Third Day

God’s people are called to be together and to serve together. One of the most respectable sins that is taking place today is the sin of individuality – the pride of an independent spirit.

This spirit of independency is killing our country and our communities. The church is not strong. Why? Because the church is the one organism God has brought together. When one part of the organism begins to withdraw from the body of believers as a whole then cancer begins to show up. And it will metastasize to the point of corrupting other parts of the body.

When the human spirit expresses itself apart from the body of Christ, then we can be sure that it will cause harm to the family of God and to the person’s family. The spirit of independency expresses itself in two areas: a resistance to authority, especially spiritual authority, and an unteachable attitude.

When we are young, we tend to think we know it all. When we are old, we tend to think we are not needed. God has given the family so that we will learn to submit to one another in love. God has given the church so that we will learn to obey God’s headship and to do it with joy and not with joblessness.

“Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead”          (Matthew 17:9).

There were times when the Lord Jesus told his disciples not to speak to anyone about what they saw or heard.  Why? They did not know enough to talk sense about what was before them.

Unless we know Jesus as the risen, living, and indwelling Savior, as a present-tense reality in our hearts and life, then the Lord Jesus wants our mouth to be kept closed. Why?  Because we will not know enough about Him worth saying.

God wants us to know Him through His Son by an ever-present reality.   When life becomes an adventure in dependence upon His life in us, dead to yourself and alive to God, you and I will share the Life of Jesus Christ and we will share His victory, though a thousand or more temptations assail us.  Then we will have something to tell.  And something to see.  And someone to love.

It is not a matter of our doing our best for Him, but of Christ being His best in us.  This is the Good News that is ours to tell!

We as a society have been conditioned to believe in the big, the fast, the expensive and the far away.  Whatever is big, fast, expensive, and away is the life of joy and happiness.  I am convinced that if you have to move ten inches from where you are now in order to be happy, you never will be.

Paul was in prison for Christ, yet he was content.  Joseph was indeed in a mess down in Egypt, yet he was aware that God was working.  John the Baptist had stumbled over the timeline that God had for him, but he was learning.  The Lord Jesus operated by faith and not by feelings, and never moved from where His true peace was located.

One can live with joy in their present circumstances and still live with expectation.  Life becomes more precious and more special to us when we look for the little everyday miracles and get excited about the privilege of simply being human.

There is a powerful story of a young man who was seeking God.  He sought out a wise man who lived in a nearby beach house and posed the question:  “Old man, how can I see God?”  The old man who knew God at a depth few experience, pondered the question.  At last he responded quietly:  “Young man, I am not sure that I can help you–for you see, I have a different problem. I cannot not see him.”

Today as I have traveled around, several things have taken place. I want to share them with you. Is that okay?

A lady that I have prayed for, been in her home and prayed with both her husband and family, a lady in whom you have helped financially, told me some exciting news: she and her husband have been born again, and that just recently! Whoa, Nellie!  Someone hold my mule while I shout!

Also, another gentleman came up to me and sat down with me while I had a quick breakfast with the Lord while reading a chapter in a book. This fifty-eight year old man spoke to me of his pain–physical and emotionally. We will get together soon. We spoke briefly and I had prayer with him. He was encouraged as I was. I heard and saw the inward grief and pain.

Then I met a couple. I began to inquire of where they were from, what church they belonged to, and where they are at this time in their life. It was a good ten-minute fellowship. I felt God had used me as a link in the chain to bring them closer to the cross. Mind you, it was not me, it was Christ in me. I was just the body He was using.

This morning, also, I had the opportunity to speak to someone by phone. He called me and we talked, and we prayed, and we encouraged each other. You will hear some of his testimony Sunday morning. I was glad for God’s saving grace in this fellow laborer.

Isn’t God good? He is the invisible God who makes Himself visible through His people. The lady that I spoke of in the first paragraph told me, “This is the greatest adventure I have ever been on.” Friend, being in Christ is the greatest adventure. It is life and having abundance of grace all thrown in.

No matter the difficulties you are having, you have a God who can. Read the Bible, pray through the Scriptures, and allow God to give you His mind and His will. You will find peace in the middle of a storm. When we praise God we are revealing God’s glory to the world around us and below us and above us. Let the angels see us praising God. Verbalized praise from a heart overflowing is wonderful and freeing. And it brings a walk with God that is lasting.

There are few things quite so boring as being a person of religious activity. But there is nothing quite so exciting as being a Christian! The greatest adventure of all times is not a trip to a certain island, or having a lot of money to spend on others, having a good mate and a good family; but the greatest of all is to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit – abiding in Jesus!

There are many today who do not understand the power of a life to live. They have come to Christ and thanked Him only for what He did for them upon a cross, but do not live in the power of Who He is. Why the disconnect?

To live for yourself is to walk after the flesh. To live to and for Christ is to walk after the Spirit. The measure of a man’s worth is the measure in which he no longer lives to and for himself, but to and for Jesus Christ. No more and no less. The life worth living is the life that is surrendered to Christ for Him to live through you! Here’s the question, “Do you have overflowing joy! If not, then it’s not God’s fault, but ours. Are you abiding continually in Jesus? Joy is in a Person! His name is Jesus