The Following Message Has Been Transcribed And Edited For

Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation By

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Glory to God. We are preaching or expounding in 1st Corinthians tonight, Chapter 3. We'll be starting with Verse 1. I hope to go through the whole chapter. We'll see what the Lord does. Glory to God. I'll read the chapter first.

 

"And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat, for hither to, yea were not able to bear it, neither yet now are yea able. For yea are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and division. Are yea not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos, are yea not carnal? For who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But the ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase."

 

"So then, neither is he that planted anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are labors together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But, let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay or stubble, every man's works shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."

 

"If any man's work abide, which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness and again the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore, let no man glory in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come. All are yours and ye are Christ and Christ is God." Hallelujah.

 

Verse 1, "And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ." What is Paul saying? He is saying that there is a time in relationships between teachers or apostles or just simply the anointed of God (the authority of God in men), that there are times that people who are manifesting the authority of God cannot speak to other believers as spiritual men.

 

Do you know that there are times that I cannot speak to my friends and to the people. Well, the people in this ministry are my friends and I try very hard to maintain a relationship with everybody that does not pull rank, that does not show authority. But are you aware that there are some things that I know that you don't? Are you aware that there are some things that I understand that you don't? Do you understand that God is challenging you in a ministry like this, to have a relationship with the minister that is one of friendship, and at the same time not to forget that sometimes (if not a lot of the times) I know things or understand things on a level that you do not?

 

This is very hard for you. If you go to a church where they're religious, and the pastor is unreachable with regards to a personal relationship with you, if he wears a turned around collar or a three piece business suit, if he walks into the pulpit after the praise service, if you have a problem he sends you to one of the assistant pastors or to a home group leader, you don't have any trouble respecting that pastor. You don't have any trouble believing that he knows more than you do, which he may or may not. The thought would never occur to you to contradict him. Do you realize or are you aware, that in a mature ministry like this, God is challenging you, to have a relationship with a minister on an informal, human being to human being level, without forgetting that when we get into spiritual conversation and there's a conflict in what we believe, the chances are 99 out of 100 that you're wrong and I'm right?

 

I'm not telling you that I'm infallible, and I'm not telling you that you cannot be right in an instance, because you can be. It can happen. So what am I saying to you? I'm saying, don't strive, brethren. If there's a disagreement, back down, and don't forget that I'm an authority because it's to your own hurt, it's to your own hurt brethren. At least pray about it and put it before the Lord. I declare to you, if the Lord corrects me (I hope those of you here know me well enough) to know I will come to you. I will tell you I was wrong, and I will apologize to you. But brethren, don't expect me to back down when I know that I am right and that in this instance you don't know what you're talking about.

 

You can't expect me to back off like we're two equals in a spiritual conversation because the Lord has clearly shown me in recent days that I cannot do that. Me (Sheila as a human being), if I'm in a conversation with somebody and there's a disagreement, I will back off. I don't want to argue with anybody because it's unGodly. But the Lord has clearly shown me that when it's a spiritual conversation, and I am fully convinced that you're wrong and I am right, I cannot back off and that it is my responsibility to God and to you, to prevail.

 

So God is challenging you to enter into a mature relationship with me. If you're afraid of me, you need deliverance. There's nothing to be afraid of. I love you and if you're wrong, so you're wrong. So what's the big deal? If you're in a relationship with me, God has placed you here so that you can learn from me and so that you can grow, and if I back off and I don't take a hard stand when I'm convinced that I'm right and you're wrong, how are you going to learn and grow? So don't be afraid to express your opinion to me and if I hurt your feelings, because I won't back down, I'm sorry, but I'm doing it because it's what you need to have done to you.

 

So please don't stop from expressing your opinion. But if I respond to you strongly because I'm convinced that you're wrong, please take it in a Godly manner. Just back off and go in your prayer closet and pray about it. I promise you, if I hear a word of correction from the Lord, I will come to you personally and directly and apologize. But don't strive with me, brethren, it's to your own hurt, it's to your own hurt.

 

So this is what Paul was saying, brethren. I'm expounding here. I have not studied this, and I don't know what the true tense is in the Greek, but it seems to be a past tense. Paul was saying there was a time that I could not speak to you as spiritual men. Why? Because you won't know what I'm talking about, and the chances are if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're going to strive with me, and the Lord has instructed me to not let it go when I'm convinced that I'm right.

 

So in some instances I shouldn't even talk to you about certain things and I'm very guilty of that. I'm very guilty of that. I talk to you about things that you're not ready to hear. Now it could turn out to be positive for you. I want to tell you something, brethren. People that hang out with me really grow in God. I'm not taking any of the glory for myself. This is a work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a ministry that He is manifesting through me. People that He has given permission to grow in deep bounds into the realm of the Spirit, He puts them in a personal relationship with me. I want to tell you, every person that He has ever hooked up to me, has matured spiritually, some more then others. I've never seen it to fail in one single person. They're never the same when we separate.

 

So there are some things that I shouldn't talk to you about, and then again, maybe I should. If your attitude towards me is correct, you will grow. You will grow, and it will amaze you, the extent to which you will grow. If someone is listening to this tape or reading this manuscript, and you think it's pride, it is not pride. I'm telling you the truth. It's nothing that comes forth from any strength that I have. It is something that Jesus Christ does through me. It's one of the ministries that He has given me. Deep spiritual growth results from hanging out with me. Glory to God.

 

So the Lord is challenging you, and I am challenging you to have a personal relationship with me, to continue to express yourself freely, but when I take a strong stand with you, to back down and at least pray about it. When the Lord first told me this, I questioned Him and He said, Sheila, isn't that the relationship you have with your parents? Aren't you friends with your parents? It's close, loving, intimate, but when your father or your mother stands up and says no, that's it. You back down or you're suppose to, without getting wounded, without being devastated, without feeling rejected and without feeling unloved.

 

So the Lord challenges you this evening. This is the first time I've ever put this in words. To the best of my knowledge, I don't think I've ever expressed this before. So I challenge you to function in a relationship where I don't have to withhold myself from you and make myself some great one to keep your respect. Put it before the Lord and He'll help you. Glory to God.

 

So Paul says there was a time that he couldn't speak to the Corinthians as spiritual men. Why? Because they were carnal, even as babies in Christ. I remind you that carnality is relative. Carnality is relative. We are on a journey from being a carnal man to becoming a spiritual man and along that journey are many degrees of carnality. You could take one believer and put them up against a second believer and say, look at believer one, is he carnal compared to believer two? Then you could bring in believer three and say look at believer three. Believer one is spiritual compared to believer three. It all depends who you're comparing yourself to, brethren. If you're coming to this ministry, the chances are you are very spiritual compared to a lot of believers in a lot of other churches.

 

The people that come to this ministry have more knowledge and more anointing and are more spiritual, in many instances, than other men and woman in the ministry. It just depends on who you're comparing yourself to. If you compare yourself to me, you might be apt to call yourself carnal? But if you compare yourself to the guy down the street, you're the spiritual one. So Paul said that he was the apostle, and he had knowledge of spiritual things that he could not speak to the Corinthians about because they were too carnal. They couldn't understand his words. What happens when a spiritual man speaks to a carnal man, and the carnal man can't understand his words? What happens? He strives with him, he rebukes him, he tells him that he's wrong.

 

So sometimes Paul is saying, there are circumstances under which you don't talk. If you have spiritual knowledge, and you're with someone and you're trying to relate to them, you don't talk about things that they cannot understand. Glory to God. You have to get that wisdom from God as to what to talk about to whom.

 

Verse 2, "I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto ye were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able." Brethren, you don't get spiritual overnight and I've got news for you, it has nothing to do with how many services you sit in or how many tapes you listen to or whether you cast out demons or heal the sick. The increase....and what is the increase? What makes you spiritual? Does anybody know what's making us spiritual? What is happening to us that we are becoming spiritual? Does anybody know?

 

Yes, it's the renewing of our mind. That's true, but more specifically, absolutely, Christ is being added to us. The natural man is an incomplete creation. He is missing a part, and the part that he's missing is his righteousness. That's why natural man is unrighteous because our righteousness is whom? Who is our righteousness? Jesus is our righteousness. He has not been added to us, yet, when we are a carnal man.

 

The natural man is incomplete, brethren. He is wicked and evil because his good part is missing, and when his good part is added, it's going to bring his evil part under control and he shall become good. It's so simple, brethren. It's really so simple. Glory to God.

 

"I have fed you with milk and not with meat because you are not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able." I know what I was saying. Only Jesus Christ can bring forth the spirituality necessary to understand spiritual things. You could sit under the anointing for years and not get it. The first church that I went to, brethren, was an Assemblies of God church. It was definitely anointed and God sent me there. It was filled with the Spirit, but the anointing was in the congregation.

 

Listen to this brethren, listen to me. This is important that you can hear this. The anointing in this little church was in the members of the congregation. The pastor was a very well-meaning man. He had built the church with his own hands. He wanted to serve God. There was not enough money in the congregation. He had a part-time job and his wife played the organ. The anointing was very weak upon him. He was a very well-meaning man, but the anointing was very weak. There was a question among the congregation if his wife had even a thirty fold conversion. She did not move in the gifts of the spirit in any manner, shape or form, and there was such a wicked spirit upon her that we weren't sure whether she had anything of the Lord at all.

 

You know, if somebody speaks in tongues and you see a wicked spirit upon them, you can say, well, we at least know the Lord has invaded them in a measure, and they haven't been delivered yet. But when you see such wickedness as was on this woman and there's no manifestation of the Spirit of God at all, you wonder if she has anything of Christ at all. There's no way of knowing, there's no way you can tell. There was an anointing in this ministry, but it wasn't on the minister or his wife. It was on the very anointed people in the congregation.

 

What makes you spiritual, brethren, is not whether you're a pastor or not. The church is filled with pastor's wives that think they have an anointing because they're married to a pastor. Brethren, at this stage of development that the creation is in, this thing cannot be passed on through marriage or through birth. We have a couple of tapes where we preach that, as the living soul evolves into Christ, the anointing that those of us in a service like this have, will be able to be passed on through birth. Our children will be born with it, but to the best of my knowledge it's not happening now, and certainly I have no knowledge of it being passed on through marriage.

 

The anointing comes when Jesus Christ enters into your heart and adds Himself to you in an increasing measure. Hopefully, you're growing in Christ, and as He grows in you, your spirituality grows and He's going to grow in you until He stands up in full stature. Paul expresses it that we shall stand up in the full stature of Jesus Christ when He matures in us. You can sit in a service, you could be in the ministry, you could be a Christian and you could even be speaking in tongues.

 

You know, a lot of people get the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and then it never increases for twenty-five years. Take someone like me. God brought me into the church late in life. I was thirty-eight years old. I had no church background, had never read the Bible and eleven years later I'm preaching. There's no rhyme or reason, it's unto the election of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

You shall remain carnal until the Lord Jesus Christ raises you up out of that realm of death into the spirituality of His life. If you can identity yourself in any of the categories that I just mentioned, if you don't have the baptism with the Holy Spirit, if you have received it and you don't seem to be increasing in Christ, wherever you are, brethren, you always have the option of praying.

 

If you don't have the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and you perceive an evil spirit upon yourself, and you've been in the church married to a preacher for fifty years, and you don't know whether you've really been converted or not, ask God for it. Don't panic. I'm not condemning anybody. All things are in Christ. If you see it, if you hear about it in the church, and you want it, you don't have to envy your brother, brethren. Ask Jesus for it. There is enough for everybody. Hallelujah. Glory to God.

 

So Paul is saying, he fed them with milk, with doctrines that are easy to understand and what kind of doctrines would those be? Doctrines that bless your soul, doctrines that make you happy, doctrines that give you confidence, doctrines that give you peace, and they're all true, but there's more brethren. There's the doctrine of the baptism of His suffering. There's the doctrine of the death of your soul, so that Christ could be exalted in you. You can't bear it, brethren, unless you're spiritual. Your soul man can't bear it. You're going to get up and walk out of these meetings and never come back. Only a spiritual man could bear this teaching.

 

So if you're not spiritual, you're not in this meeting. The Lord is not going to send you here or if you come once, you're not coming back, because Paul says, you are not yet able to bear it. There is a spiritual work that needs to be done in you, for you to listen to this stuff, and if that work has not been done in you, you cannot bear it.

 

Verse 3, "For ye are yet carnal." This is the signs of your carnality. Get this check list down. "For whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?" Walk as men as opposed to what? Does anybody know? If you're not walking as a man, what are you walking as? Anybody know? Okay, a sister just said walking as Christ. You're walking as Gods. If you're not walking as a man, you're walking as a God and how do you walk as a God? When your mind is interwoven with the mind of Christ, and every thought that you think is the thought of Christ who is God. Then you too shall be a God, and you shall have dominion over the soul realm. Glory to God.

 

Do you bicker? Do you have strife with people? Do you have envy? Brethren, we're all in-part right now. I experience all of these emotions. My soul man has not died yet, but the key is, the clincher is, when these thoughts rise up in my soul, do they rise and come forth and manifest in behavior and in words or does the Christ in me, does my spiritual man rise up as a parent rebuking a child and saying, that thought is wrong? It's not the thought. The thought is okay if your spiritual man is strong enough to cast it down. We are to cast down high imaginations, brethren, thoughts that are not from the mind of God. They cannot manifest in us. They cannot come to the surface. They cannot be acceptable to us. They must be rebuked. I talk to my soul all the time and say, that's a wrong thought. That's a wrong thought and no, you won't do that, repent. I'm judging my own soul, brethren. Glory to God.

 

" For ye are yet carnal, for, whereas, there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?" What does strife come from, brethren? What is it that results in strife? I declare to you the cause of strife is pleading your own cause. I declare to you that if two people, in every conflict, wanted what Christ wanted there would be no conflict. If you take two people in a relationship, and their true heart's desire is the glorification of Christ in everything, that their own needs, their own desires, their own benefits, their own well-being doesn't matter, and there will be no strife. The Lord just spoke to me and said, the example is Abraham and Lot. They had to separate.

 

Abraham said to Lot, which part of the land do you want, and Lot took the biggest, best, and riches land that there was. If Abraham was a carnal man, he would have striven with him. He would have argued with him. He would have said to Lot, that's not fair and I want my piece of the pie, but he didn't do that. Abraham submitted to the Lord and said, alright Lot, go your way. We're told in the Scripture that even though Abraham took the land that was not as prosperous, God prospered him in that land, and Lot got into trouble. Abraham had to go and save him. Lot had been taken captive by the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, I believe.

 

There should be no strife in Christ. Back off, back off, back off, back off and let him have it. Let him take it, don't fight and Jesus will be glorified. Don't fight your own battles. You're carnal if you're fighting your own battles. You're carnal. Peace, peace, peace, unless and until the Christ dwelling within your own heart rises up and wages war. If you cannot understand when and how this happens in you, you are carnal, and that's fine and you need to be under a ministry like this where you can learn to discern it and where the Lord, Lord willing, will develop it in you.

 

There's no condemnation in Christ Jesus. If you hear something preached and you don't have it, you're not condemned, but you can't get it everywhere. You're not going to get that kind of spiritual development in you sitting in a church where they preach the rapture. There are things that you could get in that church, but you're not going to get this kind of spiritual development. You've got to go to the ministry where God is doing that particular work. God is not doing everything in every ministry. If you don't have the baptism with the Holy Spirit and you want that, you've got to go to a ministry where they preach that and lay hands on you for it.

 

This ministry here is preaching perfection, and it's preaching the development of the spiritual man and that's not going to happen to you unless you're sitting under that ministry. It doesn't have to be this one, if you could find another one that's preaching it. You have to go where God is pouring out the anointing for what you want. Hallelujah, Glory to God.

 

So if you are striving with people, brethren, if you have divisions with them and, according to my margin in the King James, the word division means faction. Brethren, are there cliques in your church? Do you leave people out because they're not spiritual enough for you, because you don't like the way they dress, because you don't like the way they talk? You're carnal, brethren, because we're all brothers. If you are developed spiritually to a greater degree than some others, the Lord will make a way for you to have a private time with someone where you can speak about deep spiritual truth.

 

But you cannot be excluding people from ministry fellowship, from going out to dinner or from gathering together because they're not spiritual enough for you. The kind of people that have guests for dinner every Sunday and only invite certain groups in the church because they fit in, because they're successful businessmen, or because you like them for whatever reason. You hurt people, brethren, and it's wrong, and the Scripture says, that if you do it, you're carnal. Did it ever occur to you, if you don't want to be with someone because they're more carnal than you, that if you were to be with them, you could help raise them up to a higher level of spirituality? Does not the Scripture say, let the strong strengthen the weak? That's selfishness, brethren, to only want to be with your own kind, and it's a form of spiritual homosexuality.

 

In the natural, we must fellowship with men, women, older, younger, smarter, not as smart, and children. You have to fellowship with all kinds of people, brethren. If there are divisions amongst you, if your breaking off into cliques based on any kind of exclusivity, you are carnal. If you're envious and you do not deal with that envy adequately, it means your spiritual man is weak and you are carnal. Don't get condemned. Try the spirit. If the shoe fits, wear it. Tell Jesus you want to be spiritual. There's nothing to worry about.

 

Years ago, in the church that I was raised up in, the Lord anointed me greatly to minister. There was a woman that just didn't want me to do anything. She blocked me at every turn, and she had a lot of influence with the pastor. I went before the Lord one day and I said, Lord, this can't be right. There's just so much work to do in your kingdom. I can't believe that I have to fight for an opportunity to minister and I won't do it. Either You'll give me the opportunity to minister or I won't minister. Now I have my own ministry and I preach on a regular basis, and she's still preaching once in awhile, when the pastor throws her a bone.

 

Brethren, don't fight in your own power. You'll only lose. You'll both lose. Once you're in Christ, there's no more fighting over anything. If you want it, take it, take it, take it. Jesus will make all things right, unless the anointing is rising up in you and saying no, this is unrighteous. You don't fight in the realm of the soul, and you must learn to discern the difference between striving and divisions that result from several or two or more people manifesting in their soul. If their spiritual man has risen up and is manifesting authority and saying, no, you won't fellowship with this one because it's destructive for you, or I want these two elders to spend time quietly discussing spiritual matters and it's not for everybody, then you do it. We must learn to discern between the urging of our soul and the instruction of our spiritual man. Hallelujah. God is good.

 

Verse 4,"For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo, are ye not yet carnal?" Brethren, Living Epistles Ministries exits as Living Epistles Ministries because you are carnal. There is only one ministry. It is the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am His servant, but because the church world is still carnal, we have a name so that when someone says, where do you go or who made that tape, you could say I go to Living Epistles Ministries. If you got this tape and you're in California, you have to know how to get more tapes. You have to address the letter, so we have to have a name.

 

We're not yet so spiritual that you send me a message in the spirit and I mail you the tapes. The church is carnal so we have a name, but it's really not Living Epistles Ministries. It is the battalion, it is the outfit, it is the part of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ that is preaching perfection on Long Island, New York. But if you want to get what we have to offer, because we're still so carnal, you have to call us Living Epistles Ministries. But if God shuts us down tomorrow or expands us next week, it doesn't make any difference.

 

We are soldiers, and we go where we are sent. Some of you here know that six months ago God shut down this ministry. He said to me, Sheila, shut it down and I shut it down. He sent us to another church, and I went and sat in the congregation of another church, not understanding what God was doing. I had no understanding at the time that He intended to deliver this word to those people through that method, which to my carnal mind was unorthodox. Why didn't you bring them here, Lord? Why did you shut us down and send us there? That's the way He did it. Within a few weeks, after I obeyed Him, He raised up this ministry again.

 

I declare to you, if I had said this is Living Epistles Ministries, and this is my life work and I'm not giving it up, He probably would have shut us down permanently. Brethren, we are soldiers in the army of the Lord. We are not here to build our own kingdom. We are not here to satisfy our souls. We are not here to glorify ourselves. We are here to obey orders.

 

If I tell you I didn't want to preach tonight, you better believe it. I didn't want to preach tonight, but I'm here and I'm preaching, and I feel a lot better now that the anointing is all over me preaching this message. You do as you told, brethren, by Christ. You don't do what your soul tells you to do. If you are out there saying, this is my church, this is my church, this is my church, you are carnal. I condemn you not, but know the truth. The truth shall set you free. That's carnality. Now I don't want to be misconstrued. I believe in being loyal to a local fellowship. If the Lord places you in a local fellowship, I believe you should do everything within your power to attend every meeting that they hold. I believe you should support that ministry financially and in any other way with whatever work is necessary to be done, in prayer and in faithfulness and in loving each other and, of course, in loving me. I need your love very much. But if God says get up and go, brethren, you better kiss those people good-bye and get up and go.

 

If God moves you to another battalion, if He moves you to another army base, you better get up and go, because if you don't, you're going to be disciplined. But the church is in the midst of such carnality in this hour, that when the judgements fall down, they don't even know why they're being disciplined. You do what God tells you, brethren, not what your soul tells you.

 

So if you're out there saying, I am a disciple of Apollos, or I am a disciple of so and so, or I am a disciple of so and so, with pride in your heart, brethren, you're carnal. There's nothing wrong with being loyal to your minister, but if you're loyal to your minister to the point that you will call his sin good, you are in trouble with Almighty God. If your minister preaches it one way and another minister preaches it another way, you have to ask God what He wants you to believe. You don't cleave unto your minister because that's your minister. You find out what the truth is, and then if it turns out that your minister is wrong, you ask the Lord to show it to him in love.

 

Jesus Christ must be glorified. The bottom line is that Jesus Christ must be glorified, not your pastor and not the ministry that you have in your basement. Jesus Christ must be glorified and, brethren, I declare to you, that if you obey him in all things, that if you give up your petty little preferences, then He will give you more than you could have ever even asked Him for. There may be a season where it's painful and where it's difficult, but if you give it up and go where He tells you to go or do what He tells you to do, brethren, He will pour out so much glory on you, you won't even be able to contain it.

 

The blessing is in the obedience, brethren. The blessing is in the obedience. It's not in the gifts of the Spirit, it's not in the revelation, the blessings is in the obedience to Almighty God. If you're in obedience to Him, you can be blessed by revelation and you can be blessed by the gifts of the Spirit. But if you're not in obedience to God, you're not going to be blessed from anything that you do. Now listen. When I talk like this, you've got to realize we're all in-part. It's not black and white. Of course, God could be blessing you here and there in little bits and pieces, but I'm talking about the overall blessing. If you want to go on in God, it's not enough to talk in tongues and dance in the Spirit and pray for people. You must come under obedience. You must be doing what He wants you to do, and then everything works together.

 

Verse 5, "Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man." Well, there's a group here preaching, and you have a minister, and there are groups all over the country, and they all have ministers, and they're great and they love you and they're not perfect, but they're doing the best they can for you, and it's wonderful that you love them. But to go to somebody else and say, this is our church, and this is my minister and he does this better, or he preaches better or he cast out demons better is wrong. Brethren, if you're doing that or if you're thinking that, you're carnal. Jesus Christ must be glorified in every person and in every situation.

 

What do you think Paul means when he says, how could you go before a court of law? Don't you know you're going to judge angels? What do you think he means? He means that if you have the Spirit of God, and you are in submission to that Spirit of God, every conflict with every believer will be resolved, if both of you are in submission to Christ.

 

But if one or more of you are not in submission to Christ, then you're heathens or one of you is a heathen, and you have to go before a magistrate, before a heathen judge. If you're in a conflict and everybody concerned will not submit to the Spirit of God, you are relegated to a heathen judge. But when we grow up in Christ, and we really become spiritual people, brethren, we'll never need a court of law, if we're in obedience to Christ. If the Lord says, you cheated that man and give him back four-fold and you do it, what do you need to go to a heathen judge for?

 

So the fact that Christians are using the heathen courts in this hour is a sign of how carnal the church is. All things are suppose to be resolved by the Spirit of God. He's suppose to point out who's guilty, who's innocent, and if you're both guilty, He's suppose to point it out. The truth is suppose to be revealed, the truth of the root of the problem, and then it's suppose to be resolved and reconciliation and love is suppose to come forth. I hardly ever see it in the church at all. It's very rare. I have experienced it recently. It was a blessing to me with someone in California. All parties submitted to Christ, and He was glorified in all parties.

 

There was a horrible situation five or so years ago, in a local carnal church. A dispute arose amongst family members that owned a business. They went to put it before the church, and when they put together their board that was going to hear this dispute, do you know who they picked to sit on the board? It was the lawyers in the church, the doctors in the church and the rich businessmen in the church. It was a disaster finding an agreement.

 

From a legal standpoint, he jeopardized himself because he believed Christ was going to move in this kangaroo court. He found he was having his business stolen from him by an unscrupulous brother and sister-in-law and finally went to a heathen lawyer. I don't really know what the end of it was, but it was a horrible fiasco. I was working in that law firm, and the heathen lawyers looked at it and shook their head and clucked their tongues. These foolish Christians, aren't they stupid? They really think this thing is going to work. Well brethren, I declare to you, it shall work. It's not working now, but it shall work, but the heathens don't know that, and it destroys their faith. They said, I'll never go to one of those Charismatic churches. These people are nuts for signing an agreement like that, submitting themselves, turning themselves over to these people like that. This man must have been out of his mind.

 

No brethren. He believed, but he didn't hear from God. He believed a promise in the Bible that was not manifesting in his life at that moment. Can you hear that?

 

This Bible is filled with promises. Every one of them is not manifesting in your life at this moment. If it's not manifesting, you can't expect it to manifest. If you do, you're going to get hurt. The church is not functioning on that level in this hour. I've heard of Christian communes that turn out to be a disaster. Well Peter had a commune. They were all living together. Well Peter was in full stature. To the best of my knowledge, there is no place in the world today that there is a Christian commune that is really under the auspices of the Lord Jesus Christ. They all turn into cults. God is not doing that today.

 

Yes, it's in the Bible. Brethren, grow up, grow up, grow up. Your spiritual life depends on it. All this baby stuff; you've got to grow up, and you've got to get to hear from God for yourself, and you have got to get understanding. Wisdom is wonderful, but you've got to get understanding. What is wisdom? Wisdom is when God speaks to you. Well, what good is it when God speaks to you if you don't understand what He means?

 

I turned on the local Baptist station today, and they really minister to the children in the morning. It really blessed me because this little boy had heard the expression "prayer closet." He thought that when he wanted to pray, he had to lock himself in his clothes closet to pray to God. Isn't that cute? On this program the father was explaining to the son that your prayer closet is within you and we're so blessed because he could pray to Jesus anytime he wants, in school, or anytime that he wants. At the end, the little boy said, oh I'm so relieved that I don't have to lock myself in my clothes closet anymore.

 

Do you know that's what children are like? They hear something and they don't understand it. I'll never forget when my daughter heard our pastor preaching about Babylon. She thought he was speaking about Babylon in Long Island. We took a ride to Babylon one day, and she thought she was going to this terrible place. Brethren, that's what the church is like. That's how they get to believe in the rapture. They read the Bible, they heard what it said, but they didn't understand it.

 

So wisdom is wonderful, the word of God, but above all things, get understanding. How do you get it? You've got to ask Jesus for it. You can't get it from reading books. You can't get it from reading Bible commentaries. It is a spiritual gift that can only come from Jesus Christ. There is no way you could buy, borrow, beg or steal it. It is a gift from Almighty God. You can't coax Him into giving it to you. Glory to God.

 

Verse 6, "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." Someone can preach to you, but what does planted mean? Let me go over this with you. We're taking much longer on this than I expected. I may not get through the whole chapter. Glory to God. "I have planted," said Paul. What does that mean? He has planted the seed. How do we plant the seed? The seed is planted by preaching. Another has watered. What does that mean? The ministry of the Spirit. He's talking about the ministry of the Word and the ministry of the Spirit. We preach the ministry of the Spirit at this ministry, and we also preach the Word. There are a lot of ministries around today where you can get the ministry of the Spirit. It's very hard to get the ministry of the Word today. Very frequently God will move you to different churches for different ministries.

 

So one minister gives you the Word, the other minister you get baptized in the Holy Spirit from, but there's no way it could do you any good, either deep revelation or spiritual ministry, healings, deliverance, whatever else is associated with it, unless Jesus Christ says, come forth in my image. We all know that our natural example is true in farming, and many seeds are planted and watered and they don't all grow. Seeds from the same plant, in the same earth, receiving the same water and the same fertilizer, and some of them sprout and some of them don't. You cannot sprout unless Christ says, I give you permission. Now if you want it, you just pray for it, brethren. Don't envy the one that has it, just ask for it. God has plenty for everyone. Glory to God.

 

Verse 8, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor." Well, what does that mean, he that planteth and he that watereth? The minister that gives you the Word and the minister that gives you the Spirit, He's one. Well what does that mean, brethren? What does that mean? It means that it's Christ in the minister that's giving you the Word, and it's Christ in the minister that's giving you the ministry of the Spirit. You're not getting it from any natural man, and the one who was one, is Christ, who is manifesting in His many membered five fold ministry.

 

It's Christ in me, and it's Christ in the preacher down the street. So you see what Paul is saying? "You're not getting it from me and you're not getting it from the guy down the street. You're not getting it from Apollos, you see. You're getting it from Christ in Apollos. You're not getting it from Paul. You're getting it from Christ in Paul." So what are you saying, that Paul is better than Apollos? What are you talking about? Paul is giving you nothing, Apollos is giving you nothing. It's Christ in each of the men. They're one. So what are you wasting your time for, saying which minister is better or preferable to the other?

 

How do you decide where to go? You go where God sends you, brethren. You don't go because one is a better preacher, or because one has better music, or one moves in the gifts of the Spirit. You go to the church that God sends you to, and if you can't hear from God, what do you do? You go to the most anointed minister that you know and ask him to pray for you that God direct you to the church He wants you in, and then you just believe that God is going to do it.

 

I left out Verse 7, "So then neither is he that planted anything." Apollos isn't anything. Neither is he that waters, neither is Paul anything, but God that is in them, that gives the increase. Back to Verse 8. "Now he that planted and he that watered are one." They're Christ, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Now what does that mean, that every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor? Brethren, I declare to you that this verse is not speaking about Paul or Apollos. It is speaking about the man that has received the seed and the water, and every man that receives the seed and the water shall receive a reward according to his own labor. We are clearly told in the Scripture, brethren, that the promise of salvation is a free gift, but we must labor to enter into the kingdom, and that we enter in with much tribulation. What is that labor, brethren? Is it reading books, brethren? That labor is a spiritual labor, brethren, of laying hold of whatever Christ gives us to lay hold of and using it against the wickedness in our own soul.

 

Judge your soul so that you don't have to be judged. "Every man that has the hope of His appearing purifieth himself." The spiritual labor, brethren, is putting sin under feet in our own mind, not in your brother's mind, not in the poor guy laying out in the street, brethren, if you're going out there and condemning him for drinking. The work that you're called to is to put sin, in your mind, under the feet of the Christ in you. According to the labor that you expend, you will have a reward in direct proportion, and what shall your reward be? Christ? Your reward is Christ, and Christ shall mature in you, brethren, in direct proportion to the spiritual labor that you exercise in putting sin underfoot.

 

The more you do it, the more Christ will grow in you, and if you try and you fail, you cry out and say, Jesus, I tried and I failed, and He will grow and He will strengthen you. As you labor to put your soul man in submission to Christ, Christ will grow up in you, and your reward shall be great and it shall be in direct proportion to the labor that you exert to resist sin in your own mind by the power of Christ. There is no ability in the natural man to resist sin. When Christ has been added to you, you now have the power to resist sin, and the Lord requires us to pick up our spiritual weapons and rebuke sin and police our own mind and put it under foot and knock it down and tear it down every time we perceive it in our own mind. Glory to God.

 

That is your reward, it is Christ. I believe that this clearly indicates that some people shall have a greater reward than others. Christ shall be more mature and manifesting more frequently in some than others in direct proportion to their labor.

 

Now I want to call to your attention at this point that there is a difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the reward that we are getting, which is the very life of Christ within us. Some people are very gifted without any labor, but the gifts are passing away, brethren, and Christ is the only thing that will abide forever, the reproduction of Christ in your own soul. We have many, many, many, many, many, tapes on this. This is not speaking about the gifts of the Spirit that are without repentance. This is the formation of Christ in you. Remember, the gifts of the Spirit are curative. They're not defensive. They will let you get sick and then they will heal you. Christ growing up in you is defensive. When He is in full stature, you can get bitten with a snake and not get hurt. No one shall be able to harm you in any way, when He's in full stature. Glory to God. Hallelujah. (speaking in tongues)

 

Verse 9, "For we are labors together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." Well what do you mean, we're laborers together with God? Well, the work of Jesus Christ, brethren, is to reproduce the image of the Father in your soul, when your will goes to Jesus and says, Jesus, I'm with you. That's the way the image of the Father is going to be reproduced in your soul, when sin is put underfoot. You are now laboring together with God to do this work of putting sin under the feet of the Christ.

 

You can't do that, brethren, until Christ starts to appear in you, until He's conceived in you. When He is conceived in you, you become, if He wills, because there is unproductive fruit....There are some members of the living soul that will not join with Christ, and I'm not going to get into that now. We talked about it on other tapes, but I'm not going to get into it now, but when you perceive what's happening and you join with God to put down sin in your own mind, you have become a co-laborer with God and you become God's husbandry or God's Garden.

 

Remember, Adam was told to keep the Garden? The spiritual reality of that is that the Garden was the mind, the living soul, that God had created, and Adam was told to keep it from being fertilized by Satan. We have that on other tapes too. You are God's husbandry.

 

You have become God's Garden, and Christ is now doing the job that Adam could not do. He is subduing the land. He is subduing the weeds. He is ripping up the weeds of the demons and the sin in your mind and He is going to cultivate the Garden, and, when the Garden is cultivated, there shall be no weeds, there shall be no rocks. There shall be only the plants that the Lord intended to bring forth and what are those plants? They are the reproduction of Christ in the earth of your soul. Glory to God.

 

There's another phrase in Verse 9, "Ye are God's building. Ye are the temple of God." God is dwelling in you. You are His Garden, and you are also His house. We've spoken about that many times. We all have many roles. You could be a husband, a father, a professional man, a preacher. So our soul is the Garden of God in which His life is growing. That would be Jesus Christ.

 

Okay, let me get this a little deeper. The Garden is the place where the soul of Jesus Christ is growing, and when you are the house of God, that is the house that houses the Spirit of the Father. So the Garden is referring to the soul, and the word "temple" is referring to the house of the Spirit of the Father. I remind you that the Father is dwelling in the Son. The Spirit of the Father is dwelling in the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the soul is the Garden. The soul of Jesus Christ is the Garden, and the Father dwells in that, and when you speak of the Father, you call it the temple, the dwelling place of the Lord. Glory to God.

 

Verse 10, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another buildeth there upon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon,

 

according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder." Paul says he is building in the wisdom of God. What is he building? He is building the house of the Lord. He is a co-laborer with God and how is he building the house of the Lord? What is the house of the Lord made of? It is made of stones, spiritual stones that, in this realm of appearance, we call men. >From the perspective of God, we are spiritual stones building His temple, but we call ourselves men.

 

So how is Paul building a house? He is building Christ in each individual man. He is building Christ in each individual man. He is building a spiritual house, but in this realm of appearance we look like individual people. So Paul calls himself a wise master builder and he says, "I have laid the foundation and another builder thereon, but let every man take heed, how he buildeth thereon." Now we're going to see in the next verse that the foundation is Jesus Christ, and Paul says that he laid the foundation. Well what does that mean? Let's get some understanding here. If Paul says he laid the foundation, and if it's a spiritual house and the foundation is Jesus Christ, what has he done? What has Paul done? He laid the foundation and what does that mean to us? It means that Paul has gone to a man or to men, and by the power that God has given him, he has caused Christ to be conceived in that man.

 

Brethren, we are being converted from the inside out. Our very spiritual nature and being is being converted from being founded on Satan to founded on Christ. Our bodies look the same, and our names are the same, and our family members are the same, but Jesus Christ is building a house inside of us where, unless people have spiritual eyes to see, they can't see it. Paul calls himself a master builder. Why? Because he is an apostle of God, and his mind is one with Jesus Christ, so he is one with Him. Jesus Christ is the master builder, but Paul says, I am a master builder because he knows he is one with Jesus Christ and he lays the foundation by causing Christ to be conceived in you.

 

Brethren, you could come in with the gifts, you could come in with revelation, you could come in with anything that looks or sounds good, but if Christ is not conceived in that person, the ministry that you give to them will not be able to cleave unto them. You will be pouring spiritual gifts, prophesy, healing, and deliverance upon a personality that is founded upon Satan and the Satanic personalty. The satanic, corporal man is about to be cast into the wine press and destroyed.

 

So all of your building is of no avail. Your spiritual ministry, your prophesy, your healing, your prayers, your deliverance, your preaching, it must be touching and building upon Christ in the man. But if Christ has not been conceived in the man, you are building upon the spiritual power base known as Satan that is generating that human being.

 

So Paul says, "according to the grace of God which is given to me as a wise master builder." You see, he clearly states he's only a wise master builder because of the grace of God. He says, "I have laid the foundation." He has caused Christ to be conceived in many and another buildeth thereupon. Then when another man comes along and prophesies to you or preaches to you or teaches you, and it's of the Spirit of God, and it lays upon that foundation, it can cleave to it because Paul has laid the foundation. Now Paul says, "but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon." Be careful, you could make mistakes in the things of the spirit.

 

Verse 11, " For other foundation can no man lay that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." I sort of got ahead of myself there, but Paul is explaining to you to be beware. Paul is saying that I have laid the foundation, but there is a possibility that you think you have the foundation of Christ and you don't. Look at it. Paul says, "I have laid the foundation," and then he says, "but take heed because no other foundation can no man lay than is laid." That is Jesus Christ, and you're going to see in the next few verses that he talks about a man's work falling down. I declare to you that I just explained it to you, if Christ has not been conceived in that man.

 

He can go to Bible College and submit to all kinds of spiritual ministry and really look like a deep spiritual man, but when Jesus Christ comes to test that house and how does He test it? Through trials and fire. He tests it with fire, trials and tribulation. That's correct. When Jesus Christ comes to test that house, brethren, if all that spiritual ministry is standing on the power base known as Satan, I'm telling you right now, it's coming down. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth isn't going to stop it. One of the biggest problems in the church with regard to this, in this hour, is that the word isn't even out that Christ has to be conceived in you.

 

People think that if they have the baptism with the Holy Spirit, that is all they need. That is not all you need. That baptism with the Holy Spirit is operating out of the natural man. That's why there is so much abuse in the area of false gifts and false ministry and false prophesy, because the gifts operate through the natural man. The new power base, the soul life of Jesus Christ, must appear in your human spirit, and that is what must be built upon. In this hour, glory to God, the Lord is starting to bring forth the word. He seems to be bringing it forth very slowly, but He knows what He's doing. What do I know? It's just me.

 

Well, back to Verse 10. I want to read you Verse 10 again. Paul says, "I've laid the foundation and others can build upon the foundation that I've laid, but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon." Now I haven't studied this in the Greek, but in my opinion this translation is very unclear because Paul is saying, take heed how you build upon." It makes it sound like the danger is in the ministry. Well Of course, we know that there's false ministry. But in Verse 11, it says, "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."

 

So if you read Verses 11 through 15, which we're going to do now, you will see that what Paul really means is that if you have the wrong foundation, your house is going to fall down. So how that sentence came out, "but let every man take heed how he buildeth there upon," I don't know. But there is a good chance, if I looked it up in the Greek, I would find it to be an inaccurate translation.

 

So Paul is telling us you've got to get the true foundation, Jesus Christ. For no other foundation can no man lay than that is laid. Satan's foundation is over. It existed for a season. It served its purpose. It helped the living soul manifest and multiply to many members across the earth. But now that the foundation of Jesus Christ is laid, now that there's a new power base in the earth generating existence, there's a new source of men appearing on the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other foundation that you can build upon. Why? Because it's going to be thrown in the wine press and destroyed, although it hasn't happened yet. Paul talks like it has happened, yet it hasn't. But it's in the process of happening, as far as God is concerned. In the realm of the spirit it has happened. It has not worked its way through into the realm of appearance yet.

 

Verse 12, "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay or stubble." Okay, I'll just comment briefly on that. So he's again indicating to us that every man is building his own house. I just want to point out to you and put it on this tape that, that Greek word translated man is a vague Greek word that can mean man, woman, or any person. So it's referring to any member of the living soul, if he build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble. I point out to you the emphasis again is upon the fact that we are building our own house, that we must be fellow laborers with Christ, policing our own soul and putting sin underfoot. That is the building of our house.

 

What does Paul say, "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold," and what is gold? But the deity of Jesus Christ. If we start manifesting Christ, if we build with silver... what does silver typify? It typifies the redemption of the soul. Precious stones typify the Spiritual life of the Father. Wood, hay, and stubble, as I said I haven't studied tonight so I don't know what the three-fold breakdown is. Well, we know that wood refers to the Adamic soul, so I would say off the top of my head that wood, hay, and stubble are referring to the three elements of the Adamic soul. Glory to God.

 

Satan, Adam, and the carnal mind, either spirit she is joined to Christ. Satan, Adam, and the carnal mind, I'm sure if I looked up those words in the Greek, that's what I would get. So Jesus says, "now if any man build upon this foundation, these are your choices. You can build with the Christ that's in you. You can join with Christ in you to gain His strength and do the work. You can build through the redemption of your soul, which is coming through submission through Christ. You can build through the power of the spiritual life of God or you can build through Satan, Adam, or the carnal mind."

 

Verse 13, "Every man's work shall be made manifest." It's going to be made manifest, whether you're building with gold, silver, and precious stones of the life of Christ in you or whether you're building with wood, hay and stubble. It's going to be made manifest. It's going to be revealed, for the day shall declare it.

 

Well, what does that mean? The day shall declare it, brethren, when you come in contact with Jesus Christ. It shall be revealed what's in your heart. Now either Christ is going to be rising up in your own heart, or you're going to come in contact with the son of God, in whom the day light, the light of Christ is manifesting, and the day shall be shined upon your soul.

 

This is the two witnesses, brethren. This is the confrontation with the two witnesses. It's the White Throne Judgment. It shall be declared whether you're manifesting through a true Christ that is showing love and whatever else, righteous, and whatever else is coming forth in your soul or whether it's some religious counterfeit spirit making you look good. It shall be revealed when you come in contact with the daylight of Christ, whether it be in another believer or whether it be in yourself. Hallelujah.

 

Every man's work shall be made manifested. It shall be revealed, for the daylight shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. What does that mean? By the fire of God, meaning the fiery trial. When you come in contact with the son of God, brethren, you better believe that there's going to be a conflict with the sin in your heart. It could be the fire of God rising up in your own soul, but all sin will be revealed, and it shall be revealed whether you have the life of Christ growing in you, or whether you just have the gifts or a calling of God which is without repentance. It's going to be revealed by fire, by trial and tribulation. We were talking about that in the exhortation earlier tonight. When heavy trials come your way, it's no good in trying to pray it away. God is letting it come upon you because fire, trials, and tribulation expose sin in your life.

 

How does it expose sin in your life? Well, Jesus wants to see how you're going to react to that guy that's crucifying you. Are you going to hate him? Are you going to try and destroy him? Are you going to try and shut him down? Are you going to try and stop him, or are you going to put your faith in Jesus Christ to deliver you and to do whatever He believes to be righteous? Now don't get condemned if you fight back. Just see the truth of what you are.

 

Is Christ appearing in you or is He not? If He's not, pray to the Lord that you want Him to appear in you. Don't get upset and frightened and try to cover it up. I declare to you, brethren, and I warn you clearly that if you pray a pray like, Lord, let Christ appear in me, you better get ready for some heavy trials because He shall be revealed in you by fire. The fire shall reveal whether your personality is Christ or whether it is Satan. There is no other way.

 

The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. What is your work? The work is the soul that you're building. You're building your own soul, brethren. You're building a soul. You take more of the spiritual ministry and gifts and you're building, supposedly, a new soul. But if your foundation is Satan, your house is going to crumble.

 

Verse 14, "If any man's work abide which he has built there upon, he shall receive a reward." If you come through the fiery trial, brethren, and your soul is still standing, what that means is, if you don't sin in the trial, if you respond in the trial as Christ, that's what this means, your work shall stand. If any man's work abide the fire, which he has built there upon, he shall receive a reward and the reward is what? It is Christ in you in full stature, and what does that mean, Christ in you in full stature? Does anybody know what that means? Brethren, total dominion over your soul, the end of death, the end of sickness, the end of hunger, and the end of fear, if Christ has been conceived within you and you are building a house based on Him.

 

I want to go back to Verse 12, "based in gold," which I told you was deity, but I didn't tell you where the deity is in you. It's Christ coming forth in your human spirit. So that's the salvation of your spirit. Christ is coming forth. You're bearing the Christ child in your spirit, and you will be saved by child bearing. If your house is built with silver and what is silver? It's the redemption of your soul. Your soul is redeemed after Christ comes forth in your human spirit. Precious stones, that's the spiritual life of the Father, which is the unconscious mind of the soul life of Christ if that's your house. You see, you can't build with gold, silver, and precious stones if you're building on Satan. You can't do it. The only way you're going to get the material to build with is when you have Christ. Glory to God. Father, if you want to give it to me deeper, you give it to me deeper. Hallelujah.

 

Okay, let me say it this way. If you're building your house out of a Christ that has been conceived in you, if the spiritual power and strength that you're using to build your house comes forth from Christ in you, it shall be gold in your spirit, silver in your soul, and precious stones or the life of the Father in your unconscious mind. But if you're building with the things of the flesh that look like the true Spirit of God, it is in reality, wood, hay and stubble and your house will crumble. The Lord said, "in these last days, if it were possible, the very elect will be deceived." It's going to be almost impossible unless God tells you to tell the difference between a true man of God and someone whose house is built from hay, wood and stubble. It's going to look exactly the same, but when they enter into the tribulation and have a confrontation with Christ, they will crumble. Their house will crumble.

 

Verse 15, "And if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer lose, but he himself shall be saved, yet so by fire." So what does that mean? When you have a confrontation with the two-witness company, with the son of God, your spiritual life, however it's manifesting, shall stand. But if you are built on false gifts, I shouldn't have said that. I'm stumbling here a little towards the end. Help me, Father. The gifts can be genuine, the gifts can be genuine, brethren. The gifts can be genuine, but you can't build unless Christ is conceived in you. If you're taking these gifts and building on Satan, when you have a confrontation with a Son of God, with a member of the two-witness company, you're going to crumble. What does that mean? It means that you're not going to manifest Christ. It means that you're going to get angry, that you're going to retaliate, that you're going to hate.

 

It means that you're going to respond out of your own soul, and what will the result of that be? You will be exposed that you are not Christ, and that you are walking in this realm of the spirit being held up by a balloon and you shall deflate. We have seen it happen in this ministry. Someone who was teaching here, a prophet here, a highly anointed person of God and the Lord came upon them with His fire, and they responded with great sin in their heart, and we literally saw them deflate.

 

As far as I know, they still speak in tongues, they go to a local church, but the height of spirituality that appeared to be a son of God that they had attained to, is gone from them, and they are carnal Christians. It wasn't real. It was an illusion. It was a will of wisps. It was a passing fancy. They laid hold of all the gifts and the teaching and the preaching, but they built it upon their own soul. I'm really struggling with this. I don't know whether there is someone who doesn't understand it or whether it's me. I just can't do any better right now. I have explained it to the best of my ability right now.

 

Verse 15, "If any man's work shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss." The loss of what? These people that I've seen this happen to, they were walking in the high realms of the spirit. This one person had deep revelation, I personally am convinced. We had deep conversations. They understood the revelation. They no longer can understand the revelation, let alone teach it. This was a teacher. They don't even understand the deep revelation anymore. They couldn't sit in the service, couldn't understand what I was saying, after being a teacher.

 

So that's the loss you're going to suffer, the loss of your spiritual life, and you're going to fall down to a very low carnal realm, but he himself shall be saved. Your spiritual substance shall be saved. It depends on whether God will give you another chance to build on Christ, or whether you'll live out this lifetime and die, but your spiritual substance shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Glory to God.

 

Verse 16, I think we're going to call it quits here. How much time do we have on this tape? Okay, I think we're going to call it quits. Are there any questions on this message tonight? Glory to God.

 

12/17/02mm