Lesson 107 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WIll

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessings and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Paul wrote this in 2Corinthians 5:20 (Amplified), "So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We, as Christ's personal representatives beg you for His sake to lay hold of the Divine favor now offered you and be reconciled to God."
     We, as Christ's ambassadors and His Own personal representatives, we are to represent Him in every way, in honor and Truth.  Jesus spoke in Luke 18:6-8 (Amplified) saying, "Then the Lord said, And will not our Just God defend and protect and avenge His elect, His chosen ones who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf? I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find persistence in faith on the earth?"
     I've been calling for the Christians in our nation to pray and vote, in this midterm election.  I'm also crying out day and night for God's Mighty Hand to deliver this nation.  Many things currently occurring in America are directly opposed to God's Word and they have placed this nation in opposition against God's Word.  We're not fighting a political battle in this country, but a Spiritual battle.
     I'm calling on our fellow believers, brothers and sisters in Christ, to please pray and intercede for the Church here and for our nation.  This is the time we must intercede for liberty and the establishing of  laws that are based on God's Word again.  We've been asleep and have paid little attention to what's happening in our country, like it doesn't make any difference.  It does make a difference to our Heavenly Father.
     I'm being reminded about the Israelites in the Wilderness, who kept wanting to return to Egypt, even after God delivered them from bondage there.  God intended for them to trust in His deliverance, but the people believed it was easier to stay in captivity.  Many of us trust that the government will take care of us and we've turned a blind eye to the corruption happening in our government systems. 
     It's time for the Body of Christ to do as the Head (Who is Jesus) says, instead of receiving orders from some other source.  I'm not accusing every person in authority positions of being corrupt, but we do know some are.  I believe though, that we've allowed the party to become more important than God.  The Original Intent of America was first and foremost, that God was to be our God and over all else.  We were to have a government that respected God and what God stands for.  This was to be a nation that had a place in God's heart and would be a Light to the world and a beacon of hope.
     Our ideas of "fairness," are man's ideas and not God's.  God didn't say He would "be fair."  God said He would be Just.  So many churches in our country are afraid of losing their tax-exemption status, if we don't do as we're told.  Many things our Founding Fathers and those who fought for our freedom are being set aside, benefiting and profiting just a few.  Perhaps, they don't see anything wrong in how things have been.  This was true even in Jesus' earthly ministry, when too many believed everything should remain like it was.
     I truly believe God put a man in Office who isn't afraid to do what needs to be done and we should all be praying for him and his family.  We can hardly afford for him to finish the remainder of his time in office, with his hands bound or confronting impeachment efforts or investigations based on nothing.  Many in bondage today, are crying out like those in Exodus 2:24-25 (Amplified), which says, "And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God saw the Israelites and took knowledge of them and concerned Himself about them knowing all, understanding all, remembering all."
     God has heard the sighs and groans today and has never forgotten His covenant with Jesus that was established on our behalf.  He is concerned about us here today.  Deliverance is already on the way, by the Power of His Word and His Spirit.  We must not do like those in the Wilderness, who murmured against God, even after He brought them out of Egypt.  God called Moses to deliver the people, but they even slandered against him, just like they complained about God.  Change is coming and we must learn to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead us into the Rest and Promise, that God declared for us.  It doesn't matter what the world or history say about our Founding Fathers.  They entered into covenant with God, when this nation was established.  God has honored His part of that covenant and He expects us to honor our part.  The responsibility of appointing and electing Godly men and women to represent us, has been placed in our hands.  We must do this in prayer and understanding and honor to Him.
     Don't vote political parties.  Vote Righteousness and God's will for our nation.  Please, pray for the unity and repentance of our nation, if you live elsewhere.  We covet your prayers and faith, in unity with us in Christ.  We then, will pray for you and your nation, so together we'll see the return of Jesus and the Glory of God, being manifest on this earth.  The best is yet to come.
                                                                                                  We love you,
                                                                                                          Jim

Lesson 106 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessings and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     I'm urging every eligible American, to make your vote count and participate in the upcoming midterm election.  I'm beseeching believers in other countries, to please pray for America.  The Body of Christ needs to stand together and stop believing the lie that, "It's fleshly to participate in politics."
     Paul reminds us that we're not just dealing with political parties, but we're actually dealing with demonic powers in Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified) saying, "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood (contending only with physical opponents), but against the despotism's, against the powers, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (Super-natural) spheres."
     The division and hatred operating currently in America, isn't something that exists between two different political parties, but is a demonic attack on our nation.  Christians have the authority through the Name and Power of Jesus Christ, to put down this attack and restore unity and peace to our nation.  I'm not saying that the people participating in the division are demonic, but they've been deceived into unknowingly operate under demonic influence.
     We've been called to pray for our leaders and to use the Name of Jesus in power, on this earth.  1Timothy 2:1-4 (Amplified) says, "Pray first of all for our ones who are in leadership positions, that we may be pleasing to God and that we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life, and inwardly a peaceable one."  There is no quiet and peace in our nation today, mostly because those of us who know how to pray, are not pleasing God in this sense.
     America shouldn't have civil unrest, like nations that don't know Jesus do.  We mostly vote parties (Democrat or Republican), instead of voting according to God's Word and His Spirit.  We've done this for so long, that we've forgotten what it really all about.  Jesus said in Matthew 24:6-8 (Amplified), "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place. All this is but the beginning (the early pains of the birth pangs), of the intolerable anguish."
     We are witnessing these things on a daily basis, in these latter times.  When Jesus said, "Kingdom against kingdom," He was speaking about  the kingdom of darkness being at full scale war against the Kingdom of God.  This isn't happening only in our country, but throughout the entire planet.  Man is devoid of anymore ideas and ability to prevent it.  This is the time for God's Church to rise up from being babies and grow into the stature of Christ Jesus.  Satan knows his time is short and he has pulled out all the stops.
     In the midst of all this, the Lord instructed us to, "Be not troubled or frightened."  Jesus told His followers, "My peace I leave you; Not as the world has peace, but My peace I leave you," in John 14:27 (Amplified).  The only way of securing peace in these troubled and chaotic times, is to stay with God's Word and rest in Him.  Christians have the power of His Name and the Promise of His Word, to change the these temporal things.  We must not call the things occurring around the world, "The new normal," because that's not God's way.  We're to "Call things that are not, as though they were."  Paul writes about God's covenant with Abraham in Romans 4:17 (Amplified) saying, "As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. He was appointed our father in the sight of God in Whom he believe, Who gives Life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that He has foretold and Promised as if they already existed."
     God didn't instruct us to call things we see as Truth, but to say that what God has said about those things, THIS IS TRUTH.  Paul tells us who are enemy is, in Ephesians 6:13 (Amplified) where he writes, "Therefore, put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day of danger and, having done all the crisis demands to stand firmly in your place."
     This is the time to pray believe, resist and stand in the Promise and the armor that God has supplied.  We must not say, "Nothing can be done," but we must stand in faith by God's Word and His Promise.  God says in 2Chronicles 7:14 (Amplified), "If My people, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave and require of necessity, My Face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and HEAL THEIR LAND."
     Our nation has become sick, because of the lack of prayer over it.  We've leaned on our own understanding for far too long and have failed to acknowledge God and His way of doing and being right.  Only God can turn the heart of a nation to Him and He asks us to pray and trust Him.  It doesn't matter about the politics of either side, but about people who will listen to Him.  We need to vote the heart of God over our nation and listen to Him, in this time of crisis.
     The time of awakening has come and it's time for the Glory of God to be revealed to the Church and the world.  Prayer is the most important thing for our nation and voting is one way to sow a seed of faith into your prayer.  James 2:17 (Amplified) says, "So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions) of obedience to back it up, by itself is destitute of power, inoperative and dead." We must pray, listen, vote and believe that God will do as He says and "Heal our Land." 
                                                                                                   God Bless you,
                                                                                                            Jim

Lesson 105 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified_ says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
     Americans are only eight days away from an important midterm election and it's time for the awakening of God's people.  Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived, deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked) by mere pretension or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He eventually deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
     You might be wondering, "How does this pertain to the midterm elections?"  Most Evangelical Christians only vote "our party," instead of by God's precepts and we're now witnessing our country being pulled into an ungodly state of ruin.  Many preachers tell their congregation, "Christians don't involve themselves in such worldly things as politics.  Jesus said that we are "In the world, but not of the world."  We still have to live in this world, until we either die or Jesus returns.  We are ambassadors of God's Kingdom, who bring God's Kingdom Laws and principles into this world.
     The laws and statutes of our government are supposed to line-up with the precepts of God, so we can live in peace here on earth.  In 1Timothy 2:1-4 (Amplified) Paul writes, "First of all, then I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be offered on behalf of all men For kings and all who are in authority or high responsibility, that outwardly we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life, and inwardly a peaceable one in all Godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way, For such praying is good and right, and it is pleasing and acceptable to god our Savior Who wishes all men to be saved and increasingly to perceive and discern and know precisely and correctly the Divine Truth."
     Many of the things that have fallen on our nations and the Church, have come through ungodly laws and legislation that ungodly men and women have passed.  We've allowed ungodly people to be elected, because we didn't observe God's precepts.  The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has power and authority here on earth, through His Name and His Spirit.  The prevalent murdering of our unborn children is a form of decay and destruction that has come upon our nation, because we've only been making a mere pretentions of our union with Jesus.
     Abortion seems acceptable to those who are worldly or merely pretentious in their walk with god, but God's Word is strongly against these things.  God's Church has been voting "party," instead of our faith.  This has placed the Church in bondage to ungodly laws, along with those who are unsaved.  Look at the platforms of both of our two party system and see which lines-up with God's Word.  Then,, sow your seed into God's will and His Word.
      We know that The Bible is God's authority and that we are to do things according His Word, but we've been apathetically sitting back, allowing the enemy to remove prayer and God's Word from our schools and entrusting our children to these schools. We've allow judges to be put in office, who pass laws and precepts that are openly and outwardly against everything we, as Christians, stand for.  We have same sex marriages, abortion and are a stench in God's nostrils, limits on what we can say or preach, and rules that don't allow Christmas displays or our saying, "Merry Christmas."  We're so afraid we might upset others and offend their gods, so we say, "Happy Holidays."  We're so eager to please and not offend, that we've become the Silent Majority, to the point that it's said, "America is no longer a Christian nation."
     We're supposed to be the Voice of God in the land, according to Proverbs 29:18 (Amplified) where God says, "Where there is no vision, no redemptive Revelation of God, the people perish; but who keeps the Law of God, which includes that of man, Blessed, happy, fortunate, and enviable is he."  We've lost sight of the redemptive Revelation of God.  Proverbs 11:10-11 (Amplified) says, "When it goes well with the uncompromising righteous the city rejoices, but when the wicked perish there are shouts of joy By the Blessing of the influence of the upright and God's favor because of them, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked."
     The "mouth of the wicked," refers to those who don't know or respect God and His Word, who make laws and speak words that are unacceptable to God.  These laws and words result in the suffering of the inhabitants of the cities and country.  If we vote a man in office in order to change the nation, then we must not allow the enemy to tie his hands, so he cannot do what God has placed him there to do.
     The Body of Christ is to be informed and led by the Holy Spirit and God's Word.  We're not to be led by the media or by the majority voices.  The Israelites in the Wilderness, listened to the voice of ten men who didn't believe God's Promise, which resulted in two million people never entering into the Promised Land.  The people never even saw the Land, but took the word of those who said, "We're not able to take the Land," in Numbers 13 & 14.  Some of the people even wished to stone Joshua, Caleb, Moses and Aaron, because they stood, trusting and quoting God's Promise for them.
     Do you want to live in a nation that rejects God's Word and live under the bondage of ungodly law and statutes?  We've been praying for the awakening of America, for a long time.  This might be the most crucial time when the walls of bondage get torn down.  YOU SHOULD VOTE and vote by what God's Word holds true, instead of voting by party or majority.  There is a Law of Sowing and Reaping.  We have a change to sow to the flesh (party, majority rule and senses) or we can sow to the Word of God (the Spirit and Righteousness).  God says, Be not deceived, whatsoever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap."
     If Christians sow to the party, flesh and majority, then we (along with the rest of the nation) will reap the results.  Our children and grandchildren will be raised in this.  We've been given an opportunity by God's Grace, to make sound and Godly choices.  Let's choose Life and Blessing, like Deuteronomy 30:19 (Amplified) says.  The choice is still being offered.  Thus, God says, "I call Heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you Life and death, the Blessings and the curses; Therefore choose Life, that you and your descendants may live."   The choise has now been set before us again, so let's choose God's way.
       

Lesson 104 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
     Under the Law, God could only Bless the people according to their adherence and obedience to the Law.  Under Grace, the Father can now Bless us, because of Jesus' obedience to die on the cross and be raised again.  Philippians 2:8 (Amplified) says, "And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself still farther and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross."  The Law has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus and Grace and Truth now prevail.
     This isn't saying that God's children are to be disobedient, but our disobedient acts no longer require God's punishment with His Just and Righteous judgment.  Grace has covered our own foolishness and disobedience by Jesus' Blood and His obedience on our behalf.  God's will has always been to raise His children in Grace and Love and to "Train us up in the way we should go."
     Grace doesn't mean we're to deliberately be disobedient, but while we're growing up into the full stature of who He created us to be.  As little children, we're covered by His obedience and by His Grace.  Most of God's children are still in the infant stage, having never yet grown into the knowledge of son-ship as joint heirs of Jesus Christ.  Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself, thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are God's children And if we are His children, then we are His Heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him, only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."
     We previously learned that "Christ's suffering" wasn't what He endured on the cross on Calvary,  Jesus did that so that we didn't have too.  The suffering Jesus endured was that the people didn't try to understand Him and rejected Him.  Today, we're seeing ourselves and proclaiming our identity, by who and what the Father calls us to be and this has everything to do with what the Father can accomplish in our earthly lives, and the world rejects us.
     When Abram accepted God's call on his life, his name was changed and his life was changed according to what God said about him.  Abraham's grandson Jacob had a name that meant "Supplanted or deceiver," but his name was changed to Israel.  Genesis 32:28 (Amplified) says, "And [God] said; Your name shall be called no more Jacob (Supplanter), but Israel (Contender with God); for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed."
     Many read the scriptural account of Jacob's (Israel's) wrestling with an angel and only take away how Jacob was made to limp for the rest of his earthly life.  Religious thinking fails to see the Blessing and faith of Jacob and only sees Jacob had a crippling encounter with God.  The carnal mind looks for an excuse to suffer, instead of seeing what this Blessing has meant to the entire earth.
     God has not only changed our names, but He has changed our entire person and character, by our new creation experience with Jesus.  In our new identity, God doesn't call us His friends, but God calls us His sons and daughters.  We continue referring to and seeing ourselves as who we once were and we seem afraid to believe or confess what God has called us and made us to be. 
     I would be very disappointed if my children refused to carry my name, as an earthly father.  How would you feel if your children called themselves after someone else's father?  We must dare to be what our Heavenly Father calls and expects us to be.  We're no longer children of darkness or a generation of vipers or children of the devil.  This is what you used to be, but now we have a new nature, a new life, a new Father and a name.  Don't keep associating yourself with your past.  Psalm 107:1-2 (Amplified) says, "O give thanks to the Lord for His Goodness; for His mercy and Loving kindness endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary."
     It's not you who exalted yourself, but it was God Who exalted you.  Our religious pride exalts us, when we say that, "We're still old sinners in God's eyes."  This is pride and is our refusing to accept God's Word and Truth over our own words.  It's not pride to accept by faith, who Jesus has raised you up to be.  We must accept Truth from His Word, in order to walk in Truth.  If you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior and you continue seeing yourself as an old sinner in God's eyes, then you're falsely speaking against the Truth and the Power of the new creation. 
    Abraham referred to himself as "The father of a multitude," even though he didn't have a child yet.  Abraham wasn't lying, but was honoring what God said about him and he was seeing it come to pass, by faith.  If you're waiting to become "perfect" before you believe who you are in Christ, then you'll die first and discover the Truth that you were already perfect in Jesus.
     Don't allow the world's teachings to hold back Heaven's Blessings.  Receive by faith, what the Father says about you.  Allow His Blessing and favor to reveal to the world that His Word is True and their words about you are not true.  Saying that, "We're just old sinners" after what it cost God to make us righteous, isn't just the highest form of pride, but it shows how little faith we have in our Sacrifice Lamb.  Hebrews 4:10 (Amplified) says, "For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
     When we rest in His righteousness, we no longer need to struggle and strive to become righteous with Him and we can by faith, receive our righteousness and call ourselves as He calls us, "His children, His Own."

    

Lesson 103 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     It can be hard to look at our natural life, with all our shortcomings, and then see what God's Word says about our new creation life.  We're all aware of our faults and how we're not worthy or righteous in ourselves to deserve God's Blessing.  When we continue to see who we once were, instead of seeing who God has made us to be, we feel unworthy and don't feel righteous.  God doesn't charge us or see us in our own worth or righteousness, but He sees us in Jesus Christ.  Remember, you were worth so much to God, that He gave Jesus to gain you back.  You have worth to Him!
     This is Truth and Grace.  This is the family covenant we've entered into with God.  Grace is after all, unearned, undeserved favor.  The Father didn't birth children into this earth and then decide which ones were worthy.  The Word tells us that, "None were worthy, no not one."
     This is why it's so important that we renew our minds by God's Word.  Romans 12:2 (Amplified) says, "Do not be conformed to this world (this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs), but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude, so that you may prove for yourselves what is the Good and acceptable and perfect will of God (even the thing which is Good and acceptable and perfect in His eyes for you)."
     When you read the Word with a new and changed mind, as God's children and not just someone He pities, you will see Him as "Father" and not only as God.  I didn't take care of my children out of pity, but I did so because I loved them.  I never gave them just enough food to prevent their starving, but I gave them enough to make them grow into strong and able adults.  Our Heavenly Father doesn't put us on rations, but He has given us His Very Self, according to 2Peter 1:3 (Amplified) which says, "For His Divine Power has bestowed upon us all things that are requisite and suited to life and Godliness, through the full, personal knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His Own Glory and Excellence (Virtue)."
     We've somehow limited God's Word for being, "someday when we go to Heaven," and dismissed much of it as for here and now, on earth.  What we see, feel or think about what God's Word says, doesn't change the Truth of His Word.  We've allowed the teaching of the Law and the world to enter into our thinking, failing to recognize God's Word is Truth.  If healing, salvation, the Holy Spirit or the Blessing of Abraham don't come to you, then we need to be humble enough to realize that we missed it and it wasn't God Who missed it.
     God's Word tells us, "It's impossible to please God without faith" and God meant that.  Trying to obtain God's Grace any other way is not pleasing to Him.  Grace is a Gift and a Spiritual Blessing and must be received by faith.  Paul writes in Galatians 5:4 (Amplified), "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing)."  Paul's message might sound harsh and not given in love, but he preached from a Revelation he received directly from Jesus.
     Few are walking in the full Law of Moses, but are walking in laws that we've must abide by, in order to qualify us to receive God's favor and Blessing.  Many of these laws deal with how to dress and our outward appearance, like mentioned in 1Peter 3:3-4.  Peter didn't say you couldn't wear such and such, but he said we're not to let people be drawn to you because of things we wear.  People should be drawn to us, because of the inward beauty of our spirit (the Holy Spirit and the beauty of God's Love in our hearts).  Wearing jewelry has nothing to do with our pleasing God or wearing jewelry, because these are simply man's ideas of holiness and have nothing to do with Holiness.
     We don't transgress with our words, because we wish to be pleasing to God and honor His Word in our lives.  When we confess that we trust Him and then say things that are in opposition to His Word, we're displaying our lack of trust in Him.  This is exactly what the Israelites in the Wilderness did.  God wanted to deliver them by His Grace and His Promise to Abraham, but they instead trusted in their own efforts and devices, according to Exodus 2:23-24 (Amplified) which says, "However after a long time (nearly forty years), the king of Egypt died; and the Israelites were sighing and groaning because of the bondage. They kept crying, and their cry because of slavery ascended to God. And God heard their sighing and groaning and earnestly remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob."
     This was a God's covenant of Grace that was given before the Law was made and was based on faith and the Promise was sure.  Hebrews 4:1-2 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, while the Promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered today, let us be afraid to distrust it lest any of you should think he has come too ate and has come short of reaching it For indeed we have had the Glad tidings of the Gospel of God proclaimed to us jut as truly as they (the Israelites) of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith, with the leaning of the entire Personality of God in absolute trust and confidence in His Power, Wisdom, and Goodness by those who heard it; neither were they united in faith with the ones (Joshua and Caleb), who heard and did believe."
     The people in the Wilderness provoked God, by not speaking His Word and murmuring against what He said, until it destroyed them.  We're to speak God's Word out of respect for Who He is and in order to be pleasing to Him.  In the covenant of Grace, we're to trust, rely on, have faith in and agree with God's Word, instead of finding our own ways of disagreeing with Him.  If God says that, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus," then that is what I am.  God told Abraham, "You are the father of a multitude," when Abraham didn't have any children.  Abraham changed and agreed with God's Word, calling himself "the Father of a multitude," by faith.
     Today, we see the fulfillment of that Promise God made to Abraham and even though Abraham has gone to be with the Lord, the Promise continues working like God said.  Galatians 3:14 (Amplified) says, "To the end that through their receiving Christ Jesus, the Blessing Promised to Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, so that we, through faith might all receive the realization of the Promise of the Holy Spirit."  The Promise God made to Abraham of his being "the father of a multitude," is still growing years after Abraham has gone, IN JESUS.
     Don't limit God to "being God only in Heaven," because He desires to be God in and on this earth, through faithfulness in His Word to us, through Jesus.  He is God of Heaven and earth.  We've limited His doing so many things through us and for us, because we don't have faith like Abraham did and simply trust Him.  God changed Abram's name to Abraham and Abraham called himself what God called him.  God has also changed our name as His children and He expects us to call ourselves what He calls us, in faith.  It didn't matter that Abraham had no children.  He called himself the "father of a multitude," even before Sara had a child.
     In John 1:22-23 (Amplified), John the Baptist was asked, "What then, are you Elijah? and he said, I am not! Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No! Then they said to him, Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness (the voice of one shouting in the desert), Prepare the way of the Lord (level, straighten out the path of the Lord), as the prophet Isaiah said."  John was quoting Isaiah 40:3 (Amplified) which says, "A voice of one who cries; Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord (clear away the obstacles, make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God)."
     Notice how John the Baptists called himself what God called him.  He never said, "I'm the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth," but he said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness."  This is what God called him and just like Abraham did, John called himself what God called him.  We must also call ourselves what God calls us.  Why do we deny what God has called us, by saying what everyone else thinks our name should be?  Let's allow God to fulfill His call on us, by extending His Word and Promise to us, like He did with John and Abraham.
     

Lesson 102 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S TRUTH

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another, and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned,undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Paul admonishes the Church in Colossi ans 1:9-10 (Amplified) saying, "For this reason (because of the love they showed) we also, from the day we heard of it, have not ceased to pray and make special request for you, asking that you may be filled with the full, deep, and clear knowledge of His will in all Spiritual Wisdom in comprehensive insight into the ways and the purposes of God, and in understanding and discernment of Spiritual things That you may walk, live and conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him and desiring to please Him in all good work and steadily growing and increasing in and by the knowledge of God, with fuller, deeper, and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition."
     Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."
     Many of the things I teach in these lessons, aren't required to "go to Heaven,"but are only to be pleasing to God and walk worthy of the Lord.  Putting a guard on my mouth, so I don't transgress His Word is one example.  Jesus perfectly pleased the Father and we find He did by speaking the Words of God, according to John 3:34 (Amplified) which tells us, "For since He Whom God has sent speaks the Words of God (proclaims God's Own Message). God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure but boundless is the Gift God makes of His Spirit."
      Some would say it's foolishness to watch what we say, but we do so, in order to be pleasing to God and to honor His Word in our lives.  We transgress with our mouths, when we confess "God uses sickness to teach us," while believing His Promise that "By His stripes we were healed."  This isn't walking worthy of His Sacrifice.  We are to proclaim His Own Message, just like Jesus did.
     It cannot be pleasing to God (like some believe), when we're double-minded in His Promises and in His Sacrifice, but it's denying what Jesus came to free us from.  Even though some are sick, doesn't mean God's Word isn't True any longer.  Even though so many people remain unsaved, doesn't mean that God's will is that "He so Loved the world, He sent His Only Begotten Son so that all should be saved."
     We are saved by Grace, through faith.  When we put our faith into what God's grace has provided for us, we have what He has already made ours, in our lives.  God has made all things available to us, if we will simply trust in His Grace and His Promise to us, in Jesus.  Romans 4:10 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace."
     It's been difficult for God's people to see themselves as the Father sees them.  We continue seeing ourselves as "unworthy" and the old, "sinner saved by Grace," instead of seeing how awesome God's Grace is.  All things are given to us by GRACE, as an act of faith or trusting God.  We cannot get these things by our own merits and our good works, otherwise they would be things owed to us in exchange of our works.  They come by God's Grace and cannot be earned by our own merits.
     The Spiritual Gifts John writes about in John 1:16-17, aren't the Gifts of the Spirit found in 1Corinthians 12.  Many of the Spiritual Gifts found in John 1:16-17 are things we don't associate with Spiritual Gifts, like Righteousness.  Romans 5:17 (Amplified) says, "For if because of one man's trespass (lapse, offense), death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive God's overflowing Grace (unmerited favor), and the free Gift of Righteousness."
     The free Gift of Righteousness is one of the Spiritual Gifts came to us in abundance.  God's Grace makes all things available to us, by faith.  Romans 5:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, since we are justified, acquitted, declared righteous and given a right standing with God through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy. Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) Through Him also we have our access, entrance, introduction by faith into this Grace (state of God's favor in which we firmly stand). And let us rejoice and exalt in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the Glory of God."
     Grace is the upmost importance to God, because even though God has given it us to freely, it cost the Father, His Son.  Ignoring Grace and trying to achieve righteousness by any other way than Grace, is disdaining what God Paid to give it freely to us.  Much has been said about men/women of faith, faith preachers and faith people.  Some is misunderstood by those who try to misappropriate what our faith is for and why it's so important.  It's only by faith, that we can come into the realm that Jesus came to bring us to.  Our faith must be in Him and for what He has done for us and faith that God's Grace saves us.
     Ignoring faith is rejecting Grace.  The only way that Grace works, is by believing and having faith in God's Provision, otherwise we're on our own.  Romans 4:21-24 (Amplified) says, "Fully satisfied and assured that God was Able and Mighty to keep His Word and do what He had Promised That is why [Abraham's] faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God) But the Words, it was credited to him, were written not for his sake alone But they were written for our sake too. Righteousness, standing acceptable to God, will be granted and credited to us also who believe in, trust in, adhere to, and rely on God Who raised Jesus from the dead."
     The Blessing of Abraham comes on God's people, by faith in what He says and in His Ability to keep His Promise.  We've been given the privilege of being able to come into God's Presence at any time (day or night), without sacrificing, cleansing, fasting or doing rituals, because Jesus Is and Was all that was need to come boldly before God's Throne of Grace.  It must be by faith, that we enter.  We cannot see "who we used to be" and feel righteous.  We must see who God has made us to be and accept His Gift of Righteousness by faith in His Grace.  Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) says, "Mercy and Loving-kindness and Truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, And Righteousness shall look down from Heaven."  
  

Lesson 101 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a part and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift, for while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Romans 4:13-16 (Amplified) says, "For the Promise to Abraham or his posterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through observing the commandments of the Law but through the Righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the Law who are to be the heirs, then faith is made futile and empty of all meaning and the Promise of God is made void, is annulled and has no power for the Law results in Divine wrath, but where there is no Law there is no transgression of it either Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unmerited favor) to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees (adherents) of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is thus the father of us all."
     Romans 1:17 (Amplified) tells us, "For in the Gospel as righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith), As it is written; The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith."
     We must be declared and made righteous by the righteousness that God ascribes, by our faith and not by the works of the Law.  This doesn't mean we're not to do or live in righteous works, but that we do the works in righteous and not to obtain righteousness.  We were made or created in righteousness in Christ Jesus.  When we substitute and perform works to become righteous in God, we are trying to obtain righteousness within ourselves, instead of God's Grace.  No man was made righteous by the Law and when we try to obtain righteousness by work (which is Law), we make the Righteousness that God ascribes, void in our lives.
     Paul writes about this in Romans 3:10 (Amplified), saying, "Well then, are we Jews superior and better off than they? No, not at all. We have already charge that all men, both Jews and Greeks  (Gentiles), are under sin (held down by and subject to it's power and control), As it is written, None is righteous (just and truthful and upright and conscientious), No not one."
     The above scripture clearly tells us that the Law couldn't "make" men righteous in God's eyes.  Paul writes again to the Church in Romans 3:23-24 (Amplified) saying, "Since all have sinned and are fallen short of the honor and Glory which God bestows and receives. All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His Grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the Redemption which is provided in Christ Jesus."
     Romans 10:17 (Amplified) tells us, "So faith comes by hearing what is told, and what is heard comes by the preaching of the Message that came from the lips of Christ (the Messiah Himself)."  We've been hearing more about the Law from preachers and teachers, instead of hearing about God's Grace and His Truth.  This has left the Church living in the old covenant under Law, instead of the new covenant under Grace.  We're still trying to be good enough to receive the Promises, by our works, rather than simply receiving the Truth of the fulfillment of the Promises by faith.
    We can't earn what Grace has provided, by our own merits.  Such things as healing, answered prayer, and peace with God, must be by faith that it might be by Grace.  This doesn't mean that we're not to do righteous deeds.  We don't do them in order to become righteous, but we do them because we are righteous in Christ Jesus.
     We can walk righteous and do right things before God, because we've been made righteous through Jesus.  Righteous means we came come into God's Presence without guilt shame or condemnation.  Jesus and His Righteous has restored us. to where we now have the right to come before the Father, like Jesus could come before Him.  Our trying to become righteous, reveals our lack of trusting God's Grace to make us righteous.
     Paul writes about our trusting in God's Grace to become righteous in His eyes, because of Jesus' Sacrifice in Hebrews 4:9-10 (Amplified).  After bringing the people out of Egypt, God intended for them to rest in His Grace and allow Him to provide everything they would need in the Wilderness.  They wouldn't accept by faith, His Grace to provide though.  Thus Paul says, "For then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-Rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's Rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His Own."
     God has made His new creation people and has rested from His labor, like He did after the first creation in Genesis.  God considers His work is finished, because the full Redemption of mankind was laid upon Jesus Christ.  We know that the "Promises of God are now Yes and Amen" to us, through Jesus, according to 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) which says, "For the Son of God, Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy), was not yes and no, but in Him is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him (in His Person and by His Agency), TO THE GLORY OF GOD."
     God receives glory, when we simply by faith,  receive the Fulfillment of His Promises through Jesus.  God doesn't receive glory from our human abilities or works or our trying to do for ourselves, what He has rested from through Jesus.  Grace is the unearned and undeserved favor of God working in our lives.  Grace is a Gift, which we receive by our faith in the Finished Work of Jesus Christ.  When we try adding to His Grace by our works, we're demonstrating our unbelief that Jesus was enough to fully make us righteous and free from sin, death, sickness or the works of satan.  We continue trying to add a P.S. at the end of His Finished Work, adding our own ideas to it.  It's not the cross and our good works.  It's the cross without any of our good works.  We don't need to add our own ideas to salvation, in order to make it valid in God's eyes.
     We are to govern ourselves by His Word and His Spirit.  Laws and rituals that appeal to the flesh and make us feel better, don't work.  2Timothy 3:16 (Amplified) says, "The true sons of God are supposed to learn, walk and govern themselves by God's Word. Every scripture is God-breathed, and given by His Inspiration and profitable for instruction for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteous, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action."
     We are the righteousness of God in Christ are are to receive from His Word, whatever we have need of by His Grace, to provide all we need and walk with Him in rest and peace.  Don't allow yourself to be brought back under the Law of performance, but walk in God's liberty of Grace.  This doesn't mean we can do anything we choose to do and be hedonists, but allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit, receive His Word and walk in His Righteousness.  

Lesson 100 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Under the old Mosaic covenant, the people needed to keep the Law, in order to qualify for God's Blessings and Promises.  When the people transgressed the Law, God withheld the Promises.  Under our new covenant, Jesus has Perfectly fulfilled the entire Law and made provision for us.  Even though we've been set free from the Law and are no longer under obligation to it, we strive to fulfill it by out own strength, works, and ability.
     God's will for His children has always been Grace and Truth.  He never intended for us to have to do everything for ourselves, like most parents today.  We don't just give life to our children and then expect them to know or do without our provision.  There comes a time in their lives, where they will be expected to live on their own, relying on the things they've been taught.  Even when they're adults, we still give them advice, wisdom and other things.
     We've entered into a relationship with the Father, where we're supposed to know and understand that He intends to meet our every need, by simply trusting Him.  What we consider to be adulthood in this natural realm, is far less than understanding adulthood in God's realm.  Understanding Spiritual Laws and how to walk in them, is far different than natural laws.
     The Spiritual Blessings that we now have through Jesus, aren't things we can achieve by our natural man, but must be received by faith, into our spirit man.  The Spiritual Blessing of righteousness, isn't something we can achieve on our own.  We must receive it by faith in His Grace and accept it Grace.  Grace is unearned and undeserved favor.  It is a Gift from God and must be received as a Gift, but we still struggle to be good enough to deserve it, which is impossible.  Only Jesus can give us righteousness and make us righteous before God, through His righteousness.
     There's no way that mankind can heal or walk in Divine health, except by Grace and Truth in God's Word.  We've conflated Law and Grace, so that neither is working for us.  Law only works by Law, while Grace works only by faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus.
     We've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law in Jesus, but we put ourselves back under it when we try walking the Law out on our own.  The Curse is still here, but Jesus has taken it upon Himself, so that we don't have to suffer under it.  The Law of Sowing and Reaping is in place and even believers reap what they sow.  Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked), by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower-nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
     "Sowing to the flesh," is doing things our own way, instead of the way of the Spirit.  If a Christian sows corn and a non-Christian sows corn, then both will reap a harvest of corn.  It doesn't matter who sows it, the "seed produces after kind," according to Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified) which says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself (each according to its kind), upon the earth. And so it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, according to its kind. And God saw that it was Good (suitable, admirable), And He approved it."
     One might think that these "seeds," only refer to vegetation and trees, but that isn't true.  The entire Kingdom of God is still in Seed Principle.  Jesus relates "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 saying that "Words are seeds."  Galatians 3:16-17 tells us that Jesus was (and is) The Seed from which all of us (as Christians) have been born from.  We are seeds of Abraham and are seeds for bringing a greater harvest of believers into God's Kingdom.  Jesus refers to Himself as being "The Seed" in John 12:24 (Amplified) saying, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a gain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain, it never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest."
     Our words and actions are directed by the Seed Principle.  This is what Paul writes about in Galatians 6:7-8 when he says, "God's Word is not be deluded, by man's teaching of doing our own thing."  Doing our own thing is sowing to the flesh and can only produce what the flesh can do.  We might be sowing to the flesh, in order to become righteous, but that can only bring forth flesh and decay.  We must sow to the Spirit and apply God's Word of Grace, allowing The Seed of Righteousness Jesus, bring forth the fruit of righteousness in our lives.
     Whatever you sow, that and that alone is what you will reap.  We've never truly understood the covenant of Grace and Truth and we've never learned to to simply trust God's Word for our needs.  I'm not suggesting that we sit back and do nothing in the world, but I'm saying when we try making God's Word work by our own methods, we're deluding ourselves and will reap to the flesh, what only the flesh can supply.  We've tried to figure out "what we must do, to make God's Word work in our lives," and have lost sight of Grace.  Then, we become discouraged by our own failures.
     Jesus was teaching to a group of people, who had the very same questions we have today, in John 6:28-29 (Amplified) which tells us, "They then said, What are we to do, that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires?"  Jesus' answer in Verse 29 probably stunned the people (just like it might stun many today).  Thus, He said, "This is the work (service) that God asks of you; That you believe in the One Whom He has sent (that you cleave to, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger)."  There's no other way to "do His work," other than by faith in God's Messenger Jesus..  We can't heal the sick, cast out devils, live in peace, lead others to Christ or walk in God's Promises on our own.  We must believe in the One Whom God has sent.
     The Spiritual Blessings are exactly that, Spiritual and they must be received into our spirit by faith, not by our carnal way of doing things.  In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths),that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life."  The religious works people do in order to become what we think it right, has no bearing on what God says "makes us right."  The works of the flesh profit nothing and performing rituals, laws and traditions set us up without the Spirit and profit nothing.  Only faith and trust in God's Grace supplied through Jesus' Sacrifice will profit us.  This is the "rest" God Promises in His Word.  We must simply believe in the One Whom He has sent and have faith in His Messenger to receive His rest.
       ,

Lesson 99 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:!6-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     We've seemingly forgotten what it means to be born-again, acting like it only pertains to "when we leave this earth and go to the Father in Heaven."  When the new birth came into us by faith, a miracle took place in our spirit and were were created as new beings.  2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) says, "Therefore if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether), the old (spiritual and moral condition) has passed away. Behold! the fresh and new has come."
     We were created, just as surely as the heavens and earth were created by the Word of God.  We are now a new being that has never been on the earth before, except for Jesus, "Who is the First Born among many brethren."  Hebrews 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For it was an act worthy of God and fitting to the Divine Nature that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into Glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect, should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to the perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest through suffering. For both He Who sanctifies (making men holy), and those who are sanctified all have One Father. For this reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."
     When we determine that our salvation is only for a future time, we are also determining that our Heavenly Father can only move in our lives, at a future time.  Our misunderstanding this, limits God to only after we leave this earth.  God didn't do what He did, only to allow us into Heaven, but that through Jesus, He could bring His Kingdom and His Heaven to earth, through those who are a new creation family.  God intended to move and live through us, like He did through the Human Body of Jesus.  God intended to make His Presence known upon the earth through His new creation family, just like He did in the First Born Son, Jesus.
     When we put-off what God has done, we don't allow Him to do and live and move through us, like He wants too.  In spite of the teaching and preaching of God's Word, some still refused to accept the Truth in Romans 3:3-4 (Amplified) which says, "What if some did not believe and were without faith? Does their lack of faith and their faithlessness nullify and make ineffective and void the faithfulness of God and His fidelity to His Word? By no means! Let God be found True though every human being is false and a liar, as it is written, That you may be justified and shown to be upright in what you say, and prevail when you are judged by sinful men."
     When some refuse to believe and are unwilling to accept Truth, we're still the ones who are upright and justified in what God says.  Jesus was the Fore-runner for the Church, just like John the Baptist was a fore-runner for Jesus.  Jesus was the First Born among many brethren and now we all belong to the Same Father and the same family.  We've been waiting for when we go to Heaven, to become sons and daughters of God, when have been so all along.  We are sons and daughters of God now, while we're on this earth and we are to show forth His Glory to the world.  God has sent us into the world as His Ambassadors from His Heavenly Kingdom.
     Having unrenewed minds, keeps us thinking as mere men, when all the time we are the new creation family of God, as was Jesus, the First Born from the dead.  This doesn't take away from what Jesus came to do, but it amplifies what He came to do.  Jesus came to remove what Adam placed mankind under and restore what the Father had always intended for His family to be.  When we deny this portion of our salvation, we are actually denying the fullness of Jesus' earthly ministry.
     Some would say that this is "making light of Jesus' Deity" and making Jesus "just a Man," but nothing is further from Truth.  It was by Jesus' becoming a Man on the cross, that brought us into His Deity and class of being.  We would still be only human, without Jesus' allowing Himself to take our place.  "Through Him, we are not as we were, but as He is," according to 1John 3:2 (Amplified) which says, "Beloved, we are even here and now God's children; it is not yet disclosed, (made clear), what we shall be hereafter, but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall as God's children resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He really is"
     I don't know what a glorified body will look like when we're actually forever in His Presence, but whatever Jesus looks like, we will also look like.  Until that time, "We see no longer any man after the flesh, but after the Spirit," according to 2Corinthians 5:16 (Amplified) which says, "Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a purely human point of view (in terms of natural standards of value); No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a Man, Yet now, we have such knowledge of Him that we know Him no longer in terms of the flesh."
     Most of us still see Him as the Man Who was in the flesh, walking on the Shores of Galilee.  Our insight and revelation knowledge of Him, stopped after the cross.  Jesus didn't stop at the cross, but He ascended to the Father in a New Form of Being, a Spirit Born Man in a Glorified Body and He took us with Him as brethren of the new creation family.  We are presently still in this body, but we hold the Same Holy Spirit and same Glory of the Father Who lived in Jesus, while He was in this natural body.  We've been made one with Him and are now His natural body to reach out and minister in this natural realm, like Jesus during His earthly ministry.  We've become as an earthly vehicle to allow the Father to go on in the earth, like Jesus did.  We're to only do what the Father does, say what the Father says and go where the Father wants to go, because It is the Father in us now, that still wants to do the work. 
     We've prayed and sent the Holy Spirit to minister and heal those in need.  Even though part of this is right, the Holy Spirit now lives in us and we're to go in His Power, allowing Him to work through us, like He did in Jesus.  God doesn't want to "be sent," He want to GO and He wants to GO through us.  This is and always has been, His will and His Truth.  God's will and Truth is that He could now walk in this realm and have us walk in His realm and that there'd be no separation between His family and Himself.
     The first Adam and the Father walked together in spirit and in the earth.  The Last Adam, Jesus, did the same thing.  God wants to do the same thing with us, His sons and daughter's.  Since we've become His earthly Body (the Body of Christ) and we have His Spirit living inside us, God's will is that He can now walk together with us through Jesus, like He did from the beginning.  After all, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness there of."  God can use us to do His will, when we yield ourselves to Him.  He won't force Himself upon us and make us do what He wants.  He wants us to submit to His will in love for Him and His Love for mankind will be made on this earth as it is in Heaven.

Lesson 98 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share, and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     The Spiritual Blessings that we've now received through Jesus, weren't available to those under the Law and the old covenant.  Through our new creation birth in Christ and as God's family, we've received these Spiritual Blessings.  Even those under the old covenant had access to some of the things of God, but were obliged to fulfill and comply with the Law, in order to qualify for them.  No One except Jesus Himself, had or has ever, fulfilled all of the Law, so Only Jesus could qualify for all the Promise.
     We are looked upon as having fulfilled all the Law and are qualified for the Promises, because we are joint heir with Jesus.  2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God (Christ Jesus, the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus and Timothy), was not yes and no; but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer  in Him (Christ), For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), To God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
     Every Promise in God's Word is now "To and through Jesus."  We're in Him and have now qualified for all of God's Promises.  Many of these Promises were conditional to those in the old covenant.  They needed to qualify for the Promises, by their works and sacrifices.  We, though, are in the "One Who went before us and He fulfilled all the Law and the prophets for us."  The only qualification for us to receive the Promises, is that we are in Him.  Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
     The people of the old covenant were held back from receiving all the Promises, because they lived under the old sin nature and were dead to God in their spirits.  Fallen man couldn't fulfill the Law or keep it, because it was Perfect.  Man couldn't be perfect, so the Law was beyond their reach.  The Law was so Perfect that natural man couldn't keep or fulfill it, in themselves.  God received their sacrifices of bulls and goats, covering their lack of not being able to walk it out.  God could still at least Bless them, to a degree.  God could not though, bring all of His Promises to pass in them.
     Every Promise God made to man was fulfilled in One Man, the Man Christ Jesus.  The world and religious teachings have taught us to believe we still must qualify and fulfill the Law by our works, even though we're now born-again.  We've been taught that God's Promises don't work for us like God's Word says, because we "missed the mark and are not right with God."  We've failed to see how the Father intended to do and to treat us, the same way He did and treated Jesus.
     We still try making the Sabbath Holy, by not working on that day.  The word, "Sabbath," simply means "rest."  Our Sabbath is Jesus, Who completed all the work for us and we rest in Him and keep this rest holy.  We're not resting in Him as the Fulfillment of our labor, when we continue to do works.  The only labor we're required to do, in order to be righteous and holy, is labor to enter into the rest.
     Hebrews 4:9-11 (Amplified) says, "So then, there is still awaiting and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors; Just as God rested those labors peculiarly His Own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter the rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the wilderness fell."
     The Israelites in the Wilderness refused to believe that their God would and could deliver and provide for them, by Himself.  They murmured and complained and strove to do it themselves, to the point of wanting to go back into the bondage and slavery of Pharaoh.  Those of us in the Body of Christ, still try to be perfect, but Jesus could and has fulfilled these Promises on our behalf.  There are certain laws that have been handed down for centuries, that we've been told we "must complete and fulfill to qualify."  This is the very thing that prevented the Israelites from entering into His rest.  We're simply called to believe and receive by faith, that Jesus did everything that was ever needed and then rest in Him.  In Him, we're already now qualified for all of God's Promises and we don't have to labor and do works to qualify.
    As the Body of Christ and God's family, God only requires the Church to accept by faith, what His Grace has already provided.  This includes all of God's Promises that are "Yes and Amen to the Glory of God."  We're instructed to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and received instructions by God's Word, so that we can live our lives in the completed work of Jesus.  We're to rest in His Perfection and not our own.
     The new creation family of God is required to use God's Word, to change from the inside and bring dominion over the outer-man (the carnal flesh).  It's not by our works, but faith and heeding the Holy Spirit's leading.  If you're still a babe or infant in Christ, then the milk of God's Word will nurse you into your mature and adult life with God.  None of the rituals that we've tried, are trying to change ourselves from the outside-in.  Believing God's Word and listening to God's Spirit will chnge the outer-man for us.
     There has been so much controversy among the Church, about Grace and faith.  Some of the teachings are Truth, but it's not much.  We've exchanged the Truth of God's Word, for external performance, believing that our good works would change us, but this left the outer-man in control still.
     Remember, there's still a Law of Sowing and Reaping that is at work in both the believer and unbeliever's lives.  Galatians 6:5-8 (Amplified) says, "For every person will have to bear, be equal to understand and calmly receive his own little load of oppressive faults. Let him who receives instruction in the Word of God share all good things with his Teacher contributing to his support. Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained or mocked) by mere pretensions or professions, or BY HIS PRECEPTS BEING SET ASIDE. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God, For whatever a man sows, that and only that will he reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (the lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit, will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
     Much of our preaching and teaching over the years, have sown to our flesh and have brought ruin and destruction into our lives.  We've been told that "God gives you diseases, in order to teach, correct and punish us."  This isn't only sowing to the flesh, but has brought the fruits of ruin, destruction and physical death to many in God's family.  We have the choice to sow either to the Spirit or to the flesh and we will sow what we reap.  This doesn't include only sin, but the seeds of deception that the enemy sows.  Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:13-25 (Amplified), where He said that our words are seeds and then He showed the effects they have in our lives.  Jesus talks about the responsibility of the hearer, as well as the sower in Verse 24 saying, "Be careful what you are hearing; the measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you, and more besides will be given to you who hear."
     God will only measure back to you, the Truth you hear.  The enemy will also measure back to you, the untruth and deception you receive in your heart.  What we allow to be sown in us, is what we will reap.  We will reap either destruction or Truth, but both will not grow from the same seed.  Are you careful about what seeds (words) you allow into your heart?  Have you fallen into the enemy's trap and accept all seeds, to the point you can no longer distinguish between good seed and bad seed?  The harvest is inevitable.
      

Lesson 97 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
     Notice, how the above scripture tells us that these things, "Came through Jesus Christ."  It doesn't say that, "These things are coming through or will come through Him," referring to the future.  These Promises of God given in Genesis-Revelations are now ours, according to 2Corinthians 1:20 (Amplified) which tells us, "For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ). For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), to God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
     The Glory of believing these Promises and accepting them as ours in Jesus, is offered up to the Father in faith through Jesus, to God's Own Glory.  The Church has stumbled between Truth and tradition, for over two-thousand years.  We've been living in a place of awaiting these Promises, without realizing that they're no longer Promises to those who are in Christ Jesus, but they're Truth and reality.  Many of God's children haven't yet come to the Truth of whether God is for us of against us.
     We've failed to understand the new covenant that has been offered to us by God's Own Spirit, through Jesus.  Grace is simply God's Own will being done in those who are in Jesus and is for all who believe and come into Christ's salvation.  Grace is unearned and undeserved by the whole of mankind.  Many haven't accepted the Gift of Grace unto salvation and many who've accepted God's Grace to salvation, haven't yet accepted it in Truth.
     God's will is Grace and Truth. God wants us to know His will and to accept it's Truth in Jesus/  The Father once told me that, "My people's faith has accepted what My Grace has provided."  Romans 4:16 (Amplified) tells us, "Therefore, inheriting the Promise is the outcome of faith, and depends entirely on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of Grace (unearned, undeserved favor), to make it stable, and valid, and guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
     We've did nothing to be saved, but we only believed the Promise in faith.  When we did this, Grace received us into the Promise and it became our Truth that we now belong to God as His children.  All of the other Promises of Grace, come by the same action on our part.  Grace has made them all ours, by our faith in His Truth.  We don't do anything to inherit our healing, son-ship rights, access to God's Throne of Grace or our peace in Him, with Him and through Him.  It is all by faith in God's will and His Truth.
     God has made His will for us so very clear, when He sent Jesus to reveal it to us, but we still are unclear about it.  When we see Jesus, we see God's will and His Grace for us in action.  Jesus and God's will for mankind, are exactly the same.  Jesus was and still is, the Exact Revelation of God's will for mankind.  If Jesus didn't do it, then God doesn't do it.
     Romans 8:31-32 (Amplified) says, "What then shall we say to all this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can be our foe, if God is on our side? He Who did not withhold or spare even His Own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all other things?"  What are "all the other things?"  All the Promises God made through Jesus, by His Grace.  All of these Promises are now fulfilled through Jesus.
     Romans 8:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Spirit Himself, thus testifies together with our own spirit, assuring us that we are children of God. And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him, only we must share His suffering if we are to share His Glory."  God's family has been taught to focus only on the last part of this scripture about "sharing in His suffering, if we are to share in His inheritance."  What is the suffering that Jesus endured?  His suffering on the cross of Calvary isn't what this scripture is speaking about here.  Christ suffered on the cross for our benefit.  Jesus did this so that we could inherit His Blessing and to deliver us from everything that we'd been subject to as a result of Adam's transgression in the Garden.  Jesus' suffering was from the hands and lies of the people, who wouldn't believe in His Message of God's Grace.
     James 1:5-8 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God Who gives to all me liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching and fault finding, and it will be given him. Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything he asks for from the Lord For being as he is a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), he is unstable and uncertain about everything he thinks, feels, decides."
     The man without faith in the above scripture, has been taught by the world and tradition and has been told to "accept everything happening to and around him, because it's God's will."  Many things happening in today's world are not God's will.  These might be things that the eyes of God has seen in the future, but His will is that "all should be saved and come to the knowledge of God."  2Peter 3:19 (Amplified) says, "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He Promises, (according to some people's conception of slowness), but He is long-suffering, extraordinarily patient toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance."
     We see many people who still haven't turned to repentance and are still not in God's will, but for those who have already turned, we are already in His will.  The Apostle Paul speaks to the Church about our Foundation, Who is Jesus Christ, and how the House or structure being built of this Foundation, in 1Corinthians 3:9-15.  Mankind has built many houses, religions, denominations and traditions on the Foundation of Jesus.  The world and the devil are testing these structures right now.  Even though the structure or tradition might not withstand the enemy's deception and it's destroyed, the Foundation Who is Jesus, remains strong and they are still saved.
     God is looking for a few good men and women, who will carry out His end time strategies.  Many will reject and turn from God's Grace and Truth.  Many will hold onto tradition, just like they did in Jesus' earthly ministry.  This never has, nor never will, stop God from doing what He set out to do.  God will raise up an army in these Last Days before Jesus returns.  These will be people who've made it their quest in life, to seek after Truth and Wisdom and have built a relationship with the Father, through the Holy Spirit.
     Many will be and are being persecuted for their stand and ministry.  Many will become targets of the enemy, but satan will not stop the Invading Army of God in these Last Days.  Paul didn't suffer at the hands and doings of God, but he was pursued by an evil spirit that buffeted him at every turn, in order to stop him from preaching God's Grace and Truth.  Paul was the only man who had been given the Revelation of God's Plan for His people, at that time.  Today though, there are millions of believers spreading God's Message, so satan cannot focus on one person.  We are a great and mighty army on this earth and VICTORY IS CERTAIN.
     Seek God for yourself, without turning away from others.  Allow the Holy Spirit to lead and instruct you.  You might suffer persecution at the hands of religious leaders, just like Jesus and Paul did, but press on to see the Glory of God in this earth.

Lesson 96 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
     For many centuries, the Church has allowed the enemy to put us back under Law.  It's not the Law of Moses, but man-made laws that continue to keep the Church from having the liberty of Christ and having bondage instead.  Man has applied his own ideas and made the Word of God of no effect in our lives.  The liberty which Jesus brought us into, has been replaced by the deceiver's efforts in the minds and hearts of God's people.
     Some churches have man-made dress codes, including not wearing make-up or jewelry.  My mother attended such a church and wasn't allowed to cut her hair.  Some churches require their members to reject electricity, modern transportation and indoor plumbing.  Some churches instruct their members to worship on certain days and forbid their worship from including instruments.  My question is, "What does any of this have to do with serving God?"
     There's a big difference between loving the world and living life on this earth.  Whether or not we choose to believe it, we are still in this world.  We might not be of this world, but we're still here until Jesus comes or our physical bodies die.  I believe that the bondage the deceiver has placed on God's new creation people, is much worse that the Law that God placed on man.
     The first covenant God made with man, was one giving man dominion and authority over everything God had created.  The covenant God established with Abraham was one of Grace and favor, because Abraham had faith in God and His Promise.  We've entered into the Blessing God Promised Abraham now, so why do we try limiting it to "when we die and leave this earth?"  God Blessed Abraham in this earth and God Promised this to Abraham's Seed, when Abraham was no longer here on earth.
     We've confused the Spirit of God and His Word, to where we're unable to distinguish between God and the devil.  The devil has deceived many in the Church into believing that, "Such Spiritual things as speaking in other tongues, healing, miracles and authority come from him" and "Sickness, poverty, disease and suffering come from God."  God's Word is very clear on Who God is and what He does.
     Under the new family covenant, God doesn't train and deal with His family with sickness and disease.  We've been erroneously taught this and have submitted to the enemy, when it comes to "resisting the devil and he will flee from you."  How do you know whether to submit or resist, when you don't know if it's from God or satan?  James 1:7 (Amplified) says, "So be subject to God. Resist the devil (stand firm against him) and he will flee from you."  In order to do this, you must know when to submit and when to resist.
     If you believe that sickness is of God, then if you love God, you will submit to sickness.  God's Word tells us that, "By Jesus' stripes we are healed."  So, if sickness comes into your life, you must know what God's Word says, instead of relying on what man says.  We've allowed satan to undermine God's Word, to where we don't truly believe in prayer any longer.  We've invented man-made excuses for "why God doesn't do these things anymore," leaving us to believe our feelings about our own religious laws matter.
     Jesus instructs us in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified), "But seek (aim at and strive after), first of all His Kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right) and then all these things taken together will be given you besides."  God has a way of doing and being right.  God's way is the only way to obtain what He desires to give us.  Jesus only did what His Father said and did and what He saw the Father do.  Did Jesus see the Father making people sick or making them well?  Did Jesus see the Father placing people further under laws or loosing the people from the things tradition had forced upon them?  Did Jesus ever hear the Father say, "Leave the people in the same mess you find them in" or "Deliver those who are bound?"  Our man-made laws have placed us under more bondage, than the Law of Moses that Jesus came to deliver us from.
     There have always been individuals from the past, who stood out by making their own decisions based on God's Word.  Enoch walked with God, in a time when no one did.  Noah went against everything men believed and was delivered.  Abraham chose to believe God and laid the ground for the Messiah, at a time when the people chose other gods.  Look at Hebrews 11 and see how many of thee people were completely out-of-step with those around them.  Joshua and Caleb were sentenced to be stoned for believing God, instead of going along with the majority.  God's way of doing and being right, is not subject to the majority, but by Truth in His Word.
     Each individual believer is responsible to seek God for him/herself.  We're not to allow someone else to build our relationship with the Father, but we're to see first, God's Kingdom and His way of doing and being right.  Many times in Israel's history, the whole of Israel was determined by one or two people who still believed in God.  Don't stop praying for America or any other country, just because someone stated that country was doomed under God's judgments.  Learn to pray and believe God for yourself and then expect answers to your prayers, because you know God's will and His heart.  1John 5:14-15 (Amplified) tells us, "And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him, We are sure that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His Own Plan), He listens and hears us. And if since we positively know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know with settled and absolute knowledge that we have granted us as our present possessions the requests made of Him."  This is absolute prayer of God's way of doing and being right and not man's ideas of how to handle your disappointment about why God doesn't answer prayer any longer.  Find out for yourself.

Lesson 95 GRACE AND TRUTH-GOD'S WILL

     John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessings and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
     Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."  1Peter 2:2 (Amplified) tells us, "Like newborn babies you should crave (thirst after) Spiritual milk (the Word), that by it you may grow into completed salvation."  James 1:5 (Amplified) says, "If any of you is deficient in Wisdom, let him ask of the Giving God, Who gives to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproach or fault finding, and it will be given him."
     In John 14:11-12,17,26-27 (Amplified), Jesus said some things that the Church has either ignored or simply dismissed as being, "Not for us today" or "These were only for Jesus."  Thus, Jesus says, "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the very works themselves. If you cannot trust Me, at least let these works that I do in My Father's Name convince you, I assure you (most solemnly I tell you), if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he himself will be able to do the things I do; and even greater will he do than these, because I go to the Father."
     Jesus tells us in Verse 17, "The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you."  He goes on in Verses 26-27, "But the Comforter, Counselor, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Stand by, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf; He will teach you all things, and He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance), everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you (My Own peace I now give and bequeath to you) Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled."
     Who directed and moved in and through Jesus?  He moved by the Same Holy Spirit and the Same Father that we're supposed to be listening to and directed by.  No one Jesus was in contact with, knew what He was doing or thinking.  Jesus was simply led by the Holy Spirit of God.  Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are mature sons of God."  We are to set our hearts on God's Word and His Spirit, until we're led by them.
     The Church has mostly been led by our pastors and teachers.  Although they're Gifts that the Father has sent to and for us, through Jesus, they cannot always know all the Truth the Father has and was directing through Jesus.  We're directed to know and understand His will and His Word for ourselves.  Your pastor cannot spend your time in the Word, nor can he/she spend time in fellowship with God for you.  This is the responsibility of each child of God.  If we depend only on the pastor, then we can only know and move in what the pastor knows.
     The pastors are to, "Train up the child in the way that he/she should go, and when they are old (mature) they will not depart from it," according to Proverbs 22:6 (Amplified)  2Timothy 3:15-17 (Amplified) says, "And how from your childhood you have had a knowledge of and been acquainted  with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you and give you the understanding for salvation which comes through faith in Christ Jesus (through the leaning if your entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus) in absolute trust and confidence in His power, Wisdom and Goodness. Every Scripture is God breathed (given by His Inspiration), and is profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness, in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose and action So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work."
     This is the calling of each individual in the Body of Christ.  It doesn't matter what the world thinks about the Church, it's what God thinks that counts.  Remember what Jesus said about the world and the Holy Spirit, in John 14:17 (Amplified),where He said, "The world cannot receive (welcome or take to heart), because they cannot see Him or know and recognize Him, for He lives with you and will be in you."  When we allow the thoughts and manners of the world to dictate our relationship with the Father, we lose all of our Super-natural ability to be of any use to them.  This makes God's Word only a ritual and tradition to them.
     It requires diligence on the believer's behalf, to train up our spirit to hear the Father's Voice through the Holy Spirit and His Word.  There are so many things that direct our attention from hearing anything, but the world.  This leaves us without ears to hear.  I was a kiln operator at PPG, where the noise was overwhelming.  My job depended upon my hearing the P.A. system, but I couldn't control the noise.  So I had to train myself to tune out the noise of the machines and hear the P.A. system.  This is what we must learn to do, concerning the noises of the world.
     Let's listen to God's Word and God's Spirit.  Download God's Word on your devices, so that you're continuously hearing the Word and can hear the Father when He speaks and you can recognize His Voice.  Hebrews 5:11-14 (Amplified) says, "Concerning this, we have much to say which is hard to explain, since you have become dull in your Spiritual hearing and sluggish, even slothful in achieving Spiritual insight. For even though by this time you ought to be teaching others, you actually need someone to teach you over again the very first principles of God's Word. You have come to need milk, not solid food. For who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskillful in the doctrine of righteousness, of conformity to the Divine will in purpose, thought and action; for he is a mere infant, not able to talk yet. But solid food is for full grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and to distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary, either to Divine or human law."
     The Church has allowed contrary laws, human laws to pass, by not speaking up or standing up, when these ran contrary to Divine Laws of God.  The Church has remained as infants, who are not able to speak, for the most part.  Many of us have been duped into not getting involved in politics, because they're not Spiritual.  Nothing could be farther from the Truth though.  We're to know and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary to Divine or human laws.  If we're to be the light of the world, then we must shine some Light on the world.