11/04/98
LivingEM: Hello everybody!
LivingEM: Are there any questions or comments today?
LivingEM: please hold on while I wait for a lead from the Lord.
LivingEM: nobody has anything to say?
LivingEM: usually, when there is nothing in my heart, the lead comes from the congregation
JSNGSNG: I'm just glad that Halloween is over
LivingEM: the floor is open.
LivingEM: why?
LAMB4114: I just got off the phone with an old friend who really is in pain. She is Catholic.
LivingEM: the floor is open for questions or comments
LivingEM: physical pain or spiritual pain?
LAMB4114: The Lord told me to pray against insanity. She told me that her father's sister was placed
LAMB4114: in an insane asylum, something I was not aware of.
LAMB4114: Spiritual and emotional pain
LivingEM: I pray that the Lord have mercy on both of them, and on the whole family.
LAMB4114: amen
LivingEM: someone was speaking to me about the projected computer problem in the year 2000.
LivingEM: he was advising me to stock up on food, and prepare for a crisis.
LivingEM: he told me that the Lord has been saying "prepare."
LivingEM: I don't believe however that this man asked the Lord what it is that he should prepare for.
PSALM 29 2: my husband works for a computer company that creates software to fix the year 2000 problem
PSALM 29 2: he doesn't think there's going to be a crisis
LivingEM: I don't think that the thought of spiritual preparation ever entered his mind.
LivingEM: it is interesting that you should say that Psalm.
LivingEM: I have no personal word as to what to expect in the year 2000.
LivingEM: but I know this, that there is no preparation of this world that will sustain us
LivingEM: if a crisis does arise.
LivingEM: I believe in taking precautions, but I do not believe in panic.
LivingEM: this very man, while telling me how he was stocking his garage,
LivingEM: never for a moment considered the obvious: that I have no garage,
and very little storage
LivingEM: space.
LivingEM: if I were someone else, I might have been upset by his unsolicited counsel.
LivingEM: what about the Christians who live apartment buildings?
LivingEM: what about the Christians who live in rented rooms?
LivingEM: what about the youthful Christians who live with unreconciled parents?
LivingEM: what about the Christians who live in senior-citizen homes?
LivingEM: what about Christians in hospitals?
LivingEM: what about the poor, who don't have the money to stock up?
LivingEM: something is wrong with this counsel.
LivingEM: I believe it is fear based, and rapture based.
LivingEM: but of course, the rapture theory in itself is fear based.
LivingEM: it is wisdom to prepare to the best of one's abilities,
LivingEM: and I believe that the Lord requires us to do so.
LivingEM: so the best that I can say for this scare which is being shouted
LivingEM: from many pulpits, as well as from the Internet,
LivingEM: is that if the Lord does not make away for you,
LivingEM: there is no amount of stored food and water that can save you,
LivingEM: it all of the utilities ceased to function in the
prophesied computer blitz of the
LivingEM: year 2000.
LivingEM: God does expect us to do our part, but the provision of the Lord is supernatural.
LivingEM: God is a spirit.
LivingEM: His provision is spiritual,
LivingEM: and his deliverance is spiritual.
LivingEM: deliverance that manifests as a physical event, such as,
LivingEM: one man supplying the needs of another man, is only the final expression
LivingEM: of a spiritual command which was uttered
LivingEM: out of the spiritual plane of God.
LivingEM: I have heard such panic reports in the church for many years.
LivingEM: they are based upon the premise that there is no help for God's people
LivingEM: while they are in the earth.
LivingEM: conversely, the message is there is only help for God's people when they transfer
LivingEM: over to the other side, that is, by means of the rapture or
physical death.
LivingEM: on the contrary, there is a great deal of help for God's people in. the earth
LivingEM: judgment is in the flash so that we might learn to live after the spirit.
LivingEM: what does that mean? Does anybody know?
JSNGSNG: there is no sin living in the spirit
LAMB4114: correction in the flesh brings us to a place where we call out for help to God
LivingEM: it is true that there is no sin when we live out on the spirit of Christ.
LivingEM: mortal man's problem, is how to do that.
LivingEM: it is true that the pain that the flesh experiences, will turn many to God
ToDaNow: judgment brings on repentance, confession which leads us to trust the Spirit of God
LivingEM: yes, this is true.
LivingEM: but let us is not forget the high calling which is in Christ Jesus
LivingEM: we are to cry out for help from God, and to trust in God,
LivingEM: but this is only a temporary stage.
LivingEM: ultimately, we are to become like God.
LivingEM: we are to think with his mind,
LivingEM: reason, and make decisions with his mind,
LivingEM: and be blameless and all of our behavior
LivingEM: and dealings with God and other men.
LivingEM: be ye holy, as your father in heaven is holy.
LivingEM: our problem is that our basic instincts are the exact opposite of holiness.
LivingEM: our basic instincts are pride, rebellion and murder.
LivingEM: therefore, when we receive unpleasant consequences as a result
LivingEM: of yielding to our instincts, hopefully,
LivingEM: we will remember what we were taught as physical and spiritual Christians,
LivingEM: and confess our sins, and repent, and trust God
LivingEM: TO CHANGE OUR NATURE
LivingEM: so that our instinct is towards righteousness instead of murder.
LivingEM: it is a good thing to be good spiritual children, but we cannot stay that way.
LivingEM: we must grow up.
LivingEM: there are many in the world today who know nothing of Christ.
LivingEM: they may have heard of the holy spirit.
LivingEM: they may even experience the gifts of the spirit.
LivingEM: but their nature is in the image of the serpent.
LivingEM: we must be translated from the image of the serpent or,
LivingEM: as the Scripture says, from the image of the beast,
LivingEM: into the image of our glorious God.
LivingEM: we, who can hear this message, and are strong enough
LivingEM: to see ourselves as we really are when our sins are pointed out,
LivingEM: are the hope of the weak of this world
LivingEM: blasphemy, you say!
LivingEM: Christ Jesus is the hope of the world!
LivingEM: this is true. Christ Jesus is the hope of the world,
LivingEM: but Christ Jesus ministers through the flash off mortal man.
LivingEM: he will minister through us to the fullest extent that we will get out of his way.
LivingEM: getting out of his way means rejecting the wisdom and counsel of
this world.
LivingEM: when we agree with Christ Jesus we become one with him, and are the thus
LivingEM: "out of his way."
LivingEM: we can only be in his way, when we are separate and opposed to him in now mind.
LivingEM: our mind.
OnlineHost: Myprecous1 has left the room.
LivingEM: there is only one mind of God.
LivingEM: this mind is separated into many parts today,
LivingEM: because that one mind has been divided by the flesh that surrounds us.
OnlineHost: Myprecous1 has entered the room.
LivingEM: if you can hear it, we are all one in the mind of Christ Jesus,
LivingEM: except for the spiritual membrane which surrounds each of us.
LivingEM: I will try to explain this more fully.
LivingEM: there is only one God, and everything that exists, both spirit and matter,
LivingEM: come from him.
LivingEM: the world that we see exists because the spirit on the one Goid
LivingEM: God
LivingEM: has been divided over and over and over again.
LivingEM: think of cookie dough.
LivingEM: there is one sheet of cookie dough.
LivingEM: then you take a cookie cutter and cut one giant cookie out of it.
LivingEM: then you cut smaller cookies, out of the giant cookie,
LivingEM: and yet smaller cookies out of those cookies.
LivingEM: what you have done is divide the dough and separate each cookie from the others
LivingEM: by surrounding it with the atmosphere of this world.
LivingEM: you have created a border where there was no border.
LivingEM: you have created distance where there was no distance.
LivingEM: you have created an illusion of many cookies when the truth is
LivingEM: that you took one giant cookie and broke it into many pieces.
LivingEM: the sum of the many cookies does not add up to anymore cookie dough
LivingEM: than that which originally existed.
LivingEM: it just looks like more because of the separation into many parts.
LivingEM: getting back to our original point,
LivingEM: when the cookie dough is separated into many parts, it is now possible
LivingEM: for one of those parts to stand opposite from another part.
LivingEM: while all of the cookies were one-piece of dough, this was not possible.
LivingEM: living out of the spirit is like being rejoined to the whole cookie dough.
LivingEM: it becomes impossible to stand opposite from the whole.
LivingEM: now in this carnal world, the relinquishing of one's individuality
is grevious
LivingEM: and undesirable because to do so one must place himself completely under the authority
LivingEM: of another person or an organization, such as the Armed Forces.
LivingEM: such a submission is previous to many independent people,
LivingEM: but at least in the case of the Armed Forces it is understandable and acceptable
LivingEM: because of an understanding that the military is necessary for the
benefit of the country
LivingEM: .nevertheless, despite this understanding, personal liberties must be sacrificed.
LivingEM: there is a definite and distinct loss to the individual.
LivingEM: but the end God, in addition to the loss of what we perceive to be
LivingEM: "freedom" we gain a whole new life in Christ Jesus.
LivingEM: so, we see that reaping the consequences of
LivingEM: ungodly thoughts and behavior sown by our carnal thinking,
LivingEM: and behavior, can have the benefit of making us desire the spiritual life.
LivingEM: there is no way that the spiritual life can be forced upon us.
LivingEM: it requires too much of our own effort to enter in.
LivingEM: what is forced upon us, is the consequences of our poor choice,
LivingEM: that is, to follow after the wisdom and counsel of our carnal mind,
LivingEM: rather than the wisdom and counsel of Christ.
LivingEM: one might see a similarity in this process to Pavlov's dogs.
LivingEM: Pavlov was a Russian scientist who did research in conditioning animal behavior.
LivingEM: and without Christ we are animals, are we not?
LivingEM: Pavlov had some dogs in cages in his laboratory.
LivingEM: he would feed the dogs only once a day.
LivingEM: every day before he would place the food in their cages, Pavlov would ring a bell.
LivingEM: it didn't take very long for the dogs to learn that when the bell rang, dinner was on the
LivingEM: way.
LivingEM: after some amount of time, Pavlov would ring the bell,
LivingEM: but not serve dinner.
LivingEM: he would do this at other times of the day, even shortly
LivingEM: after the dogs had eaten,
LivingEM: and the dogs would salivate as if they had not eaten all day.
LivingEM: so Pavlov found out that saliva coming into the mouth of the dogs
LivingEM: could be caused by the ringing of a bell, as well as by the smell of food,
LivingEM: if the dogs were conditioned to expect to receive food when they heard a bell ring.
LivingEM: in the same way, human beings can be trained to shun the evil wisdom of their carnal mind
LivingEM: and choose to follow after the true spirit of Christ,
LivingEM: if they feel pain after following the wisdom of this world often enough.
LivingEM: most of us who have been following Christ for a while now,
LivingEM: know that it can be very painful to follow Christ.
LivingEM: the difference between the pain of following our carnal mind
LivingEM: and the pain we receive from following Christ,
LivingEM: is that the pain that we receive from following Christ produces victory
LivingEM: in this world,
LivingEM: and eternal life in the next world.
LivingEM: the pain of following after our carnal mind, ends in destruction in this world,
LivingEM: and death in the next.
LivingEM: there are many, however, who do not have the opportunity
LivingEM: to follow after Christ because he is not in their life.
LivingEM: these people can prosper from the wisdom of this world.
LivingEM: these people are in a spiritual place that the new Testament calls Tartarus.
LivingEM: they exist in the hell of this world, yet they are not under judgment.
LivingEM: there are two kinds of judgment.
LivingEM: they are not under the white throne judgment which is mediated by Christ Jesus,
LivingEM: because Christ Jesus is not in them.
LivingEM: neither are they under the destructive judgment mediated by Satan,
LivingEM: because they are following after the goodness of this life.
LivingEM: so we see, that what the good people of the world can do,
LivingEM: would be destructive for the Christian in whom Christ is being formed.
LivingEM: why?
LivingEM: because Christ Jesus has a plan for your life,
LivingEM: that bypasses your opportunities and the sowing and reaping judgment
LivingEM: of this world.
LivingEM: The apostles counseled Paul not to go to Rome.
LivingEM: This was worldly wisdom,
LivingEM: but the exact opposite wisdom from what the Lord Jesus
LivingEM: wanted Paul to do.
LivingEM: the world seeks to preserve its life,
LivingEM: but Christ Jesus seeks to do the will of the father.
LivingEM: even when the will of the father might cause the obedient son
LivingEM: pain and suffering.
LivingEM: it is common in some religious circles to believe that Jesus
LivingEM: would have us to be sacrifices for the many,
LivingEM: with no benefit to ourselves and all,
LivingEM: but I do not believe this to be so.
LivingEM: the problem is that most of the time we cannot see the long-range benefit
LivingEM: of our suffering or sacrifice.
LivingEM: neither is it Godly to enter into obedience because we believe that our sacrifice
LivingEM: will produce benefits in our life.
LivingEM: our attitude should be sacrificial.
LivingEM: that is, that we are willing to lose anything of this world that must be lost,
LivingEM: as the cost of our obedience.
LivingEM: but we do this with the knowledge that spiritual gain is assured.
LivingEM: this knowledge is the joy of persecution that the Scripture speaks about.
LivingEM: no human in his right mind would relish the pain and suffering that obedience
LivingEM: and spiritual growth extracts from us.
LivingEM: our joy, brethren, is in the knowledge is that our spiritual increase
LivingEM: is assured.
LivingEM: our joy is in the knowledge that spiritual growth will abound.
LivingEM: our joy is in the knowledge that no matter how painful our present circumstances
LivingEM: might be, only life, and life more abundantly, can result from obedience to God.
LivingEM: the translations which say that we should be cheerful while we are persecuted,
LivingEM: are unfortunate because they condemn the suffering personality.
LivingEM: the Greek word translated "cheerful" can also be translated "to endure."
LivingEM: as unfair as it may sound to the carnal mind, the destruction of the flesh life
LivingEM: produces great spiritual gain.
LivingEM: and don't think that once you have pierced through to a stronger walk
LivingEM: with the Lord such as I have, that your pain end, because it does not.
LivingEM: we shall have tribulation for as long as we abide in this flesh,
LivingEM: because the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
LivingEM: will oppose the flesh,
LivingEM: because the two are opposite from each other,
LivingEM: and the warfare will cease only when the conscious earth
LivingEM: [that's us] changes her mind,
LivingEM: and agrees to pursue the spiritual life,
LivingEM: and to let go of every worldly thing AS THE LORD TAKES IT,
LivingEM: and not sooner, which would be a religious work that could harm
LivingEM: God's purposes in our life and in the life of others,
LivingEM: so, our message today has been an attempt to understand
LivingEM: what is required of us with regard to the potential computer crisis in the year 2000.
LivingEM: the man who was telling me to store up food,
LivingEM: also told me that he knew that in the event that his fears came to pass,
LivingEM: that those who had food stored up would be in danger of invasion by the hungry mobs.
LivingEM: he told me that he knew that he would be and God hands despite all
that he could do,
LivingEM: sell, he said, we must pray that God defend us against the invading hoards.
LivingEM: now, brethren, something is wrong with this picture.
LivingEM: imagine this banner headline:
LivingEM: CHRISTIANS FIGHT OFF STARVING MOBS WHO THREATEN
LivingEM: TO INVADE THEIR STOREHOUSE OF SUPPLIES.
LivingEM: I cannot perceive your responses as you read what I have just written, but I myself,
LivingEM: am chuckling.
LivingEM: how ridiculous!
LivingEM: how disgraceful!
LivingEM: how can this be?
LivingEM: brethren, I do not condemn this man.
LivingEM: he is where he is.
LivingEM: this is what he thinks.
LivingEM: I choose to believe that should such a crisis occur for any reason,
LivingEM: the computer glitch, or otherwise,
LivingEM: somewhere in this world the mercy of Jesus Christ will be
manifested to those who
LivingEM: believe.
LivingEM: I choose to believe, brethren, that those people who have more faith
LivingEM: in Jesus Christ than in the limited amount of food and water which can be reasonably stored,
LivingEM: will stand in such a crisis.
LivingEM: once again, I believe that we should do what we are capable of doing,
LivingEM: but that we should ask the Lord what it is that he wants us to do.
LivingEM: when I was in Florida a few months ago, we were threatened with a hurricane.
LivingEM: I went to the store and purchased gas lamps and batteries.
LivingEM: then I went to the supermarket and bought some extra food.
LivingEM: but when he came to the possibility of having no electricity to cook with,
LivingEM: I realized that I just about never eat out of cans.
LivingEM: I said to the Lord, what the what me to do?
LivingEM: if it turns out that I don't need canned foods I probably could return what I buy.
LivingEM: but I said, Lord, do you really want me to carry all these cans, and lay out all this money
LivingEM: at this time?
LivingEM: I heard no answer, but did not feel to do it.
LivingEM: the hurricane passed.
LivingEM: it never hit the area where I was.
LivingEM: the batteries will be used eventually and I left the gas lamps for the
LivingEM: owner of the condo where I was staying, to be used for any
LivingEM: future power failures.
LivingEM: be willing to do whatever needs to be done, but don't dispute or deny
LivingEM: the potential move of the spirit of the Lord on your behalf.
LivingEM: our attitude should be,
LivingEM: first I place my hope and safety in the hands of the Lord,
LivingEM: second, what do you want me to do Lord?
LivingEM: what is my part?
LivingEM: and then go forward fearlessly, because fear is the exact opposite
LivingEM: of faith.
LivingEM: God cannot move our behalf when we are in fear because the move on his spirit
LivingEM: is spiritual, and we cannot hear him when we are afraid,
LivingEM: or following after the instructions of our carnal mind to defend ourselves.
LivingEM: and of course, should such a crisis arise, our great hope is that the sons of God
LivingEM: will manifest, and provide the necessities of life to everyone in need.
LivingEM: what a off glorious end to such a crisis!
LivingEM: the Lord is exalted and made great in they are eyes of man
LivingEM: during man's darkest hour.
LivingEM: those of us who are aware, await his appearing.
LivingEM: do not be deceived.
LivingEM: he will appear at the very last moment, to save us from the destructive fruit
LivingEM: of our own sin nature.
LivingEM: things will get worse before they get better.
LivingEM: Jesus will rise and all of his glory after all is lost,
LivingEM: according to the carnal mind,
LivingEM: and he will say and to this nation, arise and come forth,
LivingEM: and may your bands be broken off of you.
LivingEM: are there any questions or comments about this message?
LivingEM: God bless you all. See you next week.
