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There are the ones who take the Lord seriously enough to put aside their own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and yes, even their own life, in order to follow Him as He commands. These are a new nation not formed by physical descendants, but of those born of the Spirit. And these are qualified because they respect every word of God. It is absolutely essential that God has a nation prepared that could inherit the kingdom. It has to be a nation bonded together with a deeper commitment than mere family ties or blood relations. Being part of that nation is what being a chosen people is all about this very day. Do not be puzzled about this notion of a holy nation. Do not regard the biblical passages as merely symbolic. God has placed you as a light for the nations, that you should bring salvation to the end of the earth. God has a new covenant Israel united together by the Holy Spirit. Hear the biblical reference…who is this writing to? James 1:1 I Peter 2:9, 10 The bible is addressing a newly-formed people who were once not a people. Something is changing in their life to warrant them being called a people, for if they remain in their same old houses, working for the things of the world, and only believed in Jesus, they would still be not a people. They would still remain integrated into society as so-called christians are today. The appointed time has come. No longer strangers, no longer rootless, a nation is being gathered. No longer separated, no longer alienated. This is not just some denominational titled group. This is a people actually dwelling together in unity, so as to be a light to the nations, though living in every geographical area on earth. Mark this as your learning…God has a unique people typed as being scattered for purpose. These answered the call for who is on the Lord’s side. God makes distinctions and divides and separates and elevates. These are so exceptional that the Lord is their inheritance. Numbers 35:1-8 Deuteronomy 18:1, 2 God is shifting us into positions for the promise that we’ve been praying for. Sometimes a God shift looks like chaos. We will understand why we have to go through what we’re going through. Wave after wave of tests will make us feel like we’re being tossed from a cliff. In order for God to shift us “into” position, He has to shift us “out of” conditions that prevent our shift. God is putting exclamation points where we had question marks. God is closing wrong doors to wrong plans, wrong relationships, wrong decisions, and even some wrong places that have taken us on a detour from His plans. Put this in your spirit…you know it’s a God shift because the Holy Spirit has been whispering to you. Situations that would have made you break, are giving you peace. You’re saying, “Yes God.” We should pray for the wisdom to keep our shift on the divine low. What God is now positioning us for, requires silence as we walk around the walls that need to fall. All drama in our lives is to be put in timeout. Detach from relationships that God has shown you are not validated by truth and faith. Cease allowing temporary emotions to make permanent decisions. God sees the work you put in your faith and the faith you put in His word. He sees the prayers and the hopes that you’ve been watering with tears. We need to be true with ourselves. Because even in the “wildernesses of our lives;” where we are, is “determined by God.” And in His “governing sovereignty,” there’s a divine shift,” for our life is ready to take place. In other words, this “spiritual shift” that must happen, must extend beyond the good words we speak in order for us to receive the permanency of God’s eternal promises. We must cease complaining, disobedience, murmuring, and sinning. We must move from complacency to spiritual contentment. This spiritual shift advances our character, our conduct, to show as polar stars in the celestial journey of inheritance. Because God is entirely consistent in His holiness, His every change of mind is entirely consistent with His character. His holiness nor His character cannot waver one iota. So, His treatment of us is in response to our choices. The shift that we are to undergo is supported by the truth of our obedience. This means divine qualitative and quantitative empowered changes, consistent with the will of God. All that we do must give way in the name of Jesus. Prayer is the platform for this sustainable empowerment. Our every endeavor will dwell in the word of God. We will teach and admonish one another with grace in our hearts. Nothing we do will cause God to be stranded. God has given us the free will to make our choice for life. We will be engraced like no other. New encounters, new revelations, better understanding, increase of wisdom, outstanding testimonies, will yoke our lives to the solitary family of God. All things are determined by the counsel of God and still we are granted the power to participate by choice to shift our destiny. God’s time is moving forward and there are some who did not recognize the time of their visitation. God’s time is the right time, right now, and they missed it. Remember when God said “let there be light”, there was light. What means He, when He says, “cease from sin”, “be ye perfect”, “love one another”? We need to understand the timing that God ordains for our lives. The purpose for study, is God wanting us to understand and recognize the spiritual shifts in our lives, marked by a deeper understanding of the grace of God and the cross of Christ. If reformation is about anything, it is about getting back to what Jesus died for, and being true to the apostolic mission that carries it on. So, while some focus on still trying to predict every facet of the end times or redefining what grace and the cross means, those who are truly reformational will be about the Father’s business of advancing the good news, making disciples, and bringing transformation to cities and nations in the process. There is this spiritual whispering being heard by God’s people who have ears to hear. Spiritual shifting is the preparation, the acceleration, and the expectation for the divine alignment for the harvesting of souls. We must be in the right place to receive the scheduled outpour from God of the latter rain. When we pray, when we petition God, we by faith know that He hears us. That’s well and good. But do we remain for a time in prayerful mode to hear what God says if He chooses to answer right away? And if we don’t get an answer quickly, do we just forget the prayer? God’s answer may not be audible. He speaks in different ways. Listen for the still small voice. Listen with expectation. Discern situations brought to you. The last day true faithful people of God are appointed for not only the movement of the Holy Spirit, but also the moment of the Holy Spirit. In these maturing sons and daughters, there is an intricate work of “overcoming”, being released in them to bring forth the manifestation of true kingdom life, power, and love, into the darkness that is covering the earth. The Holy Spirit is revealing in us now, that the reality of Jesus’ return is at hand. This spiritual shift is like God saying, “let there be light”. The Lord is making this changing work available now to those who will hear what the Spirit of God is speaking presently. Let none tell you that you cannot be like Christ. His mind is the truth pattern proposed for our imitation. It is a mind that understands God’s purposes. The mind of Christ stands in sharp contrast to the wisdom of man. The mind of Christ involves wisdom from God, once hidden but now revealed. The mind of Christ is given to believers through the Spirit of God. The mind of Christ cannot be understood by those without the Spirit. The mind of Christ gives believers discernment in spiritual matters. These build their faith through the study of every truth in the word of God, to know the deep things of God. They do not conform to the traditional assigning of the word as does the world. What in essence does spiritual shift mean? Spiritual shift is about the quality or state of being one. What that means is that as Christ is in us, we are all connected. Spiritual connection is our ability to intuitively understand something that impacts our soul and gives meaning to our lives by having a relationship to and with the Creator. There is a constant sense of communication with spirits together. You begin to show up in the same places. You are extremely secure in the truth. Your gratitude for prayer reflects your recognition of just who God is. And the more like Jesus God conforms you. It is here where the truest self is created. It is this work of God that opens our minds to enable us to respond in a godly way - that is, by faith - to the manifestation of Himself through His Word. It is God giving us His wisdom to see as He sees. We now begin to righteously connect with others who are assigned. Truth is a crucial part of strong relationships based in faith. And the only way to ensure what is the truth is to find truth in every word of God. The fact that a great many people believe something is no guarantee of its truth. Too many are satisfied with where they are and do not hunger for truth. Why? Because they don’t like the taste of it. Let none erode your faith in the word of God. We must refuse to disarm any part of truth. Once truth is removed or ignored, separation results. To be in Christ, we must not only know the truth, we must love the truth. Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance. Relations will fall away as spiritual awareness shifts connections, but you will recognize friends on the spirit and the soul level. And there will be no gaps. Spiritual shift will keep happening to you in one way or another on the spiritual journey, because truth and light are the reasoned reality of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Truth and light remove the shadow of ourselves. We navigate this journey by taking full accountability of our every thought, word, and deed. We have deeper reflection with God that aligns us to our higher selves. We work toward suffering into wisdom and peace as we will encounter portals of grief. Yet, made able to live in the present moment with the hope in our tomorrow. Spiritual shift is one of the glorious things about God's secret purpose, which is the restoring of the life of God to the spirit of man. It encourages us to be sovereign and whole within, no longer deferring to other people's opinions, ideas, and untruths. We willingly choose to choose, only in alignment with God’s own personal truth, rather than the truths of our culture, families, friends, and religion. We willingly choose to choose, based on our aligning with Christ, in our highest knowing of the highest truth rendering the highest consequence. We begin to realize a self that is different from who we thought we were and what we thought we were. Our spiritual awareness is now found in the utilization of the known truths of God. We reason with every revelation. The Holy Spirit reveals to ourselves what could have been known before this moment, that we might find the comfort with the truth that we are 100% potentially perfect in Christ. We are upleveling to knowing and being with the existence of the Divine. We are chosen individuals who have experiences of divinity, of sacredness, of the presence of God within all existence. As participants in spiritual foundations, as well as some of us who are mavericks in our own exploration of the big Truths, we ourselves have either directly experienced the truth that everything is sacred and divine, or we are growing ourselves toward that knowing. Faith is the practice in which we grow our capacity to be with what is unknown, yet at the same time is known within every one of us. Faith is here, because I believe it is at the core of the practice of letting go of what no longer is in alignment with our highest knowing, and our highest good. It is a necessary practice in order for the spiritual shift to occur. I pray that each of us has this testimony…it has taken me pretty much my whole life to come to the direct experience of myself as an aspect of the divine as Christ is bringing me to God. God is love and that says, God dwells in me, as me, as I am in Christ. We have practiced faith for years to come to God, to know of Him through the reasoning He Himself offers continually to those who want to be without sin. It has taken me decades to own for myself, that we are continually awakening to the truths of our sacredness and our union with all. And this testimony is found in my faith in the faith of Jesus. Through our lifetimes, each of us, through every event we experience, grows our ability to know ourselves more fully when we measure each moment of each event with the truth and the faith of Jesus. Each moment is a revelation…an ah-ha moment, an experience to realize that we are on the path to the righteousness of God in Christ. In essence, in this final time, God makes us the bridges on the path that allow for the integration of what is to be known and proclaimed as the opportunity for eternal life. God’s grace toward us is so sufficient that it is all part and parcel to the knowing of who we are! It is all one extraordinary practice of waking up to our all-ness!!! This is our deepening in our conversion. This spiritual shift is so profound that it is a decisive break with every pattern of sin and the world and embraces new life in Christ by faith. It involves many changes in a person. It involves a change of mind, which is a spiritual approach unto the mind of Christ; and a change of a higher recognition of God, a critical view of self, a capstone discernment of sin, and a willingness to follow Christ. It involves a change of affections, and a sorrow for sin committed against a holy and just God. It involves a change of will, which is a deliberately, determined, decided, and chosen volitional change, an intentional turning away from sin and a turning to God through Christ to seek forgiveness. The entire person; mind, affections, and will, is radically, completely, and fully changed in conversion. God’s sovereign activity by the Holy Spirit in the soul causes us to embrace the cross in its whole purpose to bring men and women into a right and reconciled relationship with God. This matters! Now there comes the anointing of the Holy Spirit that we might know all things…all things concerning Christ. We are secured in his interest. Our hearts and minds are enlightened and strengthened for understanding. We are true to Christ. We know that in Christ there is no possibility of blending the truth with error. God purposes in us a conscience of conviction. We know we’re being called to something more significant and expanded. A profound transformation readying for a spiritual shift on a sacred journey. We are threads in the hand of God weaving us into the cloth that is the robe of righteousness. We are as one…together in Christ. We are coming into the stature of Christ and in this last day we are also susceptible to feeling more of the world’s darkness too. There will be winters in our life - hibernation and death. We will welcome the spring for growth, for rebirth. We will experience the sun of summer to bring the light of truth to others. And we will embrace the autumn of harvest in preparation for the coming of our Jesus. Everything is happening in divine order and right on time. The rest of the sabbath is intuitive to us in our devotion to God. It is woven into the fabric of our being to remind us that we are image-bearers of God, called to emulate the pattern He established for us at creation: to live within a rhythm of work and rest, to be after His likeness. We come to hear clearly that still small voice that speaks the power of truth. We come to better understand the meaningful purpose that the spiritual shift holds in our lives. This is the real calling to us. We begin to live by the unifying, creative truth within us. We set our every intention to honor God. We give authority to the expansive will of God to take full control of our lives. We let the authentic word of God resolve all dissonance between how we live our lives, and the core truth found in every word of God. By truth we free ourselves to be deeply connected to God in Christ. By this we are led to trust Him, to follow Him, and to get out of the way. We say “no” to the coercions of the world. We seek that which accords with God as divine principle; that which is, has been, and ever will be; that which eternally is. The verities that truth abides in fullness, at the very core of our being when found in Christ. What we are to be is but the unveiling of what was determined. We are placed on the straight and narrow path along which the Spirit directs, and as we are in Christ, proves so smooth and safe that we refuse to allow ourselves to be misled by habit into trusting sense perception. God is a special, personal Father to all His children. God's thought projecting into our mind, builds spiritual consciousness like that of Jesus. The Spirit of truth watches every detail of our life. When we ask and by affirmation proclaim its presence, it moves us to the spiritual shift. God has made us for something more, and His truth has given us the way to real freedom. Now, with a quiet mind and deep breath, we answer the call of God to come to be higher in Christ.

How many of us know that one of the most basic cries of an individual is for significance? It's a God-born drive. It’s a value that's not a wrong desire—it’s just in us. There are certain essential ingredients that make up a pleased person, and one is affirmation. Everybody needs to be affirmed and loved. Every person needs to have some measure of significance. Now understand, when I talk about significance, I'm not referring to being famous or popular. You can be very famous and be totally insignificant. Significance has to do with its effect on humanity. Do we understand that the greatest tests you and I face in life, we don't know about when we're facing them? When we are under pressure for a decision, those are tests, but they're not as big as the ones we're unaware of. What is really valuable is examining our values, for example, as David talked about “being tried in the night.” How can we be tried in the night? We're sleeping. It's just that the Spirit of God is working on the heart of the person, working to discover what the makeup and the value system is, that's been ingrained into that individual. Some of the great tests that we go through in life, really have to do with how fast we drive through town at night, when nobody's looking, or when nobody's there in the room and we've got the TV changer to see what entertains us. The tests are when we don't know we're being tested. When someone tells us a rumor, what do we do with that rumor, what do we say to the one bringing the rumor? It’s the little things that oftentimes are the most significant. When God’s word tells us to hear that our temples may be fit, yet we elect to not listen to God’s directions and instead listen to the preacher or the friend. As with David. Go to Psalm 16. There is a passage here that is also quoted in Acts 2. Let’s read both of them. Verse 7: “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Look at verse 11: “You show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Back to verse 8: “I have set the Lord always before me.” And because of that, “I shall not be moved.” I'm stable and circumstances are not going to move me. Now in Acts 2 it’s quoted this way: “David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face.” Another version says, “I saw the Lord always before me.” This is a huge principle. In this particular passage David is saying, “I set the Lord before me.” But how many of us know, we can't set God before us? What we can do is set our eyes on the presence of God, who's before us. We can't bring Him and put Him here; He's here. What we can do, is adjust our heart as we realize that He's already here. The ongoing realization of the presence of the Lord is probably one of the most, if not the most, vital elements to the believer’s life. It is the awareness of God in me, upon me, and with me. David became the great leader over Israel and led them into their greatest hours of prosperity and blessing. They had the greatest military victories. They finally got all the land that was promised to them through David. All the years from Joshua onward, were just dormant until David came and brought them into their inheritance. He was the greatest of warriors; he was the greatest of worshippers. He wasn't even a Levite (the tribe in Israel that served as priests), but he was the ultimate priest. He was at the top of his game in all these important areas. Notice this one thing he said, “I always, every day, I set Him before me. Every day, I set my eyes on the presence of the Lord who is with me.”   Now, the confidence level of people reaches an unprecedented level, when the presence of the Lord becomes more manifest to them. How many of us know that if we saw a fiery cloud above us and heard the voice of God coming out of it saying, “I'll heal whoever comes into the cloud of all maladies,” all of us would be praying for wings to get into that fiery cloud? The more clear the manifestation of His presence is, the greater the dimension of faith we operate by. To live by the theory of His presence is wrong. It is not good enough to say, “Well, I know He's always with me.” No. That truth must launch us into an experience or we're violating the truth. The truth was not given to equip us with concepts and ideas to debate and to discuss. The truth was given as invitations for divine encounter so we would know by experience that God is upon me, and He is with me. David's entire life as a warrior, as a priest, was focused on this one thing. This is one intimation we get out of his life. Take time before Him, until you can see Him . Can you think of a place where He isn't, then know He is with you. So, David gives us the key, which was the absolute heartbeat of his life. It’s kind of like he's saying, “This is how I make it. Every day I behold Him with me.” When God is silent He is still with us… The story of the deluge begins with an awful roar and ends with an awful silence. Genesis 7:11, 12 is a powerful statement of the beginning of the awful event: “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” Downpour and darkness and the thundering of rushing water shook the earth, for forty days and forty nights of awful, frightening uproar. Then it ended with silence. Look at 7:23, 24: “And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days". The statement at the end of verse 23 is instructive: “And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.” The text could have read, “Only Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their families were left.” The statement as written declares something about how it felt for Noah. Everything was gone. Death was everywhere. Now there was only silence. Noah was left with the awful difficulty of no movement, no answers, no word from God. As Noah floated on the water in this great wooden structure, there was no explanation, no prompting, no voice of hope from God. Noah faced what so many face in their spiritual life: the period of wilderness and struggle that comes after the great salvation, the great act of God, the great beginning, the powerful word of release and hope. Let's review a couple of things. First of all, the giant wooden ark in which Noah found himself was closed in everywhere. It was thirty cubits high and covered with pitch. Genesis 6:16 has an ambiguous phrase that is probably describing a small window. It was covered over during the storm. The door through which the animals and people entered the ark was closed by God and covered over with pitch. Noah couldn't see out, he could look only upward from himself. Noah was told very little about what would happen to him as he began this adventure. In 6:18 God spoke to Noah and said he was the only righteous one in all his generation, the only one who had a heart for God. So God gave him this word: “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” The ark was the source of salvation for him; he would be protected from the storm. But what Noah didn't hear was any word about getting out of the ark, about the end of the story. Would he ever be allowed out? What would be the conclusion of this adventure in following God? So now Noah was in this period of silence, encased in a place where he couldn't see out, or get information. He wondered what was going to happen next, but he had no word from God as to what the end of the story would be. Time went by. Noah was in a period of self-discovery. One of the important questions to ask at this point, and at similar points in the Scriptures is, why God allows for these silences, these periods in the wilderness. Why does he set us on our way and then seem to withdraw his hand from us? Why are there times when he gives us no answers? What are we supposed to learn in those kinds of times? Why was the nation of Israel allowed to experience the powerful, miraculous salvation of God in the Exodus through the Red Sea, and then wander in the wilderness, obediently for three years and then disobediently for 40 more? Why was David anointed king and then driven into the wilderness by Saul? Why was Jesus driven to the wilderness after the dove descended on him at his baptism, and forced to undergo that time of testing and temptation? Why did the apostle Paul, after his conversion, spend months in Arabia? Why this pattern? What does God achieve in the silence when he doesn't seem to be doing anything, and we're not sure that he remembers us? We consider always the beginning of our hope… We're going to come back to that question, but that's exactly where Noah was in this story. That's why 8:1 is so powerful: "And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;" There are a number of points in this account where God is described in human terms. The Bible does that frequently. In fact, the Lord had not forgotten Noah. But Noah's experience was that he had been forgotten, and so he described what appeared to be God's renewed interest in him as a remembering. The same thing will happen later in the story when we read of God's smelling the aroma of the sacrifice that Noah offered, and making a decision based on that. That again is a human way of describing something much more complex--God's decisions and actions. But we can observe important truths about God in human language. Read verses 2-12: The region in Turkey where Mount Ararat stands has a number of hills and peaks. Presumably the ark landed on the promontory that had higher peaks available around it, which Noah could see out of the window of the ark. After floating silently for 110 days without being able to see where he was going, having no idea of the conditions outside the boat, wondering if it would ever come to an end, the hope began to come in stages. The first thing God did was send a wind. Just the simple facts that the wind was blowing the ark was beginning to move again, and the water would eventually recede, were reminders to Noah that God had not forgotten him. As the water receded, the ark came to a place where it rested. The ark moved by the breath of God, and then stopped by the purpose of God. And Noah realized that indeed God hadn't forgotten him, that there was going to be an end to this story, he didn't know what. In trying to discover what the world outside was like, Noah sent these two birds off as an experiment. He was using them to get information, and reading that information for knowledge. But this is also a parable. Bible students see the story of the two birds as instructive of spiritual things. The raven was a member of the family of birds that were carrion-eaters. It was at home with dead things. Noah wondered whether death and destruction still reigned. The raven went out, and there were enough carcasses floating in the water that it could survive outside the ark. The death bird didn't tell Noah anything about what was out there. So he sent out a bird that needed life to survive, a living tree to set its feet on, fruit growing from the earth to eat. It came back with no information, but at least it came back. Then the second time, it came back with a leaf in its beak. The dove of Noah with the olive leaf in its beak has been one of the most profound symbols of peace in every place, and every age, where the Bible has been known. Something good was going to happen. You can imagine Noah's relief to know that the end of the story was not destruction, and that the ark was not going to be his home forever. We consider lessons learned in the wilderness… Read Chapter 8 verses 13-22: There are two important comments about Noah's behavior that we ought to look at, and then we'll try to answer the question of why God had required this period of silence. Noah removed the covering of the ark and saw that the ground was dry. That was on the first day of Noah's 601st year, ten-and-a-half months after the flood began. But he didn't come out. Then a month and twenty-seven days later, he could see that it was growing increasingly dry. But what he saw was devastation. The result of the flood was not a cleansed, beautiful, green, thriving world. He sat in the ark and realized that the lessons he had been learning gave him no information about what would happen next. Noah would not come out of the ark until God spake to him. The first thing Noah did, upon disembarking, was worship God with a sacrifice. Cover chapter 9:1-22, we won't read it here. I ask you to read it in your own Bible and reason with it in the presence of God. In this passage we hear language that recalls the creation to us. Noah knew that as Adam, his great forefather had been, now he too was the man whose family would populate the earth. Now he too was the one who was caring for animals as Adam had been told to care for the living things of his day. Noah knew on some level that what God had done in Adam, he was going to do another time through Noah's family. But Noah knew, too, as he examined himself in the dark, repetitive, quiet, forgotten days that he had nothing of the innocence of Adam. His flesh, his sinfulness, his capacity for anger and lust and lies, became increasingly apparent to him. Think about what it must have been like as Noah built the ark. He was the only righteous person on earth that would go through the deluge, the preacher of righteousness, as II Peter 2:5 says. And as long as he had all his wicked contemporaries to compare himself to, he would never see his own heart. He must have felt that there was something special about him. He was also busy building an ark, the first, only and last one of its kind. It was difficult, and it required attention. He was so obedient to the cause as his custom was, that he didn't discover anything new about himself during that period. But when he floated in the ark with nothing to do except the repetitive work of feeding animals, when he seemed forgotten by God, he realized the tensions that existed between him and his sons and their families. He thought on the great burden placed upon him of showing forth the truth of the word of God, and our life’s dependency upon always being faithful unto His word, regardless of the obstacles, regardless of the jeers snorted from those who say they are family members or friends, in spite of our feeling a need to succeed and bring about individual accomplishments; we must recall God’s purpose for us every moment, knowing that we must watch, and be sober in all our doings, we must be ready now to give up all and every thing, and trust God. He realized all his capacity for anger at God, for feeling sorry for himself, for when we pray and beseech God for that which we think we need, and He in our understanding, does not grant it, we think ourselves slighted because we see the material reward of the wicked. But the flood was for the cause of the wicked. Where now should we stand, seeing the tempered wrath of God. The awful realization dawned on Noah that the world was going to be started again by him, and his heart was as much in need of grace as anyone else's. He was not a good specimen from which to build a new earth. He was as capable of tawdry and angry and embarrassing and godless behavior as anyone else. Doesn't God often teach us that lesson about ourselves when he's quiet? As long as we can compare ourselves to other people, we can fool ourselves. And as long as we can be active in God's work, we don't have to discover anything about ourselves. But when we are put in some kind of wilderness, and there's nothing but the spiritual reality of who we are on the inside to occupy our thoughts, the awful discovery begins to take place: “I'm capable of anything. I'm not as great and courageous and godly as I thought I was.” We discover weakness and inadequacy. We discover our undoings. We search for something, anything good in us, and with each assessment we find filthiness. We discover that we know good, but are incapable of good, we know right, but prefer wrong, we speak goodly words, but harbor ungodly motives. When the day finally came to see the world, Noah was a man who had discovered his own inadequacy; and he was looking out on a world that was still suffering the effects of a terrible destruction. This had to be an extraordinarily low point for him. He would not come out until God invited him out. There wasn't presumption in Noah. He didn't leap into the arms of his Lord, because his own failures were ringing in his thinking. He didn't dance around on the newly dried earth, because it was still reeling from the destruction, and it was not a place of beauty and splendor. So Noah sacrificed to God. It may have been a thank offering or a sin offering; it was probably both. At the invitation of God, Noah walked out into his presence and said, “I need help. Thank you for saving my life. Now please save me from the sins I've discovered in my heart.” He was the man on whom God would rebuild human experience, and he was a man who was not up to the task in his own strength. God’s loving commitment is always present with us… The Lord had been silent but now we hear him speak again. At the end of chapter 8 God reveals His thoughts to us and in chapter 9 there's a conversation with Noah and his sons. God's thought of the human predicament was contemplated. He had judged them and brought Noah, the only righteous man, with his family into the ark, and now as Noah offered a sacrifice for his own sins, it was clear that there was no fixing the human race. Time wasn't going to fix them. They weren't going to educate themselves to become righteous. Each generation would repeat the problems of the previous generation in a deeper context. In the context of the sacrifice, the Lord made a promise: “I won't destroy them again.” But he didn't say how he would answer the problem. What could God do for a race like this? This counsel of God with himself is instructive. The problem of a righteous God and a sinful population, and his refusal to destroy them completely, leaves him ultimately with only one determined choice - its the greatest story of all, the story of how God would take our punishment on himself. The conversation God made with Noah and his sons is in 9:1-17. He was using the same language that he had used with Adam. He was deliberately saying, “We're starting over now. You be masters of the earth as the first human pair were.” But it’s an awful dimming down of vision. In the first case, when God made everything, he saw that it was beautiful. At the end of every day of creation he said it was good, and finally very good. God delighted in the things he had made. Here he would only say, “I refuse to destroy the things I've made.” He told Noah to be the master of the animal kingdom that was coming out of the ark, but he gave him permission to eat designated animals, whereas he had required Adam to care for them. And he assumed that human beings were murderers; it was impossible that this race would not be; so laws were required to deal with killing. And so we have the re-establishment of human life, but with a broken heart. This is a broken people who will live far below the beginning point of the first human couple. Then, contrary to all the discouragement, the bad news, Noah's discovery of his sinfulness, the blight on the earth, the need for an animal sacrifice to atone for Noah's sins, and the unfortunate commentary about the human beings who would replenish the earth, eat the animals, and kill each other; God interposed this promise in 9:8-10: The promise of God, standing in marvelous and immense contrast to the hard news and the struggle, is the basis on which we live our lives. That is the way every generation has survived since, not deserving God's mercy but being given God's mercy. The covenant with Noah was only the first one. God would restate in better and better terms his unwillingness to destroy us, his compassion, and his insistence on love. It contradicts all expectations. He shouldn't have acted this way, and yet he did. What he had to work with wasn't worth it, yet he had fallen in love with us. He cannot, and will not, act destructively toward human beings that choose His way again. We can choose destruction for ourselves, but he means good to us. Though this account doesn't tell us what will come after, it’s the beginning of the story that leads to the cross. God would take on himself what we deserved. He made a promise with a beautiful witness (the rainbow) because the story was going to be beautiful. His refusal to judge us meant that in the long run, he was going to bless us. The promise of the love of God is the extraordinary thing in this story. The dove flew back with a leaf in its beak, and it was offering a hope that has inspired people ever since. The rainbow repeats the theme of hope. Peter refers to “His precious and magnificent promises” (II Peter 1:4). Do you reflect very often on God's word to you? Do you read the announcement of his love and believe his commitment to people who are broken? Are they love letters to you? Do you believe God can intend good even when we don't deserve good, that he can bring blessing in the lives of people whose self- discovery is of tragic insides? Are the promises of God believable to you, though they contradict everything we know about ourself? This love story of God for failed people began as Noah disembarked the ark. God made a promise. It was only the promise of God, not the beauty of the earth, that Noah had to cling to. It was enough. And we have the same promise.

I Samuel 3:21 Isn’t it awe-inspiring how much more God becomes, as we study and reason with Him according to His word? Because what we long for is something more. We want to be near God and to encounter Him more. We want to hear Him teach and discuss with us the things of truth. The more our exposure to God and His word, the more our pace of obedience. A familiar and accurate grasp of God’s word is only as good as our behavior and determined belief in it. If our closeness to God is not where we want it, if our slowness to obey is outpaced by the word, we are to reason that there truly must be more. There is more of God to know, more of God to love, and more ways we can deepen our trust and intimacy with Him through faithfully studying, reasoning with, and keeping His word. This is bringing us to the more of God… Jeremiah 31:34 When we are learning about God there are so many different directions in which we can go because of the vastness of who He is. While we can focus on many different aspects of God’s character and nature, and His names are all relevant in their own way. Yet, there is one name where the moreness of God means exceeding greater than. Isaiah 9:6 We know him in his exaltation. This child, this son, this Son of God, this Son of man, that is given to us, is invested with the capacity to do the infinitude beyond deterministic limits. So advanced in dignity, with the name above every name. His people shall know him and worship him by these names; and, as one that fully answers them, they shall submit to him and depend upon him. He is both God and man. His love is the wonder of angels and glorified saints; in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, he is wonderful. A constant series of wonders attend him, and, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness concerning him. He is intimately acquainted with the counsels of God from eternity, and he gives counsel to the children of men, in which he consults our welfare. It is by him that God has given us counsel. As a King, he preserves the peace, commands peace, he creates peace, in his kingdom. He is our peace, and it is his peace that both keeps the hearts of his people and rules in them. He is not only a peaceable prince, and his reign peaceable, but he is the author and giver of all good, all that peace which is the present and future delight of his subjects. Our default is to call Him God, to call Him Lord. We ask that we not slight the appreciation and distinguishing as to a thing terrestrial. I Corinthians 8:5 What He is, is more than we are sure He is, or can be. For He is the Father and He is the Son and He is the Spirit. He is not the “We Are”, He is the “I Am”. His love is the wonder of angels. Everything of the triune is by Him. He is the wisdom of, and the wisdom to, and the wisdom for, all things. He effects and performs the highest attainable continuation of all things. His doings are the upmost creativeness of the utmost of all possibilities. He is all that peace that will preserve the holiness of eternity until there is more than God. What is referred to in the book of Isaiah eclipses what is revealed to us. We see in the word, “Jehovah” and “Jah”. We recall the name “Elohim”. These names could not be more seizing and prehensive. One who is always and forever. Isaiah introduces us to this name of God who is the mighty God. This is El Shaddai. So important, because there is an all-inclusive aspect attached to that name. The word almighty is having absolute power over all. The word El Shaddai is not the word used for God in the scriptures. It is God’s self introduction to Abram. Genesis 17:1 And as we reasoned with Isaiah’s words, we see the all-encompassing of the far-reaching power of God. We see this God in the interpretation of Isaiah, who is moved by the Holy Ghost. We see this God to be all the more God, as He is the God, the name by which Israel knew their God. Until Elohim, Jehovah, Jah, and El Shaddai took on flesh. Genesis 1:1 Exodus 6:3 Psalms 68:4 Isaiah 7:14; 9:6 Matthew 1:21, 23 Acts 4:10-12 Therefore, when the Spirit rises within us, we find ourselves crying more than, “God!” or “Lord!” For the God whom we worship is no vague deity, but the one who revealed Himself as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We too, cry Abba, Father. God is always immeasurably more than our thoughts can reach...our minds can think. The holiness of God is of such an absolute distance from all that He has brought forth, that it shows up in His closeness to all that He has created. The theme of His holiness expounds in unexpected ways with the gift of the advent of Jesus His Son, coming so near to us as to be made as we are, and the gift of the pentecostal experience of the Holy Spirit, coming so near as to fill us with the power of witness. Divine holiness closely attaches in mysterious ways to both divine justice, and divine mercy, and is the clearest explanation of how God is always more. Hear the exclamation… Isaiah 6:3 It is this great distance that shows the love of God that brings Him ever close to us. The holiness of God refers to the absolute moral purity of God and also the absolute moral distance between God and His human creatures. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty is the description of God repeated in the three-fold formula to bring great emphasis. God is not just a little bit holy. God is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY holy. This is God’s reminder to us of His presence. That God’s holiness is a matter of enormous spiritual significance. It also serves as a warning that we humans are not holy. Holiness is a central marker of the fundamental divide between God and the sinful human creature, but most especially, in our condition of being redeemed, we are entirely dependent upon God for any holiness that might reside in us. God is always more than even holiness. He is the very source and standard of holiness that will reach into the traverses of a never-ending eternity. Israel had a fear of getting too close to God lest they be overwhelmed by His holiness. God’s presence was a great comfort to Israel, while at the same time being a great threat to their own unholy lives. One did not lightly or superficially come before God. We would need a mediator. God is so always more, that He manifested His Spirit by coming into the world as a sacrifice, and an offering, in a body prepared Him that He might be as close to us as He is to His Son. This is the most awe-inspiring experience ever for God’s creation…when God “showed up”! He is the real holy of holies. And the intensity of His presence was entailed by only that proper representative that could be as He is…that Jesus Christ! For this, we are to all the more worship God in Spirit, for that is what He is, and in Truth, for that is what our Jesus is! God is always more, as divine holiness is most clearly attached to the Spirit of the God who is the Only Potentate. The holiness of God is now lodged in the person of the triune by which God’s holiness took up residence in human hearts. The Holy Spirit brought holiness where there was none, and he is the means by which believers participate in the holiness of God, personally. God is always more, even in His creation. God’s driving passion from the beginning of Genesis, to the end of Revelation, is to make the universe a holy dwelling place for us with Himself. The consummation of that motive is the new heavens and new earth. And this consummation completes that which was lost in the garden, and which was redeemed most fully in Jesus. This consummation, namely, is the people of God’s own possession that would be “at home” in His presence and His holiness. We must have an appropriate response to this. There should be no allowance for us to continue sin. That mystery of godliness when fully reasoned with, and understood, will present the reality of how there is no change in God to fully satisfy divine justice, with the full display of divine mercy. God’s holiness marks out the remarkable appearance of God into human history in the way that is mysterious and stupendous. It is the underpinning to the entire narrative arc of scripture. Christ gives life to our greatest hope – to see God. Yet, without change, our greatest fear would be to see God. The holiness of God runs through the entirety of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. It is why so few of Jesus’ professing followers understand him on the pages of the gospel truth. When God shows up in history, His presence is an inscrutable change. The first reaction is unbelief. But with the desire to worship God in spirit and in truth, and the beauty of holiness with gratitude, afterwards, may a modicum of understanding emerge. God is always more than measure. All He wills is providential. And that we might have no fear to approach unto Him, God gives us the faith in Jesus, whereby we can behold the holy God in the face of Jesus Christ. The highest holiness we will ever be, is to be like Christ. We were created after His likeness. Knowledge is the path of our renewal to His image. We must practice Jesus in the life. God is always more to us when we model the love of Christ, the humility of Christ, the steadfastness of Christ, and the obedience of Christ to the Father. Christ is always more, but never less, than our beautiful model of holiness on display for us to watch. We focus on Christ. The Holy Spirit flowing us into union with him. God in Christ in us is always more…we need simply remember His name. It is in Christ that God is always more to us. It’s because we humans need a constant reminder of who we serve, how we need to prioritize God in our lives, and how He is insurmountably higher than all other beings in the universe that clamor for our attention. High and lofty, exalted above all others. God is always more, as the beauty of His wisdom presents us with both the most sublime of possible thoughts that our reasoning reveals more knowledge of Him, and the most difficult of theological understandings bring us closer to the foundation of creation. When we speak of God in unity, we see the three Persons. When we see the unity intended in the first pair, we see three persons. God is always more, as the harmonies of relationship and truth bring meaning to life in significant ways. We affirm the truth of God though we struggle to articulate it in a way that is meaningful to us. Can God be more? He is absolute completeness. Then how is God always more? As we come to understand truth, God becomes more of all things right to us. More holy, more loving, more merciful, even more godly. He lacks nothing but what He possesses in His character, is everything. Try to conceive of this. God is absolute perfection: the perfection of power, the perfection of love, the perfection of justice, and the perfection of faithfulness. Perfection is simply the attribute of everything that He is. And all He is corresponds to, more than we could ever come to know. God is always the more because He has no limits, no bounds. He possesses all of His perfections to their fullest potential degree and yet in His endlessness, God allows us to reasonably understand that His infiniteness is personal. All expressions of God are eternally situated in His self-giving love, with eternal results to be always in the three Persons and in those with whom He will dwell. This love expression of God becomes more in the drama of the incarnation and life of Jesus. We have given to us an unveiling of the inherent self-giving glory of the Son. This is even the more of God that we come to see. The cross was so profane that we learn of it from Moses structuring a serpent upon a pole and in connection with the purpose of the counsel asking “who will go for us”. The cross would seem completely out of place in a discussion of beauty. How could there be any beauty in it? The essence of the beauty of it, is self-giving love. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. This is God being always more, than we can come to know. The cross gives finite human beings a taste of what it is like to be a member of the triune family. In the moment of his sacrificial death, Jesus gave to us what he had given to the Father for all eternity: everything! The total surrender of self. The cross is love’s highest expression and beauty’s ultimate source. If we could but reflect our life in the cross, we could once more intertwine humanity’s capability to reflect the image of God. Our faith in Him would be of a different and more wonderful kind. Rather than seeing God in Christ, we would be preparing to see God in His Person. It is in Christ that God is always more…Jesus is the exact representation of what God is like. Jesus doesn’t show us what God is like by being similar   to Him; he shows us what God is like by being the same as Him. Similar to the way a sunray carries the essence of the sun, Christ is of the same essence as God. He is an extension of God’s glory. He is the radiating glory through a human nature like ours. What a beautiful change. God became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. This is the more truth that God reasons with us. When we see and know and understand Him as scripture reveals Him, we are actually seeing and knowing the essence of God’s character. We reason this to be a wonder that grips our soul. A wonder that leads to the truth of worship. This is 'veiled' from the carnal understanding of sinners. God is always more because He brings us full circle to our created purpose…to be like the One who is God.

God is the most dominant power of supreme authority, and He rests in His exercise of love toward all His creation. He is Creator of the universe and knows what's best for all things. He understands we are a three part being, spirit, soul, and body, and that for us to be the healthiest and happiest, all three of those parts need to be in harmony with each other and with Him! With love, we are to celebrate this magnificent reality.   And it is with divine sight that we who love to learn to know Him, discern that He is more than sovereign. He is higher than the heavens and though we use God’s sovereignty as a monocle that does enhance our vision, even significantly, it’s not enough, He is more. God is powerful and authoritative to the extent of being able to override all other powers and authorities. The fullest picture of necessary reality is revealed to His chosen in the cluster of divine attributes, deserving special focus. He is the triunity of sovereigness: the source of all knowledge, all understanding, all wisdom. This is formulaic. Nothing is left to chance. Ephesians 1:11 Proverbs 16:33 Any that deny His sovereignty, because they refuse His good, will come to know unholy terror. But what we think does not matter unless it’s a reflection of what the bible says. In these final days, the word of God introduces and raises subjects we may not think to discuss. The word that cast new light on our approach to reason. God is increasing the value of His words to apply biblical truths to new situations we may experience in this final world. When we study together, we simultaneously gain a glimpse of God’s character through love in the act of reasoning together. He shows us the qualities that make Him to be God. His charge means that everything happens according to His plan and intention. Authority means that all His commands ought to be obeyed. His Presence means that we encounter God’s charge and authority in all our experience, so that we cannot escape from His justice or from His love. We partner with the text of every word, to incarnate the truth in His covenantal presence. God is so much more...that nothing can prevent Him from accomplishing His purpose. Psalms 115:3; 135:6 Isaiah 14:24, 26, 27; 43:13; 55:11 Daniel 4:35 It is also universal; that is, it covers all the events of nature and history. This includes the natural world. Psalms 65:9-11: 135:7 Human history. Acts 17:26 Individual human life. I Samuel 2:6, 7 James 4:13-16 God even governs the free decisions of human beings. Proverbs 16:9 Our attitudes toward others. Daniel 1:9 Ezra 6:22 More problematically, God even foreordains people’s sins. Exodus 4:21 Deuteronomy 2:29, 30 I Kings 22:23 Romans 9:17, 18 II Thessalonians 2:10-12 But, as sovereign Lord, he also ordains that some will come to faith and salvation. Ephesians 2:4-10 So, salvation is God’s work from beginning to end, doing for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. We should always remember that God’s saving grace in Christ, is part of His charge over creation, as the Lord. But God is more. On the basis of who He is, even the winds and the seas obey Him. He utters to us His commandments that we may obey Him, not wavering in our obedience, that by His absolute sovereign authority He has right to save us. God’s sovereign lordship is His covenant solidarity with His creatures. The covenant Lord is one who takes us to be His own. And He declares His intention in scripture. Exodus 6:7 II Corinthians 6:16 Genesis 17:7 Exodus 29:45 Hebrews 11:16 Revelation 21:3 God takes us to be His people, He fights our battles, blesses us, loves us, and sometimes, as a loving Father should, gives us special punishments for our sins. Amos 3:2 He summarizes all this by saying that He is with us. He places His name upon us so that He dwells with us and we with Him. Numbers 6:27 But God’s presence is not only for His chosen beings. For God’s whole creation of beings is also able to be in covenant with Him. If they so choose. He is the Lord of all creation. We should not think of God’s sovereignty as an impersonal, determinism. God’s sovereign lordship is deeply personal. As Lord, God has charge over everything, efficaciously, universally, and He also utters words of life, that graciously govern the ongoing life of His creatures. And as Lord He has made a sovereign commitment to be “with” those who are His. God’s sovereignty is a broad concept, including all that God is and all that He does, even embracing His love. The two vast truths of God’s sovereignty that are more than we can grasp are the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways. Everything is governed by the deepest divine wisdom. God never does anything or allows anything that is meaningless, random or without an infinitely wise purpose. That’s huge. That is a big thing that we must come to terms with when we think about God’s sovereignty. His sovereignty is governed by His justice and His mercy. God never, never wrongs anyone. All that He does is righteous and just, but even justice is not the final and highest aim of God’s wisdom. The ultimate aim is that He be glorified for His mercy, His goodness, His love, and His grace toward undeserving rebels. He sovereignly planned and accomplished salvation for sinners by the death of His Son. Because of that, we get an assignment through Jesus Christ to go to all nations in order that any who choose might come to God. In this truth we can have all of God that we want to have. Reason with the statement that you can’t love someone you do not know, and you might conclude that knowledge must precede love. That’s profoundly why God wants us to know Him more…that we might love Him. But God does not say “if you know me”, He says, “if you love me”… God says this in drawing upon that image created in us. God is love. Suppose that Adam would’ve loved God more than he thought of Eve. The deep love of this relationship with God is the door to even deeper knowledge of the Creator. Intimate friends entrust themselves and so disclose more of themselves to each other. So, there is an intimate knowledge accessible only through the deep love that results from and produces even more profound trust. Would the seventy have left Jesus if they had come to know that he was the Holy One of God? To those that were with him, this knowledge wasn’t merely intellectual; they had come to love him and trust him, even when he confused them. And because they trusted him, Jesus disclosed to them“mysteries of the kingdom of God” that he didn’t disclose to others. To really know Jesus, is to really love Jesus, which is the door to knowing Jesus more. John 14:17-23 Notice the simplicity in those words. The way to know the triune God intimately, to experience the relational communion promised, is not complex. As we more deeply know, love, and trust God by faith, and to persevere through the difficulties, God will use these opportunities to manifest more dimensions of Himself to us. We come to know that His grace is sufficient. It is in our encountering the reality of these opportunities that God’s love is true to His word. It is shown that His love, His word, is more than just proposition, it is revelation…it is the Person Jesus Christ with whom we are coming to know.

Stars were learned for seasons, for travel, for conveying location, and messages the limitlessness of God. Throughout the ages, satan has inspired man to pervert and misconstrue the constellations, and today we have Bernice’s hair and the Dog, all distortions of the truth because their foolish hearts were darkened. Satan offered astrology to replace the true meaning of the stars, which is the salvation message, and by this seemingly harmless little distraction, has led many away from the truth. There are many who view astrology as seemingly harmless entertainment...that is because they have become lazy and numb and ignorant of the ways of the enemy. The truth is as simple as a clear night sky. Within every zodiac sign there are actually four images, forty-eight images in total, that expand our learning and further instruction. We begin with Virgo, the first sign of the Mazzaroth, and the Head, Christ Jesus as the Savior of His church; the Woman. Virgo means “virgin” in Greek, which depicts Jesus, who was born of a virgin. Matthew 1 [23] Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. A virgin, literally, means that this woman is not bound to an husband, that she has not entered into a carnal, earthly relationship. A virgin, spiritually, means that she is bound to her Father in heaven, that she careth for the things of the Lord that she may be holy, both in body and spirit (1 Corinthians 7:34). Revelation 14 [4] These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. Virgo Here are manifold applications: both the beginning of the prophecy, with Virgo, the virgin, and also those whose body, mind, and soul are dedicated to their Lord and Savior, the 144,000. The woman in the image is holding a branch and a shuck of corn. The brightest star in the shuck of corn is called “spica”, which means “seed”. This refers to the prophecy in Genesis 3:15 that the woman would bring forth the Seed, Jesus. Genesis 3 [15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. On Virgo’s right is a woman carrying a baby called “Coma”. The baby has a star called “the desired one”. Haggai 2 [7] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. Virgo has a man on his side, called Arcturus who is holding a shepherd’s rod and a sickle. This is a picture of Jesus, who harvests souls and then shepherds them. The star at the tip of his rod is called THE BRANCH. Zechariah 6 [12] And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: We follow the prophetic circle, to Libra, the scales, where Jesus is seen equal to His God and worthy to redeem His people from sin. Christ the God, balanced against Jesus the Savior, and the balance is even. Philippians 2 [6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: Libra is represented by a pair of scales, a picture of justice and equity. This constellation contains three bright stars in the Hebrew called “mozan” which means “to weigh”. Psalms 62 [9] Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity. When God put man on the scales, man was completely sinful. Right below the scales, there is a cluster of stars which forms a picture of a slain animal. That animal is a lamb, which represents Jesus as the lamb of God. Next to the lamb is the cluster of stars called the Southern Cross. What balances the scales of justice, is Jesus on the Cross. Philippians 2 [8] And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Scorpio consists of a mighty man holding a snake and stepping directly on a large scorpion. The Hebrew word for scorpion is “aqrab” which means “the conflict” or “war”. The brightest star is stepping directly on the heart of the scorpion, and it ominously glows red. Both snake and scorpion are depictions of the devil and demons. How is it that we see both at the same time? Deuteronomy 8 [15] Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; These are outward manifestations of the inner character, revealing that they are servants to sin, servants to satan, members of the synagogue of satan and in the context, we see an aspect of a deadly enemy. Then we move onto Sagittarius, the one with two natures, Man and Horse, set on war. For horses represent war in the bible and this man is carrying a bow and arrow to enter upon a spiritual battle. Psalms 45 [3] Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. [4] And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. [5] Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. In Capricorn we have a half-goat and a half-fish. In the Goat we have the Atoning Sacrifice, in the Fish we have the people for whom the atonement is made. Leviticus 16 [21] And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: Aquarius represents the pouring forth of the Holy Spirit and the living waters of blessing poured forth for the Redeemed. Isaiah 35 [4] Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. [5] Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. [6] Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. [7] And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. The star in the right shoulder means “the record of the pouring forth” and the star in the other shoulder is called “who goeth and returneth”, or “the pourer out”. Numbers 24 [7] He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. Pisces represents a catch of fishes, souls that Jesus brought to the heavenly shore. Romans 8 [17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Aries represents the Ram or Lamb slain, head bowed for sacrifice, bruised, yet living for evermore. Revelation 5 [6] And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. Taurus is a picture of a bull. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus is depicted as an ox, which represents a tireless, powerful servant who never ceases in serving us. Pleiades and Orion are in the cluster of Taurus. Pleiades means “seven stars”, and they are found on the neck of the bull. In the book of Revelation, Jesus holds the seven stars, representing the seven churches, in His hand. Jesus carries us. Taurus, The Bull, the highest sacrifice, represents the Messiah come to rule. Acts 2 [30] Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; [36] Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. In the constellation Gemini we have the twins which represent divinity and humanity, His two-fold nature as God and Man, His twofold work of suffering and glory, His twofold coming in humiliation and in triumph, and Christ’s image reflected fully in His people. John 1 [1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. SOP – It is not possible for the heart in which Christ abides to be destitute of love. If we love God because He first loved us, we shall love all for whom Christ died. We cannot come in touch with divinity without coming in touch with humanity; for in Him who sits upon the throne of the universe, divinity and humanity are combined. {Christ Object Lessons, Page 385 excerpt} In Gemini we see Castor and Pollux, named for a ship in Acts 28:11. Both stars are located parallel on the head: the name of one is called Apollo, which means “ruler, or judge”; while the other is called Hercules, “who cometh to labour, or suffer”. However, one appears to be a man while the other appears to be a female. The Greeks called them twin sons, but the root word for Pollux is “maiden, damsel, girl”, indicating that this star formation represents masculine and feminine attributes. Together they are referred to as “united” or “peace”. Together they exemplify love and the law, the image and character of God. They complement each other, for love requires another. Genesis 2 [21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; [22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. [23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. [24] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh . Psalms 85 [10] Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Over the century’s astronomers have focused on the Crab and her pincers which hold her people tight in her arms with the millions of eggs that she carries, which represents souls. But they have omitted the weightier matters in that constellation. In the constellation Cancer there is also Argo, that ship which carries the precious cargo of souls; also, the Little Bear and the Great Bear (Ursa Minor and Ursa Major), which is a clipped version of the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, and which is actually a Lesser Flock and a Greater Flock. Luke 12 [30] For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. [31] But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. [32] Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. The Lord here, is referring to those who hear and follow Him. It is a prophetic sky picture representing two different flocks: a large flock and a smaller flock, the smaller flock, or sheepfold, is representative of the 144000, the Little Dipper or Ursa Minor. The constellation Argo is the largest of all the constellations containing sixty-four stars spreading out like a canopy in the sky. And for good reason, for it represents “a great multitude which no man could number”. Isaiah 60 [4] Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. [5] Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. [8] Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? [9] Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. And finally, Leo. Leo is the last sign of the Mazzaroth and reveals God's wrath against iniquity and transgression and sin. It is expressed as a lion, which is Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Whose voice shakes the earth and those therein, who thunders and the people like grass withers, who roars like a lion and the seven thunders peal across the sky. The brightest star in this constellation is found on the lion’s foot called “Regulus”, which means “the foot that crushes”. Romans 16 [20] And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. The constellation Leo not only envelopes the Lion of the tribe of Judah as ruler, but also the divine Cup of wrath, the Raven to devour up all filthiness, and the wonderful finale: The Serpent destroyed. Ezekiel 39 [17] And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. [18] Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. [19] And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. [20] Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD. [21] And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. [22] So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward. The star pictures are in constant, slow motion and correlate with the angels of heaven, God’s people on earth, the twelve tribes, the twelve apostles, the events that transpire, the gospel, and all by the working of God’s invisible hand. Isaiah 40 [21] Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? [22] It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: [25] To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. [26] Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

God has a people on earth that He is making His own forever and ever, whose hope is in the grace of God. These move farther and farther away from the temperament of this socially conflicted, confused, spiritually impoverished, and tragically paradoxical world. These are not to be anxious about materialism, knowing that God will meet all their needs. These will be given a divine calling. They will move with tender humility and quiet patience. They will be faithful to guard the sweet harmony of the Holy Spirit. All immaturity will end! These will not be easily shaken by trouble, nor led astray by novel teachings, or by the false doctrines of deceivers. They will remain strong and always sincere in their love to acknowledge and express the truth. Unlike the world, God’s sojourning elect will not let the passion of their feelings lead them to sin! They will have no anger controlling them or to be fuel for revenge, not for even a moment. They will not give the slanderous accuser any opportunity to manipulate them! Ugly or hateful words will never come from their mouths. Instead, their words will be as beautiful gifts that encourage others; this done, by speaking words of grace to help them. The Holy Spirit of God has sealed us in Jesus Christ until we experience our full salvation. We will never grieve the Spirit of God or take for granted his holy influence in our life. Laid aside will be bitter words, temper tantrums, revenge, profanity, and insults. God has graciously forgiven us, and we will graciously forgive others in the depths of Christ’s love. God’s true people must abandon feelings, and seek God’s comfort to sacrifice, allowing reactions to rule their decisions. Psalms 142:1-5 Proverbs 4:23 Feelings are self-contained expressions that live on selfish desires and selfish will, that cannot obey God, nor does it want to. Feelings can be long lasting. It is, however, about denying self. It is attempting to save yourself in your own strength. Feelings don’t trust God. Feelings respond to thoughts that lack confidence in reasoning. Thoughts are mental processes. Our brains associate one bit of information with another and create frameworks such as beliefs, perspectives, opinions, judgments, and ideas. A feeling is an automatic and temporary reaction to a stressor in a part of the brain not connected to thinking and reasoning. Thoughts trigger our conscious processing of an emotion, where we assign the emotion meaning. God’s people will have manifested emotion for discerning judgment toward the mindfulness of purpose. The world will walk in their empty delusions. Their corrupted logic has been clouded because their hearts are far from God. Their blinded understanding and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them from the true knowledge of God. Christ was only here for a little while. Our time together in these final days will be very different from what they used to be. We will have to follow Christ all the way home, or we will be lost. Every day is as we are in a different world. Greetings, hanging out with friends, dining out, and shopping are not safe and don’t work any longer in this world anymore. The world we knew, seems to suddenly have turned into a strange place in which invisible danger lurks everywhere. So, we feel that we are standing in a strange wilderness. Earth is not our home. God is using this situation to illuminate ignored or forgotten truths. No matter how much you think you have achieved in this world, and no matter how familiar you’ve become with it, if Christ is working in your life the days here are but a shadow. We own no property in this world. We have had certain things lent to us for use while we are here, and we have to give an account of how we use them. And what of our character. It is not to be as that of worldlings. We are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God. No longer a mere natural man, for we have a higher and spiritual nature imparted to us. Our ways and manners and customs are not as those of the people of the world who have their portion in this life. Our speech is to have a peculiar sound. Expect to be treated as though you do not belong here. Our motives will be misconstrued, and our words wrested and twisted as we are slandered and abused. For certain, we have various interests and occupations here, and we seek to be a blessing in the land where we are, but our hearts are with Christ in heaven and we can never be fully satisfied until we are there. We are here in our mortal spirits with hearts full of anticipation of the time when we shall be at home with the Lord, and find in Him, all that our capacious souls can desire. We are very cautious where we go. That arch-rogue, the devil, petitions to plot against us every day, and all his legions are constantly seeking to rob us of our sacredness or of our peace of mind or in some way or another to lead us astray. We are in enemy country. We must keep our sword unsheathed, ever have ready for use that two-edged “sword of the Spirit which is the word of God,” and hold as with a death-grip the great “shield of faith. What is said to one of us, is said to all of us…watch. We should always have our graces in active exercise. If we do not, we will bitterly regret the folly and sin that besets us. We will find that we have no sufficiencies here of material worth. Our adequacies must be our spiritual dependency upon God for everything. In this waste howling wilderness, our bread must drop from heaven day by day. Thank God, there is a short duration to our sojourn here. Though the days of our pilgrimage should be seventy, or eighty, or even ninety years, how swiftly they come to an end. There will be some who will enter their chambers sooner because God will have them finish their service earlier. There are those who are here as strangers to God and there are some who are here as strangers with God. What is the difference? Psalms 39:12 Being with God is being under His constant eye and care. We enjoy peculiar fellowship with God. We walk with God in hallowed and intimate union and communion. He has told us some of His greatest secrets. He has given us the high privilege of dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. In this world that God created, He too is treated as a stranger. Here is His handiwork all around us, most fair and beautiful, yet the fool says in his heart, “there is no God,” and proves himself to be a fool by saying it. Here are signs on every hand of the working of God’s gracious providence, mysterious but wondrously wise, yet worldlings cannot see any traces of the finger or mind or heart of God, for He is a stranger to them. And as God is a stranger here, we need not marvel that we, who are His children, are also strangers on the earth. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief—spit upon, scourged, hounded out from among men, and at last crucified. I Timothy 3:16 This God, who is a Spirit, manifested Himself in the flesh. This is that determined change that even the more enhances the honor, the praise, the glory due God. And look what mystery is given us as sojourners here…our life is hid with Christ in God. What can there be here for us? Nothing that need trouble us. God wants us to be so dissatisfied with this world that we long for a better one. This being the case, we long to get home. But we ought not to long for home from any work-shy motives. We are to be as good laborers for God, that we may be worn with carrying His ministry, that we eagerly look forward to the joy of His Sabbath rest to renew our strength for service on the morrow. Our rest here for God is to be a rest that shall know no end…a rest in untiring service. What a wonder that we who are all sojourning here, too often treat one another as strangers. There is an essential unity to holy discipline. Quick ears are so ready to misinterpret and misrepresent words seeking to find one word awry, dwelling over it. Let us muzzle the mouth, open the heart, and reason with the mind of Christ, that we may be nearer to going home. Ill words make texts for sinners, and thus God is blasphemed out of the mouths of His own beloved children. Let it not be so with any of us, beloved. Weep, if need be, tears have ever had great prevalence with God. But do not restrain your grief; find espression in reasoning. Only before the wicked, are we to have nothing to say, we hold our peace. If we are God’s chosen people, how should we relate to the world around us, and, in particular, how should we respond to the world’s animosity and rejection? In a habitable practice we are truly sojourners and exiles in the moral and ethical sense. The lives of those who long for heaven are to be nourished by and are to reflect, the principles and practices of that place to which they are heading. And there is such a difference between this world and that place that it is inevitable that each scene should produce a very different way of life, a difference so fundamental that it ought to be distinctly visible and impressive to unbelievers. This is one of the reasons why unbeleivers feel such contempt against God’s people on many occasions. While here, we must give life a different appearance. It is to show love, purity, self-denial, kindness, and generosity, humility, courage, honesty, patience, and integrity. These are the facets of a character dominated by the love of Christ and a commitment to his kingdom. It is a life of bearing witness in word and deed, to the love and holiness of that God who has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. We have a faith response to the grace of God. We live now as though already saved. All that we do, should be in the interest of our Father. Do we think about other people the way we are taught to think about them here, or the way we are taught to think about them there? It will make a difference whether our sense of heaven is fitful and weak or clear and powerful, powerful enough to produce a living expectation to others who wonder at a life of peace without hate, love without prejudice. Too much of the time for many who say they are believers, the sense of the heaven is vague, and so incapable of producing a powerful effect. Task yourself to ponder what it means to be a sojourner here on earth. Is it truly a conviction that you have to be in heaven? It is the great honor of Jesus Christ, and it is the immense privilege of human beings and of sojourners especially, that such a place exists, and that there is a way to it from this world. How will we want to have lived and loved here when we are there? We should be daily feeling our spirit leaving this place.

Adam and Eve are the only humans who have ever lived in such a marvelous world as was created in the beginning. They lived when and where to whom ‘the glory in the grass and splendor in the flower’ continually revealed the diviner miracle of a Heavenly Father's munificent love and care. How would the Savior, our Jesus, have seen the world through the lens of sinless human experience? With a heart full of delight at the manifestation of the glory of God in the intricately created plants, trees, animals, fish, sunsets, oceans, seasons, minerals, gems, rocks, scents, food, and drink, it was the sinless Son of God incarnate who knew the beauty that was intended. And yet, there was another world that the Savior viewed from the side of sinless humanity. These two worlds collided when the Son of God entered the world in order to redeem men. The mystery of the incarnation is that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him” for he was not of the world. Jesus declared the essence of what He had come into the world to do. In addition to coming to atone for the sins of His people, and in addition to conquering the evil one, Jesus came to overcome the world. He told us that in the world we will have tribulation. We must reason with truth to know that there was nothing inherently evil about creation. We will learn that there are two worlds – a world that God’s true people are in and a world that God’s true people are not of. Allow me to be very emphatic with the following statement…God’s people do not love the world or the things in the world! It is the world   under the sway of the evil one to which Jesus referred when he spoke of overcoming it. He had come to conquer the prince of the power of the air, the (little r) ruler of this world, and to overthrow the dreadful results of the rebellion into which the evil one had led mankind. It is in the world where its power and might, its knowledge and wisdom, its commerce and industry, its culture and civilization, without God and in opposition to Him, is the abode of Satan. The world with its pride and self- exaltation, its trust in man and in the power and wisdom of man, its hatred for God and of one another, its covetousness and lust for power, and for the glory of man; the world with its lust of the flesh, its idolatry and adultery, its profanity and deceit, its striving after pleasures and treasures, its vanities; it is this world, with its strife and debate, its unrest and revolutions, its wars and destruction that is “crossed” out of the heart of God’s people by what transpired from Gethsemane to Golgatha. This world is fallen. How then is the judgment of this world already come? John 12:31 The answer is found in the already, but not yet, of His finished work on the cross. In the death of Jesus, the world was put on trial. When the Son of God was being condemned before human judges, the Judge of all the earth was condemning this fallen, evil world. When Jesus God hung on the cross, He was tearing away the facade of goodness with which the world masks its idolatry, pride, foolishness, self-righteousness, and lawlessness. When we see Christ crucified, we see the world as it really is, in all of its rebellion and deceit. We, who are in the world, are in the day in which the verdict, which was rendered at the cross, is being fully and openly manifested. In our day, all of the world’s deceit and hypocrisy, falsehood and wickedness is being laid bare and viewed in light of the righteous judgment of the Son of God. As the sabbath is our sign, the cross is that post upon which it hangs. As we are in the world, the cross is our meeting place. All who are drawn out of the world must come to the cross. The implications are magnormous for those who have been united to Christ by faith alone. In the first place, the true believer, not any who refuse to reason with every word to come to truth, must learn to live his or her faith in light of the relationship that he or she now sustains to the world that is overcome. And this done by “overcoming”. If anything of the spirit of this world is found in individual believers, or the church, then, to the same extent, they will be incapable of seeing things in the light of God. They will judge spiritual truth with a heart that is prejudiced by the spirit of the world that is in them. A twice finished crucifixion must be envisioned here. I pray that you hear this with the ear of the mind. Here stands the world, and here stand we. And between the world and us stands the cross. The world views us as crossed out, because of their sin they hate the cross and have no care, concern, nor time for us. Viewed from our side, the world is crossed out, for through our faith in all that is Christ, we have also died to the world; so that we and the world are agreed on one thing, and one only; that through Christ we have equally and mutually no time for each other. Galatians 6:14 There is a promise to true faithful believers that no matter how much the world may persecute, oppose, oppress, scoff at, and deride us, Christ is the victory for those he has chosen out of the world and for whom He gave himself on the cross. So, in Christ the victory is ours…already won. There is nothing that the world can do in all of its persecuting malice to separate us from the love of God in Christ. If we only really reasoned to come to know the fullness of the dimensions of the cross, the mightiest of spiritual weapons. It is the way we continually overcome. The people of the world function apart from God. These who are of the world are bound to sin in some degree. If they were to rightly consider the depth of the defining sin they know nothing of, they would wonder at the opportunity for repentance. God’s people are in this world physically. We must not have either a social or a spiritual presence here…no part of its values…set apart, separated unto the gospel. Let us not retain the insipid, corrupt mind that being of the world creates. Rather, let us be conformed in our minds, to that of Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 14:2 I Peter 2:9, 10 We must also understand that being in the world, but not of it, is necessary if we are to be a light to those who are in spiritual darkness. We are to do life in such a way that those who do not know how, to measure the God-given faith, see the good He works in us and our receptive manner of all He does and know that there is something “different” about us. We witness that being “in” the world means we can enjoy the things of the world, such as the beautiful creation God has given us, but we are not to immerse ourselves in what the world values, nor are we to chase after worldly pleasures. Pleasure is no longer our calling in this time, but rather the true worship of God, for we know that God so loved the world… This is the place of intrigue and opportunity. For it shows the redeeming love of God in the darkest of places; an orb set for occupation by the rebellious of heaven, a place where light was brought to disrupt darkness in the mind of God’s crowning jewel of creation. It is here that God would send the unexpected gift of His Son. It was this act that plumbed the depths of God’s love to show that His love is infinitely extensive. When Jesus used the terms “in the world”, and “of the world”, he was making exception between peoples. This is the essence of the truth he was saying. God loves the world, and that means He loves every person, head for head. The logic goes something like this: God loves every person; Christ died for every person; therefore, salvation is possible for every person. However, it’s not that God’s love is impotent, and Christ’s death is ineffectual, it is the choice made based on which “world” one’s mind is in. God loves every person, and Christ died for every person, and God’s love is not impotent, and Christ’s death is not ineffectual, salvation has been secured for every person who chooses Jesus over this world. So we come to understand that it is not the extension of God’s love, but the intensity of how we accept His Son. For it is God the Son who manifest God the Father and God is love. No person, no matter how honest his intentions are, no matter how earnest his thoughts are, no matter how much intellectual power he has, can understand and receive God's truth any farther than the Spirit of Christ and the Cross has expelled, or is truly sought after, to expel the spirit of the world in him. The Holy Spirit, when He is carefully waited on and yielded to, is the only Light that can open the eyes of the heart to see and to know what is of the world and what is of God. What is happening in our world today is beginning to make sense to me. The world, unrepentant sinners, causes havoc in their pretense to worship. How are we to interact with these who are influenced and influence others by disbelief? As followers of Christ, we are to actively engage our principles, having good intentions, without allowing the culture’s ungodly morals, values, attitudes, and behaviors to infiltrate our lives. Not even to the point of straddling the fence. If even one word of God’s truth is maligned by a misguided attempt to be relevant, it is sin. We are commissioned to go into the world, not be of the world. The truth, the full truth of God’s word known, will keep us from the schemes of the world...from becoming worldly minded. The world is such a great danger to our souls that this danger caused Christ, the Son of God, to go to the cross to deliver us from it. If you are an unbeliever in any of God’s word, you will hate the truth when brought to you. But if you are a child of God and you hear the evidence of reason, then you identify with Christ. Many of the elect will be deceived when they fail to distinguish between that which is spiritual and that which is worldly. Friendship diversions, entertainment diversions, spiritual diversions…these are the powerful regards that defraud your relationship with truth. Matthew 24:24 We will come in contact with the world, yet we are to retain our distinctive character and refuse to let the world press us into its mold. We should not hold the world in contempt. The many who know not God are ignorant of His redemptive grace. They know not the lines being drawn for joy or for woe. We are to help these come to know the course of this world. They are in the undertow to the will and way of God. We are to let them know they are involved in a spiritual conflict. This is a battle between the forces of God and the forces of Satan, and we and they are involved in it. All are asked to choose sides. Our relationship with the world is to be redemptive, not social. We are not of the world, but we are sent unto the world. As we embrace Jesus, we embrace the souls he died for. We are summoned to advance his cause.

God breathed in us the breath of life, His spirit. It was the image of God coming into us. In the beginning we had flesh, but we were born of the spirit. And it is through our breath, that our words take form. Our life is to be God speaking. Our God is ever close with us, for us, and to us. He is the air we breathe, His holy Presence in us. We can literally breathe in the Presence of God and be filled with His Spirit, with our every breath. This is not a one event. Have this thought with you…if you are breathing, what moments are you not filled with the Spirit? Read the very last verse of the Psalms. Do we not understand why God says, “that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures”? I Corinthians 2:11 Though the fingerprints of human cooperation are throughout the scripture, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, divinely breathed in. This was breathed into us from the beginning. The scripture, the Word of God is our life as we take it in. When you breathe it out and it does not return, you are dead. When we are being taught the truth of the word and the word does not return to you in truth…you are dead. Locked within our life, locked within the black and white and red of the written word of God, is the very heart and thought of the purposeful God. And even greater love is given us… John 6:63 We derive from that word, strength and comfort in our approaches to God, in our oppositions to sin and in our preparations for an eternity with Christ. Please do not mistake God’s word for the sake of satisfying what you think. The literal sense of the word does us no good, unless it is reasoned with God. We are the wiser for it, and the spiritual meaning when received, is instructive, it is powerful, it is the intimate knowledge of God made real. Spiritual minds relish every word of God…it is to the sensual mind that spiritual things are senseless. The mind is being parched when you hear not His reason. You are short of the empowering water of life…dry bones. When you fail to hear or choose not to hear, the experience and enjoyment of God, you reject the spirit of wisdom and understanding. Be leary of sinking into a cesspool of dispair. There is this part within man, inclined toward and that seeks after, God. It is the innate longing for truth within man’s human spirit. Fallen nature tries to hold it down, to suppress it. Spiritual reasoning with truth gives us insight into the unseen and spiritual matters of God. Exercise the mind…we take in deeper breaths. Use the faculty of understanding to look past the affliction of our environment to see the eternal weight of glory that is being added to us according to God’s purpose, when we reason through the spirit. When we exhale, speaking the word, giving of ourselves, we fan the flames of truth to burn brighter. Christ gave up the ghost that all of God became available to man. Our breaths are measured in moments, even moment-by-moment living. And in His essence and element, in union with His life and nature, God is now within us and progressively, as much as allowed, unites more and more with us. He is uplifting, sanctifying, and transforming the faculties. This is possible because of the joining together of the two spirits, the spirit breathed into us by God and the divine Holy Spirit, who intercedes for us, given unto us by Christ. An exceedingly profitable transaction! By these, we are empowered and equipped to live a life that glorifies Jesus. Think about life without the Holy Spirit…void, without form, darkness. This is that Comforter that without, we would not have the illumination of the written text whereby God’s will and His truth are demonstrated. John 6:53, 54 This is the “one blood” that unites all believers with God and Jesus as members of a family. It is the partaking of the Holy Spirit. Without this spiritual nourishment you have no life in you. It is of Adam that we share of the natural blood, and of Jesus that we have life through his spiritual blood. Natural blood cannot sustain spiritual life. Understand this – it was not the blood that gave man life, it was the spirit of God. Since it is the spirit that gives life, the “blood” that sustains eternal life must be spiritual. That “blood” is the Holy Spirit. The feast of Tabernacles is the last day feast of God’s people. John 7:37, 38, 39 Why did the people not understand? No reasoning with scripture. Genesis 9:4 Leviticus 17:10 And the results… John 6:66 There is a causal nature of understanding as it relates to the truth. Truth must be the primary goal. Proper appreciation for its importance must exact an obsession with faith. That is why God beckons us to come to Him to reason. Reasoning is the power to recover true beliefs from false or partially inaccurate inputs. Some inquirers, even if they happen to be unaware of the falsity of the view they have, may overcome error by having their position challenged with scripture alone…if they willingly reason. A natural starting point for investigating is to unrestrict attitudes while practicing patience. Accept points that are true enough to endeavor discussion. Presupposing the truth does not allow for preceptual explanation to refer to relevant texts. Had those spoken to by Jesus considered the relevant texts they would have gained understanding. There is this cause for astonishment for what seems strange…the aspect of God’s adoration providing new life, that together we might embrace this intimate oneness more fully by faith and experience. There is no joy in this world like union with Christ! And the confidence, power, and soul-satisfying joy of the presence of our exalted Redeemer develops a deeper grasp of what it means to be born again. This work of God is our spirits being composed into a very reverent and serious frame, our thoughts gathered in, and all that is within us charged in the name of the great God carefully to attend the solemn and awful service that lies before us, and to keep close to it, we must, with a fixed attention and application of mind and an active lively faith, always set the Lord before us, seeing his eye upon us, and setting ourselves in his special presence, presenting ourselves to him as living sacrifices, which we desire may be holy and acceptable to God. It is in this spirit, because God is the Lord, that we must bind this sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar, while calling to remembrance our faith, love, and hope, being assured of our election having received a favorble report, waiting for the advent of our Jesus. This is God making us that new seed, setting a new principle of life within us: the hatred of sin is the spirit of God residing within us. We are drawn into the parallel with God’s grace. In this, God’s eternal purpose toward us surpasses our limited human understanding. And now our walking in love, forbearance, humility of mind and heart, is more important than visible exploits. We become more teachable, having the controlled strength of the spirit. As believers we are to exert this strength to maintain the unity which binds us to Christ and to one another. This unity is worked out among us by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit. If we belong to Christ, our unity in the bond of peace is familial, spiritual, and eternal. God is not the Father of everyone. We must learn how to deal with turmoil we often find in the life. We must learn to focus on the strength of God moreso than the evils in this world. We must be reborn crucified to stay in death to our natural man. This is the reason we can understand the deep things of God. We are brought to the divine life in Christ, while in the spirit of humanity. We are to let go the things of the natural man, as we should turn to our spirit and live a life in the spirit of God. Christ as our faith is also our genuine righteousness. Therefore, we have the freedom to not go on sinning and we will not sin with deliberate intention, because we are born of God with His divine nature. Just as God is three in one, so made He us. God made us body, soul, and spirit. Our body is the part other people see. Our soul is the way we feel and act and think. Our spirit is the part of us that can love God and worship Him. The spirit of God that dwells in us is not personal. It is prepersonal. And it exudes a flavor of divinity, which is personal in the highest and infinite sense. It is this spirit that aids us in adjusting our thoughts. We need the Spirit of God to understand His Word, His truth, and all things that pertain to Him. We need the Spirit of God to give us wisdom for the moment because life is so often about the gray and not just the black-and-white, about the choice between two upright opportunities, not between the good and the bad options. It is the Holy Spirit that bears witness of this spirit, that we are truly sons and daughters of God. And if we are children of God we have the power to overcome all doubt, and this is the victory that overcomes all uncertainty, even our faith. This is that which is imparted from God. The spirit of God in us accords us discernment in the word of God regardless of where it appears to take origin. Divine truth must not be discounted because the path of its assignment is apparently human. Many of our brethren have minds which accept the theory of God, while they spiritually fail to realize the presence of God. And that is just the reason why Jesus so often taught us that understanding can best be realized by acquiring the spiritual attitude of a sincere child. It is not the mental immaturity of the child that he commended to us but rather the spiritual simplicity of a fully trusting, all believing, reasoning mind. This is the spirit of God breathed in us becoming the spirit of man. And the mind of man accordingly becomes the mediator between material things and spiritual realities. And by this, our concepts of the eternity and infinity of God are not disturbed. This spirit is the divine breath of God that brought life to dust. And the dust became a living soul. Christ was given life by the Holy Spirit and he is that quickening spirit to construct our resurrected life. The Holy Spirit is not the image of God. We were made in the image of God by the breath of God in us. That is why we can create. God gave us a spirit that we began with a bit of God’s character. Job 32:8 It is the living essence that connects us with God and will return to God when man dies. God’s spirit is perfect and unchanging. God did not breathe the Holy Spirit in us and so our spirit can be influenced by sin, by struggles, by pain, and by situations. We need Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith. We need the mind of Christ to do the will of God.

There is this key point received from this study…we should not trust our own judgment, but trust that God will reveal His judgment to us. The mystery for this church is that the messengers must have an enlightened viewpoint about the vast difference between being God’s people, or belonging to the world. Each letter is a personal message from Christ. As we study them, we should evaluate our own spiritual condition today, both as individual believers and as a last day people. We must reason with this message with the spiritual intensity to determine its content and conclusion, as related to the dignity of our destiny. This is the middle message to the churches...the heart of the messages. The text denotes that the very nature of God is present in the Son of God, but with a distinct and subordinate manner of subsistence. The title Son of God differs from Christ’s title in his previous exalted appearance to John, in which he was identified as the “Son of Man”. Though both titles underscore the deity of Christ, they emphasize something different. “Son of Man” emphasizes the humiliation of God in becoming a man – the perfect man who sympathizes with us in our human suffering and weakness. “Son of God” emphasizes the deity of Christ – the divine man who comes with the full authority and power of God. With this title, Christ suggests a strong and less sympathetic message to come. He has a penetrating, perfect knowledge, a thorough insight into the message delivered. Christ knows and sees the true, innermost thoughts, and spiritual condition of every person in a church. The implication is that Jesus makes a dire judgment on unrepentant sinners and he will make no mistakes. This promise of judgment has three parts, two of which are intended for her, and one that’s intended for those she has influenced to sin and haven’t repented. The bed of her immorality will become the bed of her suffering. This punishment implied great suffering in the last day. And his goings are providential concerning the commendation Christ gives of this church, ministry, and people. This imagery portrays Christ’s work of purging out immoral, ungodly teaching and influencers from the church, and contrasts sharply with the feet of clay in Daniel’s vision that portray the weak miry nature of the future world nations. Here Jesus refers to individuals in the church are never to allow for any spiritual compromise. If ever we’ve witnessed someone being led from the truth and were too stymied to respond, we have sinned. It is one thing to dispute doctrine, but a very different matter to establish one’s own views. The first works concerns the internal grace of the Holy Spirit that was working in the hearts of the believers in this church. Jesus sees the genuine love and faith operating. These people also had faith - they were trusting in God irrespective of their circumstances and that was evident in how they lived their lives. We see that explicitly in the second category of the “works” of this church - the external fruit they expressed. They were actually growing in their zeal. Jesus mentions both their “service and patient endurance.” This was a church active in ministry that arose from their love and faith. Thyatira was suffering opposition from the enemy, but they were not complaining. And if our last works are not greater than our first works, they are only dead works. And if our works are dead, so then is our faith. No spirit in them. This is that falling away. Thyatira was a strange mix of very strong elements and some very weak elements. How can that be?   It sounds impossible…until we look into our own hearts! The church at Thyatira illustrates that even living as a believer, we have encounters with the nature of sin so deep and pervasive in us that, even in a comparatively strong individual believer, serious sin is often present alongside healthy elements. We must understand that our sin is so evil and so tenacious that it can strongly manifest itself even in comparatively healthy individuals. On an individual level, this is why we should never be surprised when we see ourselves or other believers do and say things that seem completely out of character, with what we’ve seen in the past. Sin is so stubborn and tenacious that if we aren’t actively warring against our sin, it can bubble up in our souls at any time and reveal this kind of inconsistency in a believer. Notice the similar condemnation as given to Pergamos. Why? In the last days God’s people will experience a mighty struggle with idolatry and sexual immorality. Yet, even though they have similar afflictions, Jesus counsels them individually. We must not forget that each of the letters to the seven churches in the Revelation was read to ALL the seven churches. These letters in chapters two and three were part of a larger letter, the book of Revelation. And this larger letter was circulated to each of these individual churches. That means that, for Thyatira to read what Christ said to Pergamum would have encouraged them to know that they were not uniquely evil - other churches were struggling as well, and they could learn from how Jesus responded to them as well. Likewise, when the loving believers of Thyatira reads the letter to the loveless church in Ephesus, it would have put them on notice that, the love you have now and that is even growing, it can grow cold in a very short time. Learn from what happened in Ephesus. We think Balaam was a corrupt collaborator, why do we suffer the woman Jezebel…idolatry and sexual immorality is a big deal. As a holy people, we should hate this sin and seek to kill it. We are not to tolerate or peacefully cohabit with sin - our own or other believers in the church. The amazing truth is - in spite of its clear strengths, the church in Thyatira was tolerating gross, unholy living in some of her people. They were somewhat indifferent to this. When we become silent about things that must matter, we begin to loose life. We are afraid we will lose our relations, so we sit idly by and allow ignorance and even error to infiltrate the body. Faith, hope and love didn’t insulate them from this weakness. Truth was the lacking strength needed. This woman was that manipulative power behind the throne that influenced professing believers to refuse to reason with the word of God. They swayed from the word of truth. Jezebel is that church, that group of protestant organizations that deliver counterfeit truths to the people. Rome is a church. It is the beast. America will form an image to this church, this beast. America is a Jezebel. Jesus indicates that those who sinned with her as a result of her teaching are still given some time to repent. Israel was given 40 years to repent from crucifying Jesus, to stoning Stephen, to the destruction of Jerusalem. God is far more patient with those who have been lied to, than He is to the people that are lying. But Jesus will eventually give the ultimate punishment to Jezebel’s “children” or, her followers. Jesus not only gives the consequences of his judgment, he also gives his motivation for making this judgment so outwardly manifest: all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. What he does, not only demonstrates his justice, but is for the good of the other churches. But do we understand the implication of completely adhering to truth. Jesus says he will put upon us none other burden and we will have power over the nations. Brothers and sisters, that truth says our greatest test is coming from those who say they worship, they study with us. And if we do not give way to the influence of those who fail to reason with, disregard or discard any of the word, and we persevere in genuine faith, we have a place of authority in God’s purpose. We must deeply grieve over sin. Are we failing in our obligation to address the errors among us? Hearing the Spirit and the word, must convict and convince us in all things pertaining to life, pertaining to God.

We are at the end of time. And the event between time and eternity, is the cross. What Jesus did for us, was the beginning of what we are doing, and the end of what was done. We are moving forward, one moment, by one moment. Everything in scripture for us points to eternity. And everything within us cries out for it. God has set eternity in our hearts yet we cannot fathom what He has done from beginning to end. He made us to live in eternity and His work with us is not finished. Bible study must take priority in the life. It is how we maintain our connection with God through His written Word. It reminds us of His character, promises, our dependence on Him, and His workings to bring us to be with Him, forever. Study also deepens and expands our understanding of specific bible passages, so that we may sort through hard concepts and receive insight into the context of the truth, not just by the letter, but as guided by the Spirit. It keeps us from twisting the truth for our own purposes. That is why everything presented must be linked truth with truth. If there can be any concept inserted that does not conform to the pattern of truth, then something is out of order. Every time the word of God is studied, there will be new instruction found, a further penetration into truth. The word of God offers us a perspective that most human voices are afraid to advance. Where the bible gives us trouble that we must struggle with until the breaking of the day, a consort of the enemy, clothed as a friend, wants to give us smooth ground to walk. I would ask that we take a serious moment and reason with the following statement. God promised to give to us a blessing out of all proportion to the little that is required of us. If we would obey, we would have everlasting life; we would never die. And we had the full assurance of everlasting life because we did not know evil. We had knowledge and we had a holy character. Now consider the fact that we still do not obey, yet God’s promise still holds true. Now , with that unbelievable negotiation remaining in force for us, I ask that we understand why we are, where we are today, by answering some questions. Did God want to save all? Did Jesus die on the cross for all? Do God and Jesus know all things? Did God have a way to do what He wanted? God alone made arrangement. Man had no part in the making of the arrangement. The arrangement was called the “covenant of grace”. The word “covenant” means a disposition or an arrangement. The word “grace” means favored power not to sin. The grace of God is divine favor, manifested to sinners who choose obedience to God’s word. Psalms 89:2-4 Man must either accept the arrangement God has made or receive no covenant at all. The “covenant of grace,” then, is that arrangement whereby God planned to save man from the just consequences of his sin, and it is by His mercy that man’s life is prolonged to come to repentance. Did God purpose to save all mankind? Did God know that without force He could not save all? Did Jesus know that not all would accept the cost he paid? God's purpose, then, in devising the covenant of grace, was not for the purpose of saving all of mankind, but rather a portion of mankind. In eternity God chose from among fallen mankind, those whom he purposed to save. Ephesians 1:4, 5 Romans 8:30 If God purposed to save all mankind and failed in His purpose, God ceases to be God and Satan wins. God has an elect people, and there are others who are not elect. God did not make any man to be non-elect. That is man’s choice. Any rejection of God’s way puts you in opposition to God’s love, and opposition to God’s love, is hate. Man fits himself. If, then, we try to give the same reason for election and non-election, we make sad work of it. If we will just pause and take one thing at a time, and look to God's Word, we will not go wrong. Romans 9:22 This plan as conceived in eternity and revealed in time, contained three elements. God’s promises, God’s grace, and God’s Son are the elements of the covenant. Promised forgiveness and life eternal. Included in this promise to be our God, are all the more specific blessings of the covenant of grace such as justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification. The one requirement that God in this covenant made of man was faith – we must believe. God’s purpose for us is that our lives become an expression of His Son lived in and through us. Our calling and election made sure - destined for everlasting, all-satisfying praise of the infinitely beautiful God. Your choice, as it was known by God from before all things, is not God’s choosing but God confirming, based on God’s foreknowledge, which preceded predestination of what you would choose, based upon that necessary faith given you, which is your responsibility. With this is the truth made clear…both the sovereignty of God, and the responsibility of each individual, are evident in his or her being so greatly blessed to be chosen by God. God’s determination was completed in counsel. So today, this day, what is your determination seeing that you have the ultimate power of choice. We are not common in God’s hand. Are you today favored? Are you graven upon his hand in blood? We do not know what to wonder at most; the faithfulness of God or our unbelief. For if we truly believed, we’d live as being chosen. Truth must stir our admiration. We have a theme for marveling. All in heaven and on earth may well be astonished, that such as us, should obtain aforesaid closeness to the heart of infinite love, as to be written on the palms of His hands. The Word does not say he has graven “your name” …it says he has graven “you”. Consider the depth of this! “He has engraved your person, your image, your circumstances, everything about you, all that concerns you; He has put all of this together whereby He has chosen you.

It is important for us to provide a biblical response to the questions asked because we live in a world where, increasingly, revealed divine truth is vehemently rejected. Truth is the ultimate determinant of reality. And the reality is that in the end, all truth is God’s truth, and the reason why anything is objectively, universally, immutably, and authoritatively true, is because it flows from the source of all truth: God Himself. Truth in thought and speech is predicated upon the uprightness in understanding the word of God. Hence, truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, and being of God, whose very nature is truth. It thus comes as no surprise that the bible speaks of truth as that which is revealed from God to man. Furthermore, because God is eternal and immutable, the truth is true everywhere, all the time, and under all considerations. Yet, let us never confuse perfect, divine and unchanging truth with the speculations claimed to be truth in the minds of some. This is one reason why God, through reasoning and special revelation, self-discloses His Word of truth so we can always refer back to what God said, His every word, and therefore know what is really the truth. God’s people are to be wise and informative enough to know the difference between what is fact and what is truth. I like this illustration because it highlights the faith of a person in the word of God. Faith assents to the truth of something precisely and only because it is revealed by God as first, truth. And truth of faith parallels the moral and spiritual effects it has in the true believer. Faith removes condemnation and judgement completely and leaves us with a deep rooted unshakeable belief that God’s truth is progressing…it will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and His work is done. Here’s the illustration; it is a fact that God said “I change not”, and that is true because God said so. But it’s a factual truth, not the ultimate truth. Truth is the broader concept of fact. Truth qualifies a fact. Truth is the higher standard by which facts are judged. Fact tells us that we are human, having red blood cells. Truth tells us that we were made in the image of God, having the spirit of God, and have a specific purpose. So, although there may be a distinction between fact and truth, there is not a separation. Else, how would a Spirit become flesh, or how would the Holy Spirit be made like unto the Son of God. That’s truth and we know that God’s character, as in both Christ and Melchisedec, cannot change as His covenant of promise stands in truth. God’s truth is a Person, Jesus, who is divine truth in the flesh. Christ is heavenly, spiritual truth taking earthly, material form. To know the truth means more than knowing measured facts; it means knowing something superior. To be precise, it means knowing Someone who is supreme: Jesus Christ. Know all the facts you desire; they will never save you. God’s truth is coherent and singular. No part of it will oppose another part. God’s ultimate truth can only be known by revelation from a divine mind to a creature who has the ability to reason; that communication is not merely an opinion, because a sovereign God reveals truth that is absolute. This is why, by logical necessity, absolute truth requires God. Without Him, there cannot be an absolute anything. Absolute truth also means that anything that contradicts it is an absolute lie. Absolute truth is never partial and never subjective; where real truth exists, I cannot have my truth and you cannot have yours. Truth has to be God’s. Not based on personal opinion nor is it formalized over time by tradition. And it is certainly not discovered by personal feelings or intuition. This is how it is truth that brings unity or division. Jesus is one complete God-Man; He doesn’t come to us in separate parts. There is never a truth somewhere out there disconnected from the whole. Truth divides because some listen to the deception of the enemy. But truth is the only thing that brings true unity. Truth is not meant to promote some type of spirit of tolerance. Truth impacts a person’s hope with the savor of life unto life or death unto death. Be very leery of seeking unity for the sake of unity. Why the messages to the seven churches…for each church certain truths were lost as the people turned to the beliefs of their own souls. Division is the result of believers not fully embracing truth.   Whenever one rejects a certain truth, he cannot advance any further on the path of truth. Rejection of truth comes when a person follows their own will, thoughts, and beliefs over God’s word. We can't just know the truth. Jesus says that we must first abide in his word. We study, meditate, and accept his word; whether we like it or not. Once we accept his word over our own will, it will become apart of us. When the word has become apart of us, we are abiding in it. When we are abiding in his word, we maintain a union with him. If any choose not to believe in certain aspects of his word for whatever reason, they have not abided in his word. If they have not abided in his word, they are not his. And if they are not his, they will not know the full truth. Much of the people are in a place of knowing some truth, but no longer advancing in truth; because of their unwillingness to abide in the word. Because of this, there is division in the body of Christ. There is a false unity coming. Jesus made hard sayings that he clearly made to divide those who were not sincere in their following him. These were not able to accept the truth, because they had blinded themselves from the truth. It is not okay for us to be divided over doctrine. We must wait for the Lord's unity, for it will surely come. These will be the Lamb's remnant who loves truth more than themselves. We were brought forth as the people of God to maintain unity in the truth for the cause of God. What the truth gives in matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, division; but in all things, love. We have a moral and spiritual obligation to have “the same mind” and “the same judgment” in matters of faith. Though opinion is a liberty, it means that one is not bound by moral obligation, rules of evidence, or principles. I Corinthians 1:10 God’s chosen will hold to the concept of sound doctrine. Heaven is the proof of the high value that God places on harmony as opposed to contrariness. SOP – (excerpt) If our church members cannot live in harmony here, how can they live in harmony in heaven? {17MR 294.5} SOP – (excerpt) So long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of love, there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God. It was the joy of the heavenly host to fulfill the purpose of their Creator. They delighted in reflecting His glory and showing forth His praise. And while love to God was supreme, love for one another was confiding and unselfish. There was no note of discord to mar the celestial harmonies. {CTr 9.2} We seek the truth to know the truth to believe the truth to love the truth to teach the truth unitedly - the truth about every subject taught in the Word of God. There is to be no division. This is necessary to conclude the whole matter.

Is the whole bible, the truth? Please allow me to answer that question and why it is so. The bible is not just a book. It is a unique library that has recorded historical propheticness. And its comprehensive exactness proves that God sets no man to pronounce judgment of His word. What speaks of the destiny of nations: past, present, and future? What details events hundreds, thousands of years before they occurred? What is written that validates history? What described the plight of a whole people and the horrendous circumstances of their lives in a distant land? What speaks to the conflicts of human whims or the outcome of human ambition? Dare I say that it is the truth of the word of God that bears witness to God? Let our inquiry be ‘what does the scripture say.’ It is our faith that has this reality of the bible’s referent power. This reality is a divine mystery. It is the gift of God’s self to humanity, the invitation to encounter the Triune. The bible is the entirety of our treasure on earth, and we are to be aware of the distinct coins of principle. These are truths of pre-vision of future events and inspired insight into the trend of history as a development of a single great purpose. SOP - The Bible is written by inspired men, but it is not God's mode of thought and expression. It is that of humanity. God, as a writer, is not represented. Men will often say such an expression is not like God. But God has not put Himself in words, in logic, in rhetoric, on trial in the Bible. The writers of the Bible were God's penmen, not His pen. Look at the different writers. {1SM 21.1} It is not the words of the Bible that are inspired, but the men that were inspired. Inspiration acts not on the man's words or his expressions but on the man himself, who, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, is imbued with thoughts. But the words receive the impress of the individual mind. The divine mind is diffused. The divine mind and will is combined with the human mind and will; thus the utterances of the man are the word of God.-- Manuscript 24, 1886 (written in Europe in 1886). {1SM 21.2} SOP – The Lord speaks to human beings in imperfect speech, in order that the degenerate senses, the dull, earthly perception, of earthly beings may comprehend His words. Thus is shown God's condescension. He meets fallen human beings where they are. The Bible, perfect as it is in its simplicity, does not answer to the great ideas of God; for infinite ideas cannot be perfectly embodied in finite vehicles of thought. Instead of the expressions of the Bible being exaggerated, as many people suppose, the strong expressions break down before the magnificence of the thought, though the penman selected the most expressive language through which to convey the truths of higher education. Sinful beings can only bear to look upon a shadow of the brightness of heaven's glory.--Letter 121, 1901. Have you ever been presenting the truth of the Word to someone, and suddenly they deny it. Are we to compromise truth for the sake of unity or is truth to be the source of our unity? Should we be divided by truth, or united in error? How do we test everything to see if it is truth or not. Be Berean in word, deed, and power. There are few things that so effectively undermine the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world today, as division among those who call themselves Christ's ones... Would you sacrifice truth for unity? Why would we refuse to listen to the plea of the Holy Spirit? Why refuse to reason with God to come to the same mind in the same judgement? This evolves out of a heart that is in a right attitude toward Christ first and foremost, and also in a right attitude to brethren and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says he came to bring division…why. Luke 12:51 Most study the bible seeking to gain an outward possession of peace on earth. That is a supposition embraced by those who do not reason with the word of God. They fail to understand diverse passages of truth that unite the old testament’s concealments, with the new testament’s revelations. But Christ’s words show them to be mistaken, the events declare the contrary. Because of sin, the effect of the teaching of the whole truth of the bible will be division .  The design of the gospel and its proper tendency are to unite the people of God to one another, to knit them together in holy love, and, if all would receive it, this would be the effect of it; but there being multitudes that not only will not receive it, but oppose it, and have their corruptions exasperated by it, and are enraged at those that do receive it, it proves, though not the cause, yet the occasion of division. But when the power of truth is taught, many are enlightened by it, and turn from the power of Satan to God, then there is a disturbance, a noise and a shaking ,  for good. Ezekiel 37:7 Some will distinguish themselves for God by embracing the truth through reasoning, and others grow angry that they do so. There will be different sentiments in the things of God, which will occasion division ;  and Christ permits it for holy ends. This division will reach into private families, and the teaching of the word will give occasion for discord among the nearest relations. Luke 12:52, 53 The one that continues in unbelief will be provoked, and will avoid, hate, and persecute the one, that by faith and obedience, studies and hears the word. Unbelief and disobedience is self condemnation. A spirit of narrow mindedness will break through the strongest bonds of relation and natural affection. You want to see anger stirred…teach the truth! When you stand for the truth, no care about how much love you show, your enemy will be revealed. Do not let the revelation of these surprise you. Keep your self worthy of Jesus. Seek his truth in his word. It must be our utmost priority regardless of the cost. Matthew 10:34 What is this sword…the word of God. All of Christ’s teachings. Truth draws a line…a line of choice that builds in the unity of faith, the body of Christ. Truth is never obscure. It is Jesus and the One whom he sent. I John 5:6 And who is this Spirit? II Corinthians 3:17 To even reason with God for the truth we must go through Jesus. And our striving is for unity…unity of the Spirit. John 14:6 Ephesians 4:3 If unity is not in truth, then it is in error. Babel was unity, that’s fact. But was its unity based in truth? The truth divides and unifies. The people called by God have the courage to always inquire further by asking the right questions to get to the right source of what is said. We are not to let our assumptions about what God says guide us, we are to let His truth determine our spiritual journey. We sometimes place more emphasis on what we want to be true rather than the truth that God has provided for us in His Word. Are we guilty of, at times, wanting to bend God to our will rather than having Him conform us to His? Sometimes we approach God’s Word with our fingers in our ears shouting "no" when He wants us to learn of Him. There is an abundance of misunderstandings about God out there. The bible is inspired by God, and authoritative for faith and practice. To deny any of the word of God is to deny faith and without faith, all doings are unpleasurable to God. This is how and why God’s people are separate from the world. It is certainly crucially consequentially ceaselessly detemined that we discern and distinguish truth from error, to enter into the kingdom. We must avoid mishandling the word of God. We must learn how to hold the truth with certainty and persuasion while affirming the clarity of scripture, for not every doctrine is equally clear. Therefore, it always is right to speak slowly, hear fully, and to engage entirely all discussions with instruction to show thyself approved unto God at the forefront of our minds. That said, there are some secondary truths which are not to be eclipsed or denied. For they are necessary to the commitment of the primary truth. Truth is not based upon an independent silo of thought, it must be recognized in its connection to alltruth. By God’s grace, when truth is found in one place, it will be carried in another place. This is why as a principle of reasoning God’s thoughts after Him, it must be recognized that the views we hold that are arrived at through study, do interpenetrate one another. One truth is to inform us of other truths…and rightly understood; God will preserve us from a world of errors. No truth is minimized and all truth reminds us that we first and foremost stand united for God, in Christ, by his word, and the eternal realities of heaven. By this we are better equipped to discuss differences with people and to share the gospel. God grants us wisdom to rightly divide His Word, and separate ourselves from those who abide in error, even as we prayerfully and compassionately attempt to draw them to truth as it is in Jesus Christ, regardless of their current doctrinal convictions. None are above the spiritual knowledge or the spiritual experiences of Christ as written in the word. The spiritual's spirituality will be evidenced in humility and in unity; and carnality will be evidenced in pride and divisiveness. Christ is not divided. Bible believers who are born-again by the Spirit of God are able to come together in community. Biblical balance is found in the sanctuarial truth. We must stand and be divided, but also be united with those in Christ.