Faith Toward God

Introduction commentary: Track One

28 We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.   (Rom.3.28)

                Here, now, I am going make a correction in the translations of the Scriptures.  If you have read my sites, you will know that Grace is Power; the Greek word is chorin, or charis, or charisma depending on their grammatical use, but the meaning is power, even God's power...His omnipotence; consider:

7 And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. 8 Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  (2 Cor.12.7ff)

Notice that grace and power are used synonymously; they are the same; therefore, depending upon the grammatical use of the Greek words, I will use either power, strength, or omnipotence; you will not find grace on this site, unless to define Grace.

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Examples of Faith

          Here we go on an adventure through the Scriptures to study something grossly unknown among God's people, while it is one of the most important attributes of Christians, or those purporting to be so, except very few have faith; let me tell you a story, and this story is typical of so many calling themselves Christians; I've told it before, but it is worth telling because it is so instructive.

          We had a neighbor, a young mother with three children; unfortunately she came down with cancer.  She was an amiable soul and I spent some time with her and her family and got to know them quite well.  She went through the typical regimen of chemotherapy, but nothing did any good, fact was she became emaciated, lost her hair, steadily declined, and finally regressed into a wheelchair; I met her in a store in town and we got to talking about faith, and she said, 'I have faith...', but three weeks later she died; obviously, she did not have enough faith. 

          This is the plight of many Christians, and while they do not all get cancer, most are on some sort of medication for any number of a myriad of diseases, maladies, or physical problem, and many have gone through serious operations, which weaken them and shortens their lives.  All of these things could have been avoided if they had Faith.  Faith is something God given that can cure all this; and is one of the easiest virtues to obtain if you are willing to obey God and follow His instructions in your walk with Him.  So, if you are one of these, who supposes you have faith, whilst you are vexed with evil situations, listen up and learn.

          Faith is my favorite Bible subject, for by Faith, we may obtain all the promises of God; if that be so, all else is but commentary.  Listen to Paul as he first defines Faith, then speaks of those who had faith to do marvelous things:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.  5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.  8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  (Heb.11.1-10)

All our forefathers were justified by faith, and by faith they accomplished what God has sent them to do.  But now, we come to Jesus.

          A certain Centurion sent elders of the Jews to request of Jesus to heal one of his servants; he was not a Jew, but a Roman, and I want you to take notice of what Jesus said to him:

Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurions servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. 3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5 For he loves our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. 6 Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou should enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 8 For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it.  9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10 And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.  (Lk.7.1-10)

Now, what was so great about this man's faith?  I will tell you: he not only had faith but he had wisdom from God; being a devout man, he studied Scripture and thus understood the spiritual world around him, and knew all Jesus had to do was to command an angel to go and heal his servant.

          Then, there is the case of the woman with a bloody flux she had suffered from for twelve years; consider her case:          

And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus feet, and besought him that he would come into his house: 42 For he had one only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she lay a dying. But as he went the people thronged him. 43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any, 44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched. 45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 46 And Jesus said, Somebody has touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me. 47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith has made thee whole; go in peace.  (Lk.8.41-48)

Now; the word virtue comes from the Greek word dunamis, from which we have derived the word dynamite; it is otherwise translated to power.  In addition, the phrase in the last sentence, ..made thee whole comes from the little Greek word sozo, which is otherwise translated to 'save', 'heal', 'preserve', 'be whole' (etc.; see page 89 in your Index, bottom of the 5th column and top of the 6th).

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Special Statement

          Now some of you are sitting there letting your eye lids get heavy; 'this technical stuff' you are saying to yourself, 'I don't need it.'  If you suppose you are going to get out there and  convince the world that you know God's Bible, you will INDEED know the technical details; if you do not, somebody is going to come along and make a fool of you.  God does not need any more fools trying to teach His Word, so pay attention; if you don't feel like it, then go and rest then come back and continue.

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          The point here is, that she had great 'faith' insomuch that she was able to touch Jesus; we must have such faith also to get Jesus to move for us, and I will show you how to obtain it.

Spiritual Gifts

          Something you must also realize is that spiritual gifts are manifested according to the amount of faith and the power of God you possess; consider:

For I say, through the power that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith. 4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office: 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another. 6 And having gifts differing according to the power that was given to us, whether prophecy, according to the proportion of our faith;  (Rom.12.3-6 ASV)

Power (grace; i.e. the omnipotence of God) and faith go hand in hand...but the POWER of your gift is according to how much FAITH you have; if you have little faith, you have little power, in other words, the spiritual gifts are only as powerful as the power of God you possess, and Faith you possess; this explains why the church world has so little, and for those of you who do possess some power in your spiritual gifts, when I get through with you, your gifts will increase a hundred fold, because I am going to show you how to find the answers on your own and how to increase your faith and power.

          Here is another case of Faith being exercised:

And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. 23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she cries after us. 24 But he answered and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 25 But she came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 And he answered and said, It is not meet to take the childrens bread and cast it to the dogs. 27 But she said, Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that hour.   (Mt.15.21-28)

Consider this: here is another case of a foreigner who has come to Jesus for healing, and it seems that Jesus would refuse her, so she humbled herself, and thus received her request, and he says to her, Oh woman, great is thy faith.  Humility goes before receiving anything from God, as I showed you from Mt.18.1-4.

The Mustard Seed

          You have heard Word of Faith people in particular use this phrase: 'Just release your faith...' or, 'name it and claim it', or that 'you need to exercise your faith', and you, I am sure, have tried it all to no avail; the reason why you have received anything from God is simply because of His mercy; you did not receive it because of your faith.  But my question is, how can you release a faith you do not possess? how can you exercise a faith you do not have?

          Now, I will show you a great but simple thing which the church world has totally missed; you hear them talk about that 'little mustard seed', where Jesus said,

And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, 15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falls into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you!  (Mt.17.14-20)

and again in Luke,

And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.  (Lk.17.5,6)

So you look at what Jesus said in amazement! because you have not been able to do the least thing much less obtain those things of major value.  He said first that nothing shall be impossible to you; do you believe that?  Then why cannot you do anything of consequence?  We have never seen anyone who could do a fraction of what Jesus did, but he says in John 14.12 that we would do GREATER than what he did!  SOMETHING IS THE MATTER!

          Oh, sure; some have success with healing, prophecy, and even a few miracles; the fact is these are pathetic in size and scope and power, but consider this:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.  (Mt.7.21-23)

Because you cast out demons, prophecy, and work miracles, does not mean anything, and does not prove that you are anything.  Fact is too, when folks get healed by these so-called 'healing evangelists' the evangelist have little or nothing to do with it as the people are healed by their own faith, not that of the evangelist.

Secret of the Mustard Seed

          So, let's go and find out this mystery of the Mustard Seed; Jesus says if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing will be impossible to us, but what you do not see is this:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.  (Mt.13.31,32)

Now, some of you will understand this without me saying anything; you all of a sudden realized that it is necessary to cause your faith to GROW! you start out with that tiny seed, but you must plant it and cause it to grow...but then HOW?

          Oh, yes; as I said, you hear some say that to increase your faith you need to 'exercise it', and thus comes the name it and claim it crowd.  IT IS FOOLISHNESS; they do not know what they are talking about.  What you need to learn is how to cause your faith to grow, and here is the place to go:

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?  17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, did they not all hear?  Yea, truly, Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the earth...'     (Rom.10.12-18)

 Now, understand that the word gospel and good tidings come from the same word (euagglizo); so consider: he first says they have not all obeyed the Gospel, but then says, who has believed their report?  He uses obeyed and believed synonymously; believing is obeying!  But then, when we do a word study of hearing we find that the Hebrew word of hear is shamea (shama); see page 44, 5th column in your Index-Lexicon; it is also translated to hearken and obey.  Then consider verse 18, 

          But I say, did they not all hear?...' 

as he refers to Psm.19.3:

          3 There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard...'  

As he makes it clear that the Gospel was indeed preached, but as it is today they would not hear, and the word 'heard', comes from the Hebrew word shamea (see pg. 465 col.2 in the concordance).  

          What am I saying...or rather, what is Paul saying?  He is saying that faith comes by our obedience to the Word of God!  What a novel idea!  Think about this: every man and woman in the Bible commended by the inspired writers were people of faith; they obeyed God even in adversity, but most Christians obey God only when it is convenient, and this is why they do not have a lick of faith.

          Now that you have the formula, ACT ON IT!  How?  Of course, you first have to prepare your hearts as I have shown you; after this, there is only to get into your Bibles and study.  The Scriptures are a storehouse of knowledge and wisdom; it is full of mysteries and secrets God only gives to those who diligently seek Him.

          Here:

Ho, every one that thirsts, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.  3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.  (Isa.55.1-3)

I've shown you this before but this has to be emphasized, and here:

Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets: 21 She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying, 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.  (Pro.1.20-23)  

The Word of God is open to you now, but remember this also...and here you will see my ministry; I am the 'servant' he speaks of here:

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. 16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.  (Lk.14.15-24)

If you become distracted, God will not give you anything, and you will find yourself shut out as in the Parable of the Ten Virgins; this is not a part-time vocation; of course, you have to work and earn a living to take care of your family, but if you are a minister, and are on the radio, get off of it and study.  I know how much work it is to be on the radio; I was on it for two years myself; I wasted a lot of time and money because God did not bless it; it was not time and I had a lot more to learn.  You too have a lot to learn, but weed out those things that are not necessary in your life that take your time; if you are ever going to be used of God, you must come to KNOW HIM, and the only way you can come to know Him is to sit at the feet of Jesus (Lk.10.38-42).

The Unjust Judge

          Here is a slightly different view of Faith:

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:  3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?  (Lk.18.1-8)

Answer: NO.  What is the lesson here?  Importunity, is the word; it comes from the Greek word anaideia which is used only once in the New Testament, but not in this text; here:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?  7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?  (Lk.11.5-13)

The word means to be undissuaded...unabashed...undaunted, even impudent, even abstinent, even rude; the dictionary says, 'To beset with repeated and insistent requests'; get the picture?  They would not take no for an answer but kept on until they wearied their neighbor until their resolve weakened and they gave them what they asked; in the first case, a judge who gave her satisfaction, in the second a friend gave three loaves of bread.

          Now, how does this apply to our study on faith?  simple: how many of you, after praying about something a few times, throw up your hands in despair saying, 'I guess it is not God's will', and give up, but if your request is not to consume in your lusts (as James says), or if it is not unreasonable, and IF YOUR FAITH IS UNWAVERING, then keep on and God will eventually hear you.

          My wife and I had prayed for fellowship and a ministry for more than 40 years, but because of the many prophecies we received, and because our faith was unwavering, we received our request and even more than we had dreamed.  I simply wanted a neat little congregation of people who would hear and act on God's Word, because I knew that God does not need numbers to do great things, but now look; God will have me encourage and teach myriads of people; I had no idea it would be so great.

          Jesus asked, When the Son of man comes, 'will he find faith on the earth?'   As I said, the answer is 'NO'.  With all this foolishness going on in the Name of Jesus, it is all show and rhetoric without any substance at all.  As the Laodicean church, they are rich, prosperous; they are fat, lazy, lukewarm to the Word of God, and as Paul says,

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (2 Tim.3.1-7)

When he says, they creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins it reminds me of a missionary I once knew who went to the Navahos; after 30 years in the field, all he had to show for it was half a dozen women in his congregation; he accomplished absolutely nothing but made a mockery of the Word of God.

          The faith of this generation is nonexistent, but when the Tribulation comes, it will only be by a genuine faith that will deliver God's people, that is why Paul says this:

But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned:  (1 Tim.1.5 ASV)

but, notice in what company unfeigned faith travels with! love out of a pure heart, a good conscience!  He says, that if we have these virtues, we have arrived; we have accomplished the work of God, as Jesus said,

Labour not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him has God the Father sealed.  28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (Jn.6.27-29)

And thus we are back at the beginning, knowing that believing is to obey.

A Faith to be Revealed in the Last Time

The Faith of Abraham

          Therefore, let us contemplate Abraham a minute: he is called the Father of our faith since he received the promise God gave him apart from the law, that is, before circumcision, while he was yet uncircumcised, although he received circumcision as a sign of the seal of the righteousness of God.  Fact was, he believed God in the face of diversity, the promise that he would be the father of many nations; God did not say, I will make you the father of many nations, but said, I have made you the father of many nations.. (see Rom.4.17).  The reason why God accounted him righteous was that he believed God while yet he was a hundred years old and that Sarah was beyond the age of child bearing; nevertheless, he believed God, and thus his faith was accounted unto him as righteousness.

          But now we come to the 5th chapter of Romans:

Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 2 through whom also we have had our access by faith into this power wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation works stedfastness; 4 and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope:  (Rom.5.1-4)

This short text contains reams of information; first, we are justified by faith; the word justify comes from the Greek word dikaioo (os, sis, sune) which is translated, just, right, righteous (ness), justification, and justify; it simply means to be found blameless, free from sin.  We are, therefore, found free from sin by our faith, and what we have learned already is that we know that obedience to the truth brings faith, and thus we are justified in God's sight. 

          But then he goes on to say that we have access into the Power of God by faith; knowing that Grace is the power of God we receive when the Word of God is revealed unto us, we thus understand that it is by God's power that we walk in the truth and stand fast by this same power.  Then comes hope of the glory of God:

And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.  (1 Cor.2.4,5)

In other words, our faith is not of man's wisdom, but in the power of God, then he goes on to say concerning glory:

We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought: 7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that has been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory: 8 which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory: 9 but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him. 10 But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.  (1 Cor.2.6-10)

He says, God's wisdom is OUR GLORY, that is, the wisdom and knowledge of God is our glory!  Then he continues to show that we learn from God because he is pleased with us as the Spirit teaches us because we love Him, and the Spirit searches all things.  We could compare this with 1 Pet.1.13 how the Word is revealed unto us and thus receive the power, the Power of God.

          Now: we can go back to the 1st chapter of 1st Peter where we learned that this salvation is going to be revealed in the last time; this wisdom, he speaks of will also be revealed in the last time.  All that God has will be revealed in the time just ahead of us; His wisdom and knowledge, His power, His mercy, His love, all that is taught in God's Bible will be revealed, and WE are going to reveal it.  In fact, the time is at hand when all of God's mysteries will be revealed, as Jesus says:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his teacher, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household! 26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak ye in the light; and what ye hear in the ear, proclaim upon the house-tops.  (Mt.10.24-27)

Now, however, is not the time; when we begin to preach the Gospel, and to lay the Foundation during the Tribulation, it will be some time much later DURING the Tribulation when Jesus comes as a thief (read the letters to the Seven Churches), then he will give us power to go forth as no one has ever done.  And, listen to this:

But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him: 38 that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  (Jn.12.37,38)

To whom has the Lord been revealed?  What does he mean?  Here:

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times.  Is it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the monster?  (Isa.51.9)

The arm of the Lord is the POWER of God, His strength! And the question is, to whom has it been revealed?  To NOBODY!  Who has seen the power available from God through Jesus Christ?  NO ONE, but children of God, it is coming, and I am convinced that it is going to be part of the Elijah ministry (cf.Isa.40.3-5).

          Now, am I wrong to suppose that the Arm of the Lord is shown here?

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (1 Pet.1. 3-5)

If that be so, then when the Tribulation begins, we are going to have available all the power of God when we have put on Jesus Christ in all his attributes.

          I've listened to people who have had visions of themselves doing marvelous things, flying through the stars, under the sea, around the world, and knowing nothing is impossible to God, I believe it, and Daniel says,

And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.  (Dan.11.32) 

See: knowing God is everything; it gives us all the promises of God, nothing wanting.

Faith and the Spiritual Gifts

          Here is something you need to know: God has given to every man a spiritual gift, however it is only as powerful and as evident as is the omnipotence of God you have; consider:

3 For I say through the power of God that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly that he ought to think; but to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith. 4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office: 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and severally members one of another. 6 And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching...'  (Rom.6.3ff)         

Faith and the power of God go hand in hand, as I say, but to get these spiritual gifts to work, you will obtain this faith the same way you obtain power...by your obedience to the truth.

There are no secrets here: it is plain old fashioned obedience...this is why I have the CONFIDENCE THAT WHAT I PROPHESY WILL COME TO PASS.  You may read of the gifts also in 1 Corinthians 14; the same is true there, but as Paul says, you must be sober about it and not fain a gift you do not possess; you will be exposed as a fool and fraud.

Amen

Baptisms next...