SHAKE THYSELF FROM UNGODLINESS, SORROWS AND STRIFE!

God would not have the nation of Israel sim­ply sit there and bring the blessings to them, but the nation as a whole had to listen, trust, obey and labor to get over. Brothers and sisters, it will also take a concerted effort on our part—all of us inclining our ear to the voice of God, trusting and obeying the leading of His Spirit, laboring together, and encouraging one another to get over. Church of God, this command still rings true today: SHAKE THYSELF! ARISE and put on thy strength…thy beautiful garments (cf. Isa. 52:1), GET ACROSS THIS JORDAN, and SIT DOWN in your rightful place in the full blessings of God!

 

I suppose from time to time we individually have a Jordan to cross when we face our trials, adversities and tests. At times it seems there is no way around or through the problems, but as we trust and wait on God in prayer, supplication and thanksgiving, we have seen that He always makes a way where there seems to be none.

 

I see where God was testing Joshua’s faith in Him, and I know God will also test our faith in Him. Here was God saying, “Joshua, get up and get to the other side of this Jordan.” I’m sure that Joshua didn’t know at that very moment how he and all the people would “go over this Jordan.” It seemed impossible, I’m sure. Certainly he didn’t have the answers to all his own questions regard­ing how they should get over.

 

The Bible informs us that Jordan had over­flown its banks at this time. One man who vis­ited Israel at the time of the harvest said it was fourteen feet above the normal level. He also mentioned that it’s turbid streams rushed along like a mill-race. I read somewhere that its over­flown condition was due to the melting snow of Mount Hermon.

 

Isn’t it like that for us today as well? We are standing here, and between us and some of the greatest blessings that God wants to pour out upon us is this spiritual overflown Jordan River. When I say us, I mean the entire Church of God. This isn’t just about me, this isn’t just about you, but this is about the entire Holy Nation of God and the pouring out of His Spirit and power upon the whole. Don’t get me wrong—it’s good when I get blessed and good when you get blessed, but we need His blessing that starts at the Head to run down the beard and then down to the skirt of the beautiful garments of The Church of God!

 

I look at this Jordan, and its currents and force represent strife and contentions, disap­pointments and misunderstandings, discour­agements and sorrows, distrust and unbelief. But God says, “ARISE CHURCH OF GOD, AND GO OVER THIS JORDAN!”

 

At times we feel threatened. At times the devil wants to cause us to panic and tremble and say, “There is no way across!” This flesh will try to convince us that it is easier to stay here where we find ourselves than to face this chal­lenge. But we should not fear, dear saints, for it is precisely at the river’s edge where God has brought us to, and the Lord is able to ward off and hold off the forces of its violent stream. It has overflown its boundaries and limits and come over its banks threatening to destroy, drown and carry away anything that tries to cross it. It is representative of the ungodliness that abounds in our world today. There was a time where it at least seemed that ungodli­ness had its limits and boundaries, but slowly the moralities and principles of this world, both in the secular and religious world, have melted away like the snow melting on Mount Her­mon until this world has been overflown with ungodliness like never before.

 

Paul’s words are true—“in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Tim. 3:1). They are here. It’s not just perilous times but a perilous spirit. The spirit of the times we live in influences people in one way or another. The ungodly and wicked become even more wicked. The honest and moral man is challenged to slacken his stand that he might be able to cope with the present corruption in the world. We cannot afford to be swept away by its currents!

 

There is a mighty challenge before The Church of God, but we serve a Mighty God, and He is a match for mighty needs! It’s going to take men and women of God today, young and old and everyone in between, of undaunted cour­age and strength to stand up to this world and the devil and say, “WE WILL CROSS YOU! WE WILL ENTER INTO THE FULL BLESSINGS OF GOD! NO MATTER HOW LOUD YOU ROAR, NO MATTER HOW FAST YOUR CURRENT RUSHES ALONG, NO MATTER HOW DEEP YOUR WATERS ARE—WE WILL CROSS YOU!” This Jordan shall give ground to God’s Word, God’s Spirit and command!

 

There was no visible passage to Joshua—no bridges or ferry boats to get them across—and certainly with the banks of the Jordan over­flown, there was no easy access to the other side. To the human eye and mind, it was impossible to get beyond this place as God had commanded. And it may seem that way to some today. It may seem impossible to cross over all the dis­appointments, sorrows, adversities, unbelief, worldliness, strife, division, ungodliness, and a whole lot of others things that have become this Jordan. But with God, the possibilities are limit­less! There are no spiritual floodwaters too high, no river too wide, no spiritual giants too tall, no walls of the enemy that will not come down and no fortified city impenetrable for God and His people. We must do all that is within our pos­sibilities and not worry about the impossible— God will take care of the impossible!

Bishop Stephen E. Smith’s final words of his 2008 Annual Address were: “We’re on the verge, right now, of making the greatest crossing any generation of people has ever made—to cross this spiritual Jordan into the full blessings of God’s Spirit and power. I don’t want to turn back to the wilderness. I don’t want to do any wandering. I want to say, ‘God, I’m ready! I’ll put my foot in the water and trust you to divide the waters and I’m gonna go across to the other side!’ Are you ready for the milk and honey?”

 

A. J. Tomlinson posed this question to the Church: “Will we go on, or will we falter and draw back as we approach the final climax that will forever draw a line of distinction between the Church of God and every other system that claims the Christian religion? This is for you to answer. What will you do?...” (6th Annual Address 1915, 11th Annual Assembly.)

 

Joshua didn’t have to worry about how they were going to get across; the thing he had to concern himself with was believing in God and giving the orders to make preparations.

 

We don’t have to be concerned with how we will get over on the other side of this Jordan! Don’t look around for bridges, don’t look around for pontoon boats, don’t look around for some man-made scheme. God has already made a way to get us beyond worldliness, strife, conten­tions, divisions, unbelief, ungodliness, sorrows, and disappointments—and that way is Jesus Christ! We can’t stay here, Church! Let us look to Jesus! God just wants to know if we will believe Him and if we will give the orders to make prep­arations to go over! A part of those preparations are to first and foremost realize God is leading the way, not man! Secondly, realize our depen­dency is in God alone. Thirdly, God commands, “Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5).

If He leads the way He will also make a way where there seems to be none. Even if it seems impossible! We may have the tendency to give up when something seems impossible. We may be overcome with discouragement. That’s when the devil takes advantage and begins to work in our minds and hearts and begins to convince us we will never reach God’s intended goal for His Church—perfection. But who would dare count impossible that which our MASTER commands that we accomplish? Joshua wouldn’t, and nei­ther shall we! God told the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:16-19 (paraphrasing), “Don’t tempt Me; diligently keep My commandments, testimonies and statutes. Do what is right and good in My sight and it will be well with thee. You will go in and possess the good land which I sware unto you.” God, help us to be completely abandoned over to Your will and follow the leading of the Holy Ghost. It’s not about what we are capable of doing, but about depending on Him and what He can do through us.

 

Lastly, it’s going to take a sanctified people to get over. Bishop Stephen Smith reminded us, “Sanctification before the wonders. Sanctifica­tion—before the full demonstration of power and spirit. That’s why it is important to get caught up in this beauty of holiness, the desire to be sanctified, to be pure in everything that we do in our lives, that we are consecrated and obey every commandment that the Lord has given to us because as we purify ourselves as He is pure, there will come power! ...it will carry us across to the Promised Land. We will drink the milk and eat the honey” (Annual Address, 2008).

 

This was required by God in Joshua’s day in order for the wonders of God to be manifested and for them to cross over into the Promised Land to inherit all the blessings of that land, and so it is for us today—we must be a sanctified and consecrated people.

 

Robert J. Pruitt once said, “God will have a sanctified, set apart people. If we are not will­ing to be different from the world and separated from the world, we will not make it in this glori­ous move of God among His chosen people.”

ADHERING TO THE FAITH ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS

Just because there was a change in leader­ship, as in the case with Moses to Joshua, it did not mean that God would change His Word. God instructed Joshua, “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whither­soever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success” (Joshua 1:7, 8).

 

Church of God, if we want to prosper “whith­ersoever” we go, we must stick to the faith once delivered unto the saints—don’t turn from it, not to the right hand nor the left! The Church of God did not create the Bible. The Church of God did not formulate or invent the “Teachings Made Prominent,” but our Church forefathers searched the Scriptures and sought God on their hands and knees. God blessed those men and women and they received revelation of these Bible Truths and agreed upon them as revealed in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost. The Bible says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89). God ordained these in the far-back ages of eternity! They originated in the mind of God way before He created man.

We accept the whole Bible rightly divided as our rule of faith, and it is out of the Bible that the Church teachings that are so vital to our salvation have been derived. These are not the Church’s “declaration of faith.” They are not the only doctrines that The Church of God teaches, practices, and adheres to, but they are the “first principles of the oracles of God.” On these we must stand!

 

Today there is a constant change and shift of faith the so-called mainstream Christian and religious world has been pressured into by those within their ranks who advocate the need to change the Christian stand on Bible teach­ings in order to be able to meet the challenge of a continually changing world. But my King James Bible 1611 and my Antigua Versión de Casiodoro de Reina 1602, still say that in the “Father of lights” there “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17)! It still reads, “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Mal. 3:6). “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8).

 

Some religious institutions may alter their teachings to appeal to the multitudes. Others may abandon the faith once delivered unto the saints, but The Church of God says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven”

 

Someone said, “They say it’s old fashioned, it needs to change, and indeed it is old fashioned. And yet it is so old fashioned it cannot change!” The witness of the Holy Ghost to these great doctrines of the Church in the days of our Church forefathers this side of the Dark Ages is just as valid today as it was then! This Word, just as it has been delivered to us, still gets the job done. If we hide it in our hearts we will not sin against God. It will still prosper us with newly converted souls if we are faithful to preach, guard and maintain it!

 

ONE VOICE

A sanctified people is what God wants. Something I see from the Scripture is that it begins with the leaders and the ministry. According to the Bible, hasn’t the ministry been given “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12)? And this will be “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowl­edge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). It is a daunting task. There is a great responsibility that rests upon the ministers of The Church of God. They have been given by GOD for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or “building up” of the Body of Christ. Therefore, first and fore­most, they are to be an example unto the flock of God—they must lead the way being wholly sanctified, pure and consecrated to God!

 

In the book of Joshua it was the officers of the people—the leaders and men of renown— who passed through the host and commanded the people to get ready. And let’s not forget that it was the priests who WENT BEFORE the people leading the way.

 

One man wrote, “Brave Levites! Who can help admiring them, to carry the ark right into the stream; for the waters were not divided till their feet dipped in the water. God had not promised aught else. God honors FAITH. ‘Obsti­nate faith,’ that the PROMISE sees and ‘looks to that alone.’ You can fancy how the people would watch these holy men march on, and some of the bystanders would be saying, ‘You would not catch me running that risk! Why, man, the ark will be carried away!’ Not so; the priests ‘stood firm on dry ground.’ We must not overlook the fact that faith on our part helps God to carry out His plans.

 

“The ark had staves for the shoulders. Even the ark did not move of itself; it was carried. When God is the Architect, men are the masons and laborers. Faith assists God. It can stop the mouths of lions and quench the violence of fire. It honors God, and God honors it. Oh, for this faith that will go on, leaving God to fulfill His promise when He sees fit! Fellow Levites, let us shoulder our load, and do not let us look as if we were carrying God’s coffin. It is the Ark of the Living God! Sing as you march toward the flood!” (Thomas Champness).

 

The Bible says those who bore the ark of the covenant “stood firm on dry ground IN THE MIDST of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan” (Joshua 3:17). Surely this encour­aged the faith and confidence of God’s holy nation as they saw these men RISE UP trusting in the Word of God and determined to do what seemed impossible, and move forward together in spite of the threat of the overflown banks and violent waters that were just before them.

 

What do you think would happen today in The Church of God if every minister deter­mined in his or her heart and dared to tread upon these waters like the chief men of that time and ultimately STAND FIRM IN THE MIDST OF THIS JORDAN—FIRM AGAINST STRIFE, FIRM AGAINST WORLDLINESS, FIRM AGAINST DIS­COURAGEMENT, FIRM AGAINST CONTENTIONS, FIRM AGAINST UNGODLINESS, FIRM AGAINST DIVISIONS—under the power of Almighty God in perfect unity?

 

Doesn’t the Bible say that “all the Israelites passed over,…all the people were passed clean over Jordan”? This means not a single one of them was left behind, and not one of them was left in the midst of the Jordan to be lost to the flow of its currents. That is the heart of the Church today, to not leave behind any of our people but to help them to make preparations, neither shall we lose them in the midst of the river of disappointments, discouragements, worldliness, adversities, unbelief, sorrows that this Jordan represents.

 

I honestly believe that every one of us here today desires the full blessings of God’s prom­ises, some of which are: 1) the laying on of the hands on the sick that they recover, 2) casting out devils, 3) speaking His Word with boldness, 4) signs and wonders being done in the name of His holy Son Jesus, 5) all of God’s sheep being gathered into one, 6) the perfection of the saints that the Church would have no spots, blemishes, wrinkles or any such thing. Oh, the benefits of having ONE PURPOSE, ONE MIND AND ONE VOICE! The Bible encourages us this way, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).

 

Forty years prior to Jordan’s crossing, God had brought Israel to the mountain of the Amorites in Kadesh-barnea after God had spo­ken to them in Horeb saying, “Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount” (Deut. 1:6), and when they arrived there God told them to move for­ward. “I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them” (Deut. 1:8). It was the promise of God that they WOULD pos­sess the land. “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged” (Deut. 1:21). But instead of trusting in God to get them in, they relied on their own ways and said unto Moses, “We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come” (Deut. 1:22). They did it their way instead of God’s way. God had already spied out the land, and He knew how to get them in and where He wanted to take them, but they would not follow nor believe Him. They thought they had a better plan!

 

Paul admonished, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 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. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilder­ness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Cor. 10:1-11.) They are our example and it is for our admoni­tion. In Numbers 13:13, God spoke to Moses and commanded him to send a man of every tribe. Moses, in Deuteronomy chapter 1, said to the people of Israel, “ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us,” indi­cating that it was not God’s way for these spies to go before them but theirs, yet God gave them what they desired because it was in their hearts.

 

We know what the outcome was. The men who were sent were not just your common persons in the sight of the people, but accord­ing to the Bible these were rulers among them, “heads of the children of Israel,” men of renown, men of reputation in whom the people had con­fidence and trust. It’s no wonder their spirit and the report of their mouths had such an adverse effect upon the whole nation and caused them to fear. They went to the land of Canaan to spy it out, they saw the land and contemplated its fertility and even took and surely tasted of its fruit. When they returned, they reported to Moses and the congregation and “shewed them the fruit of the land”—they held it up before the people and said, as it were, “Take a look at this! Look at what is over there—that land does flow with milk and honey, and here is the proof! We saw it, we all saw it, even as God has prom­ised. The Promised Land in all its glory! But it is impossible for us to possess it.”

 

That’s like the minister, preacher or leader today who sees God’s purpose for His Church through the Scripture, and the glory that is set before her, having experienced God’s glory, power and strength, having enjoyed the won­derful services at the different Church events, but then ultimately involving himself in conver­sations with fellow ministers and members and saying, “We’ll never reach that place, we’ll never reach perfection—never perfect holiness in the fear of God. We’ll never perfect love amongst us, we’ll never have perfect faith amongst us—there are just too many things among us. The battle is too hard. The challenge is too big. These walls are impenetrable, these giants too tall.” But God is looking for men and women of another spirit upon whom the ends of the world have come—like Caleb, who said, “Let us go up at ONCE, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30).

 

Ministry, our word, our spirit, and our report when it falls upon the ears of our people in the Church of God will produce, depending on our spirit and report, either a good or bad effect in them. This is why I say let us place our hope and confidence in God, for He has no record of failure. In order for us to attain unto the perfect state we will have to continue walking by the same rule and minding the same things and speaking with one voice!

 

Let’s not compare ourselves to these giants, but let’s compare these giants to our great big God! Encourage yourselves, encourage the members, look to where we are going, not where we are. We are not perfect yet, but we are on our way to being the Church without spot, blemish, wrinkle or any such thing. People can­not catch the spirit of Caleb and Joshua from you unless you have it yourself.

 

Bishop A. J. Tomlinson said, “When Israel won the victory at Jericho they all marched together, then they all shouted together, then they all went up into the city every man straight before him, and they took the city. In giving a brief description of this wonderful event many years later the writer of Hebrews says, ‘By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.’ But this faith did not materialize until ALL Israel marched, marched, marched in perfect silence, as far as conversation was concerned, for seven days in perfect obedience to their commander.

“We are now on the march, march, march! The Jericho walls of opposition to our advance­ment must fall, fall, fall! And they will fall down flat before us in proportion to our faith, and our faith will materialize in proportion to our obedi­ence and unity of action. Perfect organization and concerted action will save souls and house them in the great Church of God by the thousands. No unity, no organization, no system, no obedience, no concerted action will damn souls in the abyss of everlasting punishment by the millions.

 

“Our work here in this [Assembly] must be harmonious, flavored with the essence of love. Then when we go to our different fields of labor, we must retain the same relation toward each other that we manifest here. We must always act in such a manner as will preserve the honor and prestige of the greatest institution that ever marked this earth—The Church of God. Upon us is conferred the honor of being her worthy rep­resentatives. We must rally to the standard and place it in every hamlet, village, town and city of this lost world, to shine forth the beautiful light and show forth the signs and wonders in excess of all other institutions. Although they may do great things, we must do greater. We must sur­pass them all in righteousness, order, power and glory. Will we do it? Yea, we must do it! There must be no retreat! No surrender! But by steadily marching forward we will reach the goal! By the help of the Lord we will hoist the standard to the very top of the mast and by faith in God smite every opposing force and cast all the mountains of difficulties into the sea and still march on and on and on. The Church of God shall win! Hallelu­jah! The Church of God shall win!”

Christ Came into the World to Save Sinners

Christ Came into the World to Save Sinners

HE IS TO BE LOVED, OBEYED AND HONORED

The time is here again to observe the birthday of Jesus Christ. While no one knows the date of the birth of our Lord, December 25 has been set as His birthday and we feel it is good to celebrate on this day in some appropriate way in commemo­ration of that time when He came into the world a little baby in fulfillment of prophecy and the word of the an­gel. Even if the date is not known, we know He came into the world to save sinners. We know, too, that there is salvation in none other because there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we shall be saved. We know, also, that He is to be loved, obeyed and honored by those who accept Him as their Saviour, be­cause our God has exalted Him and given Him a name that is above every name and the time will come that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things in heaven and in earth and every tongue shall confess that our Saviour is Lord.

 

Many of us know the Christmas story well. It has been a part of us all of our lives because we can’t remem­ber when we first heard it. But it is so beautiful that it seems to belong to every Christmas message, because without this true story there would be no Christmas. There has never been a story like it and there will never be another. Only our Christ was born of a virgin. Only our Christ was conceived of the Holy Ghost. Only Mary was vis­ited by the angel to announce the fact that she would bear a son and His name should be called Jesus.

 

Many true stories have been writ­ten and told but none like the won­derful story of the birth of Jesus. No other baby had a special star to lead the wise men to the place where He was. It is written of Jesus only, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” When the wise men learned that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem, they started on their way and the star went be­fore them until it came and stood over where Jesus was. How happy those men were and they rejoiced with exceeding great joy when they knew their search was ended and they would soon see the Christ of God. They came to the house where He was and they worshipped Him and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

This part of the story concerning the birth of Jesus is truly wonderful, but this is not all. When the time came for Jesus to be born Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the very place where He should be born according to the Scriptures. There was no room for them in the inn, so Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger. The news of His birth was not carried to the king or other men of high rank, but there were some shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks that night, and an angel of the Lord came to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were frightened because of this un­usual happening, and the angel said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12). After the angel had delivered this message, these shepherds were allowed to be­hold one of the most beautiful scenes ever looked upon by human eyes. All of a sudden there appeared a multi­tude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14).

 

The keenest imaginative mind could not picture a scene to compare with the one that the shepherds saw. This was God’s way of announcing the birth of His own Son. When we meditate upon the many happen­ings surrounding the birth of Jesus, we feel like saying with Mary, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:46, 47).

 

This Jesus who is called Christ came into the world to save sinners. When the angel appeared to Joseph before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he said, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16, 17). The Apostle Paul said to Timothy, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all ac­ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15). John the be­loved said, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:5). The writer of Hebrews referred to Jesus as a high priest “who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made high­er than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). Then he said of Him, “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).

 

This Christ whose birth we cel­ebrate is our Saviour. Through Him we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Himself. John said, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath be­stowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). Then he said, “Now are we the sons of God” (v.2).Through God’s great love, right now at this moment we are members of His family, and this kinship with Him came about through the gift of Jesus to be the Saviour of the world. He gave Himself for us and made it possible for us to be equal with Him. We don’t know what we shall be but we do know that when He appears we shall be like Him. If we had re­ceived our just dues, we should have died, but He took our place. We who by nature are the children of wrath have eternal life abiding in us through the Christ of Bethlehem, and He who came to this earth as a little babe is now at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. It is a won­derful consolation to us to know He is interceding in our behalf.

 

Since it is through Jesus that we have eternal life, it is only reason­able that we should love, obey and honor Him. Who would not love one that has done so much for the eternal welfare of the soul? Surely we do love Him and He requires that we prove our love by being obedient and do­ing the things He has commanded. When Jesus had asked Peter the third time of he loved Him, he said, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou know­est that I love thee” (John 21:17). So it is today, Jesus knows when we love Him. He told Peter to feed His lambs and sheep. There was something for Peter to do, and he worked faithfully because he loved the Lord. There is something for each of us to do and we must not fail in our service to the Master. Jesus said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me” (John 14:21). Then He said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (v. 23). And again, “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings” (v. 24).

 

These words of Je­sus show that love for Him and obedience to His Word go together. We do not love Him if we do not obey Him. If we do love Him, we will be obedient to Him. That means we will obey His Word when He said, “This is my com­mandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). It also means that we will obey His last words before He ascended back to the Father, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...” (Matt. 28:19, 20). It is only reasonable to believe that we will certainly have to know and do all of the commandments of the Lord ourselves before we are able to teach others to observe them. And it is nec­essary that we obey the command to let our light shine and put in practice all of the words of Jesus if we are to do the work that Jesus left for us to do. By doing these things we show we love Him.

 

Our Christ is worthy of all of the honor that we can give Him. He is due honor along with the Father who sent Him into the world. He said, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:22, 23). Then Paul commanded Timothy to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life and he charged him to keep this commandment unto the appearing of Jesus Christ, “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power ever­lasting” (1 Tim. 6:15, 16).

 

We hold certain people in esteem because of their positions but none can be as worthy as our Lord. None but Jesus can save. None but Jesus can do what He has done for us and what He will do in the future. No earthly po­sition can equal His. Even though He came to this earth a little baby the first time, yet the day will come when He will return riding upon a white horse and upon His vesture will be written KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. He will be the mighty conqueror. Even now He is all powerful and we should always think of Him as having all power over all the power of the en­emy. And He is able to give those who serve Him overcoming power. Before He ascended to heaven He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt. 28:18). Shouldn’t we love, obey and honor the One who came into the world to save sinners? I am sure we should, so at this season let us be careful to celebrate His birth in a manner that will be pleasing to Him. Let us show our love to Him by loving others. Let us obey Him by giv­ing as He commanded. We can follow the example of the wise men by giv­ing to the cause of Christ and to those less fortunate than ourselves. Let us honor Him and magnify His name throughout the Christmas season. Our Christ means more than all the world to us, so let us exalt Him in our lives, our words, our actions and our deeds that others may see Him in us and help us glorify God for sending a Saviour into the world to give Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people.

(Our message this month is a reprint from the WWM, December 17th, 1960, by M. A. Tomlinson)

Through the Gates

 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).

 

What a wonderful and powerful Scripture God has given to The Church of God! It contains wonderful promises in which we have rejoiced over the years. It is easy to read this verse and get excited about divine revelation, the only avenue for us to have understanding of who Christ is and of who the Church is, and the mutual understanding between Christ and us as individuals that we know who He is and He knows who we are. He built the Church on these two facts that make up the rock He mentioned here. Also written into this verse is the promise that, no matter what trouble the Church may experience, nothing will prevail against us!

 

Oftentimes we have preached this promise as if the gates of hell are the weapons that Satan carries out to battle against us. While it is true that sometimes the term gates, as it refers to a city, would mean the army of the city, the proper use of the term would be the gates that were meant to keep the armies of the enemy out of the city. When Jesus gave this promise to the Church it was an indication that as we march into the territory of the enemy that his defenses cannot stop us. The devil is not interested in us marching through his gates so he spends a lot of time bringing the battle to us. As we win those victories we can begin to feel that we are winning the war and forget that we have not marched on his territory yet. It is time that we put on our armor, take up our shield and sword and begin our offensive push against his gates.

 

Another promise of Jesus to the disciples comes to mind here, “... I be-held Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:18-19). It is true that following this statement Jesus told them to rejoice in their salvation and not in the power over the enemy that He had just promised them, how-ever, this instruction does not diminish the power that He gave to them and has passed down to us who still hold the doctrine. It is not that He does not want us to use the power and rush through the enemy’s gates—that is exactly what He wants us to do. If that had not been His plan then He would not have mentioned this power to them.

 

When Jesus established the Church He com-missioned her “…to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils” (Mark 3:14, 15). This is the command to utilize the power promised in Luke chapter 10. Our charge is to “tread… over all the power of the enemy” and we must fulfill this charge. We want his kingdom destroyed because he is the enemy of our King. Everything that he has done since he rebelled against God in heaven has been an effort to undermine God’s authority and influence in the world. Jesus came to “… destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) and He did that on the Cross and through the Resurrection. Now the responsibility is ours to carry that power and continue the destruction of the devil’s kingdom. We go “Through the Gates” for the sole purpose of destroying his kingdom, we will not leave one stone upon another and the only spoil that we will take are the souls of men, women and children trapped behind those gates. We are not in this for personal gain but for the benefit of the Kingdom for which we fight.

 

Part of the promise recorded by Luke is the statement, “… and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” It is a wonderful thing to be able to go into a battle that we know we cannot lose! That does not change the fact that it is still a battle and battles are difficult. The enemy will muster all of his forces against us as we march, he will fortify his walls and strengthen his gates, the closer that we get to those gates the more soldiers and weapons that he will place at the top of his wall hurling fiery darts our way, we will feel every defense that he has because he knows the promise too, but he will not go down without a fight. The gates cannot stand against us but if his defenses succeed in turning us away then he has been successful, and there have been times in the past that this seems to have been the case. His only chance is to scare us away from the gates with his defenses convincing us that if it is that difficult to get to the gates it will be much more difficult to go through them. We must press through the defenses trusting in the promise that nothing can hurt us.

 

When we do make it to the gates they look tall, thick and impenetrable. The devil is a master of disguise and confusion and he puts all his cunning into making these gates look impossible to breach. As we stand in front of them we may feel in awe at their size and wonder how we can ever get through them. “Surely God meant for another generation to go through these, we are not strong enough,” we might think. We may size ourselves up in comparison to the gates and begin to look for someone else to go through them. It was and is God’s will for other generations to go through these gates just as it is His will for us to go through them. The devil is constantly building, fortifying and expanding so God’s army must continually be marching and treading. As we stand there staring at them we also wonder what we will find on the other side. It looks dark over there and we have no way to know what awaits to fight hand to hand against us. The devil surely holds his strongest forces to fight inside once we have made it through everything else. We must hold to the promise that we have the power to tread over whatever is on the other side and we must leave the kingdom in ruins because our Commander has ordered that it be so.

 

It will be a difficult fight to get through those gates but what is behind them is well worth the fight that it takes to march through them. We are not looking to go “Through the Gates” because we want to be in those dark places, but because we want to bring the light of the gospel into those dark places and rescue what is trapped there. We can take courage “because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). It is time for someone to lead the charge “Through the Gates!” What do you say, young person? Will you allow God to raise you up and make you part of the army that will do it?

Dustin T. Hays, General VLB Coordinator

Are You Ready to “Be The One?”

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Sam-son, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promis-es, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the vio-lence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourg-ings, yea, moreover of bonds and im-prisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wan-dered about in sheepskins and goat-skins; being destitute, afflicted, tor-mented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:)…” (Heb. 11:32-38).

 

The Bible and our own history are full of men and women such as those mentioned in these verses of scripture. Some of these had entire books written about or by them and some were on the Bible scene for only a chapter or two. All of these served God faithful with no desire to have their names men-tioned or their stories shared; they simply loved the Lord and His cause and were willing to lay aside themselves that they could serve Him. If we could speak to them today they would no doubt proclaim their unworthiness to be mentioned with other he-roes of the faith and would attempt to deflect all glory and attention back to the Lord. Really, that humble spirit is a large part of what made them suc-cessful for God. That is what being the “One” is really all about, living your life in such a way as to deflect glory from yourself onto God as you humbly serve God and champion His cause not your own.

 

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth regarding those whom God chooses to work for Him. He chooses the foolish to confound the wise and the weak to confound the mighty. He chooses those who are base (lowly) and despised. He does it this way, “That no flesh should glory in his presence” (1 Cor. 1:29). These he-roes of the faith would all recognize that they cannot glory in themselves but all glory must belong to the Lord.

 

What about us? First of all, are we willing to lay aside everything, to sacrifice ourselves, our hopes and dreams that we may have the blessed opportunity to live for the Lord and serve Him? Are we willing, if necessary to face the violence of fire that we may see it quenched or to experience weak-ness that God could be strong in us? What if we have to see our loved ones lose their lives so God can be gloried in raising them again? Do we trust God enough to allow our loved ones, or even our-selves, to go that far that He might be glorified? Are we willing to be tortured for Christ or experience cruel mockings and scourgings for His name’s sake? What about prison, would we go to prison for the cause of Christ? Perhaps these questions seem ridic-ulous to you, read the account in Hebrews, it’s all there and more. These are the things that God’s peo-ple have suffered throughout history that they may win Christ and win battles for Him. They were will-ing to step up and “Be the One” for God in their generation. It is not always glamorous, as a matter of fact it hardly ever is, but God is always faithful to reward those who are willing to lay aside everything and serve Him. Partial sacrifice is not enough, par-tial sacrifice is not sacrifice at all, it is selfishness.

 

Secondly, are we willing to allow all glory, all honor, and all attention be diverted to the Lord? Most of us have a natural tendency to bring attention to ourselves in some way. From birth we are condi-tioned to believe that the world revolves around our every need, desire and whim. As we grow this con-ditioning is only magnified by a society that en-courages us to follow our own dreams and make our own paths. Most often the spirit behind these messages, and others, is that whatever you want is worth going for no matter the consequences. This is just the opposite of what God desires for us. He has a designed path for each one of us and most often it is far different from the path that we would envision for ourselves. Sometimes when we do relinquish our will to His we still cannot let go of the idea that everything revolves around us and we seek atten-tion and glory for ourselves. Those whom God chooses to do His work are not only willing to de-flect all glory from themselves to Him but they rec-ognize that they are not deserving of any glory. They have long ago died to their flesh and its desire to pull attention to itself; they have taken Paul’s words to the church in Corinth to heart, none of us are worthy to glory in ourselves.

 

These characteristics that we must take on are characteristics of Christ that we are to emulate. “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross dai-ly, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23-24). Our cross should be similar to the cross that Jesus car-ried in its traits. We will never suffer for others sins or to the degree that Jesus suffered. However, our cross should be a cross of selflessness and willing sacrifice. We often read this scripture and encour-age ourselves that we have taken up our cross by giving our hearts in service to God but crosses are not painless and easy things to bear. The cross was an instrument of cruel death. Certainly turning to God in repentance is the first step of taking up our cross but we must be made conformable to the death of Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:10) in our level of willing sacrifice and selflessness. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8). Even Jesus did not glory in Himself while on this earth. Many times He instructed those He healed to not tell anyone of Him. It was His goal to deflect all glory to the Father while here on this earth. If Jesus lived a life of diverting glory from Himself to the Father then certainly we must. Our lights must shine to all men but what they illumi-nate of our actions and character must point those men to the Father to bring glory to Him (cf. Matt. 5:16).

 

What do you say? Are you willing? Will you do it? Will you “Be the One” when God needs one to do His work? Are you ready to sacrifice for the One who sacrificed all for you? Are you willing then to allow the glory to be showered upon Him where it belongs? He is always looking and always ready to add you to the growing list of those “Of whom the world [is] not worthy.”

By Bishop Dustin Hays, General VLB Coordinator