Spirituality: The Key To All That is of God

by T. Austin-Sparks

Here's a great teaching from T. Austin-Sparks on why so little of the truly spiritual is in Christianity today.


A spiritual state is the key to all that is of God. Spirituality is the door, and the key to the door, beyond which lies everything that relates to God. Without spirituality there is no way through; the door is closed. The word "cannot" stands written as an impassable barrier - "cannot understand or receive the things of the Spirit of God."

The world of things temporal is only a shadow of another world and has no abiding qualities or values in itself. It is governed by the law of vanity, vanity meaning simply that it cannot of itself realize its own destiny. It will reach a point, and from that point turn back and in upon itself; its efforts, its groanings, its travailings, never issue in a final realization of its intention. Nothing of it, by its own properties, can realize Divine purposes and ends. It is very important to recognize this.

As we get closer to this matter, we see how it applies specifically to Christian work. Oh, how many things are gathered into organized Christianity with the idea of making for effectiveness! The idea is that if you can have these things you are going to get results.

Money - oh, how much could be done if only we had money! We must have money! I ask you, how was it in the book of the Acts? Was anything done? With all the money today, how much is done of an abiding, eternal, spiritual value? If only you can get names and titles on your programs and advertisements, you are going to effect something! Are you? If you can get reputation, scholarship, learning, ability, physical strength, business acumen, the work will be affected. Will it?

I want to say that not in one of these things, nor in all of them put together, in themselves, is there any spiritual value, and there can be a very vast amount of spiritual value without any of them. God has taken pains along both lines to prove that. Along the line of their presence in abundance He has proved their spiritual futility; and along the line of taking the weak things and the despised and the foolish and the things which are not, by something which was nothing in itself, He has through the ages demonstrated His own power and done mightily fruitful things for eternity.

Well, that is simple and obvious, and it is only one more contribution to this fact, that it is spirituality that counts, that is the effective thing, the thing that gets through, and nothing else. The learning, the money, and all the other things may have a place, provided they do not govern, provided they are subservient to what is spiritual and are never banked upon as the things which are going to do the work; provided it is never assumed that if you have these things, a great work for God can be done. God will make evident the folly of that assumption. A whole range of things is employed by organized Christianity to secure Divine ends, but it does not work. Well, that is the first thing that we note in connection with spirituality.

We proceed in the next place to recognize that for spiritual - that is, Divine, eternal, ultimate purposes, we have to be reconstituted on a spiritual level and basis. That, of course, is the very heart of John 3. Nicodemus is interested in, and concerned about, the Kingdom of God, wanting to know about it, and has come to the Lord Jesus by night, evidently to talk about it. He had, like all other Israelites, an entirely temporal conception of the Kingdom, an earthly idea. It was formal, an official matter. The Lord Jesus does not waste any time at all with that. He simply brushes it all aside, ignores it, and says, ''Ye must be born anew". ''Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.'' That is elementary, but we are coming to this fact: in order to know anything at all about the things of God (and I take the Kingdom of God to be that realm in which all that obtains is of God - -that which belongs to God) we have to be constituted according to God.

Nothing is possible until we are reconstituted on a new principle, until we are in other words constituted spiritual beings in a new way. The very beginnings of things in relation to God are that they are a new and altogether other constitution, just as absolute as would be the reconstituting of us to live a fish's life, and perhaps more so. We have to begin over again. For the very first thing of God, that is necessary. I know that I am not saying anything that is new in itself to you, but I feel very much that there has to be a reconsideration of the whole Christian conception of things if we are going to have effectiveness.

The ideas of doing God's work, and of what His work is, are very often far from the truth. The ideas of the means by which God would work are very often largely outside of the pale of God's acceptance. We are concerned with real spiritual effectiveness, are we not? Then we have to learn the secret of it; that is what we are after. There is a crippling, paralyzing ''cannot'' resting upon the natural, the soulical man where the things of God are concerned; and yet how much of that soulical life is employed and relied upon in Christianity today to secure spiritual ends! If only you can get high-tensioned atmospheres, a good deal of stir and movement and emotion; if only you can get certain conditions brought about by a forceful, powerful personality with its impact upon the people; then you will get results!

And a great deal of result is obtained, but it is not spiritual; it is not abiding and eternal. But unfortunately, the consequences are not limited to that. There issues ever more and more this great tragedy of people having tried and been disappointed, and determining never to try again. The world is strewn with people who have had an experience and no more. Oh, the devil is clever!

We are saying that there is an unbridged gulf between the natural and the spiritual, and there can be no carryover; and yet in the Christianity of our day there is a tremendous carryover of the natural to the spiritual. We find the realm of God's things is simply full of natural elements, and they are all paralyzing the spiritual. There has to be a tremendous removal of all this smother and cover of natural elements - men coming in with their drive and their ideas and conceptions and ways. It is killing the work of God. Until that is really dealt with in the power of the Cross of our Lord Jesus and all set aside, and God is free to do His own work by His own means along His own lines, there will be no commensurate result. God's means and God's way is spirituality from start to finish - the impact of a spiritual constitution.

Yes, there is an unbridged gulf between the natural (the soulical) and the spiritual, and there can be no carryover. Look at the fact. It is so often very striking that a person of very considerable natural acumen, learning intelligence and ability in this world is nothing in real spiritual things, though he be a Christian. Are you not often up against that? A Christian man may be tremendously able in business affairs and most acute in his business transactions, full of intelligence and worldly wisdom, able to carry the weight of an immense concern, to be the driving force of a great business, man of weight and consideration in this world, but when it comes to spiritual things he may be a babe. You speak about the things of the Lord, and that great brain is altogether beaten by the simplest things of the spiritual life. You can get nowhere in talking about the Lord.

I am often amazed as I meet and talk with Christian men who are carrying great responsibilities and who have undoubtedly great abilities, and when you talk about spiritual things they are unable to say anything, to make any contribution; you are talking in another realm. And yet they know they are born again, and they have been so for a long time. What is the matter? Well, there is a gulf. They have all that greatness on the natural side, but they are very small on the spiritual. All that they have of intellectual ability and equipment and power in every way to handle big things naturally serves them in no stead whatever when they come to handle the things of God; whereas somebody who has none of it is a giant, a teacher, in the realm of things spiritual. Well, that is a commonplace in our experience.

But it comes right back to this, that there is a gulf, and there is no real bridging of this gulf, there is no carrying from one side to the other. The word ''cannot'' stands there. Here the word is not about the unregenerate, the grossly sinful. It is the Christian who is still natural, living on the basis of his soul rather than in the realm of his renewed spirit. The natural man ''cannot". That is the closed door in things spiritual. Whatever he is in things natural, in things spiritual he is a babe or a fool.

Let me say without any hesitation: the measure of external ritual and formalism and that sort of thing determines the measure of spirituality. The more you have of that, the less you have of true spiritual life, of real spiritual food. A real life with the Lord is something very simple, shorn of all the art of religion; a few children of God gathered together in something which has no ecclesiastical traditions, no religious embellishments, no external forms, but just a simple meeting in the Name of the Lord. There you have life, power, fullness. I am not saying that things must be shoddy in order to have spirituality; I am saying that the law of life is spirituality.

It works in another way. The nearer to earth we get, the more we ourselves feel our importance. Man is biggest when he is nearest to the earth; he is smallest when he is farthest away. I remember my first time in an aeroplane; at ten thousand feet up, I looked down on the ground that meant so much weary toil to cross. It looked only inches big; the people and animals were like toys. The nearer to heaven you get, the less important are the things of earth. All this religious embellishment is the importance of the earth, of the world. The nearer you get to things spiritual and heavenly, the less of that you want, it all goes; you see how really petty and insignificant it is. See the Church from heaven, and all this that goes on down here is like playing at going to church, it is so small. There is a great deal of difference in the spiritual constitution.

To sum up what I am saying, it is this: Spirituality rightly understood is the secret of all that belongs to God. At the very beginning of our life with God, we have to be reconstituted as spiritual beings.

''That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.''

''He that is spiritual........''

"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.''

Go here for more by T. Austin-Sparks
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Peaceful Amish under Increasing Attack from Government

Government entities in the U.S. are increasing their attacks on the peaceful Amish by filing lawsuits against them and employing stiff fines. It centers around their arguement they don't need to conform to laws that contradict their beliefs, as they relate to building their own homes.

Here's how one government official described it in Wisconsin:

"They just go ahead and don't listen to any of the laws that are affecting anybody else. It's quite a problem when you got people next door required to get permits and the Amish don't have to get them," said Gary Olson, a county supervisor in central Wisconsin's Jackson County.

According to one Amish, Samuel F. Stolzfus - who is being fined $9,450 for building a house and driveway without permits - to sign a permit would be tantamount to lying, as there would be no way he could follow a number of parts of the code included with the permit.

As University of Michigan law professor Douglas Laycock says, the Amish have a good argument.

He says the government must prove that their regulations trump the religious freedoms of the Amish. Building officials say their permits and codes provide structural safety, but that has to be considered a smokescreen, as when's the last time you heard of significant structural safety issues with Amish homes? When have they started collapsing?

It shows the level of hate people have for those that are dissenters and refuse to conform to the system the world employs.

On the surface this seems to look like a simple case of sensible government regulations that any normal person would adhere to. But when you dig deeper, it's a form of control deliberately put forth to force the Amish to do something against their beliefs; which are known quite well by most officials.

I've seen this type of thing before against Christian dissenters who have no connection to the Amish other than being fellow dissenters.

It can be people visiting homes for meetings where anything from alleged noise to parked cars can be an issue. Even people that decide to live in neighborhoods together can be bothered because they do a lot of things together and are in the public eye.

None of this should surprise us. People will always use the government to attack those that don't conform to their way of doing things. Jesus is the obvious example, as the religious authorities of His day got the government to murder Him on trumped up charges.

If we truly follow Him the same will happen to us.

The point is we need to be aware of the continuing hatred of people against those who take the Lord seriously. You don't have to adhere to the practical way the Amish live out their beliefs to know they could be coming after us next.

Rebecca St James - Song of Love (to Jesus)

Not a new song, but an ever-new experience!

Atheist Dan Barker: "The Christian Message is the Hate Message"

Dan Barker, a former evangelical "preacher," said when talking about why him and his Freedom from Religion Foundation (which he co-founded) is so hateful toward Christians.

Barker responded by saying the "Christian message is the hate message."

This centered around a sign that the group erected next to a Nativity scene at the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, which had been removed by unknown people. You can see the sign in the photo.

You can see the last words where it says, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."

Concerning the nativity scene, Barker added, "On that Nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don't submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways. If there can be a Nativity scene saying that we are all going to hell if we don't bow down to Jesus, we should be at the table to share our views."

In other words, if we present the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is hate speech in the view of this sad, little person.

While most of the readers of Acts 29 Review don't care too much about symbolism or types and shadows any longer, it is telling to see the hatred of those who deny the person of Jesus Christ and the allegiance they owe Him.

Call the message of Jesus Christ what they like, everyone, including so-called atheists, will face the Lord sooner or later. If that's hate in their twisted minds, it won't matter, they still have to obey and respond to the gospel if they want to exist outside the eternal lake of fire.

People with this type of hate and denial of the Lord, in reality hate themselves, and want to try to drown out the person of Christ as the center of a universe they don't want to think about.

For those atheists with this mindset, you're going to have to deal with Jesus Christ. Better now than later.

If you want to read how a Christian writer obliterates the atheist position, buy the following book:

Caution: It does have some language.

Emerging Church Submerging: Now Supports Homosexual Sin

I am officially announcing the death of the so-called "emerging" church.

When you have people so influenced and embedded in the world, it's impossible for them to do anything that Jesus Christ could partake in with them.

That's the case with Tony Jones, alleged "church" leader amongst this nebulous confederation of dunces.

Just so those reading don't misunderstand where I'm coming from, I've been outside the institutional church system since 1976, and I've pursued an organic expression of Christ within His people since that time.

So this isn't a rant based upon a secret agenda trying to bring down those outside the particular forms of organized, institutional Christianity.

Rather, it's a rant on those infiltrating those of us who have worked for decades - and many before our time - and pretending to be part of something new that Christ is doing in His people.

There is no honest lover of Christ who could say He doesn't condemn homosexuality explicitly. There's no unsurety in the Old or New Testament concerning these actions.

But according to Jones, "... I now believe that GLBTQ ("gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer") can live lives in accord with biblical Christianity (at least as much as any of us can!) and that their monogamy can and should be sanctioned and blessed by church and state."

While I, and many others outside the organized church have never identified themselves with what is called the "emerging" church, those that do now have an obligation to censure and challenge this nut job for his attack upon Christ.

To say that the church should bless homosexuals in any way is a break with Christ and His people, and needs to be responded to in that way. To allow this type of wicked comment to go unchallenged and this guy to be embraced in the name of "tolerance" is unacceptable.

This is nothing other than what are called politically: "progressives," who are attempting to infiltrate our society and turn it into their own image, which is completely secular. One of the targets of their attacks is the unfounded young people who are always seeking for something different at a young age, and so are susceptible to this type of silly, idiotic rhetoric.

Wrapping the name of Christ around such a hideous assertion is to totally misrepresent who Christ is and what He's said.

Jesus Christ is after a bride, not a groom, and the idea that those of us who are the counterpart of Christ as His bride, should now "bless" this abhorrent lifestyle and opposite of what God wants, is an abomination to even present as viable.

If this man isn't disciplined, those who are in that position are sanctioning his assertions and so are sinning with him.

There are a lot of things those of us outside the institutional church want changed. Turning against Christ and saying the sin of homosexuality should be literally "blessed" in the words of Jones, isn't one of them.

It does make you wonder if he's a closet homosexual operating under the guise of neutrality.

This is so opposite of who Christ is, the Scriptures, and the practice of believers since the beginning of the revelation of God to man, that it can't even be taken seriously by true believers in Christ.

What people like this Jones do is ride the newest idol of "tolerance," and use it to offer up their bizarre and ungodly doctrines in the name of that tolerance, in order to push their ideas into the minds of those silly and unlearned people.

Of course, as we've seen over and over again, once the tolerant gain what they think of as the upper hand, all tolerance is thrown out the window, and those that disagree with them are warned that they better not contradict what they say and how they live.

It's an old game, and Jones is playing it all out again. If those in the so-called emerging church want to have a chance to really make a difference for Christ, they need to stop these screwballs from using their platforms to spew their poison.

Even at this time the chances of these types of churches surviving as something for Christ is just about nill. To add this type of garbage to it will only hasten their demise. If this is the way they're choosing to go, may it happen quickly.

Song of my heart--a love song to Jesus based on Psalm 45.

The World Hates Christ: Don't Forget it!

There continues to be a large number of Christians who think if they cozy up to, and agree with, many things the world asserts, they will be considered more passionate and the world will then listen to them. This is a fallacy.

It won't matter what you do or say, the world will always hate those who truly follow Christ, because they in reality: hate Christ. It's something we as believers should never forget.

A significant number of Christians are becoming pragmatists.

In this post, when I speak of pragmatism, think of it in this way: concerned with practical consequences rather than theory. Just exchange the word theory with the phrase "eternal purpose," or "what's important to Christ," and you'll get where I'm going with this.

In the early years of my Christian life, I discovered how easy it is to be a people gatherer. You could display your gifts; be a great orator; speak to what they want to hear; among a number of similar things.

This is important, because when we serve God's eternal purpose, which He has deposited in His son Jesus Christ, being pragmatic isn't the way we will reach the purpose God created us for.

Unfortunately, in those who are now moving outside of traditional Christianity, this is becoming the norm. When you hear things like environmentalism; homosexuals are born that way; feminism; you know people are being pragmatic.

No matter how you spin it, there is no way this things are of any interest to God's purpose in Christ. You won't win people to Christ or what He's after by going to bed with the world. It never works!

That's why the scriptures teach that we aren't to love the world.

So if we want to become pragmatic in reference to responding to what's on the heart of the Father, we will become like the world, not like Christ.

Pragmatism could be worked out by embracing whatever the current fad in the world is, and then accept it in order to draw more people to whatever it is we're trying to build. This never works, because what inevitably always happens is the world ends up winning you to it, rather than the other way around.

Follow the narrow path. Being pragmatic or practical, in the sense of becoming like the world or addressing what it's interested in doesn't ever work. Don't compromise the eternal purpose of God to gain numbers. You may get the numbers, but what you'll be won't be built by God.

This doesn't mean we aren't to grow in numbers, but it must be done in the Lord, and not by watering things down so much that it makes the gospel of none effect.

Like Abraham, we're looking for a city who's builder and maker is God; a city that's a light on the hill. Becoming a city built on the premise and interests of the world isn't the way to achieve that goal.

Quit trying to please the world. Quit trying to be accepted by the world. Quit trying to impress the world. The world is dead, already judged by God. The only way out of it is through Jesus Christ. That's what the Greek word used for church meant: the called out ones, or being called out.

It referred to being called out of the world which was under the power and influence of Satan. Why would any of us want to stay there if we truly believe in Christ?

What if Adam and Eve Hadn't Eaten of Wrong Tree? Part 4

Zombie Christians! Zombie Churches!


I want to mention briefly what happens when Christ within us isn't the focus of our lives.

What one of the great tragedies of Christian history has been, is the creating of structures to endure, regardless of whether the life of Christ is active within His people. This is the purpose of these structures: to endure no matter what happens.

An amazing part of this tragedy is the effect it produces. Now you have something claiming to represent Christ which is in fact dead. The horror is that even though it has no life, it walks and talks as if it does. That's what I call zombie churches and Christians.

A number of people even think this is a good development; existing and going on whether the life of Christ is there or not. This is the evil of organization and institutionalism as it relates to the people of God.

To this day the confusion and effect springing out of this zombie existence is a heavy taint on the person of Christ.

This is why whenever we look to see Christ glorified on the earth, it never lasts and eventually people turn it into an organization or stop pursuing Him altogether.

To be "organic" as the people of God, is not a testimony to a certain methodology, but to the fact that there is a current and ongoing, intimate fellowship with Christ within in a corporate manner. Anything else will simply be a horrid zombie; either individually or corporately, that names the name of Christ, but has long been out of intimate fellowship with Him.

By this I'm not saying that any type of denominational or setting in a building is good if the life of Christ is there, what I'm saying is we can throw all that away and still not have anything. We can meet in homes, live in neighborhoods together and enjoy a lot of freedom. But if that isn't coming forth from Christ within, it has no meaning other than changing a physical location or hanging out together.

Being truly organic means nothing less than sharing the fellowship of the Godhead together: both individually and corporately. Anything less is simply doing things as the "walking dead."

In the end, everything in Christ must be experiential. Anything less than that is going through motions that are completely devoid of life, and living off of something that you once or never had.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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What if Adam and Eve Hadn't Eaten of Wrong Tree? Part 3

When we talk of Christ in you, it of course goes beyond personally alone (although it definitely includes it) to experiencing Him corporately in His people.

There is no other place to start in reference to the purpose of God than to have a fellowship with the Godhead within a people together. Of course it has to be in each person, but from there it is meant to be shared and expressed among a people together. That's how Christ is to be seen on this earth: through a visible people with His life in them.

This obviously goes beyond just some type of general presence that feels good, just like any person we get close to will end up changing and challenging our lives just by spending time with them. It's the same with Christ in His people.

Through the ages we always get people talking of the desire to see things restored in the church, but if Christ within isn't the place we start, there's no hope that it can end up in the right place.

Christ in us is the hope of glory, and that glory can never be expressed and lived unless we give Him permission to live His live there, and we do so as a people.

Having said this, the element missing in most of this is the willingness to endure the cross over our lifetimes in order to make room for Christ. The work of the cross weakens and devastates our old man in order that Christ can be seen.

I know that our old man has been buried with Christ, but he does like to try to act like he's alive. The work of the cross ensures that we keep him dead and buried.

There is really no other place to start than this. If this isn't done, it really doesn't matter what follows, it will be off center very quickly, and will not survive long; at least as a testimony to who the Lord really is.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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What if Adam and Eve Hadn't Eaten of Wrong Tree? Part 2

This post we'll go a little deeper into understanding what it was that has so moved God's heart throughout eternity.

When God created, it came from something within Him that couldn't be denied: His love. There was no way that there could ever not be a creation, because the love of God demanded He share it beyond the Godhead. That is the impetus behind the creation.

So when Adam and Eve arrived on the scene, even though they literally saw and interacted with God, they never received the most important thing they could have: the life of Christ within. Most believers don't understand that it was the motivating purpose behind everything God meant for mankind, and specifically for those who believe in Him.

What's amazing about the time of the disciples when walking with Jesus on earth, was even after all that time, and even when He was resurrected and appeared and talked to them for a period of time, they still didn't have what Christ was fully after.

What was it? The spirit of God living within them. That's why Jesus told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit to come into them.

See, just like Adam and Eve, it wasn't enough to walk with God where you would even see Him with your physical eyes. That's never enough, and as Jesus pointed out, neither was it for those who physically saw Him on earth.

That's the importance of John, who beyond all others, saw that there was a life in Jesus that defied anything on earth (Paul saw this clearly too, but I'm referring to original disciples). It's why when you read his account of Jesus, it's goes beyond the simply earthly Jesus to the intimate union between the Father and Son, with the life of the Father living in Jesus.

John saw that life and expressed it so uniquely in the gospel he wrote.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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What if Adam and Eve Hadn't Eaten of Wrong Tree? Part 1

A lot of people ask the rhetorical question of what would have happened if Adam and Eve hadn't eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Most the time they're thinking of some type of environmental "eden," which is the wrong place to focus, and largely irrelevant.

What's more important is what was to happen when they ate of the tree of life, which was Jesus.

The Lord is actually very clear on what was supposed to happen. When they ate of the tree of life, they would have reproduced as commanded by the Lord, and from there spread across the earth, filling it with the glory and presence of God in them.

When their children started arriving, they probably would have been born righteous, in the same way we're born into sin today: we're the wrong "mankind" at birth in the eyes of God. Those children would have been born as the "new" man, just as true believers are today.

We have to understand that eating of the tree of Life was simply another way of saying Christ was to be in us; we were to internalize Him in an intimate fellowship.

So when Jesus came to earth and said they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, in reality He was offering Himself as the tree of Life again. Again, He was widely rejected by Israel, and even His closest followers, other than the 12 apostles.

Everything in what is called Christianity today depends upon the practical and very real outworking of that fellowship Christ has offered us.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Margaret Barber and the Danger Faced by Watchman Nee

Many people today will struggle to comprehend what it was Margaret Barber saw decades ago when she wrote a letter to D.M. Panton concerning Watchman Nee.

For a little background, Watchman Nee was only recently saved when he came into contact with Margaret Barber, a wonderful servant of the Lord based in China. Very little is known about Margaret Barber, yet she was one of the choice believers on the earth at the time.

Watchman Nee said of her that she taught him more of the Lord than any other person on earth, and Watchman Nee had traveled around the earth and met many great ones of that time.

Margaret Barber wouldn't have cared about any of that, but I only mention it to underscore the situation this letter was written in.

Watchman Nee came to visit Barber a number times, taking advantage of a shelf of books she had. He would even attempt to trick her into giving them to her, and if she thought he wasn't ready for them, he would figure out where to get them elsewhere, even if Margaret Barber didn't approve.

What Barber saw was that Watchman Nee was going to be a major influence in China for Christ, but he was in extreme danger. The danger wasn't in reference to suffering in Christ or the future imprisonment of Nee, rather, the danger was that Nee was focusing on a mental apprehension of the Lord rather than experiencing Him.

Here's a portion of what Barber wrote to Panton:

"Please do not let Faithful Luke & Watchman Nee worry you with letters. It is so good & kind of you to have written once to them. They are likely to be tiresome. They write to Mr. Wright Hay or any Editor whose address they can get & do not understand how precious time is to a busy Editor. For many reasons I think you should not be feeling obliged even to answer their letters. These two young men are in great danger. They have a mental apprehension of God’s Truth which unless lived out will be their peril."

What's amazing about this letter to me is the fact that someone saw the danger at all. Today most believers in contact with someone like Nee would think they were spiritual giants or potential giants because they mentally acquired a knowledge of the scriptures and "truths" concerning Christ.

Barber understood the extraordinary danger Nee was in by pursuing that path, and she graciously pointed that out to Panton.

Again, a reason I think Barber took the extraordinary step of writing this way to Panton was because she saw what the Lord wanted to do with Nee, and if Nee traveled the wrong path, those that followed him would take the same path. She was fighting to see this not happen.

In our day and age of cheap Christianity and self-focused lifestyles, it's amazing to recall this great (in God's eyes) woman of God who saw the extreme dangers that can come about for a zealous believer apprehending truth without practical and experiential living out the life of the Lord.

The Church: Matrix of Christ

Before we get into some important aspects of the matrix of Christ, let's get a basic definition of what matrix means, as many will think of the movie and the artificial world it revealed.

First of all, matrix comes from the Latin word "mater," which means mother, essentially referring to the womb.

It's a place where something originates, takes form, develops or is embedded.

While the word and what it means can be applied across many disciplines, we only want to look at it as it applies to Christ, because it gives some valuable insight into who He is and the purpose of His church.

Now, have you ever wondered what it would have been like if Adam and Eve hadn't eaten of the wrong tree, and instead had partaken of the tree of life?

You see, Adam and Eve were supposed to be a matrix of Christ. They were supposed to internalize Him by eating of His fruit, as portrayed by the tree of life. If that had happened, they would have had children born outside of what we call the old man, the first adam, and would instead have seen the new man spread across the earth from
the beginning.

For even though Adam and Eve were without sin, they were in reality incomplete in the sense of not partaking in the most important reason for their creation: fulfilling the eternal purpose of God, which was to fill them with Himself in Christ. That's what Jesus as the tree of life in the center of the garden was there for.

Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, but they weren't in the order of God, in that their spirits didn't have Him indwelling them. To have eaten of the Christ as the tree of life would have enlivened their spirits unto God, and as such, began the fulfillment of the purpose of God in creating man.

When I say they weren't in the order of God, I mean their souls hadn't subjected themselves to their spirits because to do that they had to eat of Christ. Once they did that their spirits would have been filled with God and their beings subject to and from heaven, rather than to the earth and flesh.

Basically Adam and Eve were between two worlds. The world of God and Satan, and they had a choice of which life they were going to live by, they had a decision to make. The decision was which world they were going to allow to enter into them.

In other words, man was built to be a container, a matrix. One way or the other that will happen, that's a choice we're not given. It will either be from a higher life or a lower life. There is no middle ground.

Those that attempt to live in the middle ground end up with mixture, which is one of the more hated things in the eyes of God, as it brings confusion to those viewing and/or partaking in it. That's the counterfeit woman called Babylon, also mentioned in book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ as the Great Whore.

It's interesting to note that the offer to eat of the tree of life was rejected again when Jesus physically appeared on the earth. When did that happen? When He told his followers they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. They again decided to reject God's eternal purpose of filling His chosen matrix of His people with
Himself.

To help us understand this a little, Jesus followed up His statement by saying His words are spirit and life. In other words, quit looking at things outwardly or hearing things He taught carnally. We must learn that He lived from another life than His own, and so are we to. And the words He spoke were about and from another realm.

That's why He encouraged us to pray for His kingdom to come and will be done on earth as it was in heaven. This is one reason why what is called the Lord's supper by most, where Jesus told us to eat it in remembrance of Him, is more than likely not referring to simply remembering His name or what he's done, as that's not too hard to do for any halfway serious Christian.

Rather, I think He's referring to what internalizing Him as the tree of life means; what it means to eat His flesh and drink His blood. We are to remember as we digest food and get physical sustanence, to also digest or internalize Him, and to receive our much more important spiritual sustanence.

What does it mean? That we are one with Him. That we are to be in union with Him. He is the bread of life that we are to eat of and internalize. I think that this is much more in line with what the rest of the scriptures reveal than simply eating unto the Lord to remember Him with the idea that we somehow forgot He existed.
What being a matrix of Christ means One important aspect of all this in our practical lives is that being a matrix is much different in being a place where Christ dwells, than it is in how He dwells in the overall universe.

Christ dwells in the physical universe, which is said to be continually expanding. The universe or heaven of heavens can't contain Him.

So when He dwells in the spirits of His people, He's doing something different than simply having a general presence there. He is very active within us, and He is working to shape and form Himself within.

The only matrix or container that can hold who He is is His people. That's much more than just carrying Him around within us, it's a deep working and shaping of Himself within us: individually and corporately. It's a very practical process that happens over our lifetimes if we have a revelation of it and allow it to. It is primarily meant to happen organically within a group of believers.

What is it God wants to happen in all this? Looking at it from the garden of Eden perspective, He's bringing two worlds together, which in reality is what the garden of Eden really was. It was where physical man and the invisible God met. Both worlds at the time were able to be seen by Adam and Eve.

When I say He's bringing two worlds together, I mean that what is real in the invisible world is to be just as real or mirrored in the visible world. Eden was the invisible and visible worlds meeting and where invisible and visible beings interacted and lived; most importantly God and man, who were created in His image.

Now of course the two worlds are out of balance because of the sin of man, but the people of God are meant to bring the two worlds back together again, in the sense of His kingdom coming and His will being done in both realms. (Realms is probably a better description than worlds.)

Bringing the two worlds together as one can only be done through redeemed believers in union with Christ. Not in union theoretically, positionally or revelationally - but practically.

The amazing gift of God to His people as it relates to the realms we dwell in, is that He has made us into a hybrid creature, built to dwell in the visible and invisible realms at once.

The whole idea of the eternal purpose of God is to reveal Himself in man in two different realms, where there is nothing that contradicts one another. He does it through filling everything with Himself. That is the road Christ has given us to travel, and it's what has been in the heart and mind of God from before the beginning.

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What is Christ Looking For?

Another way of looking at the question posed in the title of this post is, "What do we have to give Christ that He wants?"

Do you know?

If we even have an inkling of a desire to please Christ within us, we know that there isn't much we have that interests Him. While He loves us because He is love, that isn't a reflection upon us as being attractive objects of love for Him, rather it's a reflection of His nature - which is love itself.

We know that God created with the ultimate intent of filling all things with Himself; specifically mankind.

So we know that Christ created man for Himself in order that man would be filled with His person. Overall that's the culmination of the creation of mankind, but there's an obvious path we must travel to get there.

We must understand that eternal things are always; they are there or happening at once without the effect of space or time upon them. But when those eternal things are created or brought into the physical realm, they are progressively unveiled and made.

It would take a lot of impartation to reveal much of the practicals and revelation of what was just said. But there is a simple but powerful thing to learn in the light of all of this, and it relates to where it all begins, and in reality, how we travel this fantastic path initiated by Christ Himself.

When considering all of this, there is something Christ looks for above all other things in us. Without it there really isn't any hope that His purpose will ever have a chance of being fulfilled in us to His satisfaction.

Is there anything we have to give to Christ? Is there anything we have to offer that He doesn't already have? Is there anything we can do that will add to who He is?

The obvious answer to these questions is "no"!

So when we clear all the mist away and get get down to the very basics of and foundation of Christ in relationship to His people, there is only one thing we have to offer Him that He has an interest in: our hearts!

No matter what He does in us or strength He adds to us, there is nothing in that which is really satisfying to Him. In the end and at the bottom (or really top) of all things as it relates to the heart of Christ, is that we are willing to have Him open up our hearts to fellowship openly with Him first, and then out from there with one another.

When we look at New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, we see only a few things within her. We have light, a throne, a tree, a river, and a golden street or path. That's it. That's what Christ's bride is filled with.

The path? That path travels through the hearts of God's people. It's the very center of all that is contained within the bride of Christ. Christ is of course that path or street, and that path is meant to be the heartbeat of the people of God.

If Christ doesn't have our hearts, there is nothing else He's really interested in. Without our hearts nothing else matters.

But if He has our hearts, than we are on a journey, a journey within that includes His throne, the tree of life, the river of the Spirit and the life of Christ lighting it all up.

In the end, we can offer up nothing to Christ but our hearts. Everything else of fellowship flows from that.

Having said all this, we really don't have the will or power to do this without Him. Ask Him to help and empower you to offer up your heart to Him. He is more than willing and able to do it. It's the starting place and foundation of everything else in connection to our relationship with Christ.

Tosca Lee Talking on Her First and Latest Books

Many of us who have walked outside institutional Christianity, have always had this desire to live outside the box and find the way the Lord wants us to meet and live under His headship.

With that in mind, I came across a young woman who writes in a way that we would appreciate, as she writes in an imaginative style that brings the story of Christ and the scriptures to light in a living, and sometimes disturbing way (to some).

I included an interview with Tosca as she talks about her two fascinating books and what it was that brought her to write them.

They are fictional, but imaginative accounts of how she sees behind the stories many of us know so well.

If you've read them or do read them, let us know what you think.

Demon



Havah

Phil Wickham Singing "Divine Romance"

A Lesson from the 'Jesus People'

I think that in the distant future, historians interested in Christian history will look back at what's called the "Jesus people" movement and identify it as a turning point in history overall.

Why do I say that?

Not because of the elements connected to what happened, as most of them fell by the wayside and very little is left today from the experience. While there are people who do connect it with some ongoing Churches today, overall it has largely been neglected or misunderstood as to its importance.

What were some of the characteristics connected to it? Community, innocence, passion, spontaneity, little leadership, creativity, ordinary people, communalism, excesses in some cases, organic, simplicity and short-term thinking, among many other things.

While much of that is important, it's not what makes the experience significant. What makes it significant is that God Himself initiated the move; it was happening outside the institutional church and institutional leaders. That's one of the reasons when many have commented on it throughout the years, much of the excesses are mentioned, rather than the tremendous strengths involved as well.

As a matter of fact, when the institutional church finally caught up with them, the impetus was winding down, and the 1972 event called Explo 72 was probably the final nail in the coffin. At that event none other than Billy Graham and Bill Bright played significant roles in the meetings which attracted tens of thousands.

A lot of believers have felt that the watering down of the message and institutional church leaders influencing the naive new believers into wearing the right clothes and hair lengths (outward appearances) took the focus off of the simple love of Jesus they had been centered on.

The point I want to bring up though is one of the major reasons the movement stalled and failed, and what we can learn from it.

Primarily it was a victim of its own success. When it became public knowledge and the media began to cover it, it was doomed to failure.

This is important because it's far better when important change like this happens that believers can grow up in relative anonymity until God may choose to reveal Himself through them at the right time - if ever.

Very few believers can ever handle publicity or fame, and shouldn't really have to. Yet the media world we live in makes it hard to grow up spiritually in obscurity.

And if we do happen to become known, we start to think it's the Holy Spirit moving, when in fact it can be the very opposite. As Paul said, he was little known but well known. We need to be the same way. The church may know us, but we won't be popular in the world, and neither should we be.

It's far better to grow and live life in Christ in a quiet and peaceable manner, than it is to become well known and untold pressures put upon us.

There are ways to make an impact without becoming famous or important in our own eyes. The costs of becoming visible in the climate we live in is far too much of a price to pay.

Even so, we will be tested as to our foundations and commitment to the eternal purpose of God lived in us. It's hard enough to do it in everyday life, let alone adding fuel to the fire by allowing ourselves to be put under the type of scrutiny and opening ourselves up to all the people with agendas out there.

We need to be careful how we hold our stewardship of the eternal purpose of God. It's far more profitable to grow and learn spontaneously by the Spirit of God over a long period of time, than use the old methods of trying to increase through our own strength, strategies and plans, thinking we're called to do so.

The reason this is such a temptation is we see something of the heart of Christ in His purpose, as then respond in our own strength, thinking we're increasing the kingdom of God, when in reality we're building our own kingdoms out from ourselves rather than out from Him.

In the end, I don't think what began to happen in the mid 1960s was a failure in any way. What it did was remind us that God can easily move outside the institutional church system, and can make an extraordinary impact on the lives of men and women who want only Him.

The key thing we need to learn if we want to go forward is to stay focused on Christ alone, and stay away from the temptation to become well known. Even if we are approached and we think it's a good opportunity to grow and become known, I would stay away from it and quietly let the Lord do His work.

After all, He's never in a hurry.

This isn't to discourage growth, just that it has to be growth from God rather than human ingenuity and thinking.

What happened with the publicity connected to the Jesus people was the immaturity of the new and primarily young believers was used as an excuse to attack the overall impetus of what God was doing, and the end result was that publicity caused the purpose to really be stillborn before it was able to take root.

We are at that stage again, as Chrisians start to look seriously at alternative ways of meeting as the church and what it really means. Unfortunately there are already those who are off the foundation of Jesus Christ and embracing all sorts of irrelevant worldly issues rather than the only thing that really matters.

Don't be discouraged though if you're not one of them. All the publicity they're attempting to generate will fall by the wayside relatively soon, as it always does.

For those serious and focused on Christ alone, we need to continue to hold to the head and not be tempted to let go.

Much of what the Jesus people experienced for a short period of time was from God and gave a little glimpse of what is in store for the future of the church. Let us not be in too much of a hurry to grow and become well known, rather let us continue to root down deep into Him and never move off of that.

For those of you who have gathered quietly for a number of years, this doesn't mean growth won't come to you, just be careful of it coming forth from Jesus and not from the current temptation to make it a popular experience.

The Church as the Tale of Christ - Part 3

In reference to this unfolding story of God through Christ's body on this earth, we see that the reason God has a purpose of filling everyone with Himself is that He may show the mystery of who He is through a created people.

He not only wants the world to see this mystery that is hidden in Christ within us, but He also wants to unfold it to the invisible rulers and authorities as well: both good and evil.

As the people of God, we then are accountable to be still and know God, in order that we can tap into the already written story and then progressively grow in it, and then reveal it to the watching visible and invisible worlds.

This is of course done both individually and corporately, as we talked about recently. Yet, the individual participation is for the purpose of contributing to the corporate church so we can partake of that part of the story that's in one another. That's the reason we meet and get together, to show forth Christ in an ongoing and growing way.

Each of us are to contribute in order that the corporate body can increasingly show forth who God is in Christ in an ever-enlarging way.

That's why while we are one, we are at the same time a part of the whole. We need one another in order to fully reveal who Christ is, and for God to attain His purpose in us of being all in all.

Paul wrote that the church was a letter that existed to be read by all men. That's another way of saying we are a story, narrative or tale that God is writing by His very life within our spirits. Together we are to show forth the increase of that story from generation to generation until all of who He is is revealed in us.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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The Church as the Tale of Christ - Part 2

So when Christ was sent from the Father in heaven to this world, all that was of the Father was in Him.

Everything that mankind was meant to be was revealed in Him. Heaven had come to earth visibly in Christ.

Rather, the Father had come to earth in Christ, and the Lord lived His life by the Father's life within Him.

Yet, even though He had the Father's life within Him, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature on the earth as a man. In other words: progressively. It'll always be the same for us, both individually and corporately.

So looking at this from the perspective of a story, we see Jesus unveil the Father to us, and He does it by living the story of the Father within Him outwardly before those who believed in, and/or followed Him around.

When we hear Christ telling us when He was on the earth that He was the truth, or the reality, this is much of what He was saying, that the story of His life He lived out before them was the story of His Father's life living out within Him and being expressed outwardly before their eyes. It was also being told through His lips and heard in their ears.

The point is a story was being revealed to them in the person of Christ, and it was the story of who the Father was in relationship to mankind, as revealed in the life story of Jesus Himself.

It wasn't an earthly story or a story originating from earth, rather it was a story from heaven, with its origin in the Father.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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The Church as the Tale of Christ

What is it that the Father wants to do in time and history? Most seem to get confused when the term eternal purpose is used and can get bogged down in uncertainty and confusion.

Let's look at it from the perspective of God narrating who He is to the visible and invisible worlds through telling the story of who He is via His people.

The end result of the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose is that He will be all in all. That means that from the perspective of telling a story, God will unfold Himself in His people over generations; not in only one generation.

At the point where God started the visible creation, the creation of the invisibles was complete, and He started His kingdom and will in the physical creation based on the perfected invisible world.

In other words, while things in the heavens are done immediately, things in the visible world follow progressively. That's the way of life in the visible creation. It's also why many people get frustrated with God, as they look for immediacy, when God, for the most part, works and reveals things progressively.

While there are occasional exceptions, overall this is the way God lives and works within and through us in the seen world.

Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 4

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom ..."

The purpose of this little series on knowing Christ individually and coporately was to help you understand the tension that can come about from seeing the value of displaying Christ as a people corporately, while also seeing that the only way Christ can be seen in this way is if individual members of the body are functioning and sharing within that context.

Many people think if you function individually that you're taking away from the coporate purpose of God: that's a misunderstanding and not true. Rather it's the very key of revealing who Christ is to one another and the world, as the input of many members gives a more full view of who He is, and others parts of the body of Christ become more fully orbed and reflecting Christ by how you function or what you verbally share.

But as the scripture above says, we must allow the Christ to dwell within us richly in order for this to work, and to present to one another the wisdom of God, which is Christ.

The problem in many attempting to do this without help is they draw from the world and the many things it offers, rather than Christ as the means to accomplish the Father's purpose. Many of you attempting to find this way of practicing Christ together are already way off the mark by focusing instead on irrelevant things like those who promote dubious environmental causes, homosexuals being born into their lifestyes, and a host of other things not related to Christ. You're unfortunately doomed to fail if that's the road you continue to travel.

All that is is a political philosophy built upon humanism you've learned in your high school and college classes. It has no place overall in the purpose of God, and is far from what God has purposed in Christ from before creation.

God is after Christ dwelling in you; both individually and corporately. Dwelling in you isn't referring to just getting you fire insurance and happily going your way, taking in every wind of doctrine along your wayward path. Christ dwelling in you is the formation of Christ within as you set your mind and will on Him who lives in you, and as the many challenges of life force you to hold to Him while He changes you through a myriad of ways into His very image. That's what the work of the cross does, weaken you so the life of Christ can be shaped within you. It's that life which is to be shared with one another, and which ultimately unveals itself as the fulness of Christ from that sharing.

That's what it means for the word of Christ to dwell richly in you. That's what is to be shared with one another and ultimately leads to the end of God's purpose that all should know Him from the least to the greatest. It's knowing Him and bearing His image that is the result of all this, and it can only be done as well as those who individually take Him up and then come together as one in Him.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 3

Eph. 4:16 - From Him (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Continuing on with the complimentary lifestyle that emerges from being one body but many parts, let's look at this verse to see how it simply operates in practicality.

First of all note "From Him," which determines the rest of the practical outworking of the body. For each part to properly do its work, we must be in Him to receive from Him. By in Him I mean in constant union with Christ so we can than bring forth His life to others in the body.

The next part telling us that the body is joined and held together by supporting ligaments because each part is doing its work. Here again we have the complmentary aspect of being one body but many parts.

Again, there can be no body if the parts aren't operating, as with a real, physical body it would shut down and either be sick or eventually die if the parts aren't doing what they're meant to do.

Remember that the end of the eternal purpose of God is to be all in all. This is meant to be seen in the physical world we live in through the body of Christ. This will never happen unless the people of God are in fellowship with Christ, and from there share the things Christ is doing in them with others in the church when they meet together.

Of course this goes beyond meetings to every aspect of life, as many things are practical and not only sharing through talking in meetings.

But the reason why a people are held together is because of this rich variety of sharing of things with one another which creates a type of bond that is eternal. This is why I say that there must be a strong individual relationship and connection with the Lord in order for the corporate body of Christ to emerge.

The body of Christ isn't a glob, but a conglomeration of many parts functioning in a way that makes the whole of Christ be seen. At least that's the goal of the Lord in living within us.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 2

Remember last post when we talked about going to the Godhead to see how things work? Here's one scripture that extends the understanding of that reality.

1 Cor. 12:4-6 (NIV)

"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men."

In other words, while there is an extraordinary variety of ways to express and reveal Christ through His people, it's the same God doing it all.

Remember the context of all of this was the Corinthians were scattered all over the place, separating into cliques and basically divided amongst themselves because they didn't understand that variety and oneness weren't in conflict with each other in the Godhead, rather they complimented one another.

Individuals who saw the Lord in certain ways weren't to separate because others saw another aspect of the Lord. It was the sharing of the Lord with one another that made them a body, a people. The problem with the Corinthians is they would separate over everything that came along, including those that brought a message to them.

Paul said it perfectly in verse 12 of I Cor. 12, saying it this way:

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

In verse 14 Paul continues saying, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many," and in verse 19 he asks the rhetorical question: "If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body." v27 - "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it."

The point of all of this is if you feel the tension and inner conflict concerning being one and many, remember that Paul explains to us the two compliment one another, and exist in time together. You can't have one without the other. You can't have corporate without individuality.

If you attempt to make something corporate without the body parts functioning in their role, you end up with something called a glob; a monstrosity. On the other hand if you have an individual unconnected to the body, they serve no purpose and have no impact on showing forth the many-sided wisdom that Christ is.

Only the body can truly show forth Christ, and that's done through each part properly functioning. To function properly they need to be in union with the Lord.

When this is lived out properly and healthily, the individual parts of the body show forth Christ far greater than could ever be seen, and at the same time the body than gives something back to individual parts which makes them grow in Christ in a way they couldn't on their own. This is how the two compliment one another. When this is lived out, the tension between the two disappears and flow together in a fantastic way.

One thing to keep in mind here, when taking into account the word individual, I'm not referring to what many in the Western world would call "independent." What I'm saying is the people of God can only truly show forth Christ in His fulness by offering up what each one of them have individually. The result is to see Christ in a way that can't be seen individually, no matter how far advanced a person is.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1

In the next several posts I want to talk about knowing Christ. What I want to do is help some of you in the area of individual versus corporately knowing Christ. There is sometimes confusion and uncertainty concerning the two dwelling together.

The reason this becomes an issue for those meeting outside institutional Christianity, is if we're following the right path, we'll in the beginning years have a focus on the corporate aspect of learning Christ (especially Westerners), as we're more of an individualist people than those from the East.

Sometimes those who understand the lack of corporateness in the Western church tend to focus so much on it that it can sometimes confuse and frustrate those who have a strong relationship with the Lord, and in some cases even make them feel guilty for doing it. This isn't done intentionally or in a evil manner, it's just that the focus on corporateness can make people feel uncomfortable pursuing the Lord in their private time individually.

What we need to do is go directly to the Godhead and see how things are done there.

One of the basic truths concerning the Godhead are that they are three but one and one but three. This is where we are to begin. In the scriptures concerning the practical outworking of the Godhead, we see that Father is called the Father of spirits, Jesus the bishop of the soul, and the Spirit the redeemer of the body. This doesn't mean there was any lack of oneness simply because they had specialties they ministered to. Rather it was from that oneness that it happened.

In the church we also see that while we are to be one, we at the same time operate in a variety of ways within that oneness. The reason we operate in a variety of ways is because we have something of the Lord to share with others. That sharing is what enlarges us corporately, and causes us to see the Lord in a much larger way. The way we get there is to know the Lord individually, share it corporately and see and grow in the Lord in a wider, fuller and deeper way than we could alone.

In the many years I've lived in the church outside the institutional churc boundaries, I've seen the ebb and flow of corporate and individual knowing of the Lord. The two work together and not alone. If you attempt to be solely corporate, an odd type of thing emerges, to the point where I've heard some even call themselves a "glob." The problem with something like this is the people can have community and hang out together, but also have a very limited experience and expression of Christ because they are fixated on the corporate part at the expense of the individual.

The point is you can hang out and do things together and still have a very limited relationship with the Lord. Again, the two must work together to have a healthy emergence of the image of God.

If brothers and sisters aren't individually pursuing and fellowshipping with the Lord, they sure aren't going to be able to come together and offer anything to one another that will have spiritual significance.

Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Christ wants to be seen, not simply heard

The end result of the eternal purpose of God is that He will be all in all; everything that He is will be embodied in His people. This is the ultimate purpose of creation, that who He is invisibly will be shown forth visibly in a people.

He does this through a love relationship with His people, whom He calls His bride. But Christ isn't looking for a trophy wife that is seen as worldly eye candy; an ornament built to impress the world. Many of the people of God wrongly believe they can impress the world by outdoing them. Yet it's futile to try to impress the world this way. You can't outworld the world - we were never meant to.

Just like Christ is completely different than us, as we allow Him to form and shape Himself within us, we become completely other than this world, which bears the imprint of Satan.

In other words, our purpose as a Church is to show forth Jesus Christ, to bear His image, to be a testimony of who He is. That's why Paul tells the churches that they are a letter meant to be read by all men.

Talking about the church as a candlestick, T.A. Sparks said:

"But we say to one another together - what matters it that we have meetings, larger or smaller, and go on with our teaching, with our magazine with a candlestick of gold printed on it? None of these things matters at all. I say, let them go, the Lord save us from them, unless, as the fruit of all and as the source of all, there is this light which is an impact - without any inconsistency, without contradictions, without a lie - so that our teaching is not in the first place heard but seen. If there is to be a coming and an enquiring, it is because something is seen. 'I turned to see the voice.' People are hearing things, and they are turning to see. What do they see? A light, not a teaching? A light with an impact?"

Sadly, a number of believers who think they're being radical and doing this, have already started off wrong, and instead of being a testimony of Christ are moving off Him as their purpose for being a people, and are embracing all types of worldly ideas and thoughts they think are important to God.

Instead of pursuing Christ, they're more interested in being politically correct and believing the many philosophical lies taught them in the school system and universities.

They are trying to impress the world by parroting their psychology and philosophies, rather than embracing Christ as their wisdom. They're blindly following the environmentalist mantra of endless fears, and think they're doing some type of service to Christ. They're following cunning fables created by fallen man and attempting to wrap the name of Christ around it like He's approving of it.

Those doing this won't last along outside the religious systems of this day, as Christ doesn't give or commit Himself to these types of irrelevant things. As the scriptures say, "perfect love casts out fear," and the river of doctrine flowing out of the world that attempts to strike fear in the hearts of man (and God's people)doesn't belong amongst the people of God. We not only need to quit embracing it, but we need ignore it for the most part.

I'm even starting to see a number of misguided and deceived people repeating the ugly lie that homosexuals are born that way, not even realizing they're attacking Christ and His view of that evil lifestyle. It doesn't matter whether it's the old or new testament, homosexuality has always been condemned by God, and to imply that it's the fault of Christ is wickedness, and there are people being given a voice that are spewing out this garbage.

I'm bringing these things up because many seeking to change the practices of the Church of Christ are being deceived and/or talked into pursuing this nonsense, while basically abandoning Christian teaching and doctrine that has refuted this from the beginning.

The thing Christ is after isn't to change the basic doctrines of the church which have been in the scriptures and part of church life from the beginning, He's changing the practices of the church and calling us back to a close fellowship with Him intimately.

He's calling us again to embrace the cross and allow Him to work His work within us, weakening the old man so that the new humanity - represented by Jesus Christ - can be formed within us and be read by all men.

Christ isn't interested in changing or saving this dead world, He's interested in calling us out of it, which is what the term used for the church in the Greek actually means.

While we are to be salt in this world, it's for the purpose of keeping the world from completely imploding and self-destructing before its time, and so Christ can call all those who are to be saved to Him.

When I mentioned above that Christ isn't interested in saving the world, I mean by that that He's already done it. Anybody that calls upon His name shall be saved. From there we are to get back to the purpose God created us: to fill us completely with Himself. That is what we are to focus on and pursue.

The Fruit of Righteousness: Quietness and Assurance Forever

The work (fruit) of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, . My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Isaiah 32: 17-18).



The work or fruit of righteousness is peace. That peace is a work within us, as our soul lines up with our spirit which is in fellowship directly with Christ.

This is part of what is meant when Jesus told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. When we throw all of who we are onto Christ, who dwells within us, we are working toward a place of quietness of the soul, and a resting place where we cease from our own labors.

That's the end of the pursuit of the righteousness of Christ. We rest in Him and His work, and labor only as we see Him labor, and speak only what we hear Him speak.

Jesus lived this way throughout His life on earth, submitting His purpose and soul unto the Father.

Our major job in this life is to learn to rest in Christ within, allowing the cross to destroy our self-centered lives so we may live our lives unto Him; or rather, allow His life to live in us. We are to live by His life after all.

While this is simple to understand, it takes a lifetime of pursuit to accomplish. Our souls have become so over-stimulated and strong that we need to ask the Lord to weaken it through the work of the cross in us so we even have the desire to pursue this way of life.

Jesus did this His entire life on earth, not only when He was in public ministry. This is why the Father was "well pleased" with Him when He was identified by John the Baptist and emerged out of the water of baptism, before He did anything related to what we consider ministry.

The Father was pleased with Him before He did anything publicly, because Jesus simply lived out His life in union with the Father in His spirit within Him.

They didn't suddenly become closer because Jesus went public, they were close during His entire life on earth. He quietly spent His life fellowshipping with the Father, and kept doing it even when He became busy.

Dwelling in union with Christ in us is the peaceful habitation and quiet resting place referred to by Isaiah. While we need to learn to do this individually, it's primarily related to the church, which will become a peaceful resting place when we learn to deny ourselves and think of each other more important than ourselves.

The reason there is so much turmoil in the church is because people don't embrace the cross and allow it to demolish their old man and self so that the life of Christ may be formed within them, and ultimately flow out to others as the river of life.

First we must individually embrace the cross, and then connect to others looking to travel the same journey. If we don't embrace the cross, all the talk of the organic church or non-institutional church will be meaningless, as the self-life will always end up destroying the work of God He attempts to give birth to.

Only a people who are willing to have their self-life weakened and destroyed will be able to enter into peaceful habitations; within themselves or with their brothers and sisters.

Fellowship with the Lord is Enough, and it will change You

Last post we talked a little about the reason why Christ dwells within us. I did want to follow it up to clarify that while there is definitely a transformation that happens when we pursue union with Christ, at the same time, it's not a negative thing to simply enjoy the general presence of God as well.

In reality, what I termed the general presence of Christ within us was for the sake of understanding, in practice we really can't separate them, as if we enter into union with Christ , we can't escape the change that will come.

How much we change depends on the type of ground the seed falls into, as Christ Himself is the perfect seed without blemish, and He will transform us practically into His image as much as we allow the cross to work itself within us; removing the love of self so the love of Christ, and Christ alone becomes our focus, while we become like Him as we fellowship with Him.

I mention this because it could have been misunderstood that simply enjoying being with the Lord isn't the greatest end in itself. It's just that when we are with Him (which can be always), it will end up with us changing - it's impossible that we don't if we open our hearts to Him and focus on Him on a consistent basis.

What it Means to Walk in the Presence of Christ

A number of people I've communicated with through the years have misunderstood what it means to walk in the presence of the Lord. I thought I'd take a moment and help give some understanding and insight into this so we can know better what it is this means.

First of all, let's talk about the presence of the Lord from a couple different areas. You have the general presence of the Lord, which fills the universe, and which the created universe can't hold; even the heavens of heavens. That talks about a general presence where God is everywhere because nothing created can hold Him.

Second, there's the much more important specific presence of God, which dwells within those who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. That presence dwells within us with a very stated purpose: filling us with Christ. But it isn't a general filling, where God is there because of his endless, eternal makeup, rather He's there so His life can inhabit us in a complete way.

Taking up residence within our spirit, God then begins to work His presence within us through the cross so that He doesn't simply inhabit us, but changes us into His very image.

Eventually, His eternal purpose of filling everything with Himself will be fulfilled, as His people embrace union with Him and change from glory to glory through the many trials and struggles of life.

So while the presence of Christ within us definitely is a tremendous blessing and closeness, at the same time His dwelling within us is so He can have pre-eminence and the two will become one. Essentially that's what it means for the church to exist, to be a visible testimony of the invisible Lord.

For that to happen we must open our hearts to Him in faith so He can rule the kingdom of our hearts.

All of us who truly believe have the life of Christ within us, but very few are willing to walk the difficult path that will destroy our self life in order for the life of Christ to be manifest. The work of the cross is the tool used by God to bring this about, but most aren't able or willing to embrace that effective, destructive tool in order that the perfume of Christ can be released from these human vessels.

This is why God continually calls a people to walk in this way, as there aren't many able to walk this walk individually. It's also his ultimate will and purpose that a people exist that show forth who Christ is; not simply an individual.

While we all need to embrace this way as individuals, it's to be expressed and displayed in a corporate people. In the end, that's the reason God created and the purpose for being called out of all the nations to Christ. That's what the church is, a people called out of this world into a higher life and world, which, corporately, is to be brought from a higher realm to this one.

It all happens in the hearts of a people sincere and serious about walking in union with Christ.

It Had to Happen: Reality "Christian" TV

In what I can only call disgusting, a new reality "Christian" TV series is going to air in Britain, where a group of 13 non-Christians have volunteered and agreed to "live by the teachings of the Bible for three weeks."

Dubbed "Make Me a Christian," four so-called pastors from various religious Christian backgrounds - Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal – are supposed to mentor these people into how to live like a Christian.

One of these pastors had this to say: "Viewers will be deeply moved by the participants' personal journeys. I believe that a major nationwide evangelism initiative could be launched on the back of the series."

Of course to make it interesting to gullible viewers, they've included a mix of extreme people to draw in eyeballs.

For example, they have the necessary lesbian, and then a lap-dancer, party animal, tattooed militant atheist biker ... you get the idea. In other words it's a circus and mockery for all those involved. It's hard to believe these four pastors are allowing themselves to sell out to get name recognition.

It's nothing other than idiocy to say that off the back of this sick show a nationwide evangelistic effort will be launched. It's shows the warped state of people purporting to be spiritual leaders to allow themselves to be brought to the spotlight for the purpose of fame. They can say what they want, there's no other purpose in this.

But worse to me, is the exploitation of the participants, who have many obvious issues which are dealt with in an anemic way.

What are some of the suggestions offered by these spiritual counterfeits? "The lesbian is asked to throw away her porn, the witch is encouraged to toss her Tarot cards, the womanizer is instructed not to look lustfully at women and so forth."

The entire show is based upon showing these people how to outwardly conform to a "Christian code of conduct." In other words, teach them how to be hypocrits.

The only way people can be changed is by Christ within them. That requires believing in Him and then learning to fellowship and walk with Him inwardly, which results in a changed life if it's pursued over a lifetime.

To lower Christianity to a reality show to exploit Christ for ratings, and to have these alleged mentors participate is about as low as I've seen things go. Evidently opportunists have no shame whatsover, and promoting themselves at the expense of everything, including the Lord and His people, as well as the non-believers involved, is an abomination.

One of Many Lessons from Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life - 7

The recent death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn on August 3, made a lot of people who lived through the times when he wrote his powerful books that changed an empire - reflective.

There's one thing I want to mention, because it has to do with our recent theme of Jesus as the tree of life.

I want to focus on what he talked about in reference to good and evil some time ago. Here's what one writer says about it:

"For Solzhenitsyn, right and wrong, good and evil, undoubtedly do exist. However, as he first expressed it in a poem written in his head in the camps nearly 60 years ago, the dividing line between good and evil passes not between warring parties, ideologies, armies, but runs through the heart of each individual and flickers ceaselessly to and fro."

This is an extraordinary understanding of the source of what becomes outward actions and deeds: it comes from the heart.

Eating of the tree of life was meant to take in the life of Christ interally, and willingly allow Him to live out that live in creation. That's the very purpose of creation, that it would bear the testimony of the invisible Christ. It's still the ultimate end of the eternal purpose of God. This is the purpose of the church, to be a letter written from God within, that then expresses itself outwardly.

Solzhenitsyn understood that everything was connected to the heart, and if that changed, the rest would follow.

That's why the scriptures teach that Christ has written His laws in our hearts. He is the king and ruler, and His kingdom is an inner one. Once we learn to eat of the tree of life, the outer starts to take care of itself as the living Christ expands who he is within us. Eventually the two will become one, as heaven and earth become a visible testimony to who Christ is.

This is why we are to embrace the kingdom coming and the will of God being done on earth as it is in heaven, because the two are one in Christ. Now He is looking for people who are willing to endure the cross so that can become a reality. The ultimate work of the cross is to eliminate who we are so He can live fully within us.

The secret is we retain our soul while He becomes everything. He never forces us, but woos us to Himself within. That puts the responsibility upon us to keep our hearts open and pliable to Him while we go through the myriad tough times those embracing the cross will always go through.

It all has to do with internalizing and eating of the tree of life.

By the way, if you want to understand a portion of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Solzhenitsyn expresses the fruit of it accurately, it "runs through the heart of each individual and flickers ceaselessly to and fro."

The tree of life on the other hand, does the opposite.

Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

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