My Jesus, I love thee, my Saviour and Friend . . .

Another old hymn from the 1800s goes:

Jesus is all the world to me,
  And true to Him I’ll be.
Oh, how could I this Friend deny
  When He’s so true to me?
Following Him I know I’m right;
He watches o’er me day and night.
Following Him by day and night,
  He’s my Friend.

Yet another hymn from the 1800s, "I Never Walk Alone," has as its refrain, "With such a Friend to comfort and to guide me, I never, no, I never walk alone.

Jesus says in John 15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

“In this chapter, Jesus Christ and the apostles have left the Upper Room and are walking on the way to the Garden," explains Jordan. "Christ continues the conversation with, ‘Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.’


“In other words, a friend is somebody who can think and do like Christ thinks. Verse 15 says, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.’

“A servant doesn’t know some things but the friend does. A friend is somebody who’s as your own soul. You pour out your inner being to them; you tell them what’s inside, what’s in your thinking, what’s in your heart.


“Jesus said, ‘I’ve called you friends because I’ve told you. I haven’t sent you out without a sense of what’s going on. I’ve communicated with you all the things the Father has given to me.’

*****

"A friend is someone who gets information that no one else has access to. Now you know that in personal relationships, but when it’s talking about Scripture, the idea here is that to be a friend is you’re going to get all of the information.


“Now the reason that’s important…come with me to the Book of James. James 2:21. The first person in the Bible ever called ‘the friend of God’ is Abraham.

"The reason he’s called that is because Abraham obeyed some specific instructions that God gave him, and when God gave him information that he hadn’t given to anybody else, Abraham stood on that information.

"It allowed him to be called ‘the friend of God.’ Not just the servant who doesn’t know what his master does, but the friend who is taking action based upon something the Father told him to do.


“II Chronicles 20:7 is where he’s called ‘the friend of God.’ You see when Abraham is called the friend of God, he’s called that in connection with his seed.


*****

“If you were an alien and a stranger, as Ephesians 2:11 describes Gentiles in time past, that’s as opposite as you can be from being a friend, and the reason God made this distinction between the Gentiles down here and the circumcision (Israel)--those people up there were His friends and these people down here were aliens and strangers.


“The people in Israel were a friend and it had to do with the fact God had given them some information He didn’t give anybody else.


“One of the great passages about that is in Exodus 33, where God was communicating to Israel what he was going to do: [11] And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
[12] And Moses said unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
[13] Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
[14] And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
[15] And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.
[16] For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.
[17] And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
[18] And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
[19] And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. ”


*****


“A verse that demonstrates how the term ‘friend’ is used in the Bible is in Proverbs 17:9: ‘He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.’


“Notice gossip and evil reports separate friends. Well, the implication there is a friend is someone who’s not separated from you, who’s one with you, who’s a companion. Verse 17 says, ‘A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.’


“A friend is somebody where circumstances and your conduct and that kind of stuff isn’t really the issue. They have a value and esteem for you and they’re going to love you regardless of what the circumstances in your life are; regardless what the adversity that comes in life will be.


“Proverbs 18:24 says, ‘A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’


“It’s kind of a two-way street and ‘there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.’ The context is found in verse 22: ‘Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.’ Who he’s talking about is really your spouse.


“A friend is somebody who will be more loyal to you and value and esteem you more than a family member. My point is friendship is something esteemed very highly in God’s Word.


“Probably the most famous friend quote in the Scripture is when Judas approaches the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden to betray Him and the Lord Jesus Christ looks at him and He says, ‘Hail, friend.’ That title that Jesus is using comes out of a verse in Psalm 41:9: ‘Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.’


“Christ quoted part of that verse in John 13 when He was with His apostles in the Upper Room.


“This is a song of David, and when David historically is writing it, he’s talking about Ahitophel, his friend. Prophetically it turns out to be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and the one who’s going to betray him.


“So what’s a friend? It’s somebody I’ve trusted: 'Here’s somebody I’ve had close communion with.' He’s closer than a brother. 'Here’s somebody I trust with my heart and here’s somebody I sit at the table . . . I share what belongs to me with this person and if it’s mine, it’s theirs. And if I have it, then they can consume it. They’re with me.'

“What it means to live in a consciousness of being accepted in the Beloved, first of all, means you have a consciousness of God’s love for you in Christ. And it’s what ‘the love of Christ constrains us’ means. It gives you the capacity to have a closeness and intimacy with Him to bring everything He is into the details of your life.

“Let it be His life. When you live in a consciousness of His love, it gives you an insight."

(new article tomorrow)

You don't think they work together?!

Yesterday, as he bade Pope Francis a fond farewell after their hour-long private conversation inside the pope's special library, VP Mike Pence told Francis “you made me a hero” back home by granting him the private audience.

Jesuit Review magazine "America" reported that when Pence first sat down with the pope, he said, “I wanted to extend the warmest greetings on behalf of President Donald Trump who so enjoyed his visit here.”

"The length of their conversation would suggest that they went into depth on some topics," reported the magazine. "Mr. Pence gave the pope a wooden (crucifix) carved from a tree on the grounds of the vice president’s residence. Francis gave him a medallion depicting 'the angel of peace,' a copy of his message for the World Day of Peace 2020, as well as copies of some of his writings, including 'The Joy of the Gospel' and 'Laudato Si'.”

*****
BBC News brief from May 2015: "Pope Francis has met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican, calling him 'an angel of peace'.

"The Pope made the remark as he presented the Palestinian leader with a medallion.

"President Abbas is visiting the Vatican for the canonisation of two 19th-Century Palestinian nuns on Sunday.

"His visit came days after the Vatican said it would formally recognise Palestinian statehood in a treaty."

May 2019: (May 14, 2019 / Mida) Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas recently admitted that the P.A. is behind all Arab terrorism in Israel. It made the headlines nowhere, except in Israeli and Jewish press.

“We have been paying salaries to the families of the Martyrs, to the prisoners, and to the wounded since 1965,” said Abbas. “This is because they were killed, imprisoned or wounded because of a national interest and for the sake of a national interest, and not for personal reasons. It is our obligation to take care of their relatives.”

*****

The great seduction for Israel in the tribulation is their belief that their Messiah has come at last.

“He not only saves Israel, he enriches them," explains Jordan. "He gives them great wealth and blessing and prosperity and everybody says, ‘Our Messiah has come!’

“There’s deliverance and he brings peace; he looks like the real thing! He reinstitutes their religion, the Mosaic Law, and rebuilds their temple, and Israel feels like, ‘Boy, we’ve found our Messiah!’ Problem is, he’s the wrong one.

“In I John, II John and III John we learn how to identify the people deceived and those who aren’t; how that Believing Remnant could know for sure they possessed eternal life and were trusting the right Christ, able to identify the wrong one.

"That’s why there’s all those verses about confessing that ‘Christ is come in the flesh.’ I mean, is this guy the Messiah, or did the real Messiah show up 2,000 years ago?

“To trust the one who showed up 2,000 years ago they are going to have walk absolutely, totally by faith in some verses in a Book. To trust the one who’s standing there, they say, ‘Well, there he is!’ and he’s going to do signs and wonders.

*****

“He’s going to have a prophet with him. He’s going to have his John the Baptist and his Pentecost. They'll bring down fire from heaven and do all these miracles and the people will say, ‘Hey, look at the miracles he’s doing!’

“They’re going to follow behind him and check him and it won’t be like John Hagee; all these guys who profess to have miracles but don’t.

“All the stuff the TV guys profess to have and don’t, this guy will REALLY have and he will be exactly what Deuteronomy 13 warned Israel about when it talks about someone coming along saying they’re a prophet or 'dreamer of dreams' and showing you a ‘sign or a wonder’ and having the 'sign or wonder' comes to pass.

“When John Hagee gets the people down in front of his church and does the stuff he doesn’t show you on his TV show, he touches them with oil and says ‘Heal!’ You know what happens? Well, they just get a little Wesson oil on their forehead, that’s all. It’s nothing.

“When this Assyrian does it, it really works and everybody says, ‘Ooh, got to be real!’ so Jude says, ‘You know, you guys, I’d like to just write to you and talk to you about the stuff back there in Hebrews, and all about the propitiatory work of Christ and what we share in common with Him, but it’s needful that I tell you guys to earnestly contend for the faith. Keep on keepin’ on because, here’s the reason . . .’

"Verses 4-16 of Jude tell why they should contend for the faith and verses 17 to the end tell them how.

*****

“When it says they ‘crept in unawares,’ that’s saying they crawled in; they came in under cover. They didn’t announce their presence. They came in saying one thing but being something else.

“You remember the verse in Matthew where Jesus Christ says, ‘I send you forth as sheep among wolves’? But the wolves are going to have on what? Sheep’s clothing.

"You ever seen a wolf hunker down and slyly creep along on Disney or the Discovery Channel? When a wolf is hunting, he doesn’t just walk right up and go, ‘Ha, Ha!’ These guys come in craftily. They come in slyly. They’re wolves, but they’re in sheep’s clothing.

*****

“It’s through the religious persuasion of the ‘false prophet’ that the Antichrist gathers authority as the counterfeit religious ruler working miracles in the earth and the religion is called ‘MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’

“That means there is today a whorehouse religion out in the religious system of the world that will ultimately culminate with the religion of the Antichrist, and through it he’ll be proclaimed, not only as Israel’s Messiah, but as the 12th Imam for Muslims.

"He’ll be hailed the conquering hero and sit upon that throne in Jerusalem and declare himself to be God. Such will be the persuasive power of the Lie Program in that day and it will all focus and center in that piece of real estate where civilization began.”

(new article tomorrow--promise promise)

Essence of absolute maximum fulfillment

“Do you grasp why wisdom, understanding and knowledge is really the gut issue in all of it?" reminded Jordan during a study on Mark 10.

"When two of Jesus Christ’s disciples came to Him and said, ‘We want to sit on each side of you in the kingdom,’ He answered them, ‘You guys just don’t get it; you’re thinking like a bunch of elitist Gentiles. You think government is about telling people what to do, but government is to administer my heaven. It’s to administer my business.

“ ‘It’s to take the wisdom, understanding and knowledge that I have and go out there and figure out how to apply it to ever-increasingly new situations so you don’t need to run to the index every time; you’ve got some discernment to be able to deal with it based upon understanding my will, and hence you can manifest my thinking, my mind, my life.’

"Ephesians 2:7 says, ‘That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.’ ”

*****

“Exodus 31 starts out, 1] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[2] See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
[3] And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
[4] To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,
[5] And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship.

“Workmanship is an activity that the wisdom, understanding and knowledge allows you to accomplish. Notice this guy has been given wisdom, understanding and knowledge to be able to work in such a way as to devise cunning works.

“You look at creation, you see how God put that thing together so it could be worked to accomplish a purpose that hadn’t been faced before.

"You say, ‘Where’s the owner’s manual for this problem?!’ You go back there and it’s not in the index. ‘What am I going to do?’ He says, ‘I’ve given you wisdom, understanding and knowledge to figure out how to do my will in there because that information’s available.’

*****

“Colossians 1:9 says, ‘For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.’

 “You know what God’s purpose is with the Body of Christ? To take wisdom, understanding and knowledge out of His creation and harness it, subdue it, develop it so it manifests the wisdom God put in His creation. You and I are going to do the same thing UP there! Our reigning in the heavens isn't going to be telling some angels, 'Go do that,'  and some other angels, 'Do this because I said so.’

*****

“Romans 12:2 says, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

“There are three checkpoints in the issue of presenting your body to the Father for Him to use. In I Corinthians, Paul says [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
[20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

“Your soul is the issue of where your will is. He says glorify God in your spirit (obey God’s Word) and your body (that’s where it lives out). And it’s based on ‘the mercies of God.’

“All Romans 12 is telling you is just live in the reality of who God's already made you. He’s not telling you to do something so you can be something. He’s telling you, ‘Go be who you are.’

“He’s not saying, ‘Go make yourself these things.’ He’s saying, ‘That’s who you are so just let that be what the reality of your life is.’

*****

“You need to have your own personal convictions about your life. ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’ is the issue of taking an understanding of God’s Word and APPLYING it.

“And as you walk in the truth of God’s Word about who you are in Christ, it’s not a bunch of rules and regulations where, ‘If I do this I get there.’ It’s just, ‘This is who I am,’ and you’re transformed.

*****

“When you make the choice to ‘present your body,’ you make a choice to use your body for Him: ‘I’m going to let Him be the vehicle through which His truth lives and functions. I’m going to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.’ Fruits are the inward life and product of His righteousness.

“When you move from law (or performance-based acceptance where it’s what you do that gets you accepted and gets you blessed) to grace, it’s, ‘God’s provided it for me and I’m just going to let that be what lives and I’m going to yield to that. I’m going to present that as my thinking process.’ That’s where the transformation is; that’s where the changing is!

“Here’s why you want that. When Paul says ‘that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,’ that’s not a ‘good, better and best’ kind of a thing. Something that’s good is valuable.

“You know what you discover when you do what that verse is talking about; what the will of God is? People say, ‘Well, if I present my body a living sacrifice and tell God to just use it for His glory, I’m going to miss out on a lot.’

“No, you know what you discover the will of God is? It’s a treasure; it’s valuable. And when you treasure Him, you make choices in life because you value Him more than anything else. That’s really how you make the choices.

“What do you really choose to make the most valuable in your life? That renewed mind gives you the capacity to prove and demonstrate, to say, ‘There is the thing that is of greatest value and treasure to me!’

“The way Jesus Christ is glorified in your life is when people see what you see. When others see that you value Him more than all these other things, that will make you different from everybody else around you and it will make you different for the right reasons.

"It’s the essence of maturity. It’s the demonstration of what maturity is really all about. Absolute, complete, maximum fulfillment is when I take my life and function in a way that reflects His wisdom, knowledge and understanding.”

(new article tomorrow)

THE mental attitude of 'ALL IN'

“There is a peculiar condition that reveals how the love of God dwelleth in our hearts," writes a female Christian author from the early 1900s. "When our love is burning strong and bright, and our hunger for our Beloved is deepening, we are more concerned to have Him work IN us and make us to His glory, than we are to work FOR Him . . . "

A hymn from 1864, written by Susan B. Warner, goes, 
Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,

1. Like a little candle burning in the night;
   In this world of darkness, we must shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
2. Jesus bids us shine, then, for all around
3. Many kinds of darkness in this world abound:
   Sin, and want, and sorrow—we must shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
4. Jesus bids us shine, as we work for Him,
   Bringing those that wander from the paths of sin;
   He will ever help us, if we shine,
   You in your small corner, and I in mine.
5. *****

People mistake charity for love in Paul’s epistles but it’s actually "love in action," explains Jordan. "Charity is the motivation of the love of Christ and not all these other kinds of things constraining us in our Christian life.

"In Colossians 3, Paul says charity is the ‘bond of perfectness.’ It’s the thing that binds maturity together. When you have perfected saints, what binds them is the fact that they instinctively look out for the benefit of the other, not for themselves.

“To walk charitably with a saint means to put his needs, his concerns above your own. Now, where does the motivation for that come from? The motivation is an understanding of God’s charity to us. Charity has to do with the motivation behind your good works.

“Charity isn’t a braggard, it’s not proud, it’s not covetous, doth not behave itself unseemly. It’s patient and suffereth long.

“Boy, you read those things and you think, ‘Wow! That’s quite a mental attitude to have!’

“Paul says ‘charity never faileth.’ So what charity is is a complete lifestyle that puts the interests of the other ahead of your own.

*****

“I Timothy 1:5 says, ‘Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.’

“The heart is the mentality of your soul. It’s single-minded; it’s a heart that just goes on sound doctrine. It’s not living on emotions; it’s living on the application of the truth of God’s Word rightly divided.

“We’re to have a system of norms and standards that reflects God’s thinking. You’re able to walk by faith and not by sight. That verse is a beautiful description of a mature Christian walk. And not just an individual walking that way, but a group of people gathered together and working together in the work of the ministry.

“Paul told the Corinthians, ‘As unknown and yet well known.’ I love that verse because that’s exactly what you’re . . . your spiritual power and influence far outweighs your appearance.

*****

“When Paul talks about ‘in spirit’ that’s the idea of your disposition; your attitude that you do something by.

“In Ephesians 1:17, for example, he writes, ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.’

“He’s not talking about the Holy Spirit. That’s not the initial giving; it’s not a later ‘re-giving.’

“He talks about the spirit in the sense of the ‘spirit of slumber,’ or the ‘spirit of bondage.’ When you have the spirit of slumber, you have this disposition of being asleep at the switch. Bondage is the disposition of being controlled.

“Paul’s saying, ‘I want you to have the spirit of wisdom and revelation God has given you right here in this text. You get it in the Book.’

“The attitude with which you do things affects an awful lot. He’s saying, ‘I want you to walk around with this attitude and disposition that’s produced by understanding this great cosmic plan God has in His Son.’ ”

(new article tomorrow)

Etched on brain, burned into psyche

When a student is conversant with a school subject (or a professional with their specific expertise) it means they have a thorough knowledge of it where they're able to live it.

“In the middle of the word conversation are the words ‘converse’ and ‘concourse,’ ” explains Jordan. “When you’re conversant with something, you’re intimate in the way it works; you know how it happens and how it’s accomplished.

“It’s more than just being able to talk about it; it’s that you get right into the basis of it, and into its life.

“When Paul talks about letting 'your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ,' he's saying, ‘Let your manner of life, your lifestyle, who you are, be becoming; let who you are down inside adorn the doctrine.’ It’s Titus 2 terminology. 

*****

“When Paul advises to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ in Ephesians 5, he’s not talking about getting more of the Spirit of God; it’s to be filled by His instrumentality.

“God the Holy Spirit is going to be used by the Father in an objective, measurable operation to put some things into you that ought to be there. It isn’t about putting more of the Spirit of God in you; it’s that some things are beginning  to be produced in your life.

“It’s something that can be measured by words on a page in the Bible and identified in your life in specific ways. To be filled with anything is to be saturated by that thing to the point that it completely dominates and controls your life.

“It has to do with surrender. It’s the total surrender of your life and thinking over to the complete total dominion of the Holy Spirit so that HE carries you along through all of life. You say, ‘I can’t, I give up,’ and He wins.

“It requires the DEATH of selfishness and of self-will in your life. It isn’t my thinking, my way. It’s His way!

“Being ‘filled with the Spirit of God’ is equivalent to Paul advising, ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.’ It’s the Holy Spirit working THROUGH the Word of God to fill your life with the qualities of spiritual maturity. It’s taking the Word of Christ and letting it INFUSE every part of your being, having all your thinking and actions controlled by the Word of God.

*****

“One of my favorite verses is I Thessalonians 2:13. Paul says, ‘For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.’

“When you by faith take the Word of God and step out upon what God says, God the Holy Spirit takes His Word . . . God the Holy Spirit today works indirectly in your life through the instrumentality of the Word of God as you by faith rest upon it.

“As you objectively take your actions, your thinking processes, your attitudes . . . As you begin to think in your heart and mind the way God says He thinks in His Word, that is God the Holy Spirit working in you both to will and to do His good pleasure! It's that simple!

“Rather than asking God to move and do out there (in the physical realm), it’s His Word that WORKS and He’s in us, living His life out through our mortal bodies as we walk by faith in what He says in His Word.

“If something is effectual, that means it WORKS. It’s effective; it gets the job done. It’s not a misfire. It works effectually IN you. That’s where God’s working starts. It’s in you that BELIEVE! That belief is the catalyst of it.

“Colossians 1:9 says, ‘For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be FILLED with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.’

“There’s that word again! Let the Word of Christ DWELL in you! Let it come and fill up your life and be at home in you and live there!"

(another update later today--sorry for the long lapse)

Power that shatters all records

When Ruth Hilliard of Northhampton County, N.C. turned 106 years old last year, the national Christian media picked up on it. On TV, radio and in Christian publications, the career school teacher and Sunday School teacher readily credited her longevity to faith in God. News spots pointed out that while Hilliard’s vision "is not as good as it once was, she still recites Christian scripture on a regular basis."

Ruth named Psalm 91: 14-16 as her favorite Bible passage: [14] Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
[15] He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
[16] With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

*****

“When you renew your mind daily with Scripture, it transforms you; it has to do with focusing on who God’s made you in Christ," says Jordan. "When you do that, here’s what happens--I Thessalonians 2:13 says, [13] For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

“To be transformed, that is, there’s something inside of you which comes out. Jesus went up on the mount of transfiguration and who He was inside shined out of Him and that’s that word ‘transformed.’

“By the way, I’m always interested in that ‘to will is present but how to perform.’ How do you do this, Paul? Well, that’s what he said in Romans 7:18: 'For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.'

“He said, 'I want to do, to will is present with me, but I can’t figure out how to do it.' Then he gets over to chapter 12 and he says, ‘You know how you do it? Be not conformed.’ You’re transformed by the renewing of your mind.

“What is it about that? It’s the doctrine renewing, causing you to think like God thinks. The life of Christ is in that doctrine. Jesus said, ‘The words is speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.’

“Paul says in Ephesians 3:16, ‘That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.’

“Who wrote the Word of God? The Spirit of God. You know how the Spirit of God works? In the song, “Blessed Assurance,” it says, ‘Angels descending, bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love,’ but we say, ‘We don’t believe that!’

“We don’t have any angels descending, bringing from above echoes of mercy. Where do you get the echoes of mercy, whispers of love? It’s in the Book sitting in front of you! You don’t have an angel descending, bringing you that. God the Holy Ghost wrote about it and preserved it through history and has got it sitting for you in your own language in your lap. You’re not living some experience; you’ve got it already!

“You see, you’ve got the information, and when you BELIEVE it, it becomes the energy and the life and the transforming power down in your soul that His life then works out through you.

“You go back to Romans 12:2 and you see the purpose for the renewed mind is that ‘we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ The purpose of the renewed mind is so you can properly evaluate life and determine in the details of your life what it is God would have you to do.”

*****
“I don't think Believers appreciate near enough the fact that just by taking God at His Word--truly believing the Bible, dispensationally considered, contains absolutely everything God wants us to know about Him and our relationship to Him--lends real power. It's internal power that shatters anything the world has to offer.

"It's that ability God gives in the inner man, strengthened with might. It's an energy in your inner man to endure. That's spiritual power. There's something about that strength, that power that God gives. No great open physical displays and things that make everybody 'ooh' and 'ahh,' but that 'patient continuance in well doing.'

“He's saying not only can we know something about the breadth, length, depth and height of Jesus Christ's love for us, but we can truly know it and its power to work in us. The power is in the faith in it.

“Through knowing the measurements, dimensions and parameters of exactly what God is doing today, there's a maturing of the relationship that is extremely intimate and lends deep, deep communion.

"You can not just know about His tremendous love, but KNOW it, appreciate it, enter into it and find out how it passes knowledge. Just as it is in a momma's touch with a newborn baby, there's a love there and a communication there that passes any ability to understand and explain it.

"It's that kind of a bond, that kind of a connection. It's as though it were a mother's touch that reaches down and assuages the hurt and salves the wound and dispels the fear and gives untold strength and stability.

*****

“Paul writes in I Thessalonians 1:5, ‘For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in POWER, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.’

“He says in chapter 2, ‘For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.’

“Jesus says, ‘The flesh profiteth nothing,’ meaning all of OUR wisdom and OUR resources aren’t the issue.

“You got to start there! You never want to glory in yourself: ‘It isn’t me; it’s Him.’

“Jesus said, ‘The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.' The need is, 'Not I but Christ.' You're to constantly be learning this at a different level; that's part of what maturity is all about.

"The words on the pages are the Words of the Spirit and when I believe that Word, and put my faith in it, it WORKS; it becomes energizing activity and life.

“Paul writes in II Thessalonians 3:1: ‘Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.’

“Paul’s saying, ‘I want the Word of the Lord to be set free; to run without obstacles, without needing to stop and be glorified.’

“When you glorify something, you demonstrate how valuable it is; how much of a treasure it is. How important it is.

“How would you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you demonstrate in your life that you cherish Him—His wisdom, His thinking--more than anybody else?”

(new article tomorrow--promise)

Appearings, visions, revelations

The Apostle Paul tells us in II Timothy 1 about how God revealed to him “his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

“Notice there’s an appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ that’s not future from Paul; it’s PAST,” says Jordan. “That’s the appearing of Christ to Paul to make him ‘a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.’ That’s the appearing of Christ when He revealed to Paul the truth of the Body of Christ; the truth of the mystery, the truth of the OTHER program.

“He appears to Paul on the Road to Damascus and later says to him, ‘I’ve appeared to thee for this purpose and I will appear to thee AGAIN!’

“In II Corinthians, Paul says, ‘I’ve come to visions and revelations of the Lord.’ The Lord Himself appeared to Paul and gave him information over a period of time, revealing the truth that Paul writes down in his epistles. That’s the appearing that BEGINS the dispensation of grace. Without that appearing you wouldn’t know about the appearing that ENDS the dispensation of grace.

“So when Paul says, ‘To those who love His appearing,’ which one is it? Well, it’s both. How could it be otherwise? You wouldn’t know about the Rapture if it weren’t for the appearing of Christ to Paul.

“If you know the appearing of Christ to Paul is separate, then you know you have to have a distinct conclusion to the dispensation of grace. If the Body of Christ is a separate entity, then it has to have a special conclusion just like it had a special beginning.

*****

“Have you ever noticed how all the Bible up to Romans, you can teach stories? Romans isn’t stories; it’s doctrinal information. It’s instructions; it’s thinking processes.

“Each of Paul’s epistles contains an introduction, body and conclusion--just like you’d find in a letter, but his introductions have a very special purpose in that they introduce the particular issue the epistle’s going to address.

“In Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, for example, he starts out by reminding them, ‘But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

“Paul’s saying his apostleship, unlike that of the others, did not come by human instrumentality. He was commissioned as an apostle different from every other apostle before him in the Bible.

*****

“In the gospels, Jesus Christ chose 12 apostles and told them their function was to sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of the nation Israel in that future kingdom in the regeneration of the Son of man when Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem and they’re His earthly apostles.

“After Judas dies in response to his betrayal of the Lord, there’s only 11 apostles, but before Pentecost, Matthias is made the 12^th guy by Peter.

“It was through Paul’s preaching that God the Holy Spirit communicated the message of grace to the apostles. They came to understand it through Paul’s direct revelation from God.

“In the first two chapters of Galatians are 14 separate things he says about why his ministry and message is separate and distinct from the 12.

“He writes, ‘But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.’

“Paul understood there were things about Jesus Christ that God wanted revealed solely through him; that he was to be the one and only through whom that information would be revealed.”

Dare to be a Daniel?!

"The Bible Gives Us Zero Dirt on Daniel," reads a headline on a website for kids learning Scripture.

When Ezekiel 28 describes Lucifer and his fall, the Lord GOD notes, [3] Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
[4] With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
[5] By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

Ezekiel 14 tells us, [20] Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
[21] For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

*****

Unbelievably, Daniel is around 90 years old when he gets his famous vision in Daniel 11.

“He’s not a spring chicken anymore; he’s had a busy life of service for the Lord and for his king and his government," explains Jordan. “When Dan started out in chapter 1, he was between 14-17 years old. He goes through the 70 years captivity and that puts him between 84-87 and then you add another three years!

“When Cyrus, king of Persia, took over in Ezra 1, he gave a decree for the people to go back to Jerusalem after the 70 years captivity is over with and the question arises, ‘Why didn’t Daniel go back?’

“By the time you get to chapter 10, Daniel is fixing to get another vision—no doubt one of the most critical, if not the most critically vision in his book—and then you understand the reason Daniel doesn’t go back into the holy land in Palestine; it’s because God had further revelations to give him in Babylon. Daniel stays because God has some more things to give him.

“Daniel 10:1 says, ‘In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.’

“In other words, Daniel got this thing and it was crystal clear to him what it meant.

*****

“In chapter 12:4, Daniel is told to seal the thing. The prophecy here is sealed up. That is, it’s fixed so people can’t get it and clearly understand it until the time of the end.

“Now, the reason you and I can’t put a lot of this prophetic stuff together all the time is because, folks, we don’t live in the times when these things are to be fulfilled.

“As that time comes onto the scene, and the closer you get to it, the more and more people will be able to understand these things, and the people for whom these things are written and intended for over in the prophetic program over in that tribulation period, they’ll be able to get it.

“The wise, chapter 11 says, will understand and God’ll show it to them. So for us, the time element is here.

“Chapter 10:2 says, ‘In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.’ There’s no indication what he’s mourning after, but no doubt it’s the condition of Israel, like in Nehemiah 1 and 2 when he heard about the condition over in Israel and how bad it was and he was real sorry and sad in the 

king’s presence.

“There’s no doubt it’s something like that. In verse 3, he says, ‘I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.’

“That verse is funny to me because that means he didn’t eat and he didn’t take a bath for three weeks. I guess that’d be a guarantee he wasn’t married!

*****

“There’s a point to make here. Daniel’s retired and he’s up in years, but you notice his spiritual activities haven’t diminished; they’ve increased. Here’s a fellow on a three-week fast. That’s a long time when you’re 30 years old, much less 90!

“It’s a three-week fast and he’s so engrossed in prayer and seeking the Lord’s face that he doesn’t even attend to personal needs for three weeks. Tremendous spiritual activity this man has.

“Folks, you ought to take example from that. When you retire, you ought not retire from the things of God. When you retire from public employment then you’ve got time to really get out and serve the Lord!

“I’ve told you about Brother Flemings down in Nacomas, Florida, and how, when I first heard him say, ‘I’ve been preaching 65 years,’ I thought, ‘Man, most people are ready to retire and quit when they’re 65 and he’s just going like a house of fire!’

*****

“Verse 4 says, ‘And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel.’ Hiddekel is another name for the Tigris River. The Tiger and the Euphrates is where Babylon was. And you notice he gives you the exact date.

“The critics say the Book of Daniel was written at a very late date and yet they never notice the fact that anybody that puts dates in there like that . . . Daniel dates the month and the year and it’s not a late date; it’s the captivity. It’s not something that took place 50-100 years before Christ. So the people who doubt the dates of Daniel just have to doubt the text.

“The passage goes on, ‘Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz:
[6] His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.
[7] And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Then I lifted linen gird fine gold beryl polished.’

“That individual he sees there is different than anybody he’s seen before and that individual he’s seeing is really the Lord Jesus Christ!

*****

“Come over to Revelation 1 and compare the vision John had with the vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll see that the two visions parallel and something’s really interesting here with regard to what Daniel is seeing.

“Daniel is getting a vision and he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, but he sees Him in a very special way. He sees Him like nobody else in the Old Testament ever saw him. He sees Him like John sees Him in Revelation 1.

“Revelation 1:12 says, ‘And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.’ You compare that with Daniel 10 and you’ll see they’re almost identical. 

"In Daniel 10 He’s called ‘a certain man’ and in Revelation He’s called ‘the son of man.’ He’s got a girdle of gold in Revelation too, and Daniel says His face was lit up and had the appearance of lightning. Revelation says His head and hair were ‘white as wool.’ Light makes things white. His eyes were as a flame of fire.

*****

“Why is it significant that what you see in Daniel is a comparison to what John sees? Think for just a minute. Was Daniel the only person who ever saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament? No, other people saw Him. Other people saw Him in a pre-incarnate appearance, if you’re familiar with that.

“You see, what Daniel’s seeing here, if you compare that with what John saw in Revelation; did John see a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in Revelation? He saw the glorified Christ. He saw the post-resurrection appearance of Christ. And what Daniel does here is he sees the transfigured post-resurrection appearance, as it were, of Christ. He sees the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ that matches the glory that John sees in the Book of the Revelation. And it tells you something.

“It tells you there’s a connection between what Daniel is fixing to get here, and this information he’s going to get, and where you’re going to go when you go to Revelation. The last vision in the Book of Daniel starts out and it comes from the glorified Son of God in a post-resurrection appearance.

“Daniel had already seen Him crucified. Daniel 9:26 says, ‘And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.’

“And then, in the next chapter and the next vision, he sees Him resurrected. He has this resurrection appearance, that when go through it, it ushers you right into the beginning of the Book of the Revelation that carries you on through to the 70^th week of the Book of Daniel over there in Revelation. What you got there is the sort of connectors that connect together the two books.

*****

“From the beginning of the Book of Daniel, we know God was working on Daniel’s behalf when Daniel probably didn’t even know it. Daniel 1:9 says, [9] Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.”

“Daniel had a life that reflected the genuine nature of the commitment he had made. That’s why purity of life, not the sins of the flesh or the spirit, is so important. You need to have a sweet, gentle, loving, kind, outgoing spirit. Daniel had it and that validated his message. He showed the reality of God at work, so he’d already found some favor; already had some influence.

“There are number of people in the Bible who come to mind like that. Joseph found favor with Pharaoh, we’re told.

“Psalm 106 says, 43] Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
[44] Nevertheless he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:
[45] And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
[46] He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

“Isn’t that wonderful how God can do that? God sends Israel out there to be in captivity, but He made the society that held them captive love ’em and pity ’em and be kindly affectioned toward them. Why in the world did He do that? Because of His covenant.

*****

“Proverbs 16:7 says, ‘When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.’ When those people walked in the ways of God, even their enemies we’re influenced by it and were at peace with them.

“Paul says almost the same thing in a different way in I Timothy 2: [1] I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
[2] For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
[3] For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.’

*****

“Daniel wasn’t some rough, camel-hide-coated prophet over on the backside of the wilderness bellowing out rebuke. He was a man in the king’s palace, taking a stand. He takes a stand and God stands with him.

“I say to you, folks, that any commitment you ever make in the things of the Lord is going to be tested to prove its reality. It’s cheap to say, ‘I’m gonna do this for the Lord.’ The Lord’s gonna find out whether you mean that or not.

“The great saints down through the ages got tested—every one of them—to find out if the commitment was real; to prove the reality of it to themselves. God knows whether it’s real or not. But it's to prove it to you and those around you.

“James said, ‘Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
[4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.’

“When I read Daniel 1:13, I say, ‘Man, there’s a man with confidence.’ You know something, folks, compromise results in doubt, but purity--that uncompromising commitment to do what God wants done--always brings confidence.

“When you’re sinning, you’re always looking over your shoulder and wondering if it will work. But when you just stand for the Lord and stand for what He says, you know what will happen? There’s confidence, that boldness to know, ‘Hey, the Lord’s gonna do it.’

*****

“Now watch what happens: ‘So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
[15] And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.’

“There’s a verse in Proverbs that tells you about that. Proverbs 3: 5-7 says, ‘Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
[6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
[7] Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.’

“Daniel knew what was going on and God honored him. He knew God would take care of him, and he knew if he just needed to keep a little color in his face and gain 10 pounds, it wouldn’t be any problem for the Lord to put on a pound a day no matter what he was eating.

“Daniel 1 goes on in verse 16, ‘Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.’

“That verse is important. That verse tells me that Melzar, when he put that old porridge in front of him and that glass of cold water, he put the beefsteak and the wine goblet down there too. He took that away and just gave them the other from that point on. Dan and the boys don’t eat the king’s meat.

“Verse 17 says, ‘As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.’

“Proverbs 22:29 says, ‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.’ Listen, if you’ll be diligent in the little thing God gave you to do, and thank Him it’s a little thing and you’re not in over your head . . . Daniel and these boys put purity about everything else.

“My dear friend, purity is the main business of the Believer. It’s of first importance. Dan put it first and God gave him influence.

“There’s a verse in Jeremiah 45:5 that means a lot to me. It says, ‘And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.’

*****

“You want to have influence for the Lord? You just be faithful and uncompromising in your commitment to Him. If you’ll be faithful in the little things and be faithful, God will give you influence for Him.

“Verse 20 says, ‘And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.’

“How many days back in verse 12 did He prove them? Ten days. ‘He found them 10 times better than all the musicians and the astrologers in all his realm.’ You got to look at a passage in Psalm 119 with that.

“Psalm 119 says, [97] O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
[98] Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.
[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.
[100] I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
[101] I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.
[102] I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.
[103] How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
[104] Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.’

“Ten times greater than the best brains Babylon had to offer! You know how? Sticking with that Book, being true to what God gave them to do.”

(new article tomorrow--promise)