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Chapter 7 of the Book of Romans is a very interesting chapter. We do find the literary style in the Bible. The Lord has a literary style. He frequently will state a sequence of events in a very concise way, in a very abbreviated way, sometimes in a very mysterious way. And then as you follow along with the following verses, He makes it clearer. He expands it. He gives you more detail. And this is what is happened in chapter 7 of the book of Romans. But because God has given us such an in-depth background of the understanding of His plan for the end time, I would like to start with the end of chapter 7, just as a quick review, and then we'll go on to the parable form.
So we're going to quickly go over verses 15 through 24 of Romans 7. Now this is Paul speaking. This is an example, a personal testimony of Paul of everything that we've been talking for two nights now. "For that which I do, I allow not." That which he wants to do, he can't accomplish it. The good that he wants to do, he can't do it. His carnal mind is stopping him. "Because that what I would, that do I not." We're saying, that which he does, he doesn't want to do. But that which he would like to do, he can't do. "And that which I hate," Paul says, "that's what I do. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law, that the law is good."
Brethren, if you are resisting sin in your mind, in God's eyes, this is a confession to Him that you know that there is sin in your mind. You see, confession is not a verbal act. It's not a ritualistic religious act. Confession is an acknowledgement of sin that comes from the heart. I have heard people confess every sin their minds can imagine. And they want to know why they don't get deliverance. And then Lord shows me that they have no concept whatsoever of how this sin is manifesting in their behavior and in their mind. Right after they say, "I confess," they'll turn around and manifest pride or some ungodly control spirit. And they can't link up the name of the sin to what they're doing. So it's not enough to say I confess. We must be convinced of sin. And this is the job of the Holy Spirit. When He comes, He will convince us of sin, is that not what Jesus said? When we're truly convinced of sin, that is the confession of it and we will know when we're convinced of sin when we resist that thought. You don't have to formally say, "I confess." But your resistance of sin, behavioral sin and sin in the mind is an indication that confession is working in your heart. I want to, I'd like to read verse 16 again. Paul said, "If then I do that which I would not, I'm doing it." Paul says I'm doing the sin. But I'm hating it while I'm doing it. And this condition of mine consents that the law is righteous and my behavior and thought patterns are unrighteous.
Verse 17, "Now then, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." I mentioned this to you earlier. I said, you are no longer, you can no longer take the name carnal, your name is no longer death. From the moment that you enter into this practice, you can legally take the name of Christ. Now again, I'm not telling you that you're in full stature. But when you start resisting sin and trying as best you can to obey Christ, you officially are His. That's what Paul is talking about here. It's no longer him. He's become Christ. And now, we know that it's sin dwelling in him and trying to influence him to do what both he and God are in agreement is no good. Paul is in agreement with God. It's wrong. And even though he's doing it anyway, because for a season sin has overtaken him, in God's eyes, he is justified before God, because it's not him. It's someone else in him.
Now there is a perversion of this, brethren. It's a manifestation of pride that says, "Well, I sinned and there's nothing I could do about it and that's the way I am. And God understands me." Did you ever hear that? "God understands me." That's not what I'm talking about. And my best example is crying Jesus all the way down to the liquor store. This is a simple example. In this covenant, we're dealing with the hidden sins of the heart. I'm giving you a simple, obvious example. All the way to the liquor store. The whole time you're guzzling the bottle down, you have to be crying out, "Jesus, this is against my will." When this is your state of mind, you are in a condition of confession and repentance. And it's just a matter of time until the Lord gives you the victory. Hold onto the horns of the altar, He's faithful. If it's taking longer than you think it should take, I remind you that His thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and He knows what He's doing. And what He's doing is saving your life. That's what He's doing.
Verse 18, "For I know that in me, that is in my flesh." You see, look at the distinction between me and my flesh. Paul is Christ, you see. But there's a problem in his flesh, not meaning the flesh of his body. He's speaking about his soul which still has a head called the carnal mind. Paul is not in full stature as he is writing this letter to the book of Romans. And what he's saying to you -- if you can see it in there, if you can receive it, receive it -- he's saying, my head is still carnal. My head is the carnal mind. I am not yet been, my soul has not yet been beheaded for Christ. My soul has not yet been beheaded so that Christ can sit on the throne of my soul. It hasn't happened to me yet.
And that's how come sin has this authority over me. The god in the midst of me is my carnal mind. And that's why sin has this dominion over me. Now didn't he just say back in the last chapter, "Sin shall not have dominion over you."
Now we have a lot of Christians in the church saying, "I can't sin. Sin has no dominion over me." In the next chapter, he's saying that sin has dominion over him. Brethren, that's a promise that sin shall not have dominion over you. That's a promise. It's the spoil of war. It's your reward for fighting and winning the battle. It's not automatic. This is no rapture. It's not a rapture. I wish it was, but it's not. And let me tell you again why it's not. God's got a reason why it's not. You know, a lot of people say, "Oh, He's such a mighty God. What is he putting us through this for?" I mentioned it last night but I'll tell you again. The reason He's putting us through this is that this overcoming will result in a condition of mind whereby we shall never fall again.
Because God, when He made the creation, built in the ability for that creation to fall only once. The creation fell during the testing. You see, God put the mind of Christ in the creation and there was uncleanness present there. If you recall what I said earlier, there was uncleanness present because the uncleanness was present in the dust of the earth that was covering the Spirit of God to re- -- for the purpose of revealing the Spirit of God. So there was uncleanness and there was Christ. And God said, "All right. Here comes the test. Uncleanness, do your thing. Let's see if Christ is going to keep you down." Now at that time, the creation was righteous. So we have not sinned after the similitude of Adam. Adam had sin under his feet when God said, "Do your thing, sin. Let's see, Adam, if you're going to hold the ground." And Adam didn't hold the ground. The creation fell and he died. But God said, in the event that my son fails the test and he dies, when I ju- -- well, after them," -- OK, let me go back to that -- "and if he fails the test, and he dies, I'm going to raise you from the dead in a form that you will never die again."
That's what this overcoming is about. We are learning to deal with evil. The carnal mind is evil. We're learning to deal with it. We're learning to overcome it. And the result of our overcoming it is intertwining the mind of Christ with it. And the end of the resurrection, the third stage of the resurrection, will be the destruction of the enmity in our flesh. And the creation will never fall again. That's why it's taking so long. Be very careful that in the secret recesses of your heart, you are not bitter towards God or indicting God for being unfair to you. Let me remind you, that that's what Job did. And if you are doing that, if you can perceive it in your, that thought in your own heart saying, "I really don't deserve this. I know I'm not perfect, but I really don't deserve this trial." What you're doing is calling God unrighteous. And it's the sin of pride. You need to confess it and repent. This is one of the hidden sins of the heart.
OK. Verse 18. Paul is saying, "For I know that in me, but not really in me but in my flesh, in my carnal mind, dwelleth no good thing." Or in my soul, he's saying. The flesh means the soul. "In my soul dwelleth no good thing." My carnal mind is still sitting on the throne of my soul. "For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." Now is this not the question that believers everywhere are asking? "I heard this message. I heard about the resurrection of the dead. I heard about full stature. I heard about the life of the ages. How do we get there?" And, you know, nature will not abide a vacuum, brethren. And before God put out this doctrine of how to, the carnal mind got right in there with the doctrine of the wounded heart. Now the people in the Kingdom church, they know there's no physical rapture. They know their bodies not going to Mars. But there's a lot of fables going around, doctrines of the wounded heart. They're in the Kingdom church also. And the fruit of them is death.
Verse 19, "For the good that I would," I know what's right. I don't, but I don't do it. "But the evil which I would not do," because I know that it's evil, that's what I do. So what is Paul saying? He's saying that his carnal mind is stronger than the Christ in him. Now some religious spirit somewhere is yelling, "Blasphemy." No, it's not blasphemy. Christ is growing up from seed in you. Because, you see, He already died once at the fall. And Christ, when He's raised from the dead, He will not die anymore. Christ raised from the dead dieth no more. The reason He won't die anymore is that He's growing up from seed as your baby grows up having many experiences with evil and taking the victory through an overcoming walk. But He's starting out as a baby. Now He's not like our infants, because He's God and we're just a fallen example. But He's not a full-grown man until He's fully born in your mind. We must arrive at the fullness of the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must grow up into Him. Isn't that what Paul said? So it's not a blasphemy to say that at a stage of our immaturity, the carnal is overcoming, on some occasions, is overcoming the Christ in us. It's the reality. The denial of it is pride. And it will keep you from entering into the promise. We must have the truth.
Verse 20, "Now if I do what I don't want to do, it's not me anymore that's doing it, but sin that's dwelling in me." There's the two minds. There's the dichotomy. There's two of us. If Christ is being formed in you, there are two of you. You are a double personality. From second to second, from minute to minute, from day to day, you could be manifesting one mind or the other. James said, "The double minded man is unstable in all his ways." So what we're going through now is an exercise. Sometimes when the trials are fiery, it doesn't seem so simple, but we are engaged in a spiritual exercise which is designed to give us the ability to control our carnal mind. Just like you would see a small child, a 2-year-old child refusing to take her bath, and you see her mother take her by the hand and just lead her into the bathtub. We must do that to our carnal mind. And the Lord is permitting the carnal mind in each of us to have some measure of dominion as a test for us. We must get stronger. That thing is beating us up. Well, He's going to let us get beat to the point that we get strong enough to overcome it. It's a battle. And you can only get knocked down so many times. Each time you get up, you're going to be stronger. Why? Because you will learn from your experiences. You will learn to recognize the snare of the devil. She won't be able to use the same seduction on you twice. There's wisdom in Christ. You'll learn from your defeats. Doesn't the Scripture say, "All things work for the good for those who love the Lord." And some day, sin shall no longer have dominion over you. And you will have the fullness of the mind of Christ. Hallelujah.
Verse 21, "I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is present with me." Brethren, evil is not out there -- well, it is out there, but the evil out there can't hurt you. It's the evil in your own heart. See, the Scripture says the curse causeless does not come. That means it has to find a place in you. The evil in somebody's mind towards you must find a place in you. And if your heart is fallen, there's all kinds of places. So we must be living out of Christ. Don't be afraid now. Don't anybody be afraid. The battle is assured if we fight. But you have to know the truth. You have to abide in righteousness. And because we're fallen, we do step out, you know, every now and then and mess up. So if we find ourselves vulnerable, and we have a problem, you seek the Lord as to how to get out of your problem. But it's no shame. It's to be expected. Why? Because we're not fully grown up yet. We're still learning our lesson of how to be a full grown man that has to, and the full grown man, has total dominion over his own soul within him, and over the whole world outside of him. We're not there yet. We're still children.
Verse 22, "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Now let me point out to you at this point, that Paul is calling evil a law. He's calling evil a law and he's calling, and he also says that there's a law of God. So I'd like to suggest to you that a law, well, we'll find out earlier in this chapter that it speaks about the commandment. The difference between the law and the commandment is that the law is a principle. It's either evil by its nature or it's righteous by its nature. It's a principle. And the commandment is an order. Thou shalt not. But it doesn't give you the power to obey. A commandment is an order that is without power to obey that order. The law is a restraining influence. You see, the commandment can be "Thou shalt not steal in Lagos." But when your policeman or your soldier comes with his gun drawn when you're trying to drive away with somebody else's car, that's the law. So we see here Paul establishing an important principle that evil is a law. The carnal mind is a law. And that Christ is a law. And we'll talk about that more later. I just wanted to take this opportunity to point it out to you. "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." So let's take a minute to speak about who the inward man is. Brethren, each of us, well, there's only one living soul. God made one living soul. In this hour it's in many members, but each of us, because we're divided, because the creation is divided, I'm going to say to each of us has soul for our individual person. There is only, and the soul is the man. The soul is the personality. There is only one man. When the mind which is carnal is being revealed through that man, he is the old man. When the mind which is righteous, which is Christ, is being revealed through your soul, He is the new man, or the inward man. It's the same soul. He changes depending on which mind is being revealed through him. The renewal of your mind is the impartation of a new mind. Renewal is in Christ. As Christ takes dominion over your carnal mind, your man or your soul or your personality is the new man. But in the moments that you are yielding to your carnal mind, and he is freely manifesting through your personality, you are the old man. But it's not two souls. That's the point I'm trying to make. You don't have two souls. You have one soul. You have two minds. And whichever mind is manifesting through that soul, you're either old or new, depending on the mind that's got hold of you.
Verse 23, "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." Now notice that Paul calls his mind Christ. He doesn't even acknowledge that the carnal mind is a mind. He says, "I see a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." So Paul is saying that his mind is Christ, and Christ is a law, and that there is also a law in his members. Now remember, his member is his human spirit which is now joined to Satan and the carnal mind. And he's saying that that union, which goes by the name of carnal mind, is a law. But he's not making it simple. He's not calling it the carnal mind. But he's saying that there is a law to which his member, which is his human spirit, is joined, and it's warring against the law of Christ, which is now become his mind. And what it's doing, what the law that's in his members is doing is bringing him into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members. Again, Paul is saying that the carnal mind, which is completely mani- -- which is manifesting through his soul and of which his human spirit is a part, is stronger than the mind of Christ in him. It couldn't be any clearer than it is here in Romans chapter 7. But we do know that in another place later on, Paul said, "I live but yet not I. Christ liveth in me." So we know that Paul did attain to full stature. Brethren, if this is your experience, if you are engaged in this warfare in any way, which I think that a lot of you are if not most of you, be encouraged. Paul did attain to full stature. I believe that we will see it in our lifetime.
Verse 24, "Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And I mentioned it last night. I'll mention it again that Paul clearly states we have a celestial body and we have a terrestrial body. So whenever you see the word body in the Scripture, you have to ask yourself, which body is Paul speaking about? And when he says body of death, I want to suggest to you he's speaking about the celestial body, the soulish body through which the carnal mind is ruling. It's a body of death because the mind that's ruling in it is death. When the mind which is Christ is ruling through that soul, it becomes a body of life, or more commonly known as the body of Christ. The body of life is the body of Christ. But there is also a body of death. And Paul said, "Who shall deliver me from this condition of my personality or my soul which is ruled by my carnal mind." And of course, we all know that the answer is Christ, his personal Lord and Savior, shall deliver him by crucifying this carnal mind. He crucifi- -- excuse me, I think, I believe the Scripture says, "The old man will be crucified so that the body of sin can be destroyed." It's the crucifixion of Christ is to the body of sin unto the destruction of that body of sin.
So it's 9 o'clock. I've been asked to end early. It's up to you. Do you want me to take questions now, or go on? I think if we're going to stop, we should really stop at this point because it's a pretty deep study. Maybe we'll end now and just take questions. Are there any questions at all? Well, haven't been many questions. Do you want me to go on for a little bit? I'll do whatever you want me to do. See in New York, we go on until 2 o'clock in the morning. That's why at some of your meetings, I just kept on going. We're just getting started at 9 o'clock in New York. OK. Well, there don't seem to be any questions. Do you have a question?
COMMENT: [UNINTELLIGIBLE] asked me what happens to the spirit of those that are unbelievers and they have not received Christ. If they die, what happens to them?
PASTOR VITALE: The spirit of man is eternal. It goes back to the Father. You see, there was just one living soul that was formed. And God breathed a breath of life into that living soul. The breath that's in this creation, which in this hour is in the form of our human spirit, is of God. And because it's of God, even though it's in a fallen condition, it cannot be destroyed. It must go back to the Father. I failed to clarify that. Somebody's saying how can the Spirit of God be fallen? Let me take a minute to go over that. Brethren, at the time -- well, let me see, let me give you an example here. If you have -- well, this is a way-out example -- but if someone draws, if a doctor draws blood from you for laboratory tests, once that blood leaves your body, and it goes into the laboratory test, it changes. It's, you can almost say it mutates. It's no longer the blood that's inside of your body. The Son separated from the Father and He was joined or breathed into the soul. And He, and that breath of the Father -- now the Father remained the same. Ladies, when you have a baby, it, the baby is formed of your flesh and it's formed of your blood and it's made from your body. But when that baby departs from you, you're still a whole woman. You haven't lost anything. When the breath of life went into the creation, the Father didn't lose anything. But that breath took another form. It took the form as the life of the man. Now remember, the man in relationship to God was his wife, and that spirit, that spirit that was in the man, became the female seed. The female seed. Can you hear that?
I don't think you're understanding it. Let me try it again. God wanted to reproduce Himself. The Father, well, the Father has many facets. He's male, He's female, He's the breasted one. He's spirit. He's not man. So when He decided to reproduce Himself, the plan that He had was that He would bring forth the female seed from within Himself. Now this is a great mystery. But if we're looking for natural types of the way spirit reproduces itself, we're not to look at animal life. The natural, the example that we have in this world of how spirit reproduces is in plant life. How can I say that? The Scripture calls us spiritual plant life which is growing in the earth of our soul. Are we not the planting of the Lord? Does not Jesus speak about the husbandmen sowing seed. Brethren, the Kingdom of God, which is Christ in you, is a spiritual plant which is growing. Is not Jesus the true vine? It's growing in the earth of our soul. So if we're looking for natural types of how spirit reproduces, we must look at plant life. Let me give you one more witness. The color green in animal life means sickness and death. The color green in plant life means life and vibrancy. OK? So we must, and green is a color of healing. I don't know if you're familiar with that, if any of you have had any experiences with healing through the spirit. I prayed for somebody once who was very ill. And at the moment that the spirit broke through, my eyes were closed but my whole mind's eye with my eyes closed, just filled up with a bright green. And I knew that he was healed and he was completely healed. It was proven later on. So we see in plant life that there are many plants that bring forth a female and a male seed from within themselves. They're capable of fertilizing themselves. So this is what God did. He wanted to reproduce Himself in a visible creation. And He brought forth a female seed from within Himself. And He put it inside the man. The way the Scripture describes that is that He breathed a breath of life into the man. But once the, once His breath was made into the female seed, once it was breathed into the man, it became the female seed. It was no longer the Father. When your baby is born, that baby's no longer you. It's its own person. So that's how the female seed got into the creation. And that creation died. The part of the creation that died, was the mind that was in it. Remember? The Father joined with that female seed in a temporary formation and the mind of Christ appeared in the creation. But when that mind, when that righteous mind died, the whole creation died with it.
So that within even the fallen creation, which is spirit, even though it died, the mind of Christ died at the beginning of time. It's a Scriptural principle that when someone's nature or condition changes, that God changes its name. When Abraham, when Abram became spiritual, God changed his name to Abraham. When God elevated Sarai, He changed her name to Sarah. When -- well, I don't want to say anything controversial now, but well, when Lucifer fell, his name became Satan. If you could receive it, receive it. But when that Christ, when that mind of Christ, which was in the righteous creation at the beginning of time, died, its name changed. And what it's called, the name of the dead Christ, which was God's Son, not God. God didn't die. Someone wrote me a letter once and said, "How could you say God died?" God didn't die. God is eternal. But the Son of God, the immature Son, which was a formation of Christ, a mind in the creation, that immature mind, that died. And when He died, His name changed to human spirit. That's why when Christ is raised from the dead in you, the Holy Spirit is going to your human spirit, joining with it and raising Christ from the dead.
So even in an unsaved person, in a person that doesn't know the Lord, their spirit still is one of the, is a part of the female seed. It can't die. It's eternal. It's going to be raised from the dead. The whole spirit that was breathed into the living soul will be raised from the dead. So to answer your question, the spirit in that person that doesn't know the Lord goes back to the Spirit of God. There's really only one spirit. It just looks like there are many spirits because the creation is divided. But there was a skeleton. Christ died and He's now in the form of a spiritual skeleton. We read about Him in Ezekiel's valley of dead bones. See He died and each, there's one of His bones in each human being. And God is raising that skeleton from the dead one bone at a time. He's going from man to man saying, "Christ arise. Christ arise." It's a man at a time. But it's only one skeleton. We get deceived because we see this division. But this division, this separation between individuals, it's just because we're in a fallen condition. It's not our real condition. It's only temporary. God is reconciling the all back into one. OK. We shall all be reconciled into Christ and there shall be one glorified man. OK? Did I answer your question? Yeah.
COMMENT: At what point did Paul become in full stature and will we, when we come full stature, will we do the same things that he did?
PASTOR VITALE: I don't know at what point Paul went into full stature. I really don't know. As to whether or not we'll do the same, will we do the same things that he did? Not necessarily. And this is why I say not necessarily. Because Christ is a mind that is beyond our comprehension. He is such a great mind that it would be impossible, I think, well, I don't know. Maybe that's not even true. I don't want to say impossible. But it's, there's going to be this great mind being expressed through many individuals. So it's much more like, now this is my opinion, I don't have any Scripture on this for you. It's much more likely, to me, that this great mind of Christ will be expressing itself very artistically and individually through each individual in varying expressions of Christ than to say that every individual in full stature will be the same expression of Christ. That doesn't sound right to me. God's too creative for that. So I think that we'll see different individuals in full stature manifesting different aspects of the Christ in accordance with His will and purposes. But as we're told in the book of Revelation, we'll all harmonize. We're going to be like an orchestra. Everyone doing, I guess I do have a Scripture for you. Everyone doing an individual thing, but we'll all come into a union of purpose and a union of mind. Do you know that the Scripture in the book of Revelation which speaks about harps, that carnal people think that we're going to go to heaven and play harps, you know. That, those verses, when we looked all the words up in the Greek, what they're referring to is what I just said. It's Christ playing us like we're an instrument. And He's very creative. So I believe that we're going to have the greatest opportunity to express creativity and individuality that we've ever had in our life through that mind which was in Christ being expressed in us. I think it will be glorious.
Every individual, as a fallen person, we have our own talents and our own strong points and when the Lord apprehends you, He uses your talents and your strong points. I really have never spoken to anyone in Nigeria about this, but in the United States right now, we have a lot of very frustrated people. Talent is not exalted. Mediocrity is exalted. In the United States right now, there's a small handful of people that are being creative and they're, all of their creativity is directed towards making a lot of money. And if you want to lead a life with some material possessions and if you want a wife and a family, you can expect your wife to want a certain measure of material things. We find a lot of people taking jobs that they really wouldn't choose if it wasn't for the pressures of life. And we have a lot of very frustrated people. Personally, of the opinion that it's a form of industrial bondage. God didn't set it up that way. He set up the individual to, in families for the man to rule over his family. In the days that we were farmers, you had your own -- you know, if you had it -- you had your own piece of land and you were the king of your own life. This industrial system that's taking over the whole world, it's really a form of slavery, you know. I know how bad the traffic is in Nigeria. Sometimes we travel more than two hours. I hear you do it here too. To work, two hours, to work, two hours back. And you're away from your family and your children. You're not working near the house. I don't believe that God established that. I really don't. But of course, we're caught in this modern world and there's nothing we can do about it. But when God apprehends you, I said all that to say this. When God apprehends you, I believe He will use your creativity to the fullest. And then another problem that, I believe it must be happening all over the world, we find people in jobs and corporate structures desiring to express their creativity and being repressed because excellence is not the goal, but money is the goal. So we find people being repressed by the system consistently. Well, when God apprehends you, He will use your creativity to the utter most. I expect you to be totally fulfilled in every potential that you have. We have a lot to look forward to. Praise God. Anybody else?
COMMENT: Did I ever hear you say God is going to judge the carnally minded [INAUDIBLE]?
PASTOR VITALE: The judgment is only of the believer in whom Christ is being formed. If you are a carnally minded believer, you will be judged. God doesn't judge you until Christ is in you because the judgment of God is corrective. And it's designed to destroy sin in you and replace that sin with the righteousness of Christ. So if Christ is not being formed in you, He's not going to judge you. That's why God winks at sin. And some people get confused. They say, "Look at that believer. He's been doing that for 20 years. When is God going to put an end to that?" Because the judgment seat of Christ does not begin to take place in your life until Christ is being formed in you.
There is a judgment that deals with spiritual criminal behavior in this world, which is not the judgment seat of Christ. It is the reaping and sowing judgment which is mediated by Satan. And it is unto destruction. Curses and sin are visited onto the children, onto the third and fourth generation. And if you see a family being wiped out, if that family seems to be coming to an end. There's no children. There's barrenness. If there's been war. However. You know, or if a person's individual life is snuffed out in early age, that is a judgment that was unto destruction, which is mediated by Satan. Satan is the god of this world. But when Christ begins to be formed in you, you see, Satan is the policeman of this place called hell. There's even a policeman down in hell. You can only go so far with your sin and you get wiped out. But when you turn to Christ, you enter into the judgment seat of Christ and Satan no longer has dominion over you. Jesus, Christ takes over the judgment and instead of it being unto death, He uses that judgment to destroy the sin, but he replaces your life with Christ.
Let me say it one more way for you: The soul that sins must die. Every sin shall have its just recompense. This Scripture does not become null and void when you turn to Christ. Sin brings death upon your life. What happens when you turn to Christ is that the Lord lets you get wiped out, but He replaces your existence with His life. I don't think you understand what I'm saying. OK. Let me try again. The judgment for sin, just recompense for this sin, if you have repented and turned to Christ, He will take this judgment and He will use it to bring you to repentance and when you repent, He will rip that sin out of you and replace it with Christ. He will replace it with Christ. That's how Paul could say, "I live but not I. Christ liveth in me." You see, the carnal mind of man must die. It must die because the soul that sins has to die. But if Christ is operating in you, you will live by the life of the Son of God. But your carnal mind has to die. You can't continue to sin. That's what the message God has given me is all about. You cannot continue to sin and wake up one morning and find yourself raptured. You have to stop sinning. But it's impossible for man to stop sinning. So Christ is coming and destroying your sin-filled heart, which under other circumstances would cause you to cease to exist. But as He destroys your sin-filled heart, He's imparting the life of Christ. So we die, but we live by the life of the Son of God. That's what Paul said. Do you understand it? OK.
It's a big mystery. It's a great mystery. It's like saying God is coming to you and He's ripping your heart out. And you can't live without a heart. But He's got another heart there, right ready. He's pumping, pushing it right in. Our soul is going to be beheaded. It's like ripping our heart out. But we're not going to die. It's a great mystery. Christ is going to sit right down on that throne and this body will not die. It's going to be done so simultaneously that we will not lose the life of this flesh. But on the contrary, receiving a new head will impart life to our soul and preservation to our body. If we stay in the condition we're in, this body would die after 80, 90 years. We would expect the body to die. But when we receive this procedure that Christ is doing unto us, not only do we receive a new heart, but we won't even die after 80 or 90 years. We'll be alive for the life of the ages. So [INAUDIBLE] is doing the same thing that Satan would be doing except that He's adding His heart to us. Satan kills us. And so is Jesus killing us. But, I shouldn't say Jesus Christ. Satan kills us and our body dies. Christ kills us, but He simultaneously gives us His life and our body doesn't die. Do you know what I'm talking about? You're very quiet. OK. Anybody else? Would you mind coming over here?
COMMENT: Thank you very much. I just like some clarification about nomenclature now. Nomenclature. Yes, sir. You talk a lot about the spirits, oh sorry, the mind of Christ. And also the Lord is where the, like, where the injunction is compared with you more by the spirit. I like [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. Because last time you ministered, I was able to get some differences within the mind of Christ. But [UNINTELLIGIBLE] taught us about the mind of God, the mind of the spirit, what is in the spirit. But a lot of times you talk about the mind of Christ, especially [INAUDIBLE] about the mind of Christ. What I think a lot of I don't mean, and pardon my inexperience, is to walk by the spirit. And since that exercise, you know, I was able to, before you came, I knew you were coming. And they didn't tell me that Sheila, particularly, but it said that I should be moving in the direction. I suppose to send people in my way. They're going to teach me the things that He wants me to know. So the first time you came around, I knew that the Lord send you. Because I was appointed along that realm. And I knew that the thing that the Lord go through you [INAUDIBLE] from the Lord. But I was walking by the spirit. But every time I talk about the mind of Christ, which very much has intuitive reasoning and the logics and the rest of them. We [INAUDIBLE] a way to avoid because naturally I like to rationalize and the Lord has me moving away from that realm so if you just distinguish within.
PASTOR VITALE: Well, I'll try. Walking after the spirit, the mind of God and the mind of Christ. I never really addressed myself to it. I'll just see if the Lord gives me something for you. OK. Walking after the spirit. I could deal with that. The difference between the mind of God and the mind of Christ, at this moment I don't know. The Lord may give it to me by the time I finish speaking to you. So I'll talk about the difference5t, I'll talk about walking in the spirit and the mind of Christ. A mind is spirit expressed through a man. OK? Spirit, the Spirit of God exists beyond this world. The Spirit of God is eternal. And -- I don't have a blackboard here -- but the way that I draw it on the blackboard is I'll take a piece of chalk and I'll fill up the whole blackboard with a wavy line. I'll say, "This is eternity. It's infinite in all four directions. It's infinite." But in the middle of eternity, I'll draw a circle. And this is the realm of time. The realm of time includes our world and our universes as far out as they go, and I understand they're infinite. Everything that's made of matter is in this realm of time and space. And that, as great as it is, it exists within eternity. It's a circle within eternity. OK? The Spirit of God is eternal. It exists outside of our world and outside of our mind and inside of the mind of man. The spirit of Satan, which is the spirit of man, is limited to the mind of a man and its expression in this world system. So a mind is an expression of spirit which is appearing in a man. The mind of God, see offhand, I don't, I can't see the difference between the mind of God and the mind of Christ, but I know that either it was in, either the King James translators made a change or, but if it's really in the Greek, if it says in one place mind of God and in another place mind of Christ, there has to be a subtle difference, which at the moment I don't know. OK?
But the mind of the spirit -- I'm having trouble getting this out, let me try again. The Spirit of God expressed through a man implies a union of the Spirit of God with the spirit of that man. Remember, I said Christ is the Son of God. The Father is the Spirit of the Father and the mother is the human spirit of the man. Christ is born, begotten of the Father and born of the human spirit. Christ is the reproduction of the nature of that spirit in a man. That's what a mind is. OK. So the mind of God, as far as I know, is Christ. That's the only mind, well, guess you have to ask, I guess it depends on the Scripture. If you're talking about the mind of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ, then His mind is Christ. If you're talking about the mind of a lesser god, meaning Satan, then His mind is the carnal mind.
COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE] Sorry. That's the logic of it. I don't have a problem with the mind of Christ or the mind of God. But the function of the mind of Christ and spirit one. Then also in the same instance, the mind of the spirit and the carnal mind. You know, there's a similarity in function, because God's supposed to think logically and the carnal mind function in the similar characteristic. Except that one of the thing the Lord does is to give you an instruction. Now you just know. You have a deep seated knowledge that this is God talking. You know, you don't reason it out. Your mind may catch up later. And you have a better understanding, but at the instant, you know you have to be. And [INAUDIBLE] similar thing presented so. [INAUDIBLE] but time will prove it out so that distinction, you know, in the mind of the carnal and the mind of Christ.
PASTOR VITALE: I hope I'm understanding you. Walking in the spirit refers to following the instructions of the mind of Christ. Because we have other Scriptures that indicate being in the flesh means submitting to the instructions of the carnal mind. So walking in the spirit would mean submission and obedience to the mind of Christ. Does that answer your question? Walking in the spirit means submission and obedience to the mind of Christ as opposed to submission and obedience to the carnal mind. OK? So God is challenging us in this hour to distinguish between the carnal mind and Christ. I don't know. It seems that a lot of you Nigerians just are doing it naturally. I don't know. We're not doing it so easily in the United States. But I speak to a lot of you and you just seem to, it just seems to be a natural thing with you, that you just know when God has spoken to you. We have people struggling for long periods of time in New York, trying, praying for God to help them to distinguish between their carnal mind and Christ. And many of you just seem to be doing it automatically. It's a great blessing, I tell you. So did I answer your question? Yeah? OK.
COMMENT: Well, maybe following on that, I think really the problem is, you see, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] too that we had just known that we received the Holy Ghost and then we read [UNINTELLIGIBLE] they that walk after the spirit, these are the sons of God. And so we had the understanding that to be a son of God, you walk after the spirit. And what is walking after the spirit? You have the Holy Ghost. You listen out and hear Him. And you're walking after Him. So this concept of having the mind of Christ now, it's like, you know, it's new. So we're trying to determine, what we were doing before when we just had the Holy Ghost and with that we're walking after the spirit. Now we're talking about the mind of Christ. What is the difference?
PASTOR VITALE: I need a translator. Thank God for my translator. OK. The Holy Spirit is not a mind. The Holy Spirit is the seed of the Father. Now, when He comes, when the Holy Spirit comes to you, He brings reconciliation. He brings you into a relationship with the Father that you didn’t have when you were in the world. OK? But His mind is not yet in you. The Scripture likens it to the courtship between a young man and a young woman. When the young man comes with gifts, he has intentions of marrying this woman, but he’s not married to her yet, but he wants to give her confidence in him and establish a relationship with him; he comes with gifts. I’m sure that must be true here. That must be universal. It must be true in Nigeria too, right? Some things that are just universal, right? And the gifts that he comes with are the gifts of the spirit. And He gives us pleasant experiences. He pours out His anointing on us. He heals our bodies. If we need a spiritual cleansing, He’ll cast out a demon. He’ll help us financially. He comes with gifts. He’s a benefactor. But He is the Father coming to join with us and -- in marriage -- and hopefully bring forth His Son in us. You see, He wants a child.
And when the Holy S- -- the overriding purpose of the Holy Spirit is to join with us and reproduce His nature in us, and when He does that, the Scripture says He has produced His Son in us. Are you following me? The Holy Spirit is the male seed, but He wants to bring forth His Son in us, and when He joins with us -- not when He -- this goes beyond having a friendship. You see, He’s given us all these gifts and He’s blessing us because He wants to get close enough to us to impregnate us with His Son. And when we do become impregnated with His Son that Son is the mind, or the Son, of Christ.
And the mind of Christ, or the -- well, let’s stay with the mind of Christ -- has authority that the Holy Spirit does not have. The mind of Christ has a greater authority than the Holy Spirit. The way I express it, usually, is that the Holy Spirit is curative, and Christ, or the mind of Christ, I believe they’re the same, is defensive.
Now, I’ve never known anyone who the Holy -- who by the Holy Spirit has been exposed to a severe disease and not contracted it. Now, let me make one qualification here. I know that there is such a condition as a gift of the spirit. I know John Lake has a testimony that he was not infected by a plague disease, but every -- Lord, help me to express this. Every quality that is found in a mature Christ -- that was found in Jesus, the Christ, almost every one of those qualities, it can be resident in an isolated form in any man as a gift.
The sign that you are the Son is that you have everything. Jesus did everything. OK? But some men, who have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, who have been reconciled unto God, they may have a gift where they’re not infected by a strong disease, but it’s rare. I’m sure you can say, amen, to that, it’s rare. So basically speaking, the Holy Spirit, excluding this one possibility of a gift, will not defend you against disease. You can have the Holy Spirit and you’ll get sick. He may cure you when you get sick, but you can contract the disease. Having the Holy Spirit will not prevent you from forming a demon. He’ll cast it out of you once it’s born, but he’s not strong enough to prevent you from forming the demon.
Now Christ, on the other hand, we see manifested both in Jesus and in Paul. The snake bit Paul and he shook it off, and the natives thought that he was a god because he should surely have died from that, but he didn’t, because defensive Christ was in him, not the Holy Spirit. But Christ, who was defensive to the extent that the poison -- defensive to the extent that He was preserving Paul’s body to the point that the snake poison couldn’t hurt him. And I find this demonstrated in the Seven Spirits of God, we find that in Isaiah. The chapter number eludes me at the moment. The Seven Spirits of God?
COMMENT: Eleven.
PASTOR VITALE: Eleven, well, thank you. OK. Chapter 11. And you find that the first -- if you -- we -- I have messages on this. Sister Margret has the whole library if anybody would like a message, until I get some to you locally here. I did this on message number 35, part one. And we found -- we looked up all the words in the Hebrew and we followed it through on every level, and we found that the first three spirits are typifying the activity of the Holy Spirit. The fourth spirit is the spirit of might, typified. I hope I don’t have -- I may have it a little off, my memory’s -- I did it four or five years ago, I did that message. I believe the fourth spirit is the spirit of might, which typifies the coming forth of Christ in you. You see, the Holy Spirit comes with gifts that are typified by the first three spirits. They result in the -- in Christ coming forth in you. And then the last three spirits, they’re all the warrior spirits. The power is in Christ. The gifts are in the Holy Spirit. The power is in Christ. So if you walk after the Holy Spirit -- you see -- let me back up a little.
We deal -- those of us that study on a regular basis in New York, we deal with the principle of modification. When you get a word in the Scripture, like spirit, you have to ask the Lord why that word isn’t modified. It doesn’t say the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t say the spirit of truth. It doesn’t say the spirit of God. It just say he who walks after -- those who walk after the spirit, they’re the sons of God. So you really have to read that whole chapter. And I’m not equipped to comment on it right now. But you have to read that whole -- the verse before, the verse after, maybe the whole chapter, to determine -- you see, if there’s no word modifying spirit then either the verses surrounding it or the whole chapter has to be modifying that word, spirit, because we have to know what spirit that is. And it’s an error to assume that that spirit, in that verse, is the Holy Spirit. That’s an error, because I’m sure it’s not the Holy Spirit. There’s a mystery there, OK? So there has to be a phrase, a verse, or a whole chapter modifying that word, indicating what spirit is. And I would be surprised if it was any spirit other than the spirit of Christ, which is different than the Holy Spirit.
There is one spirit, but many different administrations thereof. And the spirit of Christ is the administration of the spirit of the Father, which is found in His Christ. The Holy Spirit is the seed of the Father, it’s the seed; it can be likened to a male -- a man seed, OK? It’s the seed of the Father. It has the potential to fertilize a female seed, but it’s just the male seed. The spirit of Christ is that spirit which is found in the son that has been born of a union between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit of the man.
COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE] Sorry if I answer this question. I’m sorry. OK. I understood it to the point where you explained that following day, spirit is following the man of Christ, you know? Yeah. But now, if you are saying distinguishing between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of Christ, that to me -- that need -- require further clarification. Yes, because you said that Christ was anointed of the Holy Spirit. Anointed by the Holy Spirit, you know, from that point.
PASTOR VITALE: The man, Jesus of Nazareth, who was the Christ, was anointed with the Holy Spirit. The man, Jesus of Nazareth, who was the -- whose mind was Christ, was anointed with the Holy Spirit. OK? Did I misunderstand your question? See, there’s a difference between the man Jesus of Nazareth, born of Mary, whose mind was begotten of the Father, whose name was Christ, There’s a difference between the whole man and the mind that was in that man. Because the mind that was in that man, Lord willing, is also in you. I hope it’s in you. I believe it’s in you. OK? So, OK. So the man Jesus is not being reproduced in you, but the same mind that was in Him is being reproduced in you. Why? Because the mind -- that mind, is the Son of God. The same spirit of the Father has come to your human spirit, as came to the man Jesus, and is joined with it and bringing forth Christ. Except that with Jesus it happened in utero, but it’s the same procedure.
COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE] I just wanted to highlight the point, because the spirit brings the seed and the anointed Christ -- the mind of Christ has the power that [UNINTELLIGIBLE]. But from what I have learned so far, up to this point, I had always believed that it is will of the Lord not exercise that power. You know, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] that brings the performance. I’ve always thought of that body. I’m getting to know some differences now. [UNINTELLIGIBLE] that brings the power, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] power.
PASTOR VITALE: The spirit of the Lord does bring power, but depending on the manifest or the administration of that spirit, it brings varying degrees of power. The Holy Spirit definitely has power. The Holy Spirit has power to heal, has power to deliver, it gives us access to the Father with our financial problems, definitely there is power in the Holy Ghost. OK? But there is more power in Christ. Can you hear that? There is more power in Christ. There is greater power in Christ. Christ is the double portion. You see, the Holy Spirit is the Father, Christ is the Father and the Son; He’s the double portion. Yeah. Yeah. OK? Can you just wait one second? Did we put this to rest? Are you -- OK. OK. Well.
COMMENT: I wanted to differentiate between the reconciliation with God and conversion.
PASTOR VITALE: Conversion is referring to the receiving of a new heart. To be conv- -- to be -- I know it’s not used this way in the church -- but the true conversion means that your heart is completely remade. If you have to take your automobile in and they tell you they’re going to convert your engine, you expect that engine -- you expect to get that car back with an engine that’s like new, don’t you? Isn’t that what conversion means? So conversion means the impartation of a new heart to you, and that is full stature. Full conversion means a re- -- that you’re going to be rebuilt. And the rebuilding is in the impartation of the mind of Christ.
Reconciliation means that you were a sinner that had no relationship with God and now God has granted you permission to come close to Him, and to have a relationship with Him. Just as if you had a falling out with a close friend or a relative, and you hadn’t seen them for years and you reconciled, and you were again, friends. So the Lord draws us near in reconciliation, and He draws us closer and He keeps getting closer to us, He keeps getting closer to us. It’s His intention to fully possess us, but it’s a process, because if He gets too close too fast, it could harm us. We’re breakable; we break. God doesn’t break. If it’s taking this long it’s because we break, we damage, and you are much more valuable than many sparrows. See, God has no intention of losing this creation. His intention is to raise us from the dead and fully possess us and be expressed through us, and He’ll have nothing less than that. Did I answer your question? OK. Can you wait, sister [UNINTELLIGIBLE]?
COMMENT: At what point is -- would you say, because it isn’t all -- at what point do you get to conversion from reconciliation, [UNINTELLIGIBLE]?
PASTOR VITALE: You mean what’s the battle plan, is that what you mean? OK. OK. Reconciliation -- I honestly don’t know whether you could be reconciled without receiving the Holy Ghost. You know, there is a union with God through faith, which the Baptists have, for example. They don’t speak in tongues or have any of the gifts of the spirit, but many of them have a vital union with God. So that’s the beginning, and I honestly don’t know if that is reconciliation. I’ll have to look that up. Then we go to the experience with God where we receive the Holy Ghost, and we -- God gave us a very interesting study, it’s on a message called The Truth about Baptism, and we found out that nobody’s baptized with the Holy Spirit. We have all received the Holy Spirit. There is a difference between receiving it, being baptized with it, and being anointed with it. Three stages of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
And have you ever wondered why when we receive the Holy Spirit we speak in a tongue that nobody understands, but when the apostles were baptized with the Holy Spirit they spoke in languages that other men recognized? You see, we speak in new tongues, they’re new, nobody knows what they mean. OK? Except by the spirit. I mean, from a human standpoint, nobody recognizes them. But the apostles, they spoke in other tongues, in other established human languages. So the sign that you have received the Holy Ghost is that you speak in new tongues. The sign that you have been baptized with the Holy Ghost is that you speak in other tongues. Now, again, as I mentioned earlier, there could be a man who has a gift of speaking another tongue, but on an isolated incident, that’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not what I’m talking about. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is witnessed by the speaking of other languages, that it stays with you, it’s an ability that’s in that measure of the anointing of God. And to be anointed with the Holy Ghost is full stature. If you look that word up in the Greek, what it’s saying is it’s a manifestation of the Holy Ghost that stick on you like oil, even if you wipe if off the oil still stays on your skin. John the Baptist said he who sent me to baptize said, the one upon whom the anointing abides, he’s the one. So that’s what to be anointed with the Holy Ghost means.
So, to get back to your question, we receive a measure of faith, Lord willing, we receive the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost joins with our human spirit and Christ begins to be formed in us. And as Christ begins to be formed in us, somewhere along the line, I’m not up to that myself yet, we should be baptized with the Holy Ghost. You see, our power will increase as Christ matures in us. It’s a growing up in Christ. There’s a long distance between conception and full stature, and we shall have many experiences along the way, but once Christ is conceived in you, you’re on the final pathway. And somewhere along that line, we should -- it’s my understanding at this time that we should be baptized with the Holy Ghost, which is an increase in power, and then you just keep on going until you become anointed with the Holy Ghost, which is full stature. Did I answer your question? OK. OK.
The crucial point is that you must conceive Christ; we must conceive Christ. If you don’t have it, don’t panic, just tell God that you must conceive Christ. It’s a matter of life and death.
COMMENT: Still on the Holy Ghost, practically and in everyday world, how do you relate to the Father and then to Christ and to the Holy Ghost? That’s in a everyday walk, how do we relate to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost? And then talking religious spirits, sometimes you sing a song because, you know, you know the song. Now, how do you differentiate that the song is from the carnal mind or the spiritual mind? Do you understand what I’m saying? Because some -- we pray, you know, it’s like it’s part of us, you know? How do you differentiate the two, you know, in an individual, in practical experience?
PASTOR VITALE: Do you mean singing a song as you were singing when I came in, or an individual just singing to the Lord?
[INAUDIBLE]
PASTOR VITALE: An individual.
[INAUDIBLE]
PASTOR VITALE: Uh-huh. Well, if you’re in -- basically you have to try the spirit, you know? I -- see, a lot of these questions you’re asking me, it’s just my opinion, you realize I don’t have any Scriptures for you on this. But I -- what’s coming to my mind right now is that if you’re singing a song, if your heart is lifting up unto God, I would like to hope it was coming from the spirit. You should be able to tell if your singing is raising up Christ in you. Do you know what I’m talking about? OK. You try the spirit -- what is the fruit of this activity? Has it stirred up Christ in you? If it stirred up Christ in you, it’s come out of your spirit. We must constantly be trying the spirit, constantly, and if there’s something -- if for whatever reason we know that we sing this one song and we have this terrible heaviness on us, well, then you know that it hasn’t stirred up Christ. Maybe it’s the tune, or it’s the words, or -- I don’t know, you try the spirit. If it brings up the wrong spirit, don’t do it anymore. So that’s basically it, try the spirit. OK?
And as far as distinguishing between the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, I did notice when I was in Nigeria last year that it’s not at all uncommon to hear people praising the Holy Ghost. And I was surprised, because I had never heard any such thing, and when I returned home to the United States, within a few months, the Lord started dealing with me about that. And there’s no way in the -- no place in the Scripture that says we’re to praise the Holy Ghost. I don’t know if anybody here does it, but I believe God has told me that it’s a seduction away from the true worship. We are told to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, that’s what we’re instructed to do. And the name of Jesus -- names in the Scripture typify spirit, nature. In other words, when God is saying don’t call on the name of the Father out of your carnal mind, that’s what He’s saying. OK?
So how do you not call to God out of your carnal mind? It depends on what you’re calling on Him for. You see, there’s another Scripture that says if you line your purposes and your desires up with Christ, everything that you ask for will be granted to you, if you’re asking for the things that He asks for. Open up your Bible, every promise that He says is yours, you know, ask for it, and I believe in due season you’ll get it.
Now, if you’re asking for a better job, if you’re asking for a husband, if you’re asking for a new car, there’s -- I’m not telling you not to do this, but you have to understand that these prayers are coming out of your carnal mind. Now, God knows that you have a life to live here, and that you have needs, and, you know, there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, my car’s breaking and I have no means to get to work, I need transportation, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you have to understand that that prayer’s coming out of your carnal mind. OK?
So the Scripture says pray to the Father in the spirit of Jesus. And we should be praying for all spiritual blessings, because the Scripture does say seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And then just -- God knows what you need, you know, there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, Lord the car’s going, I need a new car, but it should not be a top priority, it shouldn’t be. OK?
Now, the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and raised from the dead and ascended, He now, in the form of the Holy Spirit, is in our heart and He’s the Father. If Christ has been conceived in you, you are Christ. If you are -- if your prayers are coming out of the heart of Christ in you, you’re praying in the name of Jesus. Any prayer you pray is in the name of Jesus. Do you understand what I’m saying? And the Father, now, is the spirit of Christ, which is found resident wherever Christ is -- wherever the Son is, the Father is, because Jesus said the Father and I are one. So wherever the Christ is, the spirit of Christ is. So you pray to the Father in the nature, or in the heart, of Christ, which is in you, and your every petition will be answered. OK?
So just let me give you an example. If you do have a human need, just as an example you need a car, your car is breaking, you know? An ideal prayer would be, Father, I desire to serve you, I desire to put the Kingdom of God first, but you know that I’m down here in this terrible place and I need a car to go to work to support my family, so never the less Lord, your will, not mine. You said to me, Father, that if I -- that you would provide me every need. Now, I’m being as responsible as I can be, and I leave it to you as to whether or not you’ll give me a new car, or make another way to provide for me and my family, but I present myself to You. I’m willing to do any responsible thing necessary, meet my need. And I’ll give you a hint, you know, of course the situation with the car, you know, He’ll probably give you some kind of a transportation, but if you tell God what you need, you are severely limiting yourself. I never tell God what I need because every time I have ever told Him what I think I need -- what my fallen mind thinks it needs -- I always find out that if I had left it to Him, He would’ve given me so much more. So several years ago, I stopped telling God what I need. I present my problem to Him. I would say, Father, I need transportation to go to work. I just present my problem to Him. Well, I just said I wouldn’t tell Him what I need. I would say the problem is my transportation going to work is failing, and if I can’t go to work I can’t support my family. This is my problem, what will you do for me? I am telling you, I foun- -- when I started doing that He gives me things that I -- He has given me things that I would never ask Him for, that I would feel I’m out of order asking Him for. I tell you the truth. He has given me things I wouldn’t have the nerve to ask Him for. So, I’m just giving you a tip, don’t tell Him what you need, tell Him what your problem is don’t tell Him what the answer to your problem is.
But I think I want to say something more on your question. So you understand what I’m saying, that you pray to the Father out of the heart of God, which is in you, and that’s how you pray to the Father, who’s also in you, in the name of Jesus, right? There’s a big confusion about this Holy Spirit, I’m just not sure I want to get into it now because I’m a little tired and I tend to make some mistakes when I’m tired. But I will tell you this, that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Father. We said that earlier, right? It’s the seed of the Father. So if -- when we say the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, what you’re really saying is, the Father and the Son and the Father. So there’s some kind of a problem there. If you want me to go into it tomorrow night, I will, I’m really too tired to go into this whole teaching right now. But I will tell you that in my opinion, you should not be praying to the Holy Ghost. You should not be praying to the Holy Ghost. There’s no -- I challenge anybody to show me a Scripture that recommends any such behavior. It’s a deception, OK? So if you want to ask me again tomorrow night, I’ll go into -- I’m just too tired to go into the whole thing right now. OK. Was it on this issue of the -- OK, one more.
COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE] The things that people said, I have a different understanding. What I want to just bring as a [?couple?] is the, you know, working after the instructions of the Lord. I thought about the Lord Jesus Christ and John the Baptist, just like [?Lilly?] ask, the [UNINTELLIGIBLE], alright? But, you know, coming forth to the world, you know, I thought that they grew up together, sort of, you know, and I expect that they will have known each other one way or the other. When I was going through Scripture one day and I saw that the -- John the Baptist has received an instruction from the Father, that him who you see [?that?] spread the seed upon, that’s the Christ. And [?Joe?] said that he did not know, and that shook me a lot because I thought that, you know, they would have known each other, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] Jesus was the Christ. And as soon as it did that the spirit descended upon him and, you know, he went to the wilderness for the temptation, and that was where he tested the carnal mind, you know, really tested him. But I realized that he needed the anointing of the spirit. The Lord Jesus, you know, needed the anointing of the spirit to be able to overcome the carnal mind. And I was just thinking that upon where you said the Holy Spirit and the man of Christ, you know, the man of Christ has a double portion, [UNINTELLIGIBLE] but He needed the Holy Spirit to put an anointing on Him for the double portion to operate. It’s that in order? Because, you know --
PASTOR VITALE: [INAUDIBLE] too much at one time.
COMMENT: OK.
PASTOR VITALE: OK. First of all, the Scripture clearly states that only those in whom Christ is -- are -- only those in whom Christ is being formed can recognize Christ in another person. Paul said -- the way it appears in the King James is, I believe Paul says we discerneth all men. And that means if you have Christ you have an ability to recognize whether it’s Christ or the carnal mind manifesting in every individual. But the men that don’t have Christ, they cannot discern us, they cannot recognize Christ. It takes Christ to recognize Christ. So John the Baptist did not know who He was, and not only that, but let me remind you that even after John the Baptist witnessed -- testified that this is the Christ, not too long later when he was lying in the prison -- in Herod’s prison, he sent his disciples to say to Jesus, are you the one? He couldn’t even retain the knowledge, because he had the Holy Ghost, but he didn’t have the mind of Christ. OK? Now, as far as Jesus is concerned, that was an excellent teaching -- that was an excellent question.
The answer to the question that was just asked will appear at the beginning of Romans chapter 7, part 2.
08/11/14 – Transcribed by VerbalFusion
08/13/14 – 1st Edit CAS/BP
