2/2/2023
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
Ezekiel 36:25-28, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."
What wonderful promises are contained in those verses! However, if we read the context of those four verses and see how far the chosen people of God have strayed, we should be overwhelmed with the grace and goodness of God. Moreover, we have responsibilities also. Note that Ezekiel 36, verse 25 starts with "then." In this message we want to emphasize the implied "if" of Ezekiel 36. What does the Lord require of us?
The first requirement on our part is a heart attitude of giving all the glory to God. The glory and honor of God must be in reality the chief end of all of our actions. To give glory to God should be the greatest desire and supreme goal of every believer.
The first requirement on our part is a heart attitude of giving all the glory to God. The glory and honor of God must be in reality the chief end of all of our actions. To give glory to God should be the greatest desire and supreme goal of every believer.
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.1 Corinthians 10:31For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:20
Everything and everyone has been designed to show forth His glory.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Psalm 19:1Even every one that is called by My name: for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Isaiah 43:7
There is a glory of man, but Solomon, in all of his glory was not arrayed nearly as beautiful as the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:28-29). We speak here only of the glory of God. By glory we mean not only the essence of who God is, in all of His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, but also His manifest presence. He IS our glory!
My glory and the lifter up of mine head. Psalm 3:3"He is bringing many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10).
"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
One of the multitude of ways that we give glory to God is through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, whether we are alone or in the midst of the congregation. Johann Sebastian Bach once said: The aim and final reason for all music should be nothing else but the glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit.
"Standard" teaching says that our soul consists of three parts ... the mind, will, and emotions. Moreover, we have free will ... we are able to make free choices and decisions ... we are NOT a robot with no will of our own. The same was true of Jesus when He came to the earth in the form of a man. Most of our problems stem from our disobedience and self-will, not from the devil. In a local church a few years ago the question was asked, "Did Jesus have a choice when He went to the cross?" The leadership said, "No, Jesus did not have a choice." We must respectfully disagree. We believe that Jesus had a free will of His own, but He always subjected His own will to the will of the Father. We must do the same.
Matthew 26:39, "And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
If Jesus Himself prayed that the will of the Father might be done, can we do anything less? We must be careful not to run ahead of the Lord, thinking that we already know the will of the Lord in a given situation.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me,) to do Thy will, O God. Hebrews 10:7
We have the same mission ... to do the will of the Father. We, like Jesus as a Man, have a will. The will of man is, by our sinful nature, to do our own will ... to satisfy our carnal desires and lusts. Even after we are apprehended by the Spirit of the Lord, we still tend, at times, to let our will override the will of the Father. But our will must become a servant to the will of the Father. All of the "great" men and women in the Bible came to the place where the will of God was uppermost in their minds. For example, let us read
1 Samuel 8:4-7, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not rule over them."
Note that the request of the elders displeased Samuel. Samuel KNEW that the request of the elders was not in the will of the Lord. Nevertheless, even though he knew their request was misguided, he still prayed and asked the Lord what he should do! Samuel COULD have told the elders that their request was displeasing to the Lord and that he would do no such thing. But he did not take the matter into his own hands. Instead, he prayed and asked the Lord what he should do. We should do the same as did Samuel in every situation of any consequence! It is the will of the Lord for believers to be healed of sicknesses and disease. But we need to be careful that we don't fix the fix that the Lord has set up because the Lord is after some higher purpose in that believer's life. We need to be "neutral" in heart and mind and will as we pray for the Lord to reveal His will. Otherwise, we become like Moses, who struck the rock the second time because he saw that it "worked" once.
John 1:35-39, "Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto Him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest Thou? He saith unto them, Come and see."
The two disciples, in those verses, asked where Jesus dwelt physically ... what house or tent. However, Jesus gave them a spiritual answer, and one that they did not understand. That last verse may be translated as, "Come and you shall see!" See what? more scriptural truth? NO! Come to Jesus where He is and you shall see THE TRUTH ... Jesus Himself, the personification of all truth. Where does Jesus dwell today? the same place that He has always been ... in the realm of the Spirit. And so the key for us today is the same key that has always been there ... coming to Jesus. Jesus prayed,
Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24
Note that Jesus did NOT pray that they might be with Him where He would be, but where He was, even before His crucifixion, death, and resurrection. Where was Jesus? in the realm of the Spirit! Man is forever trying to pull Jesus down to where we are, but Jesus wants to draw us, by His Spirit, up to where He is! When Jesus was crucified, we were crucified with Him. When Jesus died on the cross, we died with Him. When Jesus arose from the grave, so did we. In all points we must identify with the Lord Jesus!
It is only by the grace of God that we have been allowed to come unto Jesus initially and experience His saving grace.
No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.
John 6:44
When we come to Jesus, we must come as a little child, trusting completely in Him.
Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16
Some wonderful results of coming to Jesus are a quenching of our thirst, eternal life, and rest.
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. John 7:37
John 5:39-40, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life."Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Matthew 11:28
This rest that Jesus spoke about is the same rest spoken of ten times in Hebrews, Chapters 3 and 4. That rest is a ceasing of our works and an entering into the works that the Father has ordained for us to walk in from before the foundation of the world. However, coming to Jesus, except for the initial salvation experience, is not free. There is a price to pay.
And when He had called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Mark 8:34
There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing that person. The only way we can truly know Jesus is to come to Him, dwell with Him and He with us, be taught by Him, and learn to trust Him. Knowing the Lord is always a sign of Israel's blessing. Paul, after 30 years of ministry, said, "that I might know Him."
Hebrews 8:10-11, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest."They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9
Similarly, evils came to Israel from not knowing the Lord.
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: But Israel doth not know, My people doth not consider. Isaiah 1:3
The Greek word, eido, is a wonderful word! It is translated "know" in the New Testament 180 times and 80 times as "see." Conclusion? to see Him is to know Him!
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
Christianity is not a religion but a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can read about Christianity all we want, but we will never know the depths of that Man from Galilee until we experience Him, walk with Him, dwell with Him, and understand His ways. It is one thing to understand Scriptural truth. It is quite another to experience THE Truth (the person of the Lord Jesus Christ).
Historically, we can hear, understand, and recover scriptural and doctrinal truth (by the grace of God). We also can become satisfied and even ecstatic with this newly unveiled scriptural truth. We can go to our nice meetings, sing some nice, worshipful songs, hear a nice polished teaching or preaching, say some nice prayers, and never know what we are missing! We need to be careful that we are not "playing" church. We need to be very careful that we do not fall into the category of, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." 2 Timothy 3:5
But we can NEVER be fully satisfied until the experiential life of Christ is made manifest within us! Christ in you, the hope of glory! The ONLY way we will ever be satisfied is given by Psalm 17:15,
"As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness."
We will NEVER have a fruitful local church simply by reading a book, not even the Bible! Jesus said to the Jews, in John 5:39-40,
"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life."
"The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Corinthians 3:6).
The ONLY way to have a fruitful, thriving local church is to "Come and see Jesus." Seek Him who is the author and finisher of our faith. After all, He is the one who founded the Church. He has ALL of the keys to success. Unless the Lord is satisfied, neither will a local church be satisfied or fulfilled. Only the Lord can bring about fulfillment and satisfaction in a life or in a church. Never lose sight of our priorities. The Lord MUST be first. He must come first before our spouse, our children, our job, and even our God-given ministry.
John 2:1-5, "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called and His disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
The word translated as servants is the Greek word diakonos and indicates those who have become servants of their own free will. Only the true servants of the Lord can respond to hearing and doing the will of the Lord. Verse 5 contains Mary's last and most significant words that are recorded in Scripture.
Jesus said, in John 10:1-4, 27, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
In order to do what He says unto us, we must first of all hear what He is saying. In early Bible times Noah, Abraham, Moses, and many others heard the voice of the Lord for themselves. They did not have the benefit of a Bible, Bible commentaries, good Christian books and tapes, or wonderful teachers to help to guide them. They had to depend upon that which the Lord told them. The Bible does not state HOW they heard or in what form His voice was communicated.
Many long years ago, I taught electronics in the Air Force. One of the courses that I taught was called "basic radio." I taught, in great detail, all of the circuits required to make up a radio. For a radio to be effective, there must be two major components ... a transmitter and a receiver. One without the other is of little value. You may have the best transmitter in the world, but if there is no adequate receiver, then that which is transmitted produces no fruit. The same is true if you have a great receiver but no transmitter. There must be communication between the two components.
The Lord Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, is the greatest transmitter ever known. There is no lack to His ability to communicate with men. He speaks to us in ways that we do not realize. I once knew a man who said that he had heard the Lord speaking to him through table place mats, a man's hat, a man's pants, and a dog, to name a few. He also heard the voice of the Lord sovereignly, through reading Scripture, through other believers, and through heathens.
I am thoroughly convinced that the Lord wants to speak to us more than we want to hear. We need to sharpen our desire to hear His voice and then sharpen our spiritual ears to hear Him in any of the many ways that He speaks to us.
The only question is, how good is our receiver? Have we had our ears circumcised to hear all the truth of God? or just the part that we want to hear? Are the traditional teachings of men, even mature believers, so stuffed in our ears that we cannot hear His word?
Many long years ago, I taught electronics in the Air Force. One of the courses that I taught was called "basic radio." I taught, in great detail, all of the circuits required to make up a radio. For a radio to be effective, there must be two major components ... a transmitter and a receiver. One without the other is of little value. You may have the best transmitter in the world, but if there is no adequate receiver, then that which is transmitted produces no fruit. The same is true if you have a great receiver but no transmitter. There must be communication between the two components.
The Lord Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, is the greatest transmitter ever known. There is no lack to His ability to communicate with men. He speaks to us in ways that we do not realize. I once knew a man who said that he had heard the Lord speaking to him through table place mats, a man's hat, a man's pants, and a dog, to name a few. He also heard the voice of the Lord sovereignly, through reading Scripture, through other believers, and through heathens.
I am thoroughly convinced that the Lord wants to speak to us more than we want to hear. We need to sharpen our desire to hear His voice and then sharpen our spiritual ears to hear Him in any of the many ways that He speaks to us.
The only question is, how good is our receiver? Have we had our ears circumcised to hear all the truth of God? or just the part that we want to hear? Are the traditional teachings of men, even mature believers, so stuffed in our ears that we cannot hear His word?
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrews 5:14
The senses in that verse refer to our spiritual senses, such as having eyes to see and ears to hear and a heart to understand. Note that the verse says "both" good and evil. The verse does NOT say "between" good and evil; neither can that Greek word be translated as "between." The verse says that we need to have our spiritual senses exercised (through use, or practice) to discern the difference between the will of God on one hand and good and evil on the other hand. God forbade Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Why has hearing the voice of the Lord become almost a lost art? For a variety of reasons: lack of understanding the ways of the Lord and self-centeredness are certainly two such reasons. Laziness and impatience are two more reasons. We live in an age when people demand instant gratification. It takes time and effort to sit and wait for the Lord to speak to us. It is much easier to just read a good Christian book, listen to a tape, watch a video, or hear what the pastor says. We also have hardened our hearts.
Is the Church teaching believers to hear the voice of the Lord for themselves? Are Christian parents teaching their children to hear the voice of the Lord for themselves? It appears that the answer in both cases is "No." The greatest service any minister can perform for others is to help younger believers to hear the voice of the Lord for themselves, to have an understanding heart to know His ways, not just His acts, and to cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean (Ezekiel 44:23). Ezekiel 44:23 does NOT say that the priests, the sons of Zadok, will teach about discerning between the unclean and the clean. That will not get the job done. For any believer to cause another to discern between the unclean and the clean is quite a strong statement.
But hearing is not sufficient. We must also obey. "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it."
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken that the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22
Obedience is NOT a natural quality! We are certainly NOT born with a tendency toward obedience ... quite the contrary! Little children will pout, cry, and do anything to get their own way. And when two little children want the same toy, LOOK OUT!
Whenever we come to know the saving grace of our Lord, we do not automatically take on the nature of obedience. Obedience is a characteristic of both the natural and the spiritual man that must be learned. When a mother tells her young child, "No, no, don't touch the fire or hot oven," the child at first cannot comprehend, because he or she has never experienced the sensation of burning. The child, unfortunately, must usually learn from a painful experience (or two) to obey the mother. Consider Jesus.
Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.Hebrews 5:8
Why did Jesus have to learn obedience? because He came to earth as a man. He had to experientially learn obedience as a man. Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. God has chosen suffering as a major avenue whereby we may learn obedience and become an overcomer. If that were true of Jesus, how much more true that is for us! Peter has much to say about the suffering which we as Christians are called upon to endure. However,
I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18
Probably the most important aspect of the proper functioning of a local church is for each member to be led by the Holy Spirit.
A number of years ago, we heard several believers in a charismatic local church say, during the service, that their church was certainly "led by the Spirit." We are sure that those believers were well intentioned and sincerely believed what they had said. However, from our observation over a period of time, we are not sure that those believers knew what they were saying because almost all of their services were preplanned. That condition is quite typical for most churches. Because of the rigidity of such gatherings, it is usually difficult for a fresh, new word from the Lord to come forth.
There is a difference between an individual believer being led by the Spirit and a local church being led by the Spirit. Each individual believer obviously has numerous times and events when he or she must make a personal decision of some importance. Living by the promptings and power of the Holy Spirit is the key to conquering sinful desires.
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Romans 8:14
People become children of God through faith in God's beloved Son, Jesus Christ (John 1:12-13). Being led by God's Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.
No one would argue that Jesus is our pattern. No one would argue that Jesus was always led by the Spirit. He always did the will of God. As a man, He had a will, but He always subjected His will to the will of the Father.
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.Matthew 4:1
The wilderness is the proving ground. It is in the wilderness that the Lord sees whether we will follow Him or not. This principle was at work when the Israelites came out of Egypt.
Galatians 5:16-18, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law."
The Lord tells us in Luke 18:1 not to lose heart. The Lord is faithful! The sufferings and travail to fulfill the purposes of the Lord cannot be compared with the glory that is to be revealed within us.
The Church at Corinth is a pattern of a corporate group of believers who were NOT led by the Spirit when they came together corporately. They were led by the flesh. We call that the "Corinthian spirit." The believers at Corinth were children of God, born again, baptized in the Holy Ghost, and had every gift and ministry in operation. But they were not sons of God; they had no maturity about them. They had charisma but not character. In Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, he says:
1 Corinthians 3:1-3, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?"
In effect, the believers in Corinth, when they assembled together, wanted to be seen and heard. Even now, that same Corinthian spirit rises on numerous occasions. The vocal gifts are exercised to an excess, but it can be motivated by the flesh. Peter said, in 1 Peter 4:11,
"If any man speak let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
After the Lord, through Moses, sent the ninth plague upon Egypt (the plague of darkness), we read, in Exodus 10:24-26,
"And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither."
That last verse speaks of the spontaneity that should exist within corporate gatherings. From 1968-1980 we were part of a New Testament house church. We had no one who had been to a seminary or Bible college, no paid ministries, no written program, no podium, never passed a collection plate, never knew what songs we would sing, and in general never knew who was going to teach or preach. We came close, during the "heyday" of that church, to being led by the Spirit.
We have believed for 50 years that there should be fresh revelation in every gathering of believers. Because of the preplanning of most Christian leaders, it is difficult for a fresh revelation to come forth. The tradition of many charismatic leaders is to preplan every meeting, including what songs to sing and when, and who is to be the scheduled speaker. That certainly creates a very predictable situation. Unfortunately, such gatherings may easily miss that which the Lord wants to say. We strongly recommend that you do not preplan what songs you will sing and do not preplan who will be the "scheduled speaker." With preplanning, all the other elders can just sit back and relax, knowing that they will not be sharing anything. Each elder should be prepared to share a word at each and every meeting. Then, if the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is there, one or more elders can easily speak forth that word. That does NOT mean to imply that only elders can speak during a meeting. In general, the smaller the number of believers present, the more each believer should have freedom to speak. With larger numbers of believers, it is generally more in the will of the Lord for more mature believers to speak.
I attended a "Lay Witness Mission" in the mid 1970's in a Methodist Church in Chester, Pennsylvania. On Sunday mornings, instead of a "sermon" the visiting leader of the Lay Witness Mission usually gave his/her personal testimony of how the Lord had apprehended him/her. Everyone was seated that morning as we sang the hymn right before the time for the "sermon." The hymn was, "To God Be the Glory," written by Fanny Crosby. Two of the stanzas of that great hymn are: To God be the glory, great things He hath done! So loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in. Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, and great our rejoicing thru Jesus the Son; but purer and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
As the congregation sang the second verse of that hymn, a few of the members of that local Methodist Church stood up, raised their hands into the air, and started praising the Lord. More did the same, such that at least half of the people there were standing, arms upraised, and praising the Lord. I remember sensing the very strong presence of the Lord. When the hymn was over, the coordinator took that service right back into the normal routine. He stood up and gave his personal testimony of how the Lord had apprehended him. I remember that I groaned in my spirit. The Holy Spirit was beginning to move in that Methodist Church but the coordinator quenched the Spirit by going right back into the usual routine. We will never know what we missed that morning!
There is nothing more scary than the Holy Ghost beginning to take over and the person who has been in charge suddenly not knowing what will happen next. If we know what is going to happen next, then we are most likely NOT being led by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, if we know what is going to happen next, we don't need the Holy Spirit in our meetings.
This same spontaneity is reflected in 1 Corinthians 14:29-30,
"Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace."
Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. This verse is somewhat amazing in that very few churches have one prophet, much less two or three! Does this reflect how far we have fallen? Do the local churches see the need for two or three prophets? We are not talking about those who have a gift of prophecy.
We strongly recommend that believers pray fervently that the Lord will raise up one or more true prophets in your midst. Then after the Lord grants your request, ask for His grace that you can accept what the prophets say.
A good verse that applies to both being led by the Spirit as an individual and corporately is,
But there [in Zion] the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. Isaiah 33:21
A galley with oars is one that is being led by man. Man does the rowing and thus controls both the direction and the speed of the ship. A galley without oars means that man has no part in the guiding of the ship. The Holy Spirit is the guide! A gallant ship speaks of someone who has acquired a "name" in the body of Christ ... someone who is well known to men, but not approved by God. When we are truly led by the Spirit, we have no oars to propel the galley, neither is there any gallant ship to sail across the rivers and streams. Praise the Lord!
The Lord Jesus Christ is clearly the One we want to follow, by and through the power of the Holy Spirit, Who indwells us. If we follow Him, He will mold us into that which He desires. If we follow Him, He will lead us to the cross and we will identify with Him in all things.
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Matthew 16:241 Corinthians 10:3-4, "And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
Here it says that the Rock followed them, but in the Old Testament it says that they followed the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Why the change in the New Testament? because in the New Testament we walk by faith, not by sight. The Lord requires that we take a step of faith. When we do, then we hear a voice behind us, saying, "this is the way, walk ye in it."
In summary, we have shared some major requirements that the Lord is looking for in our lives for us to walk in the kingdom of God on earth. First is to always give the honor and glory to the Lord in all things. Then we must deny our self, take up our cross, and follow the Lord, desiring to do only the will of the Father. In other words, we must endeavor to be led by the Holy Spirit in all things, both individually and corporately. That will result in a seldom experienced spontaneity in our church gatherings. But the amazing aspect of all of this "normal Christian life" is that we just have to be willing, for the Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will. What an awesome God we serve. Amen and amen.
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