Pt. 1

It is a privilege and an honor for me to bring forth the teaching and understanding of The Cross of Christ, that we may come to the perfect knowledge: TO KNOW HIM. That our hearts may be set; our minds, our wills, our emotions, our time, our efforts, our energies - in knowing Him. Oh, what a precious time this is!

I’ve recently had such a positive and blessed time in the Lord - enjoying His presence, enjoying His Word, His Word in me. And I want to share what the Lord has been dealing with me about. First I’ll read a scripture, and then I’ll share this dealing of the Lord. 1 John 4:17, the scripture reads, " Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, so are we in this world." In 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." And if we can hear this - AS HE IS. That’s what the Lord is dealing with me about. And we must understand that He changes not. The Lord dealt with me in regard to His Word: that GOD IS ONE WITH HIS WORD. We read John 1: 1,2, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." "Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, today and forever." HE CHANGES NOT!

We must hear this: God changes not. The Word is the same, and God is One with His Word, The Word that He is. Yes, and what God hath spoken, what God hath done - He is One with it. The Lord speaks a Word: He speaks through the Old Covenant, and He speaks through the apostles, He speaks through Christ, and that which He speaks He is One with. He has no shadow of turning. See, man can speak a word, or give a promise, or make a commitment. And the very moment after the word is spoken or the promises made - man’s mind changes. But God changes not! He does not change - He is One with His Word. That which He promised He has fulfilled. And it shall be revealed in His Church, in His Body, The Fulness of Him that fills all in all.

And God’s dealings with me in this regard has been in areas of my job, where the character of God working in me would cause me to do something as unto the Lord. So that if I’ve made a commitment, that I be one with that commitment through this unveiling of Christ, that He is One with His Word. And the Lord has dealt with me in the area of marriage and divorce; and in the earth today we have so much disruption in family, in the area of marriage and divorce. So many couples become committed and marry - and then divorce. See, God is One, and He hath married us, He has become committed to us. He has committed to His Church, He is committed to His Bride.

And when this character of God begins to work in us, Church of God, saints of God, this character will cause the manifestation of Him - Oneness in the very earthy things. Not that we are earthly, for we are NOT of the earth, but of Him. But in the very things that we are dealing with in the earth such as marriage, our homes and family - the commitment, the Oneness of the Lord would be manifest in our marriage. And that commitment would stand because of the Oneness of the Lord; that we walk in that Oneness and be committed in that Word. In our homes, between husband and wife, between son and daughter, between mother and father, that the Oneness of the Word would be manifested and that we would be committed in that way. Oh, what a manifestation of the Lord!

And I am seeing that the Lord’s Word is beginning to be formed; in His character, in His Oneness in The Church. If this was so there would be no such thing as marriage and divorce between members of the Body of Christ, for the Oneness of the Lord would stand up - His character. See, it’s HIS character! Look at 1 John 3:3, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." HE IS PURE. He has no mixture! As He is, so are we in this present world. He has no mixture. Verse 7, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." As He is righteous. "Father, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." - in what He is, in nature, in character.

Now we’ve said a lot of things about being the nature and the character of God, but it’s coming to UNDERSTAND the nature and the character of God, coming to perceive it, coming to grasp hold of it. Oh, that this would be manifest in The Church: the nature and character of God - as He is, so are we; As He is - One with His Word; as He is - pure; as He is - righteous; as He has no shadow of turning. Oh, the character of the Lord, the fruit of The Spirit, the Life of The Most High God. How He wants to dwell... "I will dwell in them... I will walk in them... they shall be my children and I will be their God." What a realization for The Church to come into: that this God, that this Most High Christ has made His abode in His Church, that manifestation of Him, that the character of Him may be made known.

Now we want to begin a lesson on "The House of Understanding". We have seen that Israel is a man that has come forth of God. Remember Sarah’s womb was dead and she could not produce the seed unto Abraham. But it took the hand of God, and in type and shadow they were a people that were brought forth unto the Lord, by the Lord and for the Lord. You can go back and read Exodus 3 and 4. Exodus 4:22 and 23 says, "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Israel is a son. Then Exodus 15:2, "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him." Verse 13, "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation." Then verse 17 and 18, " Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." And we need to see from this how God has planted a people IN CHRIST, baptized us into His death, brought us forth in the newness of His Life. He has brought us to the mountain of His inheritance. Hebrews 12 says we HAVE COME TO MOUNT ZION, to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem! See, to this understanding we have come to Mount Zion.

In Psalms 132 the Lord declares in verses 13 and 14 that His rest would forever be in Mount Zion. And we have in Zion a stone laid, and that stone that Peter writes about that was disallowed indeed of men, but now has become the sure foundation upon which The House of God is built. This is what we’ll look at. Proverbs 24:3, 4 says "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." Let’s look at some of the Hebrew words here. ‘Wisdom’ is the Strong’s word #2452 and it means ‘skill, wisdom in administration, shrewdness, prudence.’ ‘Understanding’ is the word #8394 and it is from #995 that means ‘intelligence’. Then ‘knowledge’ is #1847 and comes from #3045 which means ‘to know’; knowledge is ‘to see, to perceive’.

So through wisdom is an house builded... The word ‘builded’ is Strong’s word #1129 which means ‘to build (literally or figuratively)’; and by understanding it is established... The word ‘established’ is #3559, which means ‘to erect, to stand perpendicular, hence, to set up.’ It has a great many applications, whether literal or figurative; ‘established, fixed, prepared, apply, appoint, render, sure, proper or prosper.’ And then ‘filled’ is a primitive root ‘to fill or to be filled’, and has a wide application either literally or figuratively.

What we have set forth here in Proverbs is nothing other than THE HOUSE OF GOD: that it is built in wisdom. We see this in Ephesians 2:19-22, "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Here we begin to see that the wisdom is nothing other than CHRIST HIMSELF. We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF being the chief corner stone. By wisdom is a house built.

Another scripture is 1 Corinthians 1:18-24, " For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom; But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Here is the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God that was contained in a mystery. Paul writes in another place, "The wisdom of God, which is Christ." Christ the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God. See, here is how this House is built, this House that is The House of The Most High God, this House of which Jesus said, "In My Father’s House are many abodes." This House - This House comes forth through the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This House is laid in the wisdom of The Lord.

This is the wisdom. When we go back and read the Proverbs of Solomon, this is the wisdom that the book is speaking of when it tells us to seek wisdom; when it tells us to get understanding; when it tells us to get knowledge it is speaking of all that is contained in this skill, in this administration of The Most High God in bringing forth of His House. And we, The Church must come to perceive this wisdom. We must come to understand, to know this Truth that is in Christ.

And it is set forth plainly in the scripture. We read how the house was built in wisdom, and then you come over in the epistles of Paul and he shows how that this House is not made with hands. And Peter writes ye are a Spiritual House, and how this House is built; it is brought forth in Jesus Christ The Lord. How can it be any plainer? How can it be any plainer for believers to come and see and behold this that God has done? It is shown to us plainly in the scripture. The House is built...but our imaginations, the darkness of our minds begins to say "house", and much of the time when we say "house" all we see is a natural construction made of wood, brick or stucco. But we must move from the natural into the spiritual, and the understanding of "house" must move from the habitation of the natural into the habitation of God through The Spirit. And Church... that’s what we are! That’s what He has created us to be - a habitation not made with hands, a building not made with hands.

Yes, a building of The Lord, a building in the heavens, a building brought forth in The Lord Jesus Christ; not an earthly thing, not an earthy organization. Yes, it functions in the earth. This House contains the habitation of The Lord, so This House is to function in the earth. But the understanding of This House can not be earthy, it can not be of man. It must come to the understanding of God that is in Christ - where you are, IN CHRIST; IN HIM - One with Him, made to be seated with Him, in heavenly places - in Christ Jesus. Glory to The Most High and Living God!

Well, in Colossians 2, look at verse 1 through 7 and compare it back with Proverbs 24, "For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Looking back at Proverbs: "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." And here is basically the same thing that Solomon said here in Paul’s writing. Colossians 2:2-3, "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,." See, The House is filled with knowledge, with all the precious riches. And all the precious riches are where? IN CHRIST!! So that’s why Paul is saying let no man beguile you with enticing words; let no man beguile you with the words of the flesh, the enticing words promising to you the riches of the earth, promising to you the riches of the world. Let no man beguile you with enticing words.

Let us not be led astray, led from this pure knowledge of Christ. Let us not look for the riches somewhere else. And we have a whole movement in the Church declaring other riches than the riches of the knowledge of God in Christ! And when I say these words, I’m not against you having anything: having nice homes or nice cars or lots of money. I hope you all have lots of money! But what I’m saying is that is NOT the riches of Christ; that is NOT His glory, that is NOT His pureness, that is NOT His Seed. Oh, may we come to see that we are a House that has been built together for the habitation...yes, of the riches of God. Oh, that we may come to set our hearts, that the richness of His presence may be set forth within us, that He would walk and talk and have His very being, have His very existence in His Body, which is The Church.

What a realization for us to come to! What a place for us to see, for us to understand and perceive IN HIM! Just one more scripture - Ephesians 4:13,14, " Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." What a place The Lord has brought us into! This is the understanding that must come into The House of God; how This House of God hasn’t come forth of the earthy origin, but how it is of the heavenly. And the understanding of This House must come forth in the heavenly. It is laid in the heavenly, it is laid in Christ Jesus The Lord, Who has died to the earth, Who is raised out from among the dead, out from among the earth, out from among the system, out from among the world, out from among all of these areas; and there is where we find our Life, where we find our being. And we manifest it through the manifestation of Him in this present world - in nature, in character, and power and demonstration of God in The Spirit, in His Body operating as His Very Own Person - operating in you and I.

"Father, we thank you for the understanding, we thank You for The Truth, we thank you for the commitment that you have made for The Word that You are. And Father, it’s a privilege for us to be in your Great House, in This Great Household of God. And we pray for the understanding in This House to grip the hearts and minds of every believer that is in the earth. Father, in the name of Jesus let it be! Amen."

Pt. 2

We will continue now declaring the mystery of Jesus Christ; declaring Him. We are dealing with The House of Understanding, that House that we are in Christ, and that this House is to come forth in understanding - in the wisdom, understanding and knowledge of Christ. We are dealing with those areas that are in Him, and that are Him. We read this in Proverbs 24:3 and 4. That was the main scripture in our last lesson, and now we will continue on this House of Understanding.

In Ephesians 4:10-15 we read, " He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." We look at these scriptures, and it is just exciting to see that The Church is involved with CHRIST. That we be henceforth no more children, tossed to and fro, with every wind of doctrine, with every thought of man, with every teaching and every preaching, every denomination...but... BUT what? "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ."

See, we are dealing with a people that are IN HIM, a people that had been brought into Christ, into the very Person of The Lord Jesus, and the dealing of the Lord is that we may comprehend, that we may grow up into Him in all things. We read that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together all things in Christ; and here The Church is growing up into all things that are in Christ, because ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH ARE FOUND IN CHRIST! "The church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." And this is the understanding we must come to - the understanding of Christ! We call it a House of Understanding, a habitation. We read that in Ephesians 2, how we are builded upon the foundation, of Jesus Christ Himself, to be a habitation, a dwelling place of The Most High God.

And it is this emphasis of The Lord that we in REALITY move into this dwelling place. We are in this place - yes, through the operation of The Spirit, by The Lord Jesus Himself. But in the REALITY of understanding, in the REALITY of knowledge, in the REALITY of being - that we would find ourselves in this Habitation of The Most High God, that this would be our place of rest, that this would be the place we inhabit; that God Himself would make Himself so real in His Church that we would find Him as our habitation. Yes, we are His habitation; yes, that we would find our being, our living, our motivation, our comprehension, our reason for existence - IN HIM! And what an exciting place: to be found IN CHRIST!

Now, going on with this lesson, turn to Philippians 3, beginning at verse 7. Paul is writing about those things that he had in the Jewish religion, according to the flesh; of him being an Israelite, of the tribe of Benjamin. And he goes on and says, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

And remember the earlier scripture that he would win the prize. And here is the prize that is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That I MAY WIN CHRIST! The high calling of God in Christ Jesus; that I may apprehend, that I may seize, that I may come to know, that I may come to dwell in this great, glorious Christ! This should really be the prayer, this should be the heart of The Church - THIS UNDERSTANDING, this understanding of a New Man, this understanding that is in Christ. What an understanding! And yet many Christians are in an understanding of the old man, and in an understanding of heaven, and of the prize, and all these terms we might use - in THINGS, and not IN CHRIST. And we must come to see that all of this is contained in A MAN. When we speak of heaven, when we speak of the prize, when we speak of apprehension, we are dealing with The New Man that is The Lord Himself, that we are The Body of. That’s what we are dealing with. We are dealing with this New Man, this Spiritual Man, and it is this understanding that we must come to.

In the New King James Version, 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 says, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus; that if one died for all, then all died; And he died for all, that those that live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." Just hear that scripture: "That when one died, all were made to be dead through his death. And those that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who has risen from the dead. Behold ALL THINGS are new; old things are passed away. If anyone is in Christ, he is A NEW CREATION, NOT AN OLD CREATION..." This is the understanding we must come to. We must come to where this understanding is in us, and we are in this understanding.

Now Paul was dealing with Christians, with the Corinthian Church. In 1 Corinthians 3:3 he told them there was strife and envying, and all these elements of the earth working. "For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but 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 planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." What’s the point here? The point is we have Paul dealing with Christians saying ‘I am of Apollos’, ‘I am of Paul’, ‘I am of Peter’. And the point he comes to make is that it is God that gives the increase, and that it is God’s building. It’s NOT Paul’s building, it’s NOT Apollos’ building, it’s NOT Peter’s building. Now we can bring this same understanding into The Church today. It’s NOT the building of Baptists, it’s NOT the building of Charismatics, it’s NOT the building of Pentecostals, it’s NOT the building of Apostolics - but it’s the building of The Most High God! And it’s this comprehension that we must come to. We must come beyond the comprehension that ‘I am a Baptist’ or ‘I am a Pentecostal’ or that ‘I am this, that or the other’. And come to the comprehension that ‘I am a New Creation: old things have passed away; that when He died, as the scriptures say, I died.’ And we reckon that old man dead. We reckon him dead in very word and deed - we reckon him dead! That I no longer live unto myself; my purpose for living is not self life, but that I FIND MY LIFE IN HIM. Paul said - "to be found IN HIM."

And the whole comprehension of Christianity is not that. I came through Pentecostal holiness, and this scripture was one I was familiar with in the book of Job. Job 14:1, " Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." And this is the concept that most Christians have of themselves - a man born of a woman, the natural man. But that is NOT the concept that we just read: you are a NEW CREATION. See, that concept is not found in ourselves, that concept is found IN CHRIST - that I may be found IN HIM. And in Him, through Him, by Him, we are a New Creation. And this is exactly what Jesus is dealing with when He speaks to Nicodemus in John 3. Nicodemus comes to Jesus and in verse 3, "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Here we are talking about a New Creation, a New Seed; being born again, born anew. Jesus wasn’t talking about Nicodemus being born "over" - as he was. He wasn’t talking of natural birth; that Nicodemus could be recreated in the natural man. But He said to Nicodemus you must be born FROM ABOVE.

When we come forth in the New Birth, we are no longer seen in God’s eyes as a man born of a woman, but a New Creation; old things have passed away! We reckon the old man dead. Yes, we have a body. Yes, you can look and see the natural body, but that’s NOT The Body we are. We have that body and that body is to be utilized for the expression of The Body that we are; and we find that The Body that we are is not in the natural. As Paul said, "we walk by faith, and not by sight." We are walking by a comprehension of Christ! We are not walking according to sight; we are not walking according to black and white, and Jew and Hispanic. We are walking according to a comprehension of Christ! And that comprehension is NOT a man born of woman, but it is a man that is born by The Spirit of God. It is one that has come forth victorious over death, that death hath no more hold on him. It is one in which God finds His pleasure, in which God has found His abode, in which God has found His habitation.

And it is this understanding that we must come to. This is The House that we are! This is the place that we are! We must comprehend it, and we comprehend it IN CHRIST. I can not comprehend it according to the natural. I can not comprehend it according to where I dwell on this natural earth. But I comprehend it as I comprehend HIM. I comprehend it as I understand in Him; as God, by His Spirit brings forth understanding that is in Christ, I comprehend. And we must seek to comprehend. Another example of this is in the book of Isaiah, chapter 55:8,9. " For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Now unfortunately this scripture, like the scripture in Job is preached and applied to The Church; and it’s not applying to The Church. It is applying to natural Israel. The Church has been given the mind of Christ that The Lord may instruct them, that they may grow up in all things IN HIM. They have a New Mind, and now in this mind they can comprehend the things of God. No longer are we a people who can’t know the things of God - no longer! See, this is made real in Christ. Read Isaiah 2:1-5, " The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord." And then comes Jesus saying, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD."

Now while there was a day that the ways of The Lord were not made known, the same prophet prophesied of another day in which God would bring a people up and show His ways. And we have this secured in Christ! "Father, that they might know Thee (John 17), the only True God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent. This is eternal life." Jesus tells us there that we would know The Lord, that we would know The Only True God, that we would know Him. We are NOT in a day that we don’t know The Lord, but we are in a day, as is written by that prophet, and also in Hebrews 8, that in The New Covenant we would know The Lord from the least to the greatest. Then how can we say that we can’t understand the things of God? How can we even believe that? But we have people in The Church that believe that. They say this Word is for some other day, some other time, at some certain event it will come to be. What has already come to be in Christ is always being put over into some other day. But we must turn from that, unto a people that say, "Yes, Lord", and receive The Word of The Lord, and grow in the knowledge of Him. We must come to the understanding that is set forth in Him.

Look at 1 Corinthians 2:7-9, " But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." This is speaking back to the Law. But here is another scripture that preachers go and preach and apply to The Church. But if we just read the very next verse... "But GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO US BY HIS SPIRIT; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." God HATH revealed them unto us by His Spirit. Those things that the eye hadn’t seen, that the ear had not heard; that’s what God has revealed to The Church by His Spirit. That is the mystery that is being spoken, the mystery which is CHRIST IN YOU, the hope of glory. And all that is contained in Christ, all that has been summed up in Christ, all that has been brought forth in Christ is the mystery that is being declared. Being declared - made manifest by The Church! It is being shouted from the housetops by The Church! Glory to The Lamb! It is no longer hid! Now, it is hid to those that are lost; it is hid to those that haven’t received Him. Yes, it’s hid there; but it shouldn’t be hidden to The Church. It’s an open face, an open realization. It’s been opened - The Book has been opened, that we might freely see, that we might freely receive the things that be of God.

Verse 11, " For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that WE MIGHT KNOW THE THINGS THAT ARE FREELY GIVEN TO US OF GOD. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." We have the mind of Christ that we may be instructed of The Lord; that we may know the things of God; that we might know Christ; that I might understand what it means to be in Christ. That this no longer just be a term to me, but it’s an understanding, and from an understanding it becomes a knowledge, it becomes a reality, it becomes an essence, it becomes the substance He is! That I might win Christ! That The Church might come to this comprehension - that to live is CHRIST, that to exist is CHRIST, that "being" is CHRIST! Oh, that we may come to the comprehension of what it is to be born of The Sprit. That which is born of The Spirit is Spirit.

We find that again in 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul is dealing with a natural man, with a soul man, if you read from verse 45 through 49. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is The Lord from heaven. That is not first which is spiritual, but is natural. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that is not first which is spiritual but is natural. Then the spiritual, and that which is spiritual is THE LORD HIMSELF! We are not learning ourselves over in some spiritual existence, but we are learning The Lord Himself! "That they might know ME, from the least unto the greatest, saith the Lord." Not that they might learn "their true spiritual identity", but that they might know The Lord! We have people thinking they are going to learn THEIR true spiritual identity, but the only spiritual identity that we have is that which is IN CHRIST! It’s not ourselves; it’s HIM! It’s The Lord! We come unto The Lord. He brought us unto Himself, to be a people unto Him to be a habitation unto Him, that He might have HIS expression. And yes, it’s a glorious place, yes it’s a glorious relationship. And we have this relationship in His Son, in The Person of Christ, that God may be all in all, that Christ may be expressed. And that’s not ourselves, not by any shape of the imagination - it’s HIM! It’s other than us. Ourselves, we are included in it through Him. But you take Him away... and we won’t be found there. We are found there IN HIM, and we find this place IN HIM, we see this place IN HIM, we understand this place IN HIM, through HIM, by HIM, of HIM. And if the view of Jesus is gone, then there’s no place, there’s no great place. Jesus is the substance of the whole thing! And that’s the glory of it - it’s HIM!

And yes, He’s brought us into it, but, it’s HIM! It’s Him - Christ in you, the hope of glory. It’s Jesus Himself! I pray that this is to the edifying and the upbuilding of The Body of Christ; that we may win Him, that we may know HIM. Amen.