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Posts Tagged ‘Salvation’

The Mystery of Salvation

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , on May 13, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Daniel 12:8-9

The whole Bible, the gospel of the Lord Jesus, is closed up in seven sealed mysteries. Daniel was told that he should “seal up the book,” because it would not be explained until the time of the end. Now, Jesus Christ began to open the seals. [Revelation 6 starts to tell us about the opening of these seals and the effect they would have in the realm of the world.]

The first mystery is the MYSTERY OF SALVATION which Jesus Christ opened up to us. Why do I say it is a mystery? Because not everyone understands it. Even some of us who have received salvation do not understand how, when, and why it works, and what the purpose is.

When God opens up deliverance for man, He brings man to a higher dimension where Satan has the right to attack him in a higher and greater way. When Jesus Christ received the anointing at His baptism, immediately the devil took occasion. Now he had the right to attack Him in a most frontal attack with greater boldness than he had done before. Because of this principle, when the church was born, Satan received the right to do certain things. This is why, when the seal opens, and the Word of God is released, the enemy is also released. This is a DOUBLE MESSAGE, two messages in one – the message of the glory of God and also the message of what happens in the earth when this is done.

Salvation is by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Most people do not understand the Blood. In the Tabernacle of Moses, God revealed it through symbolism. The bull was brought in through the gate by six men. No man comes to God because he loves God, or because he is beautiful and just knows the right place to go is to God. No! We were all hauled in against our will. God set circumstances to bring us in and to bring mankind into salvation. I believe that is why Adam and Eve did not eat of the tree of life. There is something awesome and awful about THE TREE OF LIFE. When you eat the tree of life, you begin to lose your natural life and gain immortal life.

In the Tabernacle, the bull was carried to the place of death, the Brazen Altar. They would tie him down to the four horns of this brass altar. Then they would slay the bull and take the dung and the skin, wrap it together and take it outside the camp to be burned. The meat was washed and ready on the fire of the altar of sacrifice. All this is symbolism telling us what happens to a person in salvation. He is beginning a new life and losing his natural life, preparing to go into the high priest and become one with the high priest Jesus Christ. The high priest puts the meat on the fire where it is roasted and takes it with him into the Holy Place to eat at the Table of Shewbread.

Salvation is when mankind accepts the Blood of Jesus Christ as payment for his sin and receives in turn LIFE instead of the wages of sin, which is DEATH. It is also a beginning of a journey that leads him into his destination in the Holy of Holies.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 98; 100-101)

Thought for today: Let us make sure of our salvation and continue with all diligence our journey into the Holy of Holies.

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The True Light

Posted in The Power of God, tagged , , , on April 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 1:1-9

Sometimes you have a loved one and you are praying for him and you feel that this one has gone too far. When the enemy begins to tell you this person is too bad or has gone too far, it is his work to cut down your ability to intercede. Anyone who says that of himself or of others is being ministered to by the spirits of Satan. The power of the Blood of Jesus Christ reaches beyond the boundary of all the barriers that hell can conceive and that man can put up, and God is able to save us to the uttermost by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Someone says that they abort babies, that they kill babies, that so many of them are being killed, and that they have all gone to hell. We do not know the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ. The Blood of Jesus Christ will reach beyond human consciousness and will bring that fetus or that young child to God. God knows, if He had given that child a thousand years to live, what that child would be. And God judges him upon that basis. He brings salvation to him. He is able to save to the uttermost. Someone else says that men bow down to wood and stone, worshiping other gods and that they are lost. Man is not lost until he rejects Jesus Christ and he cannot reject Jesus Christ until he sees Jesus Christ. When he gets to know Jesus Christ, then he has the privilege of either accepting Him or rejecting Him. God must reveal Himself to man before man can go to hell.

John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Verses 8 and 9, “He (John) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” This is the Christ who “LIGHTETH EVERY MAN.” We need to make note of this. “EVERY MAN THAT COMETH INTO THE WORLD.”

Why would anybody go to hell? John 3:18 and 19, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The point at which men go to hell is not because they are sinners, for we were all born in sin and shaped in iniquity and were all children of hell, but then we heard something. We saw something. We believed.

Are we more fortunate than all the other human beings who have not heard and seen? No. Do you know why? Because He “lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). There is no man that can leave this world and face God and say that God never gave him the opportunity He gave others. What he has to say is that God did bring him to consciousness one day. That he did see Jesus and he did reject Him and he is worthy of hell. The point is, God MUST (there are few things that God must do), in order to vindicate His name, reveal Himself to every human being on earth. A man can live godless all his life, but the hour will come when suddenly he will be awakened to consciousness. One minute, one second, will be like an eternity for he will see himself as he really is and see God as He really is and, in that moment, must either accept Him or reject Him.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 93-94)

Thought for today: Remember God is able to save us to the uttermost by the Blood of Jesus Christ.

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There Must Be a Change!

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on March 22, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 5:48

Today, I would like us to talk about sin. Most of the sin comes with our relationships with one another. The manifestation is in how you think of other people; how you think of the other human beings; how you think of your brother and your sister. When you see Jesus concerning these things, when you come into His presence, you will realize that your thinking is not right.

In Joel 2:23 God said, “I will send you the latter rain and the former rain in the first month.” Oh, yes! “I will send it to you.” But, brethren, do you know that we are stopping God? We are stopping God from doing what He has to do. If our salvation, or our coming to church, or whatever we do, is not bringing us to the point of repentance, then we are working in vain. It is an exercise in futility. Believe me, it is an exercise in futility.

You come to church; you have a form of godliness; you praise God; you sing; you feel good; you go home. You come back to church; you praise again; you sing; you feel good. You do it again and again, year after year! There must be repentance. There must be a change. People must come forth and begin to do what God wants them to do!

If my car operated like how we operate as Christians, I would never get places! Some parts would say, “Well, I don’t like how the other part is working so I am not going to work with them.” What happens next is that I jam up on the road and have to call the wrecker! All because one little senseless part did not work. But God has given us the power to do and to work; and those who are not functioning should begin to function! It took us so many years to come to that point of understanding. Everybody wants to preach! But nobody listens. We need to begin to submit to the Spirit of God, but the FIRST thing we need is repentance! You say, “All right, I am ready to repent. Tell me what I must repent for?” The first thing that you repent for is being like you are.

I am not satisfied. You are not satisfied. God is not satisfied! It is too long a time that I have been what I am! God says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). I do not see perfection and I am not “happy.” I am happy for what God is doing. I praise God for His mercies; when I think of the goodness of Jesus, my soul cries out “hallelujah! Thank God for saving grace.” But when I think of me – “What have I done with what God has given me?” – I am not satisfied!

I am asking you, brethren, to get into a mind of repentance and to ask God, “Where have I failed You?” “Why am I not satisfied in myself that I am all that God wants me to be? How can I do more for God?” I am not talking about works. I am talking about something that is coming from inside to outside. “Where can I be more transparent so that the glory of God shines out of me?”

I was talking recently about Charles Finney. He was one of the great preachers that God blessed the Church with in the 1800’s, coming onto 1900’s. A man invited him to his factory. He was showing him the beautiful factory – the machines and everybody working. Finney started walking from the back and as he passed each machine, the operator fell to the floor. When he came out, the whole factory was on the floor repenting. He did not say a word.

There was another man who described his experience with Finney. He went to mock him. Several men got together and said, “Let us go out and see that foolish man. Let us have a good time of fun.” So they went out to have a good time of fun. They rode up on a hill and as they were coming down, they saw Finney in a pasture preaching to the people. The man said he saw the people carrying on, but because they were so far away, they could not hear what was going on. As they started to laugh at what they saw, this man felt himself slipping off his horse. He tried to keep himself up, but “Bam!” to the ground he fell. When his companions saw it, they spurred their horses, took off and got away. But Finney got this man and he became a great preacher himself.

We are talking about what is in your heart. A heart that is pure! A mind stayed on God (see Isaiah 26:3)! Every evil thought that comes to you, rebuke it! “Oh God, I do not want to think that about my brother. I do not want to see the bad things about him. I DO NOT WANT IT!” That way you will have your HEART STAYED ON GOD! Do you know what happens? God begins to manifest through you without you saying one word!

I remember the days when we used to do evangelistic work. Mavis and I would pray and say, “Lord God, we want six souls tonight.” When we went to the meeting, there were only three people present so we could not get six souls. But no sooner than we started praising God, people walked in right from the street and fell at the altar. Oh, yes! They would come in and fall at the altar. Every single night! We were having meetings every night and every single night people would come in and fall at the altar. You know, there is a church now in that place where we preached and it has over five thousand people. God blessed it and I do not know if the revival has ever stopped.

I heard a story about Wigglesworth. A woman was praying for her husband. He was as wild as a deer; he would not listen to God or anyone. Wigglesworth had stayed at the house for the night. When he was ready to leave the next day, the woman said, “But you have not prayed for my husband! He is still not saved.” Wigglesworth just replied, “The bed. The bed.” The woman did not understand what he meant, but when her husband went to lie down on the bed, he was tormented. He could not help himself and got saved! Do you know what happened? Wigglesworth had lain down on the bed and prayed to God Almighty that He would take hold of this man. God honored his word so much that when the man lay down on the bed, the Spirit of God got hold of him. Glory to God!

Be like that! You have the capacity. You have the ability. You have the Spirit of the Lord. Believe God and it will come to pass. But repent first. If you want this power of God, then repent. Amen.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1998, pg. 11-13)

Thought for today: “Lord God, give us a spirit to be able to come before the throne of grace and lay down our hearts. Loose us from the chains that bind us; chains that enmesh us like cobwebs and ensnare and even prevent us from repenting! Bring us to repentance, Lord God, we pray.” Let us cry to God and ask Him to take us – body, soul, and spirit – and quicken us and deliver us. “Lord God, bring us into the place that You want us to be in today. Amen.”

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Water Baptism – A Covenant

Posted in The Covenant, tagged , , , , , , , on September 10, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 3:11 & 1 Corinthians 12:13

Water Baptism is an act of Covenant, just as a Marriage Ceremony. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Saviour, there was no cost accrual to us. Our salvation was bought and paid for by The Blood of Jesus Christ. Now that we are Christians, God is asking us to reciprocate. If we want to be a part of the Body of Christ, our first act would be to make a covenant with the Body of Christ, or in other words, declare our loyalty and love by some act of our will. We, therefore, must renounce the former things, and declare our stand for Christ, thus becoming dead to sin and alive unto God.

  1. Natural – Matthew 3:11
    Baptism in water
    Baptizer is man
  2. Spirit – Matthew 3:11
    Baptism in Holy Ghost
    Baptizer is Jesus
  3. Fullness – 1st Corinthians 12:13
    Baptism into Christ
    Baptizer is Holy Ghost

As the chart shows, let us look at the three dimensions which God has ordained for us to operate.

(1) NATURAL – The First dimension is always the natural. Every principle of God is first given to us in the natural. If we allow our understanding to remain in the natural, then it has no real meaning, since the natural will pass away, and at best is temporary. THE NATURAL BAPTISM, THEN, IS IN WATER, AND PERFORMED BY A HUMAN PERSON.

(2) SPIRITUAL – The Second dimension is always spiritual. The spiritual, therefore, is the real purpose for the natural, and it is upon a higher plane. The spiritual baptism is called the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is the entering in of the Holy Spirit into the spirit of the individual. In this baptism, instead of being covered over with water, one is covered over with the Holy Spirit, inside and outside. The pattern, however, was laid by the water baptism. Just as the water covered the believer, so also the Holy Spirit covers him, and the Baptizer is Christ Himself.

(3) FULLNESS – The Third dimension is the absolute fulfillment of both natural and spiritual. If we then understand the water baptism, then we will easily understand what the fullness of baptism will be. In this baptism, we are immersed into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 6:2 speaks of “baptisms,“ while Ephesians 4:5 tells us that there is only “one baptism.“ These are reconciled when we understand that in the one there are three. Matthew 3:11 tells us that John the Baptist baptized with water, but Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. That gives us the scripture for the first two. The third is found in 1st Corinthians 12:13, where it states that the Holy Spirit baptizes us into Christ.

An example would be in order at this point. There was a natural man named Israel, and he produced a people named Israel. If this was the end of the story, then it would be a sad one indeed, but the natural Israel produced a man named Jesus Christ, who became the Saviour and Lord of a spiritual nation, and then some of the promises which it was impossible for natural Israel to walk in, the spiritual Israel are walking in. However, this spiritual Israel is just as unsatisfactory before God as the natural Israel. God, therefore, must bring another Israel to be made out of both, which He calls Zion (The Body of Christ), which will be the perfection of Beauty.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 56-57)

Thought for today: We, therefore, must renounce the former things, and declare our stand for Christ, thus becoming dead to sin and alive unto God.

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Salvation Is God’s Business

Posted in The Power of God, tagged , , on April 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 3:16-19

The responsibility of salvation is not upon humanity, but it is upon God to provide a means of escape from this awful condition into which we were born. The people in this age, since Jesus came, must hear of God. If they never hear of God, God cannot send them to hell. No man can go to hell if he has never heard of God, or never heard of salvation, or never heard of Jesus Christ. You say that there are so many heathen, so many people! God will preach salvation to these people and set them free wherever they are, even without a preacher. God will preach to the unborn babe, the child in the womb (Luke 1:41), to anyone. He will give life to those whom He knows will accept it, even before they can accept it.

In Psalm 139:13-16, David speaks to God concerning the time before he was born and how God had put His hand upon him in the womb. “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” This verse tells us of a prenatal operation of God. God operates on people even before they are born. Because God is God, He can do anything. He can preach to a child who we cannot even communicate with. He can speak to an unconscious person. He can speak to a person who to us is uncommunicative; yet to Him, He can have dialogue with that person.

God has His voice in dark corners of the earth. The Word is being preached and is going forth.

Men will be judged according to the light which they have received. God is not in the business of sending people to hell. He is in the business of salvation. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil,” John 3:19. Salvation is dependent upon the individual, because God is giving to each person. If ever a man lived and is about to die and has not received the knowledge of God, the responsibility rests upon Jesus Christ to stop him at the gates of death and to give him an opportunity of accepting life or accepting death.

The thief on the cross is the best example of this. He probably did not have an opportunity before, but then God opened his eyes just before he went into death, and he saw Jesus, and turned to Him and said, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Jesus said unto him, “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” “Paradise,” of course, meant down in hell where Jesus was going. The thief had an opportunity there of accepting Jesus. Jesus Christ “preached unto the spirits in prison,” and “led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men,” and the thief on the cross was one of the first who received that gift. (See 1 Peter 3:18-20 and Ephesians 4:8-9.)

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 86-87)

Thought for today: We are just instruments in the hand of God. It is God’s responsibility to draw men unto Him.

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