Just think of stepping on shore . . .

A tune I liked as a kid, written by Kenny Loggins, was about him being in New York and missing home at the holidays.

One stanza:

Please, celebrate me home,
Give me a number,
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song,
That I'll always remember,
I can recall,
Whenever I find myself too all alone,
I can make believe I've never gone,
I never know where I belong,
Sing me home.

In the hymn category, there are many classic verses about having a home in heaven to dwell with God. It was obviously a major theme in the hearts and minds of the hymn writers. John W. Peterson writes in his song, "I've a Home Beyond the River,"

O, the blessed contemplation

when with trouble here I sigh,

I've a home beyond the river

that I'll enter by and by.

 

Chorus:

I've a home beyond the river,

I've a mansion bright and fair.

I've a home beyond the river,

I will dwell with Jesus there."

The all-time great hymn, "Finally Home," was written by Don Wyrtzen: 

(1)     When alarmed by the fury of the restless sea,

Towering waves before you roll,

At the end of doubt and peril is eternity,

Though fear and conflict seize your soul

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

(2)     When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night,

Oh how lonely death can be,

At the end this long tunnel is a shining light,

For death is swallowed-up in Victory, (Victory!)

Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven

Of touching a hand, and finding it God's

Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial

Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home"

Finally Home!  

Paul assures Believers in Ephesians 2: [19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Paul says in II Corinthians 5, [1] For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

[2] For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
[3] If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

[4] For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

(another post later)

Coming to the end of yourself

Performance-ism is just another word for legalism. It’s the mindset (by you and/or others) that directly equates your identity and value to your performance and accomplishments. 

This is the way the vast majority of people (saved and unsaved) do life, getting their sense of value, meaning, validation and purpose out of what they’ve done and how they're performing, says Richard Jordan. We find out we’re not performing well enough when we get the cold shoulder, snubbed, written off.

We say to ourselves, "Well, I’ll try harder and maybe then I will be accepted." That’s just performance-based acceptance.

Paul says in Galatians 2:20-21, 20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

[21] I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit is not performance-ism. It’s not, "I’ll perform and therefore get there." Your value, your identity in Christ does not come from that. 

Paul says, [20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

The realization to make is, "I’m here in His place, doing what He’d be doing if He was here. In fact, He is here in me, living His life out through me."'

That’s why we’re called the Body of Christ. We’re the vehicle through whom He lives and works today. That’s why Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."

We’re not talking about religion; we’re talking about a RELATIONSHIP with the God of heaven and earth, the Creator. The one who made you originally.

Your self-will has taken you off in a different direction. Paul says, "I’m dead to that." How? "Through Christ. I died with Him. But I didn’t just die with Him; when He put away my sin, He gave me His life."

Paul says, "A spiritual transaction took place on a supernatural level inside of me, where I received His life, and so that the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I have His life and it’s Him living in me."

The Lord Jesus Christ, my friend, is most magnified, most exalted, when we’re satisfied in life with Him and He’s enough. All the other stuff, even if we lose everything else, we’ve got Him and we’re still ahead.

Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." To live is to know Christ and to die is gain because now I just get more intimacy with Him. I’ve heard that word defined "in-to-me-see." That’s really what it is.

More and more there’s the ability to see into Him, and Him to see into me, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. In your life, when He is preferred above everything else, that’s how He’s cherished and demonstrated to be the treasure.

When we’re satisfied with Christ, when we’re prizing Him, cherishing Him, treasuring Him as a prize, and His gain is our heart’s delight above all else, that’s what Paul means in Philippians 3:9 when he says, [9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
[10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

You notice how "and be found in him," that’s a passive voice? I’ve come to love the passives. The essence of life is not DOING! The essence of the Christian life is BEING, not doing! It’s who you are, not what you do.

It’s who God has made you in His Son, and when that becomes the focus of your life, and you learn to just relax and enjoy life in the identity God has given you in Christ, rather than trying to do things and look over your shoulders and see if God’s happy with you, you’ll find yourself doing plenty. But it won’t be to gain something from others; it’ll just be because that’s who you ARE and that’s who people who ARE this--that’s the way they live.

When I had cancer several years ago, someone sent me an email saying, "You’ll never know if Christ is all you need until He’s all that you have, and when He’s all that you have, then and only then do you discover that Jesus is really all that you need."

If you don’t count all that you can do "but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ" . . .  if you’ve never come to that point in your life and you’re still trusting something of yourself, can I tell you that’s a dead-end road?

Maybe you haven’t learned that yet, but when you do learn it, can I tell you it’s a dead-end road, and when you really do do what the Psalmist said ("I came to the end of myself"), can I tell you there’s one standing there at the end of your rope who is the answer.

You go bloody your nose to learn, "It ain’t me." Whatever it is you hope to rely upon, whatever it is you hope to cling to, whether it’s in yourself or with others, if you’d be honest enough in your own self to know you can’t trust yourself . . . 

We put the bravado on, but in your heart of hearts you know yourself. We kick at the slats; we don’t like to believe that but the grace of God is only available when all of our resources are gone. You’ll never do it until you come to the end of yourself.

Compared to everything else, He is the one who really is the treasure of your life. God help us to let that be the reality. Instead of screaming and hollering, "But I’m going to lose it all," just say, "You know what, I’m really FINDING the real source of life."

Paul said, "For me, Christ is gain. I just want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness." That old song says, "Oh, how I love Jesus because He first loved me."

(new article tomorrow)

Seal is the pledge of His love

James 1:21 says to "receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls."

That’s a great expression—"the engrafted word," says Richard Jordan. You have God’s work grafted into your soul. A graft is a living kind of thing. In horticulture, you can make a graft, cut a slit into a trunk, graft in a cutting from another tree, bind it up and cause it to grow. It’s a thing about putting life into something.

Hebrews 4 begins, 1] Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
[2] For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

If the Word’s going to profit you, you don’t just hear it and know it--it has to be mixed with faith. In other words, you have to BELIEVE it. And when you believe it, it gets engrafted by faith into your soul. There’s a spiritual transaction where that Word literally gets implanted into your inner man.

*****

If ever there was a passage of Scripture that succinctly reveals how eternal salvation is brought into a person's life, Ephesians 1:13-14 is it:

[13] In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
[14] Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

The Holy Spirit comes in to seal you (He "seals the deal," we would say) when you believed, and you believed when you heard the Word of truth.

The moment you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, relying exclusively on Him to be the Savior He died and rose again for you to be, God goes into action and seals you.

Now, when He seals you WITH His Spirit, the personal residency of the Spirit of God in your life is the seal; it’s the guarantee.

He says "that seal which is the earnest of our inheritance." It’s the down payment; it’s the first installment of the eternal glory that you’ll have forever.

A seal in the Bible is a sign of a done deal--the thing's accomplished. It’s a sign of ownership.

II Timothy 2:19 says, [19] Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

You see, the seal tells you that He knows you. You’re His so you have "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." It also says you should depart from iniquity. Now that’s our part. We should live in the identity God gives us.

Ephesians 4:30 says, [30] And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Your security isn’t in what you do; it’s in who Jesus Christ is. Your security is the fact you’re sealed WITH the resident agency of the Holy Spirit. That’s a secure seal.

The seal is an issue of security, but that security doesn’t produce carelessness; it produces appreciation. Because of who we are, we should live in line with and in cooperation with what the Spirit of God’s doing in our life. That’s the sum total of what the Christian life is all about.

H.A. Ironside writes in a commentary, "The seal speaks of something that is settled. One draws up a legal document and seals it and that settles it. And so Christ and His loved ones have entered into an eternal relationship, and He has given us the seal, the Holy Spirit. That seal is the pledge of His love."

(new post later)

A matter of flowing in right direction

God wouldn't put emotions as part of our soul and body if they weren't critically important, but they're not to be the source of our thinking, says Richard Jordan. They're not the basis of your choices; they're designed to be RESPONDERS to what your will has decided upon as truth.

If truth sets you free, error binds you. Now, that's the way you're made to function. Emotions are designed to identify for you, in your thinking, what's going on in your inner man.

You've never seen your soul. You've never seen your spirit. You've never felt your spirit because it's a non-experiential thing. You've never felt your will. The way you know what's going on inside of you is through your emotions.

Emotional pain is designed to tell you there's something wrong with the way you're functioning inside. You have no other way to know what the actual status of your inner man is. It's a matter of the flow being in the right direction. While God says it's "spirit, soul, body," Satan says, "Body, soul, spirit."

If your mind is programmed by error, it's going to be produce some real predictable emotions and desires that come out of error. Ephesians 4:31 is a verse that will just change your whole life. It says, [31] Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.

You know where all that stuff comes from? Dumb, bad, erroneous thinking authored by your old sin nature. It comes from the "sin that dwelleth in me." Jesus said, "It's by the heart the things that come out of a man defile a man."

The things that defile you are not the places you go and the things you see. What defiles you is the response you have to those things in your heart.

Instead of programming the mind with error, program it with truth, because programming with error causes you to produce some actions that are counter-productive. If I program my mind with truth and facts then I can take actions based upon faith that will produce some fruit and the feelings show up later.

Have you ever noticed that your feelings . . . I have never walked up to an elliptical machine and said, "Man, I'm just so happy I'm here." But there's a strange thing. If you get on it, in about 10 minutes, you think, "This wasn't near so bad." About 20 minutes later, you say, "Well, you know, I think I can do another 10 minutes."

You get the body and the endorphins going and you feel differently about it. Emotions do that. They'll follow, but you had to make that choice over there. They're not to be the ones that inform you truth; your mind is to be programmed by God's Word.

Volition is a function of our will where we make choices. We make choices based upon what's in our mind; this memory center we have. Those thoughts become reality to our emotions because emotions don't think; they're dumb. They have no intellect; they are only designed to be responders to what you're thinking.

This is critical. You think about something, you have the information, you make a choice what to do based upon the truth in your heart and your emotions see that choice that you've made and say, "There's reality," and they respond appropriately.

When they respond, that's what they are for--the word emotion is for motion. They are to produce activity but they're not to be the source of the action. When they become the source, where the action comes from, all of a sudden, rather than the truth residing in your mind being what your will makes its choices based upon, your emotions become the ones running the show.

The "tyranny of emotional revolt" is when the emotions say, "I'm going to be the one to sit on the throne and I'm going to be the one who decides how we respond and what we do!"

You face a difficult situation and your emotions say, "I know what we better do!"  and your mind says, "Okay, okay, okay, okay." Your mind begins to think your emotions know what they're talking about so your mind begins to think what your emotions are feeling is true.

What's your will going to do? He's got to make choices based upon what your mind is programming, so now your will winds up making good choices or bad choices? Well, it might be as good of a choice as you can make under bad information, but the problem is the whole source is backwards. So now what's running you? Error. If you can get that concept in your thinking it will change everything.

(another post this evening)

Life more abundant and free

"When you look at life from the divine perspective, it’s what Paul writes in II Corinthians 4: [17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; [18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

“But if you don’t have verses 8 and 9, you’ll never get the other. Paul says, [8] We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

“If the pot doesn’t get cracked, the light doesn’t come out. As verse 7 says, ‘But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.’ 

"What is it that you’re seeing when he says ‘we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen’?

“Well, the answer is back in verse 6: [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“Whatever the darkness, whatever the difficulty is, He commands the light to shine out of darkness by shining the glory of God in the face of His Son.

“So we sing a song: ‘O soul are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There's light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.’

“You know how you see the eternal—‘the things that are not seen’? Hebrews 11 has the answer: [1] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

(new post tomorrow)

Remembering love always

Excerpt:

You need to constantly appreciate the love of God for you. I John says, “Hereby perceive we the love of God.” Sometime we know it but we don’t believe it. Sometime we know God loves us but we don’t really apply that by faith to the nitnoids of life.

You want to know why Christian people live such lives of defeat, so far below the snake line? They don’t start right here. I tell you that because I’ve been pastoring over five decades, and as a pastor you sit with people in all kind of circumstances.

Believers lay their head on the pillow at night and are wracked with self-doubt and self-questioning; fear that they’re not doing enough, running hard enough, pushing hard enough. You know how I know that? It’s true of all of us.

The answer to that is peace with God. The answer’s going to be in understanding and believing God’s grace. You got to get that and BELIEVE that. Don’t just know it, but understand the difference.

Romans 5:2 says, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” You want to bring His power into your life? You do it by faith. You trust, you believe in what God’s done for you through Calvary. You say, “But I don’t see it, I don’t feel it.” Who cares, it’s still real!

When failures rise in your mind, you say, “No, the Cross is the answer for that!” You say, “O, love of God, how rich and pure,” and you believe in that and rest in that.

(another post this evening)

HS the one to communicate truth to you

"The one thing that sets the computer, a robot, apart from you and me is the ability to have a functional will," explains Preacher Richard Jordan.

"They can have knowledge, they can learn how to interact with other people, but that issue of will is a personality issue. God the Holy Spirit is a person; He has a will that He exercises.

“When the Bible talks about the Holy Spirit, it uses terms and descriptions that describe the personality; a person, not an influence. Not some power that emanates from God, but a PERSON who IS God.

“As the Divine Person, the Holy Spirit is an ever-present loving member of the godhead who dwells in you.

“Paul says in Ephesians 4:30, ‘And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.' That's the emotional response of a personality.

“Having knowledge is a characteristic of a person. I Corinthians 2:9-11 says, [9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
[10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
[11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

“Romans 8:27 talks about the mind of the Spirit: [27] And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

“God exercises a will that comes out of a thinking process that makes choices in relationship to what goes on. He searches and that’s the action of a person.

“Galatians 4:6 says, ‘And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.’

"The Spirit of God cries; He speaks. Acts 13:2 says, [2] As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

“The verse says He talks; He speaks. That’s describing a living, breathing, real person!

“Romans 8:16 says, ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.’ He can testify. Romans 8:26 says He intercedes for us. These are all things that happen when you’re a person.

*****

"Jesus, in John 15:26-27, says, [26] But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
[27] And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

“The Comforter is the Holy Spirit. Notice there’s God the Father, God the Son and then the Holy Spirit all in one verse. That’s the godhead; that’s the tri-unity.

“I John 5:6-7 says, [6] This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
[7] For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

“That verse tells you the godhead is made up of God the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost. They’re one; they’re all three God.

“By the way, prior to the incarnation, to the Creation, the name of the second person of the godhead was the Word. You see that’s a capital ‘w.’ That’s His name.

"John 1:1 says, [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“If the Word was God, He’s God. If He’s with god, that means they are separate but they’re both God. We’re in room here with skaddles of people; we’re all equally human but we're also distinct and individual persons.

“If you can understand that, you can understand the godhead. In the godhead there are three distinct, individual people who all share equally the essence of deity, like we all share the essence of humanity.

*****

“By the way, you see that expression the Holy Ghost? That title is only found about a dozen times. Only one time is Holy Spirit a name. In Ephesians 4, when it says that ‘holy Spirit of God,’ the word holy is not capitalized. That’s an adjective, not a proper noun. That’s a description of the function, not his name. Now, His name is the Holy Ghost.

“In Luke 11:13 (‘If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?’) That’s the only place that says Holy Spirit with both in caps. All the other times the word ‘holy’ is not capitalized and it’s not describing His name, it’s describing His function.

“If you take the word God and the word host and you contract it, you get the word ‘ghost.’ It’s describing the Spirit as a person. We think about Casper the Ghost, throwing a sheet over a person for Halloween, but the idea is there’s a person under that sheet and the term ghost is describing not a spook, not a spirit that runs it--it’s talking about a person.

"Here is a person who contains all that it is to be God. He’s a Spirit. God is a Spirit.

“He’s how God the Father and God the Son work in their creation. When you go through your Bible and look at where it talks about Him being a Spirit, the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, that is consistently a reference to the function, the working; what He’s doing.

“These are not just titles thrown out and used indiscriminately; they all refer to different activities and different functions that the Spirit of God is working in our lives.

“That’s why it’s important in Ephesians to see that when he says holy Spirit, He’s the Spirit designed to produce holiness. He’s the spirit designed to produce the life of Christ you’re set apart to in your salvation. His function is to produce that life.

*****

"I John 5:1 says, [1] Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

"Jesus, in the Upper Room talking to His apostles. says in John 16, [12] I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

“That capital ‘s’; that’s Him. Now He’s the Spirit of truth. He’s going to be the one to communicate truth to you. When He comes, He’s not going to be talking about Himself; ‘He’s going to be talking about me,’ Christ says.

“When you hear people sing, ‘Sweet Holy Spirit come,’ He didn’t inspire that kind of singing. He inspires, ‘Come Lord Jesus,’ and, ‘Worthy is the lamb.’ That’s His focus, so it isn’t that we are omitting Him when the focus is on the Father and the Son. What we’re doing is demonstrating His thinking; His activity. We’re honoring His work and His function.

*****

“When you study Scripture, one the great titles you learn from God is ‘Jehovah.’ It’s in Bible with the word ‘Lord.’ Jehovah can refer to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

“There’s a verse where the Holy Spirit is called God. Acts 5:3-5 says, [3] But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
[4] Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
[5] And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

"Exodus 16:7 says, [7] And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: and what are we, that ye murmur against us?

“This is Moses chiding Israel for their murmuring about wanting something to eat and drink. He says, ‘For he hath heard your murmurings.’

“They murmured against Jehovah. Hebrews 3:7 says, ‘Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice.’

“This time when He speaks, He actually writes it down. I mean, He’s a person. Who’s the me? The Holy Ghost.

“Who did Exodus tell you they were tempting and proving? Jehovah. Who does Hebrews say they were tempting? The Holy Spirit. Which was it? It was both. Why? Because they both share the same title.

“In Isaiah 53, it says, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’ Jehovah laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ our iniquity.

“In Zechariah 12:10, Jehovah says that ‘when I come back, they’re going to look upon me, Jehovah, whom they pierced.’ Who’s that? That’s the Lord Jesus.

“Jehovah God the Father placed upon Jehovah God the Son our sins. They pierced Him and Jehovah God the Spirit. So that title, that name . . . my point to you is that the Spirit of God is God. He’s eternal. Hebrews 9:14 talks about ‘who through the eternal Spirit.’ If you’re eternal you have to be God because you’re outside of time, outside of creation.

“Psalm 139: 6-7 says, [6] Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
[7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

“Where can I go to get away from you, Lord? Nowhere. Why? Because He’s everywhere. See what He says in verse 7? Who’s everywhere? God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

*****

“Genesis 2:7 tells us, [7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

“Job 33:4 says, [4] The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

“You know what God breathed into his nostrils? God the Holy Spirit gave life to Adam. He’s the life giver. He’s the author of this Book. ‘Holy men of old spake as they were moved by God.’

“Paul says in Acts 28, ‘spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers.’ Peter says in Acts 1, ‘As the Holy Ghost spoke by David in the psalm.’ Jesus says in Mark 12, ‘As the Holy Ghost wrote.’ Who wrote the Book? The Holy Spirit. Paul says all Scripture is given by inspiration of who? God. You follow that? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the godhead.

“You hear people talk about the new birth. It’s a fascinating thing to me, you hear people talk about the new birth and my first question is, ‘What is the new birth?’ You never find anybody that knows. They’ll tell you how to get saved or something.

“Jesus, talking to Nicodemus in John 3:6 says, [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

“Who is it that gives you everlasting life? Who is it that ‘begats’ you into the family of God? Paul says were the born ones of God. He says, ‘By the gospel I have begotten you.’ Who is it that does that? God the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you life.

“John 6:63 is a verse you need to commit to memory. It says, [63] It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

“You get that? Your flesh is not where the profit is; it’s the Spirit that gives life. How does He do it? ‘The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’

“You see, the Spirit of God is God. That’s why Jesus would talk about people being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That’s why you find those three put together over and over and over in the Bible. Separate persons but equal in their nature and in their ability to have a relationship with creation.

*****

“Paul uses a lot of different titles for the Holy Spirit designed to demonstrate His function, His working.

“I Corinthians 3:16 says, ‘Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?’ He’s the spirit of God and He dwells. Chapter 6:19 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?

In one place it says you’re ‘the temple of the Spirit of God.’ God Himself is going to come and function and work in you. He’s going to find a dwelling place; a working place. But in chapter 6 he says, ‘Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.’

“You have the personal presence and the personal relationship with the one who has set you apart in the Lord Jesus Christ and He’s the one who is the transforming agent who’s to bring about the transformation. He’s the one by whom you can glorify God in your Spirit and in your body. It comes from a personal relationship with Him.

“II Corinthians 3:3 says, [3] Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

“Notice it’s written by the Spirit of the living God. That’s God able to live in you, in the circumstances of your life, in the decisions, in the uprisings and the downfalls, in the traumas and the blessings.

“In everything in your life, He’s there living, functioning in your life. He is there as a part of your life. In fact, He is your life! He’s the living God. That’s how He writes Christ into your heart.”

Nothing but loving hands post-Cross

John 19: [38] And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.

[39] And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
[40] Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
[41] Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
[42] There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

"It's fascinating who Joseph of Arimathaea was--a follower of Jesus Christ, a member of the 'little flock.' He's a rich guy, as was Nicodemus. and they were followers of the Lord, but you see in verse 38 it says, Joesph 'being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews.'

"He'd been in the shadows up to this point. You see how Mark 15:43 says that? [43] Joseph of Arimathaea, and honourable counseller, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

"It says he went in boldly. He didn't sneak into Pilate. He went in boldly and begged, craved, desired, pleaded to see the body of Jesus. There's something happening in Joe's life as he sees the Lord Jesus Christ die.

"Luke 23:50: [50] And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counseller; and he was a good man, and a just:

"Mark says he was an honorable counselor. He was a good man and a just man. He's justified, a man who waited for the kingdom of God. He's a saved guy.

"Verse 51: [51] (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. [52] This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

"He was a member of the Sanhedrin but he had not consented to the counsel's vote to condemn Christ and have Him killed. He wasn't just a member, but he was one who stood for what was right.

"I say that so you know they had gained the courage, even in the hour of great disappointment, to stand up and to go. They literally took the Lord Jesus Christ's body off the Cross. The Romans were expecting Him to live a couple of days.

"When Joseph and Nicodemus heard He was dead they literally went to the authorities and got permission to take His body off the Cross.

"Luke 23:53 [53] And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

"Think about that. He literally takes the body right off the Cross. The only people who ever touched the body of the Lord Jesus Christ were people who loved Him. Up until then His enemies had touched Him.

"But from the time He died on that Cross to the time they put Him in the tomb, wrapped His body, anointed it, and it walked out the third day, nothing but loving hands ever touched it.

"Nothing but uncorrupted hands, a just man's hands, because here's a body that couldn't see corruption and God wasn't going to let it be defiled by the corruption of man's hands. He put Him in a tomb in which never a man had laid.

"W.F. Grant said about that, 'The one who first occupied a virgin's womb could only be fittingly placed in a virgin tomb.'

"The one who couldn't see corruption, couldn't line a tomb where corruption had defiled it. God's keeping His Son uncorrupted, undefiled, separate even in death

"Mark 15:47 [47] And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.

"Look back at the end of 46 where they rolled the stone upon the door: [46] And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

"They went home that night still not believing in a resurrection. It was after the resurrection before they ever came to understand that He was supposed to be raised, or that He was. All they went home thinking was, 'The world is now without Jesus; He's gone.'

"And the disappointment of that stoned rolled upon the door of the sepulcre had to have weighed on their heart.

"Mark 16: [1] And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

[2] And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
[3] And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
[4] And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

"They come very early and find the stone rolled away. But for three days they thought He was gone and that darkness of death--all of that is right there.

"When you leave Mark 15 Israel is in the bonds of satanic darkness. Believers in the throws of disappointment that only can be answered by the resurrection the next day."

Who can number the clouds in wisdom?

Working on new article to post tomorrow. In the meantime, what is the quote below referring to?

“You just keep reading and noticing phenomena, and after 40-plus years of studying a King James Bible and noticing this kind of phenomena over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, it kind of gets under your skin,” says Jordan. “It kind of gets beyond just being, ‘Well, that’s superstition.’ The people who think it’s superstition are people who just haven’t studied it very much and seen it work out over and over.

“Now, it doesn’t work out every time, but it works out 70% of the time, and listen, in this market, if you got a winner 7 out of 10 times, you’re in pretty good shape, aren’t you? Could you imagine if you were a baseball player and you could get a hit seven out of every 10 times you were up to bat? That ain’t ever happened before. If you were a football player and seven out of  every 10 times you caught the ball it resulted in a touchdown, those would be pretty good odds there’s something there.”

***** 

Answer: Numbers

It’s endlessly fascinating to look at how intricately God weaves numbers and number patterns into His Word. The codes can be as easy or as complicated as the reader wants them to be and no human will ever even come close to discovering all of them.

“Nine, for example, is a very interesting number in the Bible because it’s the last of the single digits,” says Richard Jordan. “The idea is you’ve come to the conclusion of something. We say it’s come to its fruition and, in the Bible, nine is connected with fruitfulness and fruit-bearing.

“If you look at Galatians 5:22-23, how many fruits of the Spirit are there? Nine. Galatians is the ninth book in the New Testament. If you count five and two and two, it’s nine. By the way, the New Testament has 27 books. Two plus seven is nine. Now, I know, that’s all just an accident. But it is interesting.”

*****

“Look at I Corinthians 12:7. It says Jesus was crucified in the ninth hour. That was a rather fruitful event. By the way, in Luke it says it was in the third hour. One’s using Roman time and one’s using Jewish time.

“In Matthew 5:3 are what we call The Beatitudes. Do you know how many ‘blesseds’ there are? Nine.

“How old was Abraham when he had Isaac? 99. That was a fruitful year for Abraham.

“Who’s the tallest man in the Bible? Deuteronomy 3:11 says Old Og, King of Basham, slept in a bed nine cubits long. That’s a big bed! A cubit is 18 inches. That guy’s got a bed that’s 12 feet long and 6 feet wide! When you want to see the fruit of the satanic rebellion among the giants, you see how tall the guy got who was the fruit of all that.

“It’s in Genesis 9 that God took those eight people off the Ark onto the earth and blessed them, and in Genesis 9:1 He told them, ‘Be fruitful.’ It’s in Genesis 9:9 that He said, ‘I behold I establish my covenant with you and your seed.’ He established His covenant with them to MAKE them fruitful.

“Nine months is the gestation period for a human child. If you’re having a real good time, you say, ‘I’m on Cloud Nine.’

“Now, I’m going to do a little heresy here. How many letters are in (the name) King James? It’s the 1611 King James Bible. Three ones and a six—that’s nine. Now, like I said, that’s just coincidence, but it is kind of fascinating.

“You go over to Jeremiah 26 and you’ll find that when old Jehudi is cutting up the Bible, it’s in the ninth month that he’s doing it. In Jeremiah 52 you’ll see that Jerusalem is destroyed in the ninth month. The fruit of unbelief is connected with the No. 9 in these examples.”

*****

“When it comes to No. 10, most people say it represents ordinal perfection because you count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and then start over with the zero and the one. Biblically, No.10 is the number of perfection and order.

“When God gave commandments to Israel, how many were there? Ten, because that’s the perfection of order. Ten is the number of ordinal completion. It’s also, because of that, how you produce ORDER in government and things. But because of that, it’s the number of the Gentiles in the Bible.

“Look at Genesis 10. The first time a Gentile shows up in the Bible by name it’s in this chapter. ‘Now these were the generations of the sons of Noah.’ There weren’t any Gentiles in the earth before Noah. The word Gentile means the nations and God didn’t divide up humanity into nations until the sons of Noah came along.

“Do you remember when we were studying the Book of Ruth, I talked to you about those tenth men in the genealogy of Christ? How Boaz is the third one of those tenth men? Do you remember who the first one was? Noah was the 10^th man from Adam in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the first to have any of his descendants identified as a Gentile and if you look at Genesis 10: 8-10 . . .

“ ‘And Cush begat Nimrod and he began to be a mighty one in the earth.’ Now, notice who Cush is. Noah has a son named Ham, who’d be the eleventh. Cush, verse 6, is Ham’s boy and Nimrod is Cush’s boy. Nimrod is going to be the 13^th from Adam.

“Now, 13 is the number of rebellion in the Bible, but just like Noah is the 10^th from Adam, Nimrod is going to be the 13^th and notice what Nimrod does. Verse 9 says he’s ‘a might hunter before the Lord’ and verse 10 says ‘the beginning of his kingdom was Babel.’

“Well, the first Gentile kingdom in the earth was established by one of the descendants of Noah, the 10^th man from Adam, and when he established that Gentile kingdom in the earth it was Babel, and when you go over to Daniel 2 and Revelation 13 and 17, how many toes does that kingdom have on it? It’s got 10.

“How many kings does it have reigning with it in Revelation 13 and 17? Ten. Ten is the number of Gentile dominion and activity in the earth. There were 10 plagues on Egypt. There were 10 nations in Genesis 15 that Israel is to war against. (Gen. 15:19)

“If you go to Psalm 119, almost every verse in that psalm talks about the Word of God. There are 10 separate titles given to God’s Word there. There are 10 psalms that begin with the word ‘hallelujah,’ meaning ‘praise the lord.’

“You know what, if you’ll study that terminology ‘hallelujah’ in the Psalms, you know what you’ll discover? Almost every time it’s a reference to excitement about God destroying some Gentiles and delivering Israel. It’s one of those weird words and when you hear people going around hollering ‘Hallelujah!’ and ‘Praise the Lord!’ sometimes some of the verses they get that out of isn’t so good.

“Do you remember the parable in Luke 19 where Jesus gives the pound to His servants and says, ‘Go occupy while I’m gone to heaven to receive the kingdom’? The guy is given 10 pounds and when Christ comes back, He rewards him with authority over 10 Gentile cities.

“Galatians 5:19 gives the works of the flesh. Adultery, one; fornication, two; uncleanness three; lasciviousness, four; idolatry, five; witchcraft, six; hatred, seven; variance, eight; emulation, nine . . . See what the tenth is? It’s wrath. What’s God’s attitude toward the earth because of their rejection of His truth? The No. 10 has to do with bringing order into the government of the universe and it focuses on the Gentiles.

“By the way, it’s in Acts 10 that that famous Gentile in the Book of Acts, Cornelius, gets saved. And you go through the Word of God and you’ll find 10 connected with Gentiles and with the government in the hands of Gentiles.”

*****

As a Bible number, 11 points to incompleteness and is, in essence, one short of where you ought to be.

It’s in chapter 11 of Genesis that the Tower of Babel is identified and it’s one short of chapter 12 where Abraham shows up.

“You remember in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 where it talks about ‘the eleven, the eleven, the eleven’?” says Jordan. “That’s a title given to the 12 apostles when one of them, Judas, has fallen away. And that’s what the No. 11 is branded with all through the Bible. It’s the idea, ‘You’re just not quite there.’ The apostles were incomplete when there were eleven of them. Eleven is just not quite enough.

“When Israel leaves Egypt in Deuteronomy 1 they go toward the Promised Land and Deuteronomy 1 says they went 11 days. If they had just gone one more day they’d have gotten there. They were one day short.”

*****

Twelve is the number of governmental perfection and that’s the reason it’s the number associated with the nation Israel, God’s government nation in the earth. There are 12 apostles who will sit upon 12 thrones judging over the 12 tribes of Israel.

“It’s in Genesis 12 that God calls Abraham out to be His man and makes the covenant with him,” says Jordan. “In Exodus 12 He calls the nation out of Egypt. In Revelation 12:1 you see the woman with the stars and you have Israel identified.

“You go over to I Kings with Solomon and he’s got 12 officers; 12 spies that go and spy out the land. Twelve is just the number of the nation Israel all through the Bible.

“In Job 38 you see the universe is ordered according to this. Recently we were looking at Book of Joshua where he brought Israel across the Jordan River there and He put 12 stones in the river bed and then put 12 stones over on the Canaan side on the land. Twelve stones represented the 12 tribes of Israel. Elisha goes up on Carmel and makes an altar but he makes it out of twelve stones because 12 is the number of Israel.

“In Job 38:22-33, Mazzaroth is the name for the Zodiac. There’s the 12 signs and there are 12 constellations in the Zodiac. The way God organized the earth is the way He’s organized the heavens because the government He established on the earth is a reflection of the government He’s established in the heavens. And that’s why over there in Revelation 21, when John goes into the New Jerusalem, he sees the 12 apostles and the 12 foundations and the 12 gates. He sees that tree of life and it bears 12 fruit because there are people who are going to be taken by the Body of Christ off of Planet Earth into those positions put out there and the whole universe is ordered according to that.

“The earth is the command center for the angelic government. Where Christ is where the command center is. That’s why Jacob said in Genesis 29, ‘I perceive that this piece of real estate I’m sleeping on is the gate of heaven. The government of heaven is here.’ ”

*****

Here's an old article from 2/22/11 entitled "Ruth’s Tent Man Tenth Man":

The Book of Ruth, probably written by Samuel, is an infinitely charming Old Testament book with only four chapters, 85 verses and 2,578 words.

There is, in fact, only one other book in the Bible with a woman’s name: Esther. Ruth is a Gentile who marries a Jew and Esther is a Jew who marries a Gentile. Both of these books are books of history, typology and doctrine. Someone once said, “Ruth is one of the richest rewards of truly knowing the scripture.”

“Heart history appeals to people who have a heart,” says Jordan. “The stories that are based in appeal to affections are the things that attract people, and Ruth is that way. There’s always a charm in a book that is filled with typology, and the main characters in Ruth are all pictures of God’s dealings with the nation Israel, and especially in the kinsman redeemer Boaz, who is a type of Christ.

Ruth is a love story that is very much a true story. More importantly, it’s a book of prophecy and doctrine in typology, written during the early part of David’s reign before he had Solomon.

Jordan explains, “Ruth takes place during the deep dark period of Judges but isn’t recorded until the early reign of David because Boaz is the predecessor of David. David is in Boaz’ line and Boaz is one of those key people who are in the Messiah’s line and now David can be Israel’s king. So, in that interlude between David and Solomon, where God is teaching Israel how He will work on their behalf, He writes a little book because the first thing Israel needs when there under all that judgment is for Him to be their Kinsman Redeemer.

“And the first thing the Davidic covenant provides for them is a redeemer. And so the little book of Ruth, nestled as it is between Judges and the ministry of Samuel. . . in the Book of Judges you see the doctrine of the Kinsman Redeemer--you see Gideon the deliverer and Samson the avenger and God ministering through the weaknesses of Israel and bringing about His purpose.

"You’re seeing those things God will do to redeem Israel and you see David and Solomon as the king and the one who brings the blessing of prosperity to them. Those are the mandates God has in the Davidic covenant that will be accomplished in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

*****

Between the first two cycles of the five cycles of judgment laid out in Leviticus 6 there was a period of respite. The first cycle, as said, covers the dark ages of the Book of Judges, where the book of Ruth took place, but then there’s sort of a respite from Samuel through the reigns of David and Solomon.

The Book of Judges isn’t written until that respite period comes on the scene. During the reign of David, they reach back into Judges and pull out a story of Ruth and Boaz. In fact, the story’s pulled out of the lineage of King David. In his ancestors is a story about the Kinsman Redeemer that is doctrine attached to that period of respite.

Ruth 2:1 says, “And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz.” The term kinsman is used about a dozen times in the book. Unger’s Bible Handbook is the first to refer to Ruth as “the romance of redemption.”

Jordan explains, “When you start at the beginning of the genealogy of Christ and count down the first ten guys you come to Noah. The tenth one in Shem’s line (the line of Christ) was Abraham. Boaz is the third tenth man.

Matthew 1:5 says, “And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse.”

Jordan says, “That’s why the Book of Ruth is there to tell you who Boaz is. By the way, you can go on through the Old Testament and find those other tenth men and find their significance. It’s fascinating.

“The Book of Ruth isn’t just a little ditty that just happened to be passed on from campfire to campfire; ‘Let’s just put it in the Bible because we happen to have it around.’ Ruth is put there in the Bible to teach some doctrine about the kinsman redeemer, about Israel’s need to be redeemed.

“Boaz has some real insightful wisdom and a determined commitment and an undeterred love for Ruth to get the job of redemption done. By the way, the name Boaz means ‘in his is strength’ and he’s the redeemer who gets the job done! The picture is of the Messiah. It’s Israel in the time of Jacob’s trouble being saved by her Messiah who comes, by the way, out of Bethlehem.”