Jesus Revealed Through His Body
December 3, 2000 pm
MF Blume
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head
of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:24 Who
now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind
of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which
is the church:
1 John 4:12 No
man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in
us, and his love is perfected in us.
1 John 4:3 And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye
have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
We clearly see that God considers the Church to be the Body of Christ.
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And that is the reason we read that God cannot be seen by anybody, but
if we love one another God dwells in us.
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In other words, people will see the next best thing to seeing God -- Seeing
the Church members love one another.
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That is an indication that God is indirectly seen by people.
So Jesus needs to be revealed through His Body the Church, by the members
of the Church loving one another.
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If Jesus was here on earth as He was when He was personally ministering
in Judaea, He would reach out and manifest His love for the people of the
world.
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And we are as much His Body as that flesh and bone body was in which He
walked.
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And we must allow Him to manifest through us into this world.
But there is a hindrance to His manifestation through His body.
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1 John 4:3 says that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and anything that
doesn't confess that is antichrist.
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DId you know that Jesus came in the flesh in Bethlehem's incarnation?
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And He also came in the flesh when we were baptized with His Spirit.
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He is in our flesh, as born again believers.
But while He is manifest in our flesh, anything that comes from our lives
that is confessing something else than His presence in us is antichrist.
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Anything in our lives that hinders Him from shining out through us, is
antichrist.
Let us turn to the book that is named after this whole issue.
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by
his angel unto his servant John:
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed
us from our sins in his own blood,
The first title given to Jesus in this book is the
FAITHFUL WITNESS.
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You can count on the words of Christ being 100% truthful.
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He is a witness that is faithful in everything He
says as being true.
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He is the Word.
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We can count on the Word of God to be a true witness
to us.
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And he will witness to us of not only Himself, but
who we are who are in Him, because when we are united to Him in our baptism
into Him, we have his holiness and His righteousness, yet we are not gods,
as He is.
The first vision John actually had of Jesus in this
experience he recounts to us in the book of Revelation is as follow:
Revelation 1:12-13 And
I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven
golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one
like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot,
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Jesus appeared in the midst of the candlesticks.
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And we are told what the candlesticks represent in
this most signifying vision.
Revelation 1:20 The
mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the
seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven
churches: and the seven candlesticks
which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Jesus is seen in the midst of the candlesticks, the
churches.
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In other words He is the light of the World and the
churches are His extensions.
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He is the vine and we are the branches.
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We are His body.
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We are to manifest His light into the dark world.
But in the Book of Revelation there is also a FALSE
WITNESS that is spoken about.
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In the Book of Revelation we read that this false
witness must be revealed for his lies and for who he really is in order
for Christ to truly be revealed.
Revelation 13:11 And
I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns
like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Talk about wolves in sheep's clothing!
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Here we have a DRAGON in sheep's clothing!
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He looks like a lamb... so much like Jesus.
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But to those who know the Word of Jesus, he is recognized
as speaking not like a lamb at all.
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He speaks like a dragon!
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Sheep do not hiss!
All of the people who care less about the word of
God will be fooled by this lamb-appearing dragon.
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The devil counts on your ignorance of the Word of
God.
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Only those who know what Christ sounds like will
recognize this lying dragon.
John 10:27 My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me
You believers who have no love for the word of God
in the Bible, who flock to every miracle-worker you hear come to town,
are in DANGER!
Revelation 13:14 And
deceiveth
them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which
he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell
on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the
wound by a sword, and did live.
Miracles are things that you can see.
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And the reason he appeals to certain people by his
visible miracles is because these folks were already fooled by his appearance
of a lamb.
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Its not appearances we need to be concerned about.
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Its what WORD is being spoken.
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WE NEED TO KNOW THE TEACHINGS OF THE BIBLE.
We read this about a test for a false prophet.
Deuteronomy 18:22 When
a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if
the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the
prophet hath spoken it presumptuously:
thou shalt not be afraid of him.
But even if the thing DOES come to pass, we are still
to test the prophet out further.
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Not many know about this test:
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 If
there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee
a sign or a wonder, And the sign or
the wonder come to pass, whereof he
spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after
other gods, which thou hast not known,
and let us serve them; Thou shalt not
hearken unto the words of that prophet,
or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether
ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Even if the false prophet foretells something or
says a sign will be given, and the thing actually does come to pass, just
as he or she said it would, that still does not mean they are true prophets.
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If they do not draw you closer to God they are still
false prophets no matter how many miracles they genuinely perform!
Beware of walking by SIGHT, and not by FAITH.
John 8:12-15 Then
spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself;
thy record is not true. Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear
record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came,
and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. Ye
judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
Jesus was accused of being a faulty witness of Himself.
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But He replied that the pharisees judged after the
flesh.
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He refused to judge that way.
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They judged after appearances, and not wonder they
were deceived and rejected Christ!
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We cannot live by sight.
Jesus needs to be manifesting in a person's life.
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Our church is not here to compete with all the other
churches and be the best church around.
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That would be exalting ourselves.
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No, all that we are to do is bring glory to Jesus
and to manifest Jesus in this city!
This false prophet and false witness needs to be
recognized and dealt with.
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Who is this beast?
Genesis 3:1 Now
the serpent was more subtil than any beast
of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea,
hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
We read the first BEAST that gave man problems was
the SERPENT.
Genesis 3:4-6 And
the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and
ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. And when the woman saw that the tree wasgood for food,
and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a
tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat.
Out of the three elements that were in the forbidden
tree, two of them were in all the rest of the trees.
Genesis 2:9 And
out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life
also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
The other trees were good for food and pleasant to
the sight, just as the forbidden tree was.
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But there was one element that was in the forbidden
tree that was the killer.
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A TREE TO BE DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE.
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Get the spirit of the one differing element.
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SELF-EXALTATION.
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It matched the beasts words, "Ye shall be as gods."
Its that element that hindered God's Spirit
from dwelling in Adam and Eve so that He could manifest through their lives.
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When we wish to exalt ourselves, we are robbing God
of opportunity to be exalted through us.
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For every inch of lime-light we take up, there is
that much less glory that can go to God through us.
The antichrist spirit in humanity is in all of us.
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Everyone of us have the potential to choose to exalt
ourselves rather than exalt God.
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Its in our flesh.
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That is the reason Paul said that he had to continue
to keep his body under and to deny its desires and lusts, lest he become
a castway himself, after preaching to others (1 Corinthians 9:27).
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You have that desire in yourself to exalt yourself
as much as any other human has it.
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But we must keep that desire starved!
The serpent deceived the woman.
The beast deceiveth people in Revelation 13:14.
We cannot be deceived.
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That is the reason we need to expose ourselves to
the Word of God as much as we can.
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God does not have a number machine that clocks how
many times you walk through our church doors.
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He is not waiting for a certain number each month
to bless you for.
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No.
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We need to be at Church whenever possible, because
the WORD OF TRUTH IS BEING SPOKEN HERE.
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We need to be exposed to that Word of God in a world
where antichrist philosophies is being promoted more than ever before in
history!
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In a world where they encourage you to do YOUR own
thing and do what YOU want to do, regardless of what others say, we need
to hear the Word of God.
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Those words of the world are antichrist!
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They a reminiscent of the BEAST, "you will be as
gods."
If we do not keep the truth in our hearts and continue
to receive it regularly, the antichrist spirit will appeal more and more
to the flesh, and the flesh that we all have will rise and eventually take
over our lives again.
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And we live to seek pleasure for ourselves alone
and live antichrist lives.
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Its the Spirit of Christ to help others and love
others.
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If we love one another, then God dwells in us and
people are seeing the outworkings of God who is within us.
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But if we get caught up in self-centredness and self-exaltation,
not caring to help anybody else, we have an antichrist principle at work
in us and that will hinder Christ from coming out through our lives.
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It will hinder you from loving one another, and that
hinders CHrist from being seen in your lives.
Don't use this Church for an opportunity to get a
position and show everyone how great you are.
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That is a spirit of antichrist.
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And do not try to out-worship anybody.
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Worship is not something to compete around.
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It is supposed to give glory to God, not glory to
ourselves in showing others how good we can do it.
Anything that does not confess that Jesus is in OUR
flesh is just as antichrist as not confessing Jesus came in flesh to begin
with.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
our gathering together unto him,
I want to apply these verses to our lives individually
in a spiritual manner.
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Jesus will be revealed to all the world one day.
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But He needs ot be revealed in us, also, right now.
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And the day of Christ will be the day that Christ
is revealed to the world in all His glory.
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We need a personal day of Christ in our lives.
2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 That
ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by
word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let
no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except
there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition;
Before Christ can be revealed, the MAN OF SIN must
be revealed.
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He must be recognized and dealt with in our lives
before Jesus can be revealed in our lives.
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We all have this man of sin in our minds that is
the problem.
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It stems from how the flesh thinks without the truth
of the Word of God having changed our thinking.
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The man of sin is the fleshliness that seeks to exalt
itself in our lives.
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It is the antichrist element that we must have dealt
with so that Christ can be revealed.
2 Thessalonians 2:4 Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself
that he is God.
This element in us all seeks to rise up and be as
gods, as the serpent urged the woman in Genesis 3.
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It would like to rise in the temple of God and exalt
itself as God.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Know
ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you?
The temple of God is your body.
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And if you do not allow the Word of God to have its
way in your life, and change your thinking, you will yield to the temptation
to exalt yourself in the temple of God, your body, and act like you are
God.
When we, as Christians, do not reach out to
help others, it is either one of two things.
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We are either immature infants, who naturally require
the older saints in God to help and minister to.
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Or we are unnecessarily carnal, and have never allowed
the word of God to work in our lives the will of God. We are too
concerned for ourselves to help anyone else.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR GOD?
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Every one is a minister in the Kingdom.
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Infants are new converts who necessarily require
ministering by others.
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But there are those who have been in church for years
and STILL NEVER MINISTER IN ANY FASHION WHATSOEVER.
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They are tainted with antichrist.
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Self.
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There is SOMETHING for you to do in helping others.
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If its being an usher, or teaching Sunday School,
or printing bulletins, SOMETHING.....
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You have a ministry.
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You are a member of the BODY.
Stand still and move only one little finger on your
right hand, and keep the rest of the body still.
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That is what church has been like for generations.
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And its wrong.
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That is the idea that the preacher does everything.
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One member of the body.
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But we are all members.
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We all need to be supplying something to the work
of God in this world!
2Thessalonians 2:7-8
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth
[will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
This wickedness is a mystery.
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Anything that is rendered a mystery is in need of
being revealed.
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And the brightness of Christ's coming will destroy
this culprit once it is revealed.
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But it needs ot be revealed first so you can deal
with it through the truth.
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So we need to learn of Jesus all that we can.
Revelation 17:1 And
there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked
with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee
the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Notice here that John is in need of being shown this
entity.
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This is the same mystery that Paul wrote about.
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Christ is not going to be revealed in our lives until
this culprit is first revealed.
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And John had to be shown this, also.
Revelation 17:5 And
upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
He was shown this whore, and on her forehead was
written MYSTERY BABYLON.
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The forehead speaks of the MIND and WILL.
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The name BABYLON means CONFUSION.
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And in the mind of those who cannot reveal Christ
in their lives is a MYSTERY OF CONFUSION.
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There is confusion in their minds and they do not
even know it.
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Its a mystery.
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This has to be pointed out to them and revealed to
them.
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They wonder why they cannot manifest Christ.
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And it is all because of this mystery in their minds.
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Until that is revealed to them, they will continue
to hinder Christ in their lives and will continue to not minister His will
to others.
Revelation 18:7 How
much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so
much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit
a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Notice the same self-exaltant spirit in this woman
called MYSTERY-BABYLON.
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Until all self-exaltant elements are removed from
our lives, this mystery of iniquity will continue to hinder Christ from
manifesting through His body, we, the church.
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It must be revealed, recognized and removed.
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Until then, Christ will not be revealed through our
lives.
Lately in our congregation I have felt led of the
Lord to have every believer pray and minister to someone in our altar services.
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We must learn to realize that we need to reach out
to others and let God's love minister through us and touch hurting souls.
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This is not a place for you to sit on, as it were,
grand-stand bleachers, and watch a performance as the preacher prays and
preaches.
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That tradition is so far out of God's will.
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You are all to minister to one another.
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But self-centredness will rob you of that opportunity.
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If you've been here for any length of time, you should
be ministering in some manner.
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You can help in churches around the region, but here
is where God called you to minister first and foremost.
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And not only in our sanctuary , but at the workplace
and at home and with your friends and neighbours.
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DO SOMETHING FOR GOD'S KINGDOM.
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Whatever you do just don't sit and spectate.
The one thing that will hinder Christ from ministering
through our lives is concern for ourselves and that antichrist thinking
of me-first.
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Let's come to the altar this night and talk to God
and reach out and minister to someone here.
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We need this to be a place that no matter who comes
in with a need, looking for help, we are the active Body of Christ reaching
out to minister and help.