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Teaching
TEACHINGS:
1. LIVING SACRIFICIES
2. THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND WITH FIRE
3. THE KINGDOM OF GOD, ETC.
4. IN HIS LIKENESS
Scroll down to view all teachings.
LIVING SACRIFICIES
BY LANNY SWAIM
We all know the story of Joseph and his rise from being sold into slavery by his brothers to becoming second in command to the most powerful king on earth at that time. This promotion granted him much authority and brought him much wealth; and it was brought about because of a coming famine (comparable to bad economic times today) in Egypt and the surrounding countries.
As you know, God gave Joseph the interpretation of two dreams that Pharaoh had; which were that there would be seven years of plenty in Egypt followed by the seven years of famine. Joseph suggested to Pharaoh that barns be built to store grain during the seven years of plenty, which would then carry not only Egypt but surrounding nations through the famine, bringing finances into Egypt from the surrounding nations. Pharaoh liked this idea and put Joseph in charge of carrying it out.
This whole scenario not only got Joseph delivered from prison, where he was serving a sentence for being falsely accused; but it saved that part of the world from famine, including his father and the brothers that had sold him into slavery thirteen years before he was promoted in Egypt.
Joseph went from the dungeon to the palace in one day. Saints, I believe we are a Joseph generation. Like Joseph, many of us have experienced many severe tests and trials as God has been preparing and positioning us for the time that is now at hand. Through this process, he has been bringing us to maturity, building his own character in us. We have been learning to trust him completely and as a result, he can now trust us completely; or at least to the degree that we presently trust him.
Proverbs 13:22 tells us that the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. The sinner has the call of God on his life to store up wealth for us and it is about to change accounts. It happened when Moses led Israel out of Egypt and it is about to happen again. Like Joseph went from the dungeon to the palace in one day, Israel went from being slaves in a foreign land to being a wealthy nation in one day.
This transfer of wealth from the world’s system into the Kingdom of God has been prophesied for quite some time and you can be assured the devil knows about it. In fact, he has known about it since Proverbs 13:22 was written and he is aware that prophets of God have been speaking it into existence in our generation. You can also be assured that he will do everything he can to stop it from happening. He knows the damage mature sons of God (Romans 8:19) with much wealth and authority will do to his kingdom.
I believe September 11, 2001 was a major attempt on his part to abort God’s purposes for the true church, the United States of America and the world.
I was having lunch with my brother, Dwane, recently. He is a paint contractor in High Point, NC. He was telling me about the financial difficulties he has been dealing with in his business since 9-11. He made the comment that something happened that day in the spirit realm that has come against the economy of this nation and the world, effecting large and small businesses.
In September of 2001 I was a paint contractor in the Wilmington, NC area. Like many people that day, I remember exactly where I was when my wife called me and told me to turn on the radio. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It wasn’t long after that my business began to suffer financially. I had a good business with a good reputation and should have been making money but for months I just couldn’t make enough to make ends meet. I would borrow a little here or a little there to make payroll or pay bills, thinking I would pay it back when I collected from whatever job I was on; only to have something come up to take the profit from that job and more. I soon found myself thousands and thousands of dollars in debt and could see no way of paying it back. I needed a miracle, which I prayed for, confessed and believed would come to pass but it didn’t. Finally, while in Portugal in 2003 with Miguel Escobar, I heard the Lord tell me to get out of the painting business.
In the third chapter of 2 Kings, Israel was in a battle with Moab. In verses 26 and 27 we are told that the king of Moab saw he could not prevail against Israel. So he took his eldest son, the heir to his throne, and offered him as a sacrifice. Suddenly the battle turned and Israel retreated back to their land. What the king of Moab could not accomplish militarily, one spiritual human sacrifice accomplished. Even though Elisha the prophet had given Israel the word of the Lord, saying that he would deliver Moab into their hand; this human sacrifice released great wrath against Israel causing them to flee from their enemy.
The Islamic religion teaches and believes they have a mandate from their gods to conquer the world and they are willing to sacrifice their sons to accomplish it. The sacrifice of their sons carries with it great spiritual power. Think about it. What were their targets on 9-11? The twin towers in New York City; the symbol of our wealth and our economy. The Pentagon; the symbol of our military might. And possibly the White House or Capitol Building, the symbol of our government and the free world.
Look at what has happened since 9-11. Our economy has been on a fast track down the toilet. While the events of that day brought great military wrath from the United States and our allies during the Bush administration, the present administration is determined to downsize our military and free terrorists. And with the present political policies being quickly put in place, we are on a fast track into fascism and socialism, very quickly loosing the freedoms so many have bravely and sacrificially fought and died for.
In the natural it appears there is little or no hope. Political conservatives are voicing opinions and trying to rally the voters for the next elections but many have given up on the Republican Party and don’t seem to know exactly what to do. The politicians in power either have no clue as to how to deal with the present financial crisis or they have a hidden agenda which seems to be rushing us toward a world currency. Everyday we become more vulnerable to terrorist and/or military attack; however, neither may be necessary as our enemies conquer us economically. In the mean time, individuals and businesses continue to suffer.
And there is another element here. Not only are our enemies willing to sacrifice their sons to conquer us, our own people are willing to sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god of pleasure. A million babies every year are murdered in the womb, taking the United States farther and farther away from the Godly principles we were founded on. I’m not saying America hasn’t committed other sins down through the years but whoever thought that a mother would campaign and fight for the right to kill her own child. Incredible.
So, is there any hope? What is the answer?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans 12:1-2
God sacrificed his firstborn to once and for all bring redemption to creation. We appropriate that redemption by becoming living sacrifices, which is not some great or noble thing we do, it is simply our reasonable service. While modern day spiritual, human sacrifices carry much power in the spiritual realm that play out in many ways in the natural realm; no curse brought on by these sacrifices is in any way comparable to the sacrifice of Jesus. The apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the church at Rome, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, ‘Cursed is every on that hangeth on a tree:’ that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles (nations) through Jesus Christ.”
Had Israel completely understood who they were (God’s chosen/blessed) and completely trusted in their God (the Almighty God), they would not have been effected by the sacrifice of the eldest son of the Moabite king. The reason we (believers) have suffered with the world since 9-11 is simply because we have not known who we are (God’s chosen/blessed) and have had more trust in the world’s system than we have had in our God. The world’s system is a debt system and with or without 9-11 it was destined to fall sooner or later. A debt economy is a false economy. Once a debt economy begins to collapse it is impossible to get out of debt by borrowing more and more. To believe in that policy is ignorance gone to seed.
Saints, it is time for us to come out of the world’s system. Yes, we are still in the world but we are not of the world.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Jesus in John 17:15-17
We are still in the world and we still do business in the world but we must stop looking to the world’s system to meet our needs. We must start operating according to Kingdom principals, which we find in the Word of God. What did Jesus say?
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit (the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22); so shall ye be my disciples.
John 15:7-8
We must abide, live in, become one with him and his words must abide, live in, become one with us. We must bear much fruit, which is only possible as the character of God himself becomes developed in us making us like him. We are not only made in his image being his representatives on earth, we are being made in his likeness (Genesis 1:26-27) having his character and becoming the love that he is (1 John 4:8, 16). This empowers us to walk in all the authority of the name of Jesus, having overcome the world.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Jesus in John 16:33
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us, God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
1 John 4:16-17
We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God supersedes all other governments of the world. As citizens of the Kingdom we are carriers of the blessing of Abraham. God promised Abraham the nations (Genesis 17:4). We too have a mandate from our God to conquer the world. Not by acts of war and terrorism or by sacrificing our sons but by becoming living sacrifices, carriers of the blessing, walking in love; operating in faith and obedience according to Kingdom principals.
One of the greatest examples of this I know of is my friend, DeCarol Williamson. DeCarol is founder of FCN, a Christian television and radio network currently covering all of the Americas, the Caribbean and Spain, reaching 100,000,000 homes 24/7; plus reaching the world via the Internet. Recently the Lord told him to go to Rwanda and establish a facility there to broadcast into Africa, India and China. At the time he received instructions to go to Rwanda, genocide was taking place in that nation. Rwandans killing Rwandans. Several times DeCarol bought a plane ticket to go and the Lord said, “Not yet.” Finally, the Lord said, “Go.”
DeCarol purchased nine acres of land on top of a mountain. God had to change the laws of the nation of Rwanda in order for him to be able to do that. Rwanda didn’t allow foreigners to buy property in their nation. As DeCarol has established the television facility there, Rwanda has become one of the safest places on earth. Amazing. He simply heard and obeyed God as a carrier of the blessing and a nation changed for the better in the process. And now he is being invited by the leaders of other African nations to come and talk with them.
In the natural things may look bad but saints, we are in the most exciting time in all of history so far. We are about to witness the greatest expansion of the Kingdom of God the world has ever known. Surely we were born for such a time as this (Esther 4:14).
The secret is in hearing and obeying; operating according to Kingdom principles instead of according the debt system of the world. We must walk in faith which works by love (Galatians 5:6). I believe God will give us wisdom to operate our businesses and ministries successfully. I believe he will give us new ideas that will prosper us. And I believe he will continue to give us progressive revelation enabling us to better walk in and become one with him and his Word; having his character, operating in his authority, prospering in all we do (1 Kings 2:3, Psalm 1:3).
Hallelujah! All glory to God!!!
BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
AND WITH FIRE
BY LANNY SWAIM
In Scripture, Jesus is given several different titles or names. Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years before Jesus came about his coming. In Isaiah 9:6 we read, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son in given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Many places in Scripture Jesus is referred to as Christ, or as the Christ. Christ is an English version of a Greek word, Christos, which means “the anointed one”.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus is referred to as the Son of God and as the Son of Man.
In Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16 and John 1:33 Jesus is referred to as the baptizer with the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost in the King James Version of the Bible. The accounts of Matthew and Luke add “and with fire”.
Luke 19:10 tells us that Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. But that’s not all he came to do. Each account of the four Gospels in the Bible makes it clear that Jesus also came to baptize with the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1:5 Jesus said, “For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” Then in verse 8 he says, “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” In Luke 24:49 Jesus told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high.
Acts 2:1-4 says, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them colven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
The rest of chapter two tells us that people visiting Jerusalem somehow heard about this phenomenon the disciples were experiencing. It evidently lasted for some time because many came and witnessed it for themselves. Then Peter stood up and preached to those that had gathered. That day about three thousand people were added to the Kingdom of God.
In Acts 2:38-39 Peter said as he was preaching, “”Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
That tells me that the promise of the Holy Spirit was not just for those present that day, or just for that generation but is for us today just as much as it was for them.
Some Christians think that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit when we are born again. They refer to John 20:22 that says, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Scriptures I have already mentioned make it clear that the baptism with the Holy Spirit was another action in addition to this breathing on them when he said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
I believe the disciples were actually born again when Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Without the Holy Spirit no one gets born again. It takes a revelation of the Holy Spirit for us to believe that Jesus is and that God raised him from the dead. This is not something we can arrive at with head knowledge. Our intellect just cannot grasp it. It has to be revealed to our spirit by the Holy Spirit. So in a sense we do receive the Holy Spirit when we are born again. But the baptism with the Holy Spirit is another thing.
In the eighth chapter of Acts we read about Philip going to Samaria and preaching Jesus to them. Many of them received the message Philip was preaching and were evidently born again because Philip baptized many of them in water. But for some unknown reason, Philip didn’t pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had received Jesus, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they laid their hands on the new believers and they received the Holy Spirit.
In Acts, the nineteenth chapter, we are told that the apostle Paul went to Ephesus and found some believers there. He asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed. They said, “We have not heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” Verse six says, “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”
The Bible makes it clear that as Christians we need the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus made it clear that power will come on us after we receive the Holy Spirit. Can you be a Christian and not be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Yes. Can you get to heaven without being baptized with the Holy Spirit? Yes. But you will fall short of the power that God has provided for you to be an effective witness to a lost and dying world. And you will probably fall short of the power you need to live as a victorious life.
When we receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit we receive the ability to operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us that there are different gifts but the same Spirit and different administrations of those gifts but the same Lord. He goes on to say that there are different operations of the gifts but that God causes all of them to work. Then he lists nine gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1. The word of wisdom.
2. The word of knowledge.
3. The gift of faith.
4. Gifts of healing.
5. Working of miracles.
6. Prophecy.
7. Discernment of spirits.
8. Different kinds of tongues.
9. Interpretation of tongues.
These are not natural gifts or talents that are given to individuals but supernatural or spiritual abilities that operate as they are needed and as the Spirit leads.
These are not gifts to the individual operating them but they are gifts to the Church. They are given to profit and build up the Church. They are expressions of God’s love to the Church.
In the Biblical accounts of people receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit, the evidence that they have received it is that they speak with tongues or in languages they have not learned. Sometimes this can be languages known on earth but most of the time it seems to be heavenly languages.
I don’t know that any gift of the Spirit can be considered any more important than another but in 1 Corinthians Paul gives some indication that tongues is the least of the gifts. If that is the case, doesn’t it stand to reason that tongues would be the first gift received.
Sometimes people ask if one has to speak in tongues in order to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. We receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit the same way we receive anything else from God. It is by faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. So is the ability to speak in tongues really the evidence that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit?
I believe the initial evidence that we are baptized with the Holy Spirit is our faith. Jesus says in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” When do we believe that we receive them? When we pray.
So if you pray for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, believing that you receive it, I think you have it. However, once you have received it by faith, I think you will speak in tongues and operate in the other gifts of the Spirit as there is a need to and as you are led by the Spirit to do so.
Jesus indicated that miraculous signs should follow the preaching of the Word. We need the baptism with the Holy Spirit to operate in the miraculous.
I was born again in the spring of 1970 when I was nineteen years old. That summer I received the baptism with the Holy Spirit and spoke in a language I had not learned. Since that time I have operated in all the gifts of the Spirit at various times. I have seen many miracles when I have operated in the power of the Holy Spirit.
This teaching is not intended to be an in-depth study of the gifts of the Spirit but I think we should look a little more closely at the gift of tongues.
Sometimes in a meeting where the gifts of the Spirit are allowed to operate, a message in tongues will be given. When there is a message in tongues, an interpretation should always follow. The interpretation can be given by the one that gave the message in tongues or by someone else. It should be noted that this is not a translation but an interpretation. The one giving the interpretation doesn’t understand what was said in tongues but speaks the interpretation as the Spirit reveals what to say.
Another kind of tongues is praying in tongues. We don’t always know exactly what to pray or how to pray. We can pray in tongues knowing that the Spirit is praying through us a perfect prayer. He is enabling us to pray exactly what needs to be prayed. We may be aware of what we are praying for or we may not. We may even be praying for someone we don’t even know.
We can also praise God in tongues. Many times my English fails to express the love, adoration, praise and worship that is in my heart for my heavenly Father and my Lord Jesus. What a joy it is to be able to praise and worship him in tongues. Often, I even sing a heavenly melody in tongues.
The first time I ever heard singing in tongues I was in a room with about three hundred other people. We had been singing little praise choruses. There came a time of quietness in the room as we all worshipped the Lord without saying anything. Suddenly and spontaneously the room erupted into the most beautiful singing I had ever heard. There were many voices singing different words and different melodies that all flowed together and seemed to take us right into the throne room of heaven. I thought it was angels. My eyes were closed and I opened them expecting to see the room full of angels, only to realize it was the people in the room making this beautiful music. This went on for a few minutes and then suddenly and spontaneously it stopped. No one directed it. No one orchestrated it except the Holy Spirit himself.
Before ending this teaching I want to touch on one more thing. The Scripture talks of being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
In Ezekiel 1:27-28, Ezekiel is describing a vision he has seen of the Lord on his throne. He says, “And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, and when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord. He describes it as having the appearance of fire. I believe the fire that is spoken of as accompanying the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the glory of the Lord. When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit we are also baptized with the glory of the Lord.
God’s glory can manifest in many different ways, just as the Holy Spirit manifest in many different ways through different gifts. The Hebrew word for glory also translates as goodness. So the two words are interchangeable. God’s glory is his goodness and his goodness is his glory. His glory can manifest in very spectacular, supernatural ways and it can manifest almost unnoticed at times and in very practical ways.
When you are baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, people will notice a difference about you. They may not know what it is, but they will be drawn to you because the glory of God rests on you and dwells in you.
When you are baptized with fire, or with the glory of God, you will experience a deeper level of intimacy in your relationship with God. In times of praise and worship his presence will become much more real to you and you may even experience manifestations of his glory that cross over from the spiritual realm into the natural realm.
I have been in meetings during times of worship and have seen gold dust appear on people and things. I have seen oil running out of people’s hands and I have sweat oil out of my forehead. I have smelled a sweet smell come into the room. In one meeting I was in, a lady’s metal fillings in her teeth turned to gold. I frequently hear angels singing. Some people see a cloud come into the room. Often people cannot stand but fall to the floor. Some get lost in laughter or weeping. Some appear to be intoxicated as the disciples did on the day of Pentecost when the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire was first given to the Church.
I have known people to receive miraculous healings during these times. Some have been delivered of habits or demonic possession. Some have seen visions. I have been in meetings where I have received and where I have spoken life changing words of prophecy, words of knowledge or words of wisdom to individuals.
I have also experienced these kinds of things in my private prayer time or as I go about my daily life. Sometimes the most spectacular things occur when I expect them the least.
These kinds of things never happen just so we can feel special or spiritual in some way. They are expressions of God’s love to us. In reality, they are always practical and accomplish things in our lives and in other’s lives that usually can’t be accomplished any other way.
Life can be tough. The world is a dangerous place. We need all the help we can get. Why would we not want everything God has for us? After all, he is love. He is for us and not against us. He has provided salvation so we can live forever and he has provided the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire so we can know him intimately and be victorious in this world.
All you have to do to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire is to ask in faith, believing. Jesus is the baptizer. Many people receive the baptism with the Spirit in meetings as others pray for them and/or lay their hands on them. But I also know of people receiving the baptism when they were alone with the Lord.
It doesn’t matter how you receive. The important thing is that you do receive.
All glory to God!
THE KINGDOM OF GOD, ETC.
BY LANNY SWAIM
In the third chapter of John’s account of the Gospel we are told about a man named Nicodemus that came to Jesus by night. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews. He probably came to Jesus by night because he was afraid someone might see him if he came in the daylight.
John doesn’t tell us why Nicodemus came to Jesus but the statement he made to Jesus gives us an indication that he was impressed with Jesus and wanted to know more about him. Nicodemus said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” John 3:2 KJV
At this point Jesus interrupts Nicodemus and says, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3 KJV
Jesus didn’t say, “Except a man be born again, he cannot be saved.” He didn’t say. “Except a man be born again he cannot go to heaven when he dies.” No, he said. “Except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
So the purpose of being born again is to see the Kingdom. The Amplified Bible says that unless a person is born again he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with and experience) the Kingdom of God.
Have you ever tried to talk about spiritual matters with someone that isn’t born again? You might as well be speaking a foreign language. They have no idea what you are saying.
In Matthew 9:35 and in other Scriptures Jesus calls the Gospel, the Gospel of the Kingdom. In Matthew 24:14 he says that before the end comes the Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached in all the world. In Luke 9:2 he sent his disciples to preach the Kingdom of God. Jesus spoke much more about the Kingdom than he did about salvation.
In Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2 Jesus prayed for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in heaven. In Luke 17:20-21 he said, “The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, ‘Lo here, or lo there!’ for, behold the Kingdom of God is within you.”
Webster defines a kingdom as “a state or government having a king or queen as its head. A king has absolute rule.” A kingdom is not a democracy or a republic. Whatever the people do, whatever they are, whatever they say is by permission or direction of the king.
Another definition Webster gives is “the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God or Christ extends, whether in heaven or on earth.”
If the Kingdom of God is in those of us that are born again, then we are the domain over which the spiritual sovereignty of God extends.
There is a group of people in the earth today, chosen by God to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. In order for these people to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth, that Kingdom must first manifest in them. First of all, it must manifest in each one individually and then in this group corporately.
One of the things God has been doing with my ministry is using me to find, connect, encourage and equip this group of believers that are not only born again, but are beginning to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth. At this time I think this group is small in comparison to the church-world at large. God has had these individuals in a process of intense training, positioning and equipping for a long time. The purpose of this process is to not only train, position and equip them but to bring them to maturity. In other words, it is to manifest the Kingdom of God within them. The result of this will be that they (individually and corporately) will manifest the Kingdom of God on earth.
Some of these individuals are in local churches while some of them can’t seem to fit in anywhere. Some have an understanding of the process they have been going through while others have no idea about what is going on.
The Old Testament prophet Joel wrote about this group of believers in Joel 2:32, speaking of the days in which we live. “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
Webster defines a remnant as: a remaining, usually small part; a leftover; a fragment or scrap.
God has always had a remnant, a chosen people through whom he could manifest his presence in the earth. Among others he had Noah and his family, Abraham and his family, then the Israelites, then the Jews, then the Christians.
Remnants are individuals and/or groups of people that God has chosen to manifest himself in and through. God has to have someone to manifest his presence in the earth. He gave the earth to man and gave man authority over the earth. So, in order to have a presence in the earth he needs a man or a people.
In Matthew 20:16 Jesus tells us that many are called but few are chosen. If you are chosen, you did not do the choosing.
If God waited on us to choose him, I don’t think anyone ever would. The sin-nature we are born with desires darkness rather than light. By nature we are all very selfish and self-centered individuals.
Perhaps this is why so many people substitute religion for a genuine spiritual experience and relationship with Jesus. Religion deceives people into believing they are OK with God when in reality they are far from him.
Throughout the last 2000 years of church history there have been numerous remnants. These were groups that embraced a little deeper revelation and that had a more intense hunger for the things of God than the status quo. Groups like the Protestants, the Methodists, the Anabaptists, the Pentecostals, the Charismatics and others.
Today there is a new remnant. While all of the past remnants have manifested the Kingdom of God in part, I believe this new remnant is going to manifest the Kingdom of God in its fullness.
Jesus is building his glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and blameless, that the gates of hell will not prevail against (Ephesians 5:26-27, Matthew 16:18). He is building it on the foundation of apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:19-22). He is establishing a true five-fold ministry to serve the Body of Christ, encouraging and equipping the saints for success in life and ministry, until we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming conformed to the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Anointed One and his anointing (Ephesians 4:11-13).
We are about to witness and be a part of the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19), a group of believers being led of the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and operating in the love of God (Ephesians 4:15-16).
Habakkuk 2:14 tells us that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. In the Hebrew, the same word that translates as glory also translates as goodness. In Exodus 33:18-19 Moses says to God, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” To this request God replies, “I will cause my goodness to pass before thee.” (KJV)
So Habakkuk is telling us that a time will come when God’s glory or goodness will not only cover the earth, but people will have knowledge of it. How much of the world will know the glory of the Lord? Just as the waters cover all of the sea, the knowledge of God’s glory will cover all of the earth.
God’s plan from before the beginning has been to not only save individuals but to restore all things to himself. He is love (1 John 4:8) and love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8), therefore he can settle for no less than the total restoration of all of creation. That is why all of creation earnestly waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.
We have an important role to play in the restoration of all things. The revival that is being prophesied today is not coming down from heaven, it is coming out of us. The Holy Spirit has already been sent to dwell within us and empower us. We have the fullness of God dwelling within us (Ephesians 2:23, 3:19, Colossians 2:9). What more do we need?
Most of us that are chosen to be a part of the remnant that is in the earth today have suffered much during the preparation process that has brought us to where we are. We are in a continual process of dying to self, not because we choose to be but because we have been chosen to be. Who we are and what we are doing depends much more on God’s purpose and plan for us than it does on any decision we might have made to follow him.
I take comfort in the truth that Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). I rest in that truth. If it were not so, I would be doomed. I am incapable of choosing this life I live in and of myself. I am totally dependent on him.
Therefore, there is no room or place for pride. I am what I am, the good and the bad of it, because of him, period. I am now “his problem”. But, glory to God, he knows how to fix me.
Do I have choices and decisions to make? Yes. But my ability to even know what the right choices and decisions are, as well as the empowerment to make the right choices and decisions is entirely because of him.
So, where do we go from here? What is the next step? I think Paul sums it up in Philippians 3:13-16.
Verses 13 and 14: “Brethern, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
We must forget everything in our past that was not 100% God. All of those religious ideas. All of those traditions of men that we thought were truth. All of that thinking that was influenced by our selfishness. Even those things that were revealed by God but contaminated by our lack of being dead to self. And those things that we received only in part but are now able to receive a more complete understanding of.
If the apostle Paul, the man that received the revelation that we consider to be much of the New Testament had to do this, surly we do too.
As we forget these things, we must continue to press forward. Re-reading the Word of God as if it were for the first time, being open to a deeper revelation than we have known before.
Verse 15: “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”
The Amplified Bible says, “So let those of us who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions: and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also.”
In other words, as mature believers we continually forget anything from the past (even if it was yesterday or this morning) that was imperfect and press on toward perfection. And guess what? If we totally miss it God will straighten us out and fix that too! Hallelujah! We can’t loose!
Verse 16: Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Don’t move on from those things we have learned and experienced in the past that were from God. Hold on to those and build on them.
As we do these things we will become that glorious Church built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. He will fitly frame us together so that we corporately become a holy temple in the Lord and a habitation of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:19-22). His Kingdom will come in us and on earth as it is in heaven.
All glory to God!
IN HIS LIKENESS
BY LANNY SWAIM
And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Genesis 1:26
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness,
Psalm 17:15
God spoke creation into existence. When God said it, it was a done deal. When he said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” it had to happen. I have often read the scripture above thinking of image and likeness as the same thing but a study of the Hebrew words that translate as image and likeness show that they are two related but different things.
The Hebrew word for image is tselsm. Among other things it means a representative of. The Hebrew word for likeness is demuwth. It has to do with character.
So to be made in God’s image is to be his representative. When he created Adam in his image Adam became God’s representative on the earth. However, to be made in his likeness is to take on the very character or nature of God. One can be a representative of someone without being like that person. It was God’s original intent that we be not only his representative but that we become like him, having his character.
Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
What happened to likeness? We see that God created Adam and Eve in his image to be his representatives on earth but nowhere in verse twenty-seven is likeness mentioned. So Adam and Eve were created in his image but not in his likeness. However, in verse twenty-six God spoke of image and likeness and once God said it, it had to come to pass.
We know from the Genesis account of creation about two trees that were planted in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of life and the other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We also know that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Genesis 2:15-17
We all know the story of how Satan came in a serpent and tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit.
And the serpent said unto the woman, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3:4-5
Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and gave some to her husband, Adam, who also ate of it. However, they didn’t immediately die.
In 1 Peter 3:8 we are told that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. Peter is giving us insight as to how God looks at history on planet earth. He created the earth in six days and rested from his labor on the seventh day. Biblical history is recorded as seven one thousand year days. We know historically that from Adam to Abraham was two thousand years or two days, from Abraham to Jesus was two thousand years or two more days and from Jesus until now has been two thousand more years or six days total. So, we are now about to or are entering into the seventh thousand year day, often referred to as the millennial reign of Jesus. The seventh day of history, like the seventh day of creation, will be a Sabbath or a day of rest. It will be a day when the finished work of Jesus, which he accomplished on the cross, will come into full and complete manifestation in us. This will coincide with the corporate body of Christ coming into fullness and completion bringing about the fullness and completion of the apostolic church that was born on the day of Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of Acts.
God told Adam that if he ate of the forbidden fruit he would die in that day. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years (Genesis 5:5). So he died in that first thousand year day of the history of mankind on earth.
Satan convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit by telling her a partial truth. He lied when he told her that she would not die but he told the truth when he said that her eyes would be opened and that she and Adam would become like gods, knowing good and evil. In Genesis 3:22 God said, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” In eating of the forbidden fruit, man had become like God, knowing good and evil, which was the first step toward becoming the full likeness of God.
God himself said, “The man has become as or like one of us, to know good and evil.” However, even though man had become like God, knowing good and evil, he still was not like God in character. In fact, it seems just the opposite. Instead of going toward becoming the likeness of God, it would seem he was going away from the likeness or character of God.
In 1 John 4:8 and 16 we are told that God is love. Love is the character of God. It is not only the main attribute of God, it is who God is. He is love. I used to wonder why a God that is love would create man knowing that man would disobey him and in doing so bring sin and death into the human race, passing it on to all of his descendants. Wouldn’t it have been more loving to never have created man at all? So what, if God wanted a family. It looked very selfish to me to create man knowing that man would fail and cause much suffering for generations to come.
We have to realize that God sees the bigger picture. He could create man in his image, to be his representative on earth, but character cannot be created, it has to be developed. Developing character is a process. In order for his character to be developed in man, man had to first become aware of good and evil. I used to think of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as the tree of the knowledge of evil. I assumed that man was by nature good and therefore knew about good but that’s not true. Adam had no knowledge of good or evil. In order to become like God, he had to first come to the knowledge of good and evil.
It appears that God set him up. God forbade him to eat of the fruit of that particular tree knowing that he was going to eat of it anyway. Man’s disobedience started him on a journey that would one day develop in him the character of God. Man’s disobedience opened the way for man to become like God in character. However, that couldn’t happen until God first became a man himself, succeeding where Adam failed.
And so it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.”
1 Corinthians 15:45-46
This is talking about Adam and Jesus but is it not a picture of us? We are born naturally first; born with a knowledge of good and evil but unable to overcome evil with good. No matter how hard we try, we always fall short.
Just as Adam and Eve tried to cover their own shame with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7), we try to become righteous by changing our behavior. Just as it took the shedding of blood to cover Adam and Eve’s shame, only the shedding of blood can cleanse us of sin and shame. God killed animals and made coats of skin to cover Adam and Eve. Under the laws of Moses the shed blood of animals covered the sins of the people of Israel. But under the New Testament, glory to God, Jesus’ shed blood has not covered our sin but has done away with it, clothing us in the glory of God, hallelujah!
In man’s original state, without knowledge of good or evil, he was clothed in the glory of God (Psalm 8:5). When he became aware of good and evil, because he didn’t yet have the character of God, he was unable to overcome evil with good. Thus, he lost the glory and realized he was naked. He tried to cover his own nakedness but his efforts were futile. God had to shed blood in order for man’s sin to be covered. Like the animal sacrifices that Moses instituted, this was a type and shadow of the shed blood of Jesus that has done away with our sin.
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he meant “It is finished.” There is nothing else for us to do. There is nothing else we can do. The only way to salvation is to accept that Jesus has done everything that can be done to assure our salvation.
Peter tells us in his second epistle that we have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of the one that has called us to glory and virtue; and that he has made us partakers of the divine nature (character of God) by his exceeding great and precious promises. It is by faith that we have been made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21), just as Abraham’s faith was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:3).
We do not become righteous by changing our behavior. We must realize that we are already righteous. When we begin to see ourselves as righteous, we will loose that sin conscientiousness and become God conscience.
Sin is sin and I don’t think one sin is any greater than another sin. But if sin could be somehow rated, I think pride would be very near the top if not at the top. To think that somehow we can assure our own salvation by changing our behavior is nothing but pride and arrogance. It is the same as saying that Jesus didn’t need to go to the cross. We can’t overcome the sin in our lives by trying to obey the law. Trying to obey the law will only produce a sin conscientiousness which is sin in and of itself. Until we realize that we are completely dependant on God, not only for our righteousness but for our provision and protection as well, we are going to have a hard row to hoe. We will go through trial after trial and test after test until we finally completely surrender to God and admit that we are helpless to save ourselves, provide for ourselves or protect ourselves.
Saints, sin is not going to keep us out of heaven or stop the glory of God. If it could, none of us would make it and God’s glory would never manifest. Perhaps the only thing that can stop us from walking out our salvation and walking in his glory is a sin conscientiousness which is the product of fear and not faith. Without faith it is impossible to please him (Hebrews 11:6) and it is our faith alone that makes us righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).
An even more beautiful thing is that when we totally surrender to him, completely trusting him to cause us to become who he has already made us, we begin to take on his character. We become love as he is love, which brings about the manifestation of what he spoke in the beginning about making man after his likeness.
It took Adam’s disobedience and Jesus sacrifice to enable us to become completely like God. We are not there yet but we are on our way. Positionally we are already there. Jesus accomplished that. Experientially we are on our way (Philippians 3:13-16).
Jesus is coming back for a church that he will present to himself a glorious church (Ephesians 5:27). This tells me that the character of God is going to have to manifest in us in fullness before he can return physically to the earth. Romans 8:19 tells us that all creation is in earnest expectation of the manifestation of the mature sons of God. Amos tells us that God will do nothing unless he first reveals it to his prophets (Amos 3:7). We are a prophetic church and I believe that the Kingdom of God is going to have to be revealed in us corporately before Jesus can return physically to the earth. His Kingdom will be established in us as his character is established in us and we become like him.
How long will this take? I don’t know. I believe we are just beginning to see the firstfruits of it. This remnant that God is calling out and raising up is just the beginning. I believe there is to be a great harvest bringing many more into the Kingdom before the end comes. I am not all that concerned with when and how the catching away and great tribulation takes place. I am much more focused on what has to happen between now and then. Didn’t Jesus tell us:
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Matthew 6:34
Some believe Jesus could catch the church away tonight or tomorrow. I don’t think so. I don’t think we are ready yet. For a picture of the catching away of the church I think we should look at Enoch.
The Book of Enoch, which is not included in the Bible as we know it, was considered by the early church to be scripture. From it we learn that Enoch spent much time with God. He would go off for days or weeks at a time just to be alone with God. He was even known to go away for a year or more. The indication is that he got closer and closer to God, becoming more and more like him, until one day the earth just couldn’t hold him any longer.
And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
Genesis 5:23-24
I believe the day will come when we are corporately walking so closely with God, becoming so much like him, that the earth will no longer be able to hold us. We will just disappear. However, this won’t happen because we go off and spend years alone with God. It will happen because he so manifests himself in us that we are one with him continually, no matter where we are or what we are doing.
Saints, this is not about doing anything. It is about being. We can’t get there by deciding we are going to read the Bible for an hour each day. We can’t get there by deciding we are going to spend an hour each day praying in the Spirit. And we certainly can’t get there by working harder or changing our behavior.
To be in the image of God is about doing but to be in the likeness of God is about being. We can’t become by doing but being who he has made us will change and determine what we do.
We are now entering the third day since Jesus completed his work and sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12-13). It is the seventh day since Adam. It has been taught for quite some time that the catching away of believers and the great tribulation takes place at the beginning of the seventh day. However, I believe many of the scriptures that have been applied to the end of the age have another application or perhaps a different application altogether. Many of them I believe apply to the time we are now entering and must be fulfilled before Jesus can physically return to the earth. The Spirit has been saying to me for some time that the physical return of Jesus to the earth will take place sometime into the seventh day rather than at the beginning of the seventh day. I believe Jesus is returning first in fullness in us. There are many places in scripture that the seventh day is referred to as the third day, perhaps since the fulfillment of it is only possible because of the finished work of Jesus. Hosea had this to say about it:
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us: he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning: and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
Hosea 6:1-3
In ancient Israel, if a new king was crowned during the year, historically his reign was recorded as starting at the beginning of that year. I believe this is a type and shadow of the return of Jesus to the earth. He may not return until sometime into the third day but he is returning in fullness in us at the beginning of the third day.
We are there. Joel 2:32 speaks of a remnant that the Lord shall call. That remnant is the firstfruits of the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or and such thing, holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:27) that the gates of hell shall not prevail against (Matthew 16:18). We have come to where we are through many tests and trials and much dying to self. We are the third day church and surely we were born for such a time as this! All glory to God! Hallelujah!!!
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