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Archive for the ‘Christian Walk’ Category

A Christian Does Not Commit Sin

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , on November 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 6:23

Do you believe in the doctrines in Hebrews 6:1-2? They are so simple and so basic that you must believe in them. If you don’t, go repent, get them and make sure you have them stored in your heart, because these are your basic foundation. You are going to be called to stand upon them in the midst of battle. You must get the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgment right. You must know that everything you do, EVERYTHING you do will appear in the judgment. Every thought you had will appear in the judgment. You get forgiveness of sins if you pray to Jesus and ask Him for forgiveness. Now, can you pray about something that you did deliberately? Yes, you can, but you mustn’t do it again. In other words, you are supposed to be changed.

Do you know that a Christian doesn’t sin and a sinner doesn’t do righteousness? That sounds rough, doesn’t it? I am just quoting our Brother John. You have to decide whether John is right or wrong, whether he was in the Spirit when he wrote that. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” (1 John 3:9). Now, the key word here is commit.

You get together and say, “Brother, let us rob the bank tomorrow.” You lay out your plans to rob the bank and execute the robbery. You are NOT born of God. If you were working on the roof of a bank and the roof gave way, you fell into the vault, picked up a few coins and put them in your pocket, then you might be able to go and repent, and say, “Lord, forgive me.” But what I am saying is that he that is born of God, that is a son of God, cannot deliberately, willfully sin. No one that is born of God can willfully sin. NO ONE that is born of God can continue in sin. You can fall into sin, but you cannot continue in it. If a person is continuing in sin, he needs repentance from the beginning. He has to go back and repent from some dead works.

There is a judgment on sin. The judgment on sin is already pronounced, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Now if you believe that, you will not sin. Unfortunately, we sin both in thoughts and in deeds.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 8-9)

Thought for today: You must know that everything you do, EVERYTHING you do will appear in the judgment.

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“It Is Good”

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on November 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Genesis 1:31

I have been thinking and meditating on Mary Magdalene. She was very close to Jesus in her whole heart and soul. Her heart leaned toward Him so much that when she saw Him crucified, she couldn’t think of herself. A lot of the disciples ran away. Peter cursed and lost it. Mary Magdalene was with the other Marys, maybe about five Marys; they stood right there. They didn’t care if there were any there that wanted to kill them. Did you ever think of it? They stood, right there, beneath the cross. They never thought about whether they would lose their lives or not.

After He was crucified, they were the ones that remembered He had said that He would resurrect on the third day. So, they took ointment and spices to the tomb. I personally believe that they used that as a pretext to go to the grave and see what they could see. The Bible says that when they got to the gate, there was an earthquake accompanied by an angel of a very bright countenance (Matthew 28:2). That was the time of the resurrection – you know the whole story. Mary Magdalene wouldn’t leave there. She wanted to see Him. She saw a man and she went to talk to him. She talked with who she thought was the gardener, but it turned out to be Jesus Himself. The message He gave her was the first resurrection message that was given to the Church (John 20:17). It was given to a woman whose heart and soul was totally sold out to God. She took the message to the disciples, but they didn’t believe her.

She said, “He is risen, as He said” (Matthew 28:6). He is risen as He said, and we, when we think of Jesus Christ, we think of our risen Savior. He appeared to them many times, but there was only one time He appeared with wounds in His hands and in His side and He only appeared that way to convince the doubters (John 20:25-29). Amen?

Now, it is 2,000 years since that has happened and Jesus has been coming closer and closer and closer in the revelation of Himself to the church. His plan is not to reveal Himself to you so that you could go and preach. His plan is to reveal Himself in you, so that when you see Peter, you see Jesus, so that Jesus would have many faces, millions of faces. We will all look the way that we look, but it will be Jesus Who will be seen. That is, your mind will be the mind of Christ. Once your mind becomes the mind of Christ, you begin to think like Christ, you begin to act like Christ, you begin to walk like Christ and you begin to behave like Christ!

Now, for last 2,000 years, we have been working on the church, and if God wasn’t God, He would be disappointed. You know, I look at God sometimes and wonder why He isn’t disappointed. Do you know why? Because He is seeing something that I am not seeing and He is hearing something that I am not hearing.

God made this man, a magnificent creature, and He let him loose to walk. And as the man walked along, God said, “It is good” (Genesis 1:31). Now, God said, “It is good,” and God saw you. God saw what Adam would do, and God said, “It is good.” What is good? Deterioration from a magnificent, mighty creature down to little people like we are now? We deteriorated not only in the body but we have deteriorated in mind. We have deteriorated in every way from Adam, except in Christ. And Christ’s intention is to come forth in Adam.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 4)

Thought for today: Once your mind becomes the mind of Christ, you begin to think like Christ, you begin to act like Christ, you begin to walk like Christ and you begin to behave like Christ!

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Death at the Golden Altar

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , on October 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Leviticus 10:1-7

The Golden Altar of Incense in the Tabernacle of Moses is a place of life. The whole idea of the Holy Place is the type of entering into the life of Christ, BUT one must remember that when one enters into the life of Christ, one must give up his own life. It stands out as truth, therefore, that to enter into the very fullness of the life of Christ, one must settle the question of SELF LIFE and ALL OTHER ALIEN TYPES OF LIFE, upon which the Covenant of the Outer Court was sealed and signed with blood.

There is a fearful record of DEATH AT THE GOLDEN ALTAR. Leviticus 10:1-2 records the death of Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron who were also priests. In our time, it represents not only ministers, but those who have reached that stage in Christ.

“And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in THEM THAT COME NIGH ME, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uziel the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses.” Leviticus 10:1-7

God did not kill these people. They transgressed basic principles, and became the victims of their own folly. No other fire was to be used in the tabernacle but the fire from the Outer Court altar of sacrifice, which God Himself lit, and which was a holy fire to be perpetuated. They disregarded instructions, and EXPERIMENTED in things of God. All this sounds familiar to me. The men and women of our day are transgressing in this very thing at the Altar of Incense, and are indeed DROPPING DEAD, both physically and spiritually.

Adam was created of God, a LIVING SOUL, but Adam died. Since that time, the perfect will of God for man has been to see man move again, NOT ONLY INTO LIFE, BUT INTO IMMORTALITY.

2nd Timothy 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

It is God’s will, therefore, for man to move higher than just being a LIVING SOUL, but to the very LIKENESS OF GOD, becoming a QUICKENING SPIRIT.

This, in other words, is the SONSHIP MESSAGE which we now preach. It is the message of God to His creatures to lift them from SERVANTSHIP to SONSHIP. They are to be masters and rulers in the natural, but children in the spiritual.

It transpires, therefore, that when the soul realm is conquered, and the GIFTS AND FRUITS of the Spirit begin to come forth in our lives, and we begin to have power over the enemy, having overcome the enemy within, THEN there remains only one enemy, or one VEIL yet, and that is ourselves. The veil represents flesh, and there are three to be crossed in the Tabernacle, before we come into the Holy of Holies, where God meets with man in a FACE TO FACE relationship.

Exodus 25:22, “And there I will meet with thee and commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.”

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd Edition, 1995, pg. 136-138)

Thought for today: It is God’s will, therefore, for man to move higher than just being a LIVING SOUL, but to the very LIKENESS OF GOD, becoming a QUICKENING SPIRIT.

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Without Spot or Blemish

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on October 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Peter 1:19-25

We can see that the term “without spot or blemish” (as stated in 1 Peter 1) speaks of a soul as the lamb of old without any scar or tarnish of sin, which has been thoroughly cleansed of God, emptied of self, and offered to its Maker for His use. It is possible that a person can reach the stage right HERE AND NOW, where he or she does not sin with his mind, neither with his or her emotions, neither with the will, nor with the desire. When you are in this condition, then you only need to make sure that your motive for all this was not SELF. Self-PRESERVATION could easily make a man get so smart with His God that he would submit and do all he needs to do. If self-anything is our motive, then self is still alive. All our motive must be GOD AND GOD ALONE. God’s people, God’s plan, God’s will. Lost, utterly lost in God, and absolutely rejecting that which we knew to be the thing called self. When Adam fell, his thought pattern fell. Now we rise. Our thought pattern must rise.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, SO IS HE.” Proverbs 23:7.

The Christ cannot be fully resurrected from within us until we are dead in Him. Death of the seed precedes the life of the new plant. If Jesus cleanses us of all sin, then, praise God, we should reach the point where sin is completely driven out of our soul nature, and the divine nature is being formed within. Without spot or blemish… blameless.

Wherever men of faith dwell, and wherever men live by faith, the name Abraham becomes a beacon and a sign post to them.

Genesis 22:2, “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Verse 4, “Then on the THIRD DAY Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” Verse 6, “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.” Verse 10, “And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” Verse 11, “And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM: and he said, Here am I.”

The angel had spared Isaac by his intervention, BUT had slain the self-life of Abraham. How significant it is that all this took place on a mountain which was afterwards the site of the temple built by Solomon (see 2nd Chronicles 3:1). The site is City of Zion, the stronghold of the people of God, and a SYMBOL of God’s elect in the end of this age. This was also the same spot where the threshing floor of Ornan stood, where David offered the sacrifice to God and saved Israel from a terrible plague. Today, the spot is covered by the Dome of the Rock and the El Aksa Mosque, a Moslem house of worship.

God, the same today as He was yesterday and shall be forever, required from Abraham the same sacrifice of self which He requires of us today. With the greater knowledge and more ABUNDANT LIFE which we have received, we will automatically give more when we give all. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). All of a bucket is different from all of a well, and yet the sacrifice is the same.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 126-127)

Thought for today: Let us empty ourselves of us as we let God thoroughly cleanse us, and let us commit to do the will of OUR FATHER!

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How to Receive the Holy Ghost

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on October 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 14:23

We receive the Holy Ghost by obedience to the blood. Some groups teach that by obedience to the ministry we receive the Spirit and other attributes of God, but this is error. This is the same error which the Catholic Church and all the other denominations preach, when they say they are the only true church, and unless you belong to their ranks you cannot make heaven.

God’s order of things is that one obeys the Word of God to receive the blood of Christ, which is the life of God. The next step is to obey that which you have received, to receive that which you desire. We obey the blood, and we receive the Holy Ghost. When we obey the Holy Ghost, we receive the fullness. This is clearly defined by Jesus Himself in John 14:23,

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

The Holy Ghost causes people to speak in tongues, but not everyone who speaks in tongues is filled with the Holy Ghost. In some places, devil worshippers speak in tongues. There are unclean churches who believe in abominable living, preaching and teaching abomination for doctrines, yet speak in tongues. People can speak in tongues psychologically. There are three types of tongues:

(a) Tongues from God
(b) Tongues from the devil
(c) Tongues from the mind of the individual.

God knows that we need the Holy Ghost so that Christ would be formed in us. Therefore, if you obey the blood, you will receive the Holy Ghost.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd Edition, 1995, pg. 126)

Thought for today: We receive the Holy Ghost by obedience to the blood.

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