in front of my house as when I talked to a young man working on the sewer line one day. God shows up with His divine appointments as we keep our eyes upon HIS kingdom more often that we realize. God is not about pulpits. Jesus didn’t spent all His time in synagogues or in the temple. In fact, more than once the leaders and the mob wanted to kill Him because He spoke the truth.

No, if we really do seek HIS kingdom and not the kingdoms of men or try to establish our own “ministry” kingdom, we will be “known, yet unknown” just as Paul said. In America everything is about grandeur-ism! Bigger is better. “I want it now and I want it biggy sized!” It’s all about “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.” And that is the mindset we come into the kingdom of God with. This is why the flesh has to be nailed to the cross of Christ. The way of the cross is all about decrease that He might increase in and through us.The carnal man seeks after a sign, something tangible to the five senses. He wants something he can see and put his hands on and possess, and so did the leaders of the Jews. They wanted Him to establish a worldly kingdom that they could be part of and rule over.

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21, ESV2011)

Dear saints, the kingdom of God is not found in bricks and mortar or in Christian City. It is being built in seclusion in the midst of us, in our hearts as we seek FIRST HIS Kingdom. Peter wrote,

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1Pet 2:4-5, ESV2011)

Dear readers, may you be found standing IN Him alone in all your lives then you will have done all to stand against the temptations of the devil.

[1] https://quotefancy.com/paul-smith-quotes

]2] https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002953.html

Only That Which is Spiritual Shall Remain

by Michael

Photo by Harry Smith on Pexels

The following is a letter by T. Austin-Sparks written in the early 1950’s. If what he wrote about back then was true, how much truer it must be 70 years later as we watch society crumble, the church turn into a business instead of the relational family of God with Jesus as its only Head and evil arise all around us filling the void caused by its internal decay? The salt has lost its saltiness and is being trodden under the feet of men because it is so earth bound and without a heavenly vision or ability to stem the tide of Satan’s cohorts. What Sparks wrote below that happened to Judaism in Israel is surely coming down the pike for Christendom. It already has in many parts of the world with the onslaught of Islam and Communism. Remember, what is seen is temporary and will be shaken so that those things that are not seen and eternal will be all that remains – the true spiritual house of God IN Christ made of living stones.

BELOVED OF GOD,

With this last issue of the paper for this year (and it will not reach many of you until very near the end of the year) I feel a strong desire and urge to look back and on with you. For myself, it has been a very full year. So far as movements are concerned, the fullest year of my life. I have travelled by air alone twenty-six thousand miles, and quite a bit in other ways. This has involved many conferences, meetings, etc. so that there has been a very great deal given out. To this must be added all the ministries and labours of my colleagues and fellow-workers. This is not mentioned just as news or information, although it will show that “a great and effectual door” is opened to us. But I mention this because it will indicate that we are not spending our time up in some corner, imagining things, and ministering to hypothetical situations. We are in immediate and direct touch with the spiritual and actual situation as represented by a very large area. We have no hesitation, though much sorrow, in saying that the situation spiritually is very, very sad and deplorable. It is our well-considered and deeply-rooted conviction that some great and drastic judgment from heaven of Christendom is absolutely imperative. We are equally convinced that it has commenced and is moving obdurately and inflexibly across the world. Just as the Assyrians were the instrument under the sovereignty of God to sift Israel in the last dispensation, so it is most likely that the power moving over the earth today – a combination of Satanic forces with human instruments – is going to test the whole of Christendom as to its real spiritual measure. This may very well be the counterpart of what took place is the year 70 A.D. when Judaism was shaken to its foundations and fell. The Scriptures quite definitely foretell a tribulation coming upon “the whole world to try them that are upon the earth”. This is something much more than Jewry.

The words quoted from the prophet seem yet to be capable of a fuller-ranged fulfilment than even the above-mentioned ‘shaking’. “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens”. (Hebrews 12:26,27).

There is no doubt that the Letter to the Hebrews was a supreme effort to get Christian believers detached from an earthly form of Christianity, and attached to Christ in heaven. That effort had as one of its strong reasons the fact that a great shaking was foretold, foreseen, and imminent. That shaking was to be in two parts, an earlier and a latter; an entirely earthly, and later an earthly and heavenly combined. The effect of the shaking, and, indeed, the purpose of it, would be to test everything as to abiding values. The former and earthly shaking was Jewish, but it had all the elements in principle and type of the latter.

In the destruction of Jerusalem – toward which the Letter pointed – the whole earth was shaken so far as Jewry was concerned. The Temple, as the focal point of that whole world, crashed even with the ground. The priesthood, as gathered up in the high-priestly order, passed away. The temple service ended, and the nation ceased to be an integrated and unified people.

These were things capable of being removed. And yet how long they had stood! What forces they had withstood! What confidence there was that they could never cease to be! How assured they were that God was so bound up with it all that it could never be destroyed and cease to be! How they fought and clung to it to the last terrible extremity! But it was of no avail. God was no longer wanting the framework and earthly system, which had taken so much room, and energy, and expenditure, before the really spiritual was reached. The percentage of spiritual value was so small after all, and spiritual interests lay so far along the labyrinthine ways of religious machinery and tradition, that it was not worth while. The means to the end was not immediate, that is, there was far too big a distance between the means and the end. There was no immediate touch with the real Divine requirement, and there was far too much that was intermediate. And so it had to go, and, rather than preserve it, God Himself shook it.

What remained after the shaking was just that, and that only, which was Christ in a spiritual and heavenly way: Christ in heaven, and here by His Spirit, the gathering point, or occasion of assembling; Christ in heaven the High Priest and Sacrifice; the order of God’s house here a purely spiritual and heavenly one – not formal, arranged, imposed, imitated, or material. Order grows out of life, and if that life is Divine, and unchecked, Divine order will be spontaneous.

The amazing thing is how blind and unbelieving Christian people are, and therefore how unwilling to seek to know the way of the ‘unshakable’. In a very small part of our lifetime the phrase ‘world evangelization’ (from one part to another) has been rendered unusable, and all that mighty machine is having to be revised. Countries which were until quite recently the greatest spheres of ‘missionary’ activity are now closed as such. There is a feverish race to try to move ahead of the flood in other countries which are already encircled and undermined. In those overrun countries nothing but a true and living knowledge of the Lord is stemming the tide. The framework and organized structure of Christianity is gone. Deeply, stealthily, and irresistibly this sinister work is paving the way for swift and paralysing movements in all the rest of the world, as much in the West as in the East. The result will be the same everywhere, little as it may seem possible because of long traditions and strong establishments. It seems a terrible thing, even to think, but as we have touched so very much of what is called ‘Christianity’ we are bound to believe that, because vast numbers who call themselves Christian are in an utterly false position, and the system itself has become so largely an earthly, traditional, formal, and unspiritual thing, this world-wide shaking is quite necessary and will be eventually justified. If we were writing a treatise, we could show that what is called ‘Christianity’ is really the greatest enemy of Christ.

It will be seen that it is not a matter of substituting another and better system for an old and poor or bad one. Some people seem to think that it is all or largely a matter of the order, technique, and form, and if we returned to the ‘New Testament’ form or order of churches all would be well. The fact is that, while certain things characterized the New Testament churches, the New Testament does not give us a complete pattern according to which churches are to be set up or formed! There is no blue-print for churches in the New Testament, and to try to form New Testament churches is only to create another system which may be as legal, sectarian and dead as others. Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of life, which life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers. Unless believers are crucified people, there can be no true expression of the Church.

This brings us to our particular point. What is the pressing imperative in view of this oncoming flood of testing, which has already carried away very many of those who were called Christian, and even evangelical Christians?

Surely there is only one answer:- On the one hand, a ministry which has as its substance and object the “rooting and grounding”, the establishing, the building up, of believers, the real increase of “the measure of Christ”. This must get behind evangelism, so that the work is deep, not superficial; enduring, not transient; intrinsic, not general! On the other hand, believers must really take stock of their Christianity. Is it just a tradition, an assumption, an external system, the thing which is common acceptance – more or less? Or is it really “by revelation of Jesus Christ” in the heart? A real walk with God, and a growing knowledge of Christ, a life in the Spirit? God has said it: the things which can be shaken will be. What have we got that, being unshakable, will remain? [1]

 

Then this message from the Lord came to Solomon:“Concerning this Temple that you’re building, if you live your life according to my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all of my commands, and live according to them, then I will do what I promised to your father David. I will reside among the Israelis and will never abandon my people Israel.” (1Kgs 6:11-13, ISV – emphasis added)

Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband unto them, says the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer 31:31-34, KJ2000 – emphasis added)

[1] https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002091.html

Unto Us a Son Is Given… the Son of God

by Michael

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.” (Isa 9:6-7, KJ2000)

These wonderful words came forth by the Spirit of God long after David and Solomon died and their throne and kingdom came to an end. It is obvious to those who walk by faith that it is Jesus Christ and His kingdom that Isaiah was speaking of because HE is the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father. There has been no end to the increase of His government and peace since the foundations of the world.

Many of the Jews and their leaders knew this passage and saw by the signs and miracles Jesus did that He was not just a prophet or just a good teacher, but if He was really the promised Messiah, when was He going to flex His real power on this earth and make the kingdoms of men into the kingdoms of God? And of course to them it meant that He would set the Jewish leaders as the heads of His world-wide government! But God and Jesus was and is Spirit and their kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said that God’s kingdom “is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21, KJ2000). Yes, His kingdom is wherever Jesus is King, in our hearts, and not in this physical world or among its leaders with all their hidden agendas.

Samuel prophesied this to King David:

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son… (2Sam 7:12-14, KJV)

Samuel was speaking of the Son of God, not Solomon. The kingdom of Israel was unified under David’s son, Solomon, but was divided upon his death between one of his sons and one of his generals. Israel has been divided and conquered ever since. Even today’s Israel is not that kingdom that was once ruled over by Solomon, which was ten times larger but is now is overrun by Gentile nations. So what could this prophesy of a kingdom that will last forever be speaking of other than the kingdom of God? Only Jesus Christ will sit upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” The increase of Israel’s government came to an abrupt end in 68AD when the Roman soldiers sacked Jerusalem and the temple, not leaving one of its stones upon another, and killed and scattered the people of Israel all over the Roman Empire. Even now those who rule in modern Israel are divided against one another. The only thing that unifies that country is the fact that they are surrounded by enemies and come together in a common defense with their carnal weapons.

Where is this house that David’s seed was to build after him? Solomon’s temple? This too was only an earthly manifestation of what God has been building with living stones from the foundation of the world. It is sad how many Christians are as blind today as the Jews were during Christ’s first coming as they speak of Israel as “God’s chosen people” and are blind to their own birthright as the household of faith. Part of the problem is that as Jesus said, “Not everyone who says unto me, “Lord, Lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father.” These do greatly err because they look to the place occupied by the Dome of the Rock as if it were God’s “Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King,” expecting a new temple to be built there when the New Testament says so clearly that the temple of God is one made of living stones. Peter wrote:

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1Pet 2:4-5, ESV2011)

Jesus is the cornerstone of that house, since Isaiah prophesied:

Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (Isa 28:16, ESV2011)

Jesus is the Cornerstone and Foundation of that house. Men are always trying to pull down what is heavenly and spiritual into the natural where they can manipulate it and control people. Today there is an “apostles and prophets movement” that claims to be the foundation the church and I have never seen such a display of carnality in my life as what I have seen in their writings, websites and meetings! Paul wrote:

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1Cor 3:10-11, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

Yes, let each one of these so-called “apostles and prophets” take care!

God spoke to Abraham and said, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (Gen 22:18, KJV). This is the promise that Paul wrote about.

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Gal 3:16, KJV)

The people of God are not a people of a common blood line, religion, nationality, political leaning or set of doctrines, but are those who walk in the faith of Abraham, faith in Jesus Christ alone. Jesus told the Jews, “Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced.” Jesus spoke to Abraham even back then and he believed. “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb 11:10, ESV2011). These Jewish leaders thought they had that city and the temple system under their control in an unholy alliance with Rome, and they were not about to give that up to the Son of the Vineyard Owner. Prophesying His own death, Jesus said, “But when the tenants [or the vineyard] saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize his inheritance” (see Matt. 21:33-41).

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (John 11:47-48, ESV2011)

It was here that they started plotting Christ’s death. When the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah and King, they rejected their place in God’s kingdom and it resulted in their own demise because this passage out of Matthew goes on…

“And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Matt 21:39-44, ESV2011)

Yes, “the kingdom of God will be [and was] taken away from you [them] and given to a people producing its fruits.” The gospel took root among the Gentile believers and those Jews who rejected that old temple system and produced fruit for the Master who is in heaven. But when the Jews repent and “look upon Him whom they have pierced” and weep and mourn, “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” (Zech 13:1, ESV2011. See also Zech 12:10-14).

With God His promises have always been given to those who walk by faith, just as it’s written…

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb 11:6, KJ2000)

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter [of the law]. His praise is not from man but from God. (Rom 2:28-29, ESV2011)

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:27-29, KJV)

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Heb 3:5-6, KJV)

Dear saints, we need to quit looking to the kingdoms of this world and even church systems for our help and salvation. Political systems are not the answer. The kingdom of God does not come with things that are seen, but is in the hearts of those who walk by faith, listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit. The warning in Revelation is clear.

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (Rev 18:4-5, ESV2011)

Unto us and INTO us a Child has been born and a Son has been given. The government of God’s kingdom rests upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ and His kingdom is increasing day by day as His people listen to and follow His Spirit, not religious and political men who usurp His place in their lives. There is no end to the increase of His kingdom in our hearts as we obey the leading of the Spirit. Let us search our hearts and forsake all that is of this world system, dear brothers and sisters, and watch how the Holy Spirit comes alive and Christ’s kingdom increases within us for He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. ”The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev 22:16-17, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

The Battle of Light Against Darkness

by Michael

It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. (Ps 118:8-9, ESV2011)

Not long ago most Americans had “faith” in many things: faith in their 401k savings accounts and the stock market, faith in the medical professionals, faith in science to come up with all the answers we need to deal with whatever threatens us, faith in our military to save us, faith in a strong dollar, even faith in our politicians. But it is interesting how all these things we once had “faith in” are failing us on every front. The dollar is rapidly shrinking, inflation is soaring and eating up our savings (if we have any), our COVID jabs don’t prevent us from getting the disease as vaccines once did, our enemies’ military might is rapidly growing greater than our own, and politicians are proving themselves liars over and over again. Even faith we once had in our church leaders is waning as they are caught in illicit affairs, stealing from the church treasuries, and being proven as false teachers. I believe this all is the hand of God at work, allowing these things so that we would no longer put our trust in men or the things of this world, but put our trust in Jesus Christ alone.

Recently Susanne Schuberth had a series of visions that she has been sharing on her blog [1] and how they might apply to current events and what we should put our hope as believers in Christ. In the process of reading her blog, different Bible verses came to mind that speak of the many things that the world is facing in these troublesome times we live in. The question facing those who believe in Christ is, “Are we going to put our total trust in Him, or in today’s technological, financial and political leaders and even those who make themselves out to be our religious leaders?” It seems that everyone is looking to men to do something to save us from what is coming upon the earth. It is becoming a perfect setup for a one world Beast system and Great False Prophet to take control. You might be thinking, “Oh boy, here it comes. He is going to tell us who he thinks these the Beast and the Great False Prophet are.” Sorry, but you can go running after the plethora of false teachers in the church system if that’s what you are looking for. I am here to focus on Jesus Christ and none other.

One of the things that Susanne saw in a vision was a high, chocolate brown, cone shaped mountain. She and Jesus were walking around the base of this mountain on a circular path with the mountain on their left. The mountain was oily and slick so that it could not be climbed. Here is what she wrote,

“It was only yesterday on Thursday in the morning that I found myself walking in the Spirit (in another vision, so to say) with Jesus along a well-trodden path that closely surrounded a high and steep mountain on our left. Jesus was on my right side as we kept walking this ocher-colored footpath. I did not focus on Jesus as I usually know I have to in order to not get side-tracked by the enemy. Instead, I looked up this high and slick mountain that was shaped like a huge brown cone. There was no rock, no tree, only a greasy soil texture which allowed no uphill climbs. Alas, I could not discern any way up nor down and no other path elsewhere, either, than this tedious one we were on.

Over time it began to dawn on me that we were walking on an endless circuit around this cone-shaped mountain. That was not only boring. I also felt more and more pressured to keep walking in this prison of sorts. My feelings turned from boredom over irritation to outright anger. After walking approximately one third of the whole ‘circle’ that surrounded the mountain, I really felt like a prisoner who wanted to break free! I turned to Jesus and beseeched Him, “Can we not go elsewhere??” To this He answered, “Yes, we can,” and soon I found myself with Him on a higher elevation on the other side of the mountain. Phew, much better there! Relaxing at Jesus’ left side, I looked down on the earth and on this whole mountain, its rounded off peak, and on the path that was thin like a thread, but somehow stuck to the mountain itself.

“What is this mountain?” I wondered. “This is the pandemic,” Jesus answered. “Oh…” I was surprised…  🙄 At that moment I saw many people who were walking on this path around the mountain. They were small like ants although I could discern the clothes they wore, the color of their hair and so on. They kept walking… and kept walking…and …you know the rest. At that moment it got as clear as crystal to me that we have to continually focus on Jesus if we do not want to remain part of the crowd which, being focused on the mountain and its path around it, never looked up to the heights.” (1)

Where do we who believe in Christ really put our trust? Do we get so focused on our problems that we can’t see the answer God has given us? Do we trust Him to take us through COVID and the other evil things that Satan is concocting for these end times we face, or do we, like ancient Israel, trust in the “chariots and horses of Egypt” to save us?

It is amazing how contradictory our medical science professionals have been about what must be done to protect us against COVID 19. First it was “don’t wear masks, but stay six feet apart.” Then it was “stay indoors for two weeks and this will all be over.” Then it was “you must wear masks and stay six feet apart.” Then it was, “you must wear two masks!” Next it was you must get a “COVID vaccine shot and you will be protected.” Then it was “you must get a booster injection and then a third one, etc.” And don’t forget the lock-downs, closing small businesses, even shutting down large sports venues and putting cardboard fans in the bleachers with artificial crowd noise over the PA system. On and on it goes, around and around the mountain they go, a mountain that can’t be climbed because they do not put their faith in Jesus Christ alone. Insanity!

Yet, COVID 19 is not the only curse on this world that reveals the futility of “the best laid plans of mice and men.” First there was the rush to make a vaccine for the first version of the virus, but they are not as effective against the alpha, beta, delta and now the omicron variants. How many more man-made diseases are yet to be unleashed as Satan rules over the hearts evil men?

There are many more of these “mountains.” COVID isn’t the only thing we are facing in this crazy world with its insane rulers as we turn to man for answers and only get more confusion and division as a result. There is the threat of China invading Taiwan, the Russians invading Ukraine, hurricanes, tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, nuclear disasters, famines, food and energy shortages…on and on it goes. Jesus foretold these things before He went to the cross (read Luke ch. 21). Why all this futility as men deal with these things? When will we ever learn that the minds of men have no answers but only cause more confusion, chaos and destruction as they try to fix it? David prophesied:

Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:” (Ps 2:1-5, NKJV)

It is not “what” is God’s answer to all this confusion, but Who!

“Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.” (Ps 2:6-8, NKJV)

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Ps 2:10-12 ESV)

Jesus the Christ will prevail and those who have believed into Him (the correct translation of John 3:16) and have their hope and trust as they abide IN Him and put no trust or hope in this world system to save them, these will overcome whatever Satan throws at them for they walk in the faith of Jesus Christ not their own (see Romans 3:22). This faith is a gift from our Father in heaven (see Ephesians 2:8) and He has promised to give good gifts to those who ask for them.

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest… But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:18-29, ESV2011)

Dear saints, this is indeed a dark hour coming on the earth. But we have many great promises in the scriptures for this time as well. The darker it gets the more we should be turning away from the world, its rulers and its wise men for our hope and put our hope where it belongs.

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were [and are] darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools.” (Rom 1:21-22, ESV2011).

Yes “darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you” (Isa 60:2, ESV2011). Spiritual darkness and even death are not to be feared if we have made our abode IN Jesus Christ.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”​even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Ps 139:11-12, ESV2011)

The key here, dear saints, is that darkness is turned into light as we walk with Him. The apostle John wrote this:

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:4-5, ESV2011)

The life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1John 1:2-5, ESV2011)

No matter how dark this world and its people become, if we are IN HIM there is no darkness at all. Neither should any darkness be found in those who have believed into Him, just as John wrote to those who believe.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. (1John 1:5-7, ESV2011 – emphasis added)

 

All photos in this article were taken by Michael Clark

  [1] https://enteringthepromisedland.wordpress.com/2021/12/03/hinds-feet-on-high-places-or-the-only-way-out-is-up/

Christ Our Temple – Where true worship begins

by Michael

The Thinker by Rodin – source : Pixabay.com CC0

Philosophers past and present have made it their quest to seek the truth of their existence on this earth. Some said that this visible world is only a figment of our imagination. The famous French philosopher Rene Descartes, surrounded by these doubts of existence, concluded, “I think, therefore I am.” Man’s quest for higher education in all the institutions of learning around the world, secular and religious, is based on this. To modern man, his existence is all about the mind. The importance of a “formal” education is drummed into our heads from an early age. Yet, to this kind of knowledge Paul wrote, “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1Cor 8:2, ESV2011). Relying on Bible and theological knowledge can and often does get in the way of our knowing Jesus in an intimate and relational way. We are made up of body, soul and spirit. The mind is part of our souls, but Jesus said, “They who worship God must worship in Spirit and in truth. God is Spirit and He has sent His Spirit into us to lead us into all truth.” (See John 16:13-15).

Two thousand years ago this man, Jesus Christ, came to the center of Jewish learning in Jerusalem, and challenged those scholars and priests who knew that their system of truth was the whole truth and the only way man can please God. To this Jesus said, “I AM the way, the truth and the life, no man can come to the Father but by me.” Needless to say, He became a target of their ire and consternation from the moment He began to present the New Covenant. He did not come to rule and reign in their temple, but to displace their whole religious system, dispensation and all its physical manifestations with a Spiritual man that we might all become “One new man in Christ.” Those who believe into Him become part of the temple of God with Jesus as it only foundation and cornerstone. Isaiah prophesied this event.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ (Isa 28:16, ESV2011)

Isaiah also foretold of this collision between the New Covenant in Christ and the keepers of the Old one founded on Moses’ Law.

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” (Isa 8:14-15, ESV2011- emphasis added)

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, under the command of Titus, AD 70- by David Roberts

Before His death Jesus cried out:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. (Matt 23:37-38, ESV2011-emphasis added)

And Micah prophesied:

Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. (Mic 3:12, ESV2011- emphasis added)

In Hebrews we read this:

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near… For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God… He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (Heb 10:1-10, ESV2011)

Often the most important things that Jesus had to say about the New Covenant came from His conversations with individuals, not the crowds. So it is in our lives. After all, He is our Personal Savior. In John chapter four we read the personal exchange that Jesus had with a woman of Samaria.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain [at the Samaritan temple on mount Gerizim], but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:19-24, ESV2011)

About the importance to us of this divine encounter with a lowly woman T. Austin-Sparks wrote:

I want to focus your attention upon these contrasting words: “Neither… nor… but”. “Neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem… but in spirit and truth.” Not this, nor that, but… Not here, nor there, but… That is the heart of things here. Now let us analyze this whole statement. “The hour cometh, and now is.” The hour? …All this is very much in keeping with the way in which the Lord used this phrase: “In that day”, when He was speaking about the coming of the Holy Spirit. The ‘hour’ and ‘day’ are identical in the Lord’s meaning.

Now, what is this day that had come with the Lord Jesus but the coming of the Lord Jesus Himself? He says it quite emphatically: a new day, or a new hour, has come. We have now entered upon a new period in this world’s history. What is it? Of course, as to the actual period, it is undoubtedly from the first advent of the Lord Jesus to His coming again…

Dear friends, most of the errors, the confusions, the contradictions that abound in Christianity are due largely to the failure to recognize and accept the essential change which has come with this particular dispensation [see Hebrews chapter eight]. It is not necessary for me to dwell upon the errors and confusions and contradictions that abound in Christianity. The state of things! Sometimes it appalls us, sometimes it perplexes us, and sometimes it makes us ashamed, this thing called ‘Christianity’ in general, as we know it. And I repeat: A very large proportion of all that which is a contradiction to Christ is due to the failure to recognize and accept the immense change in dispensation that has come about with the advent of the Lord Jesus. That is a statement which we must follow up.

We used the word ‘dispensation’. It is a New Testament word, and is, in itself, illuminating. The Apostle Paul used it four times. It is a Greek word, ‘oikos’, which means ‘the house’, and ‘oikonomia’ is the order of the house, that is, the regime that exists in the house…

That is the meaning of this word ‘dispensation’, or ‘oikonomia’: the order of the house. With the coming of the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit, which two things are one in effect and meaning, as we shall see, the order of the house has been changed. The order in the Old Testament was one order, and the order in the New Testament is an entirely different order. The house order, or regime, has been completely changed. I have said that if somebody comes in and begins to change the order in your home there is usually trouble, and that is exactly what happened in the New Testament. Tremendous battles and troubles arose because the Old Testament order was being upset and put aside. Look at it – again and again! Paul’s whole life was a battle on this matter. He was the man who used this word ‘house order’, or ‘dispensation’ and because he was now recognizing and accepting the setting aside of the whole Mosaic order, the order of the law, and was pointing to the new order that had come in with the Holy Spirit, what a time he had everywhere! His battle for Galatia, for instance, focused upon this very thing – the change in the order from the old to the new. That wonderful Letter to the Hebrews was written on this very thing. There is an order in the Old Testament of angel messengers, of priests, of sacrifices, of covenants, and so on. The writer says: ‘That order is finished. A new order has come in with Christ’ – “God… hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son” (Hebrews 1:1,2), and this is the new order that has been introduced. A heavenly order, not an earthly one. The old one was earthly, but the new is a heavenly one.

May I repeat, at the risk of tiring you, that it is failure to recognize and accept that that lies right at the root of most of our troubles. There are many people who are still living on a pre-Pentecost basis, trying to live an Old Testament kind of order in a New Testament day, and it does not fit with the Holy Spirit. There are many people who are living on a sub-New Testament basis, altogether below this, and not coming up to the high standard and level of this new order that has come in. There are some people who are trying to combine both, and the result is terrible confusion.

You can leave that if you don’t understand and cannot follow what I mean, but it is all an emphasis upon this: the necessity for a recognizing and accepting of this tremendous change that has taken place in the dispensation, in the house order, by the coming of the Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit.

The Nature of the New Order

There is no doubt, to come back to this fourth chapter of John, that Jesus was speaking to this woman of Samaria about the day or the hour of this new order. He spoke to her about the water which He would give, about the well which would be opened, and the stream within, about the life which He would give – but it is always with a forward glance and a forward look. He is thinking of that hour when the Holy Spirit would come, and this really did take place [on the day of Pentecost]…

But let us note – and this, dear friends, is the foundation of it all – that this new dispensation, this new order of things, is a spiritual dispensation. That is the thing the Lord has been trying to emphasize. That is what He meant with Nathanael. It was a figurative way of speaking: “Hereafter” – that is, when this hour is come – “ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51). What is meant by that? Are we to take it literally? We know what it means – that Jesus Christ is the way of communication between heaven and earth, between us and God. That it is by Him, through Him and in Him that heaven and earth are united. We here are united with heaven, and all the communications of God, by the Holy Spirit, with us are in Christ. We understand something of that, don’t we? But that requires this new order.

Nicodemus: Is this a new spiritual dispensation? Yes, Nicodemus could not understand it. “How can a man be born when he is old? …That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” That is the new order. It is a new spiritual regime that is introduced in this hour, this dispensation. It is the dispensation of the Spirit, and, therefore, it is a spiritual dispensation.

And that is what He is saying to this woman. This hour, this dispensational hour, lasting all these centuries, is a spiritual order of things.

You focus, you see, right down on this: ‘The hour… neither… nor… but’. ‘Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and they have always said that if you want to meet God you have to come to Mount Gerizim and our Samaritan temple, for that is where you will meet Him. You Jews say: If you want to meet God you must come to the temple in Jerusalem and that is where you will meet Him.’ Jesus said: ‘Neither… nor’ – just wiping out the whole thing. By one sweep of the hand dismissing the whole old order and bringing in an entirely new one and telling you what it is. Yes, it is the new order of the Spirit. And it is not focused locally at all, in the way that you are going to be bound by any localization of this thing, but “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. That is the new order. In John 3:16 it is: “whosoever believeth”, wiping out all racial distinctions, all geographical limitations, all differences here on this earth, with a great ‘whosoever’: throwing that at Nicodemus, who said: ‘No. Israel are the chosen people, the elect, the special people, the spiritual aristocracy. No, no!’ … “Whosoever, Nicodemus!”

That is what came out in Acts 15: “All the nations, upon whom my name is called” – “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name” – “Gathered together in my name”. That is John 3:16 – “Whosoever”.

And in Matthew 18:20 it is ‘wheresoever’. This is not a matter of geography, of certain structures, edifices, places, kinds of meeting-places, or anything temporal at all. It is nothing of this earth. ‘Neither… nor… but in the Spirit.’ This is a spiritual dispensation, and everything that belongs to this dispensation is a spiritual thing.

In the Old Testament it was the old house order. If you are going to have a tabernacle it is going to be a temporal, earthly thing, made with hands. If you are going to have priests with their vestments, their beautiful garments, and Levites, and all the system of sacrifices and feasts and orders down here – well; that has gone forever with the coming of the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit. What is the new house order? Are there going to be people in the Lord’s house who minister, serve? Be very careful of how you use that word ‘office’ – ‘holding office’ [1] – for in this new order there is nothing official. Everything is spiritual, and everyone who ministers, everyone who serves and everyone who has any place and does anything, does so because they are spiritual men and women, and on no other ground at all… [Note; there is no special priest cast in the New Covenant. We who are in Christ are His holy priesthood – see 1Peter 2:5-9]

That is very important, dear friends. What is the Church, and what are the churches? It is just this – nothing less and nothing more than this: the aggregate of those upon whom the Name has been called whether it be two, or three, or more… ‘Where I put My Name, there will I meet you’… “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”. That is the Church: nothing less than that and nothing more than that. ‘Neither… nor… but in the Spirit’, and wheresoever that happens, there the Church is, in essence, in principle.

There is nothing legal about this at all. It is a spiritual matter entirely. And so everything else to do with this new order is spiritual. That is what the Lord is saying to this woman. [2]

[1] The word “office” in almost every case was added by the KJV translators in the New Testament and there is no Greek word in the original to justify this. The two exceptions are where it tells of function of the priests in the temple under the old dispensation. The Church is not ruled over by officers in their offices, but by Jesus Christ who is alive in our hearts.

[2] https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001836.html