Fellowship July 13th, 2011

Fellowship in the Household of Faith

July 13, 2011

  

BELIEVER 5:  I am going to go to the bible.  “Even though our iniquities testify against us, act for the honor of Your name” (Jer. 14:8).  Oh, hope of Israel; the Saviour in the time of trouble…the prophets falsely prophecy in My Name, I have not sent them, or commanded them, neither have I spoke to them.  The prophecy they give to you is a false vision...  God has put this in my heart this morning to share to you all.

BELIEVER 4:  I am going to explain this by God’s grace…Why did God speak this to Jeremiah? it is true what it says here, “our iniquities testify against us”, “oh, hope  of Israel”, then it shows our condition.  There are two circumstances that nobody wants to deal with.  One is this…Among the people in Israel there came prophets who were not called. If the Spirit of the Lord is not in the words, the Lord says, “I have not spoken.”  This is regular for a son of God that lives with Him (walks in the Spirit) to recognize. This is what happens in the natural church. A son of God comes and says (exhorts), the Lord says this “the Lord says I am going to discipline you in this, this, and this.”  If the people don’t have discernment they are going to say, this is not God.  The Spirit gives the discernment. 

The (new) heart has four parts.  The consciousness of God, and the three parts of the soul.  But we have a mixture, one part is God and one part is not God (the old man).  Discernment comes to judge between what is of God and what is not of God.  God allowed us today to have fellowship with the kindred of BELIEVER 3.  We can see in the spirit what we can’t see in the natural ground.  We can see from where the Lord has taken us (BELIEVER 3’s old ground). We were goats, but now we are His sheep.  All the scriptures BELIEVER 5 shared is what we shared in the morning.  None of our desires happen because we want.  What happened with you BELIEVER 5?  The Lord gave you a promise, but the enemy says something different.  When God speaks, the enemy tries to do the same thing.  The Lord spoke today, but the world said another thing.  What report are we going to believe?  The point is this brothers.  God tests everyone who wants Him to be Lord.  He comes to test us to know what is in our heart.  If I start the think, I don’t want to deal with what is in your heart (BELIEVER 3).  BELIEVER 3 today made 3 phone calls.  By grace, only the voice mail call, BELIEVER 3 failed the test (to handle things according to the Lord). But God is so merciful, the Lord allowed the test another time and it was better).  This is what happened with you.  I remember when the Lord allowed the test for BELIEVER 5 when she worked in the Hotel.  You recovered from the test, but you didn’t pass.  We don’t pass the test unless we surrender to the Lord.  One part of you says, “If I am a child of God, why does the Lord put me in a test?”  Because He says that all need to pass through the test (to mature).  BELIEVER 3 has been in tests in these days, because God is seeing what is in His heart.  To you BELIEVER 6, the word says that come to the Lord Jesus is to come to the table, to the bridegroom, and there is a dinner when He meets with His people.  But we need to be dressed with proper dress, to be with our bridegroom.  The dress needs to be embroidered.  (BELIEVER 5: you need a lot of time to make a dress like this).  It is a detailed.  God shows us all the time where is our heart.  I used to believe the test of the heart was temporary.  The word says, “wherever your heart is, there your treasure is also” (Matt. 6).  Your heart can be in knowledge. All men, if you don’t live by the life of God, live by the tree of knowledge.  The scripture says the fathers desire good gifts for their children.  If you are evil and you give good gifts, how much more?

BELIEVER 3: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has just one fruit.  You cannot choose only the good part or only the bad fruit.  All the bad has a little bit of the good in it, if it was totally bad, it would be unattractive.  It is very deceitful.

BELIEVER 4:  This takes time to learn.  The only thing that has a chance to discern the difference between life (reality) and knowledge is the spirit.  Brother Lee said the Tree of Life grows inside of us if we allow.  You don’t feel the problem (inner warfare) until the trees (knowledge and Life) have the same stature.  BELIEVER 5 had a test two years ago in Ecuador; she fell.  (BELIEVER 6: what was the test?)  The test is what we have in our heart.  How do the two trees be in the same measure?  BELIEVER 5 decided that part of the trip is for God, and the other part is for the family.  The mercy the Lord is so good, that when He gave you a two year vacation..there was something precious that happened here. …For example, she has taken a vacation for two years, not a total vacation, but some.  But the mercy of the Lord is so good.  The fight between Elijah and Elisha is there.  BELIEVER 5 has repeated the words of Elisha, (BELIEVER 5: I am not going to leave you)  Because of this faith, the Lord gave three or four days ago, the Lord showed that everything is there.  This is mercy.  But satan is saying, “we need to see the demonstration of this, to prove you are a child of God”.  (BELIEVER 5:  jump from the top, I know the fight.)  It looks wonderful, but there is at the same time danger.  What she feels is not a joke…The Lord wants her to leave the ground of knowledge.  One cannot do this alone.  You need to eat Christ, the Living Word.  This is something serious, because… BELIEVER 6, can we eat Christ in soup?  (BELIEVER 6: no.  just humbly and simple.  And only roasted).  With fire!  And bitter herbs!  We don’t like this.  (BELIEVER 6: who likes bitter herbs).  This is aestheticism. 

BELIEVER 6:  The peace that the Lord give that passes all understanding is amazing.  The people don’t open to the Lord (acknowledging) that He is our maker.  No matter how many trials we have, with the infinite mercy the Lord shows, there is nothing to compare with eh peace that the Lord give.  (BELIEVER 4: this is what Paul shared in Philippians, “I have learned to secret).  This is the wisdom of God and blessings for one who wants to understand.  The problem is that many do not want to understand.

BELIEVER 4:  What you said needs a little adjustment.  1 Timothy 3: 16 says, “great is the mystery of godliness; He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit, Seen of angels, Preached among the nations, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.”  The word says that God wants everyone to come to a knowledge of the truth, but our nature is against this.  The scripture says because all our unbelief needs to be defeated by the Living Word.  We cannot change the word of God because we are finite.  In 1 Peter 1:3, “blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” This is the gospel. The living hope is something man can find out.  If Jesus was not a God-Man He would not have resurrected.  “For an inheritance, incorruptible, unfading, undefiled, kept in the heavens for you”  Our natural life says this is impossible. “Guarded by the power of God by faith.”  What guards us is the faith; what faith?  The faith of the Son of God who gave His life for me (Gal 2:21).  “…unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.”  This is the gospel!  This is glorious!  2 Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the full knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord.”  To possess the full knowledge, He needs to do this (it is His work).  This comes progressively.  “As his divine power has given to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us by glory and virtue, through which He has given to us the greatest and precious promises, that through these ye may become partakers of [the] divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  The promise is a living promise.  It is real.  But here it mentions a condition.  The end of the impartation is that you ‘escape from the world.’  He gives the reason of how this operates. “But for this very reason also, using therewith all diligence, in your faith have also virtue, in virtue knowledge,” Do you know what diligence is?  It is that you don’t leave the Spirit.  Do you know “add to your faith virtue”? 

BELIEVER 4:  To have something in practicality means it has come to us by experience.  The Body of Christ is something that we still don’t have much practicality in.  Some brothers are close to this, The Recovery. Some brothers came to Brother Lee and said, “things are not working out here the way the Lord wants.  Brother Lee said, “if you brothers have a feeling to practice in what you say, go ahead.” (Concerning a the practice of the “body Life”.)

BELIEVER 5: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)

 (We spend some time praying over this verse)

BELIEVER 4: if we go to the reality of what John talks in his letters…how the Lord moves, it is glorious.  God Himself has become flesh.  Praying the word is so rich in the Spirit, at first it is hard to handle, because the Word of God is so powerful that the flesh cannot handle it. 

BELIEVER 6:  (From Watchman Nee) “How do I know that I am working together with God?  This is an easy answer.  Are you satisfied with what you are doing?  If you are not satisfying the heart of God, you will not be satisfied with yourself.  The members of the Body are for the Body, and the gifts of the church are for the Body for the purpose of building up the body.” (BELIEVER 4:  I want to you to flow on the last part that you shared.)  This part has a great importance to form the Body of Christ, because the gifts that are given to the church and each member are for the Body.

BELIEVER 4: I am going to help you.  There are many good things here.  “The cross is at the entrance of the heavens” (Nee).  It is not that you see a cross; Christians have put the cross everywhere (this is not the true cross).  In reality the cross is the key to have divine life.  It is not only important to receive the divine life, but also to continue growing in it.  “only what comes by the cross will abide;;.”  The church has misunderstood this.  The church is not a building. (BELIEVER 6: it is nothing material).  The church in reality is the divine nature.  But the Body is the development of the divine nature.  Christ is the head.  The problem for us is that we try to understand this in our mind. 

BELIEVER 6: “the goal of the Body is to attain to the unity of faith.” (Nee)

BELIEVER 4: the unity of the Body….it says in Ephesians that He (Christ) gave some to be apostles, prophets, etc… until the unity of the Faith.  You cannot deal with this by human thoughts.  The unity of the faith…until all arrive...unto the stature of a perfect man…the stature of the Son of God.  This is what God is doing, but for this to be completed, the Lord is building His first fruits in this age of grace (Revelation 14:4).

BELIEVER 6: “The Eternal Purpose of God can never be understood or imagined by the mind.  It has to come by revelation.  All words of God come by revelation…if what we receive is doctrine or teaching, it will leave you after a period of time, but if what we have is life, or revelation.”

BELIEVER 4: This is something that the human being still does not understand.  God forgive us.  Ninety-nine percent of those that are called sons of God don’t understand this.  This means that you don’t think, Christ thinks.  You don’t live, Christ lives.  I am going to speak concerning you BELIEVER 6. God is dealing with a revelation concerning you; that in the moment that the living Word touches you, brokenness comes to you.  This is revelation.  Because you see the majesty of what God is, and you forget about all you have in your mind.  Nobody has a chance to take this out of you.  What have the people that have known God throughout the ages said?  People can put chains on you, but the Word cannot be chained.  This is powerful.  You cannot destroy what God is putting in your heart. 

BELIEVER 3:  (Sharing from “The Mission, Meaning, and Message of Jesus Christ” by T. Austin-Sparks)  Brother Sparks is speaking concerning the Gospel of Luke.  There is some things that the Lord gives to His servants that are rich that the Lord gives for us.  Very rich.  Luke takes up Jesus wit Adam, and then a little baby, and then the Man in Glory.  “Do you see the immense context of this gospel.  This is the whole human race from the beginning to end.  Adam was the first of the human race with a great divine intention.  But we know of the human tragedy.  The human race in the first Adam lost the divine intention.  Put a circle around that word “lost”.  The human race lost its divine inheritance because it lost its relationship with God.  The whole of this gospel is summed up in this one verse.  “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”  In Adam the universal dominion was lost.  In Abraham the elect people lost their heritage.  There were called by God to be the governmental instrument among the nations.  But Israel lost their heavenly vocation. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”  Lost to Adam, lost to Abraham, lost to Israel, but found in the Son of Man…” This man receives sinners.  This is the Gospel!

BELIEVER 4: what is the practical application of this?

BELIEVER 3:  The Lord came to seek and save what was lost.  When I first came to know the Lord, I had a very shallow understanding of His Word.   The word “sinner” used to bring fear to me, even after I was born again.  Because I had a terrible image of God, like a judge.  But the Lord, the more I go on, I see I am a sinner.  There was a certain sin I committed all the time when I was born again.  Then for maybe four years this sin was completely gone from my life. It is something a lot of young men struggle with I, and I and gave advice to people on how to overcome this sin.  I thought that I did it (in my strength).  The Lord allowed it for a while.  Eventually this sin came back, because I am a sinner. (BELIEVER 4: because this is our nature. Not just that we sin, but we have a nature of sin.)  The Lord has been showing me that I am a sinner.  And sometimes Satan can beat us over this matter. He is the accuser of the brethren.  I am not making an excuse for sin, but the only ground that the Lord is going to save us on is that we are sinners.  It is something painful, but we have to see what we are.  I have been coming more to that ground.  That is the ground that the Lord is all and we are nothing.  We have been saying, “This is the true God…”  When we say He is all and we are nothing; this is the true ground that He saves us on.  When we see that Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost…It says that the sinners and publicans drew near to him, this becomes good news to us.  This is the true good news.  Because we know and experience and reality that we are sinners, and we learn in reality who the Savior is.  I can’t say that I am completely broken, but I can tell that I have more joy that the Lord is the friend of sinners.  I have a more true appreciation for this.  Before I thought this was only for unbelievers.  I thought, “I am saved so this is not applicable to me.” But I am learning that this is applicable to me.