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In The Body! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 8/Issue 11 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Eph 1:22-23) Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Eph 2:20-21) That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-- Christ-- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (Eph 4:14-16) Prophecy: My people, I say to you to do your part from the heart to edify the body of Christ and to come in with full faith to bless your brethren, and I will bless you with many blessings. For I say, if you bless My church I will bless you, but if you bring it shame I will shame you. And I will shame you by making you a vessel of dishonor, but I will bless you by making you a vessel of honor, and I will bless you with the things that you need in the visible realm and the invisible realm, thus says the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at “My Father’s House) Because true believers are members of the body of Christ people who have a superficial understanding of the scriptures have wrongly presumed that they can be members of Christ’s “mystical” body, or members of the universal “invisible” church without participating actively in the local, visible church. And we will see from the scriptures that when the Bible speaks of you being a member of Christ’s Body it is always speaking of you being an active participant in the ministry to the local Church, and receiving the ministries that are given by the Lord through the local church Body to the church members. And you have to be in the local visible church to receive these ministries. And not being in the local church means you are not receiving, for example, what the Spirit is saying to the churches. You have to be in a church where the Spirit is speaking to receive what the Spirit is saying. So if you are not in the visible church you are receiving nothing from the body. And if you are receiving nothing from the visible church you certainly are not receiving anything from the invisible. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1John 4:20) And if you can’t love and participate in the visible church that you can see, how can you be anything to the invisible that you can’t see. So the idea that you can be in Christ’s invisible church without being in the visible church is just another one of the many myths promulgated in the false churches by superstitious false “Christian” peoples. And I can testify to the truth that when I first came to know the Lord, He showed me to beware that religions are the strongholds of superstitions and deceits – and that includes many varieties of so-called “Christianity.” And superstition is believing something without proof and many false churches think that is exactly what faith is – believing without proof – but believing without proof is foolishness. to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3) And that the testimonies of honest real life men are proofs because testimony is the foundation of all evidence. “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” (2Cor 13:1) But the Lord had mercy on me and He showed me that the majority of those who call themselves Christians today are superstitious, ignorant of God’s word and unsaved. They believe all kinds of lies. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? – unless indeed you are disqualified. (2Cor 13:5) The Bible tells us to examine ourselves to see if Christ is in us. That as He is so are we in this world. (1John 4:17) Jesus is the truth. No lie is of the truth. (1John 2:21) He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1John 2:4,6) No-one who is following after lies has Jesus, the truth, in him. If Jesus is really in you, your behavior will prove it. But these superstitious false Christians think Jesus is in them just because they claim to be believers, when it is plain to see by their worldly carnal behavior – they do not have Jesus in them. They believe verses that they have no proper understanding of, and they apply them in ways God never intended and they believe things to be true that are not true. And that is what we are seeing in imputed righteousness, they think they are righteous when they do not act righteous. And they think Jesus is in them when they do not behave like Jesus is in them. And they think they are a part of the invisible universal church when they are not part of the visible local church. And they follow after all these lies while they claim to know the truth. And they are no different from those who used to think that the earth was flat. Normal observation may lead you to think the earth is obviously flat. But those who look closer can see that there are many problems with that theory. For example, sailors, after telescopes were developed, would look at a ship coming towards them at a far distance and they would not see the whole ship. They would only see its top most sail. Now, if the earth was flat you would see the whole ship, even though it would appear very small. But what these sailors would see was the topsail. And as the ship approaches, then they would see the next lower sail, and the next lower sail, until the entire ship would finally appear. Well, that lesser known observation showed people like Columbus, for instance, that the earth is not flat; the earth is curved. And that was a solid evidence Columbus could stake his life on and prove that the earth was not flat and that there was no danger he would fall off the end of it by sailing into the far oceans. Superstition could cause you to think that the sun revolves around the earth, but if you look closer and you start looking at some of the mathematics in the times and the seasons and such as that, you begin to see the theory of the sun orbiting the Earth is false – something else is going on. And in truth it is the earth that orbits the sun. And it is a similar thing with true Christianity. Most of the Christians around us have fallen into superstitious beliefs based on superficial observation of a Scripture or two, and they have not looked closely at the whole of what the Spirit and the Scriptures are saying. And so they have fallen into superstition thinking that they are saved, thinking that they are Christians, when they have not taken hold of the real thing because they have not looked close enough to find out what real Christianity is. And Jesus put it in my heart from the beginning to find the truth. “If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” (John 8:31) “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (vs 32) You can see the proof of this in our previous publication “True Faith,” for example, where true Christians have such a love for the truth, because Christ is in us, and we are not going to believe things just because somebody says so. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11) We must have Godly confirmations, and we must have Godly understanding. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (Prov 4:7) And previously to the Lord revealing Himself to me I stayed away from religion because I thought that churches demanded that you believe their dogma without evidence, and most of them do. But I found out the Lord did not. And one of the things Jesus showed me very powerfully was, “I want you to get those confirmations, establish the proofs. I want you to look deeply into what I am saying and be sure you rightly understand it.” So the very thing that kept me out of the false churches was something that God considered admirable; the love of the truth and the hatred for lies. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Thes 2:9-12) So superstition is the opposite of truth. It is rooted in ignorance and false observations. And Jesus called me to expose the superstitious false churches and show what the truth really is. Whereas Jesus’ true church is the pillar and ground of the truth. (1Tim 3:15) The many misconceptions, falsehoods and delusions that most people have about “churches” today are a certain indication that such churches and people are not Christ’s. And that is what we are called to do; expose the false churches, exalt the true churches and correct the people’s false ideas about churches. For example, And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, (Eph 1:22-23) If Jesus is the head of all the so-called “churches” how can there be so many deceptions and diverse opinions in the churches? The church is Christ’s body. You are not in Christ’s true church without being in His body and vice versa. The characteristics of being in the one are going to be the same as being in the other. To be in the body is to be in Christ’s church; and to be in Christ's church is to be in His truth; they are synonymous. And there are awesome implications in that revelation. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling. (Eph 4:4) Now, there is one body, but that one body is divided into different locations each of which may be called a local body. And that local body is composed of a group of believers of like precious faith, who have intimate contact with one another, love each other in the Lord, and minister grace to one another from the Head – Christ. So in that true church all things are done in accordance with Christ’s leading of the Spirit so that every believer is progressing into maturity in Christ – to the perfect man. (Eph 4:13) And although there are various locations, various local bodies, they are all one because there is only one Spirit; the Spirit is not divided into different spirits. There is not a different Spirit in the church of Thessalonica, from the Spirit in Philippi or Ephesus. There is one Spirit, and there is one hope of our calling, so that every church has the same goal to attain to the resurrection; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; (Eph 4:5) their doctrines are one – If they are of one Spirit they cannot differ in doctrine. (1Cor 4:17) Today, for example, we see various churches with very different opinions on baptism. And wherever a so-called church’s doctrine differs from God’s Word they are not in unity with Christ’s true church and they are not His church. And Christ cannot be the head where there are so many differences of opinion. So these contemporary churches are not in Christ’s one body! Whereas in the scriptures when we see the word church used in connection with a location, it does not mean that the local church is separated or different from the one body. For example, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father (1Thes 1:1) So Thessalonica is a location and the church of the Thessalonians is the part of the body that resides in Thessalonica. So it is not in the same physical location as the church of the Galatians, but it is the same one body in Christ with the church of Galatia, and all the other true churches. So you see in “To the angel of the church of Ephesus:” “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna” “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos” “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira” (Rev 2:1,8,12,18) These are different locations of the church and they are called different churches in that sense, but they are one body because Christ is their head. That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, (Eph 3:6) There is one body, although the various local congregations will not be going to the same meetings, and they will have different locations for their meetings, yet they will all be learning the same things and progressing toward the same goals; “One hope of your calling.” And they will have the same doctrines. Now when this epistle is read among you, see that it is read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. (Col 4:16) They will baptize the same way, “One baptism.” And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (Eph 4:11,12) Now look at what we are doing here at “My Father’s House.” There is an edifying of the local church that goes on here every day. But Ephesians does not just say to edify the local church, does it? It says the edifying of the body. And the equipping of the saints for the working of the ministry is not for the work of just building up the local church, it is for building up the entire body of Christ. And what is the Glory of His Grace doing? It is going out from the local church here to the extended body. So we are fulfilling the Ephesians calling as we are ministering to the brethren who are outside our local church, yet in the body. From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself (to build itself up) in love. (Eph 4:16) Of course, that has to go on in your local congregation, but it also must go on in the entire body of Christ. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. (Eph 5:23) This is not speaking of your human body; it is speaking of Christ’s church. The whole body of Christ. He is saving the body of the true believers who are in Christ. When he says here Christ is the Head of the church, church is used to mean the entire body of Christ. Because it is speaking of the body and the church the same way here; not the Head of the churches, but the Head of the one church. So the word church is often used as meaning the entire body. But that the Spirit will often use the plural word “churches” to speak of local congregations, or it will actually state the location as the church in Philippi; meaning that part of the body that is located in Philippi. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (Eph 5:30) And He is before all things, And He is the head of the body, the church, (Col 1:17,18) And to be a member of His body, a member of the one true church we must Hold fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. (Col 2:19) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; (Col 3:15) endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3) All the true Christians have been called into one body. Christ is not at war with Himself. Jesus does not cast out Jesus. True members of the true body cannot be spiritually or doctrinally divided. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (1Cor 1:10) That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (1Cor 12:25,27) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Col 3:15) And if you let the peace of God rule God’s peace will protect the peace of the body. Keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph 4:3) Remember the prisoners as if chained with them-- those who are mistreated-- since you yourselves are in the body also. (Heb 13:3) Now you should have the sense that you are a member of Christ’s body in such a way that you can never be a lone wolf Christian. Because as a true member of Christ’s body you must always be sensitive to the needs of the other true members. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. (1Cor 12:26) So to be a stay at home Christian is neither scriptural nor Spiritual. God does not save you as a lone wolf. When He saves you He incorporates you into the body in such a way as to make you a blessing to the other members and them to you. Ephesians says do not lie to one another. Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. (Eph 4:25) Why? Because you are brethren; what good is it to lie to your own body? For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. (Eph 5:29-30) We are Christ’s flesh and bones on the earth; we are His body on the earth. And in the true church the members will be cherishing and nourishing one another; cherishing and nourishing the body. We treat Christ’s body as if it is our own body, because it is our own body. It is His body and it is our body. And we can not be independent of the body, we cannot be separate from the body and be saved, For as the body without the spirit is dead, (James 2:26) So also if a “church” does not have the Spirit it is dead. And the Spirit is evident in the love and care the members have for one another, as well as in the gifts of the Spirit which work to edify the body. (1Cor 12-14) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion (fellowship) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion (fellowship) of the body of Christ? (1 Cor 10:16) For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (1 Cor 10:17) So even though we are many individuals we have now been united by one Spirit into one body; where we partake of the one bread – the word of God. In Christ’s body there are not many different theologies, but ONE. In 1st Corinthians 11 some of the people were sick and even dying because they did not discern the Lord’s body. And in not discerning the Lord’s body they were not treating their brethren correctly; some were feasting, while others went hungry. The people were not seeing themselves and their brethren as being members of one body and caring for one another as they should. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? (1Cor 6:19) It is truly a terrible error that people have thought of themselves as being able to be independent from the physical church and still be saved and in some sense in Christ’s “invisible” church. In whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:22) This plainly says to be in Christ or to “be saved,” we must be being knit together for a habitation for God. And as we are each individual members of the body, we must be of the one body by being physically and Spiritually connected together with the other members of the one body and that one body is where the Holy Spirit dwells; and He will dwell in the individual members collectively because they are of the same body, and they cannot be a dwelling place for God’s Spirit if they are independent of the body. Being independent of the body means you are not in the body, and if you are not in the body you are not in the Spirit. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not His. (Rom 8:9) It is because you are in the body that you can have the Spirit. As many of you as are baptized into Christ you have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27) You have been baptized into the body. Do you think you can have the Spirit without being part of the body? Consider that if your hand were cut off physically from your body, it would no longer function either physically or spiritually and if it were not rapidly reattached it would soon die. So it is with the members of Christ. To abide in Christ means to abide in the body physically as well as in Christ Spiritually. For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? (1Tim 3:5) I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1Tim 3:15) For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. (1Thes 2:14) So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God. (2Thes 1:4) who have borne witness of your love before the church. (3John 1:6) “I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the (OKJ says church) assembly I will sing praise to You.” (Heb 2:12) John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: “What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.” “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.” (Rev 1:4,11,20) “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He.” “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev 2:7,11,17,23,29) “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches.” (Rev 22:16) Jesus is speaking here to the physical local churches. Anyone who is not in one of the physical local churches is outside the loop. Jesus communicates with the local churches and He communicates with individuals in order to use them to communicate to the local churches, so they must be members or officers of the churches to carry on that communication. There is no lone wolf Christianity here. And whatever direction Jesus gives to a local church Jesus expects the whole of that local church to follow those directions. That is what you are seeing here in Revelations. He sends a message to the church in Thyatira and He expects the whole church in Thyatira to listen to that message. He sends one to Laodicea and He expects the whole church in Laodicea to listen to it. So you are not in the loop if you are not in the church, because you are not hearing what the Spirit is saying to the church, because the Holy Spirit is not speaking here to you as an individual. Jesus is speaking in each letter to the whole of that congregation. And if you are not in the loop and you are not hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches how do you expect to be saved. She who is in Babylon, (the church OKJ) elect together with you, greets you; (1Pet 5:13) elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit; To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (1Pet 1:2,1) Well, what do you think these places are? They are churches. And Peter connects election with being a part of these churches. Now the elect are known to God and predestined to be saved. But they will be saved because they are actively participating in God’s true churches. Only the elect are truly saved, and the elect are the true church. And there will not be any elect outside of the true church. God has put the church in the earth to be the ark of salvation to the elect. Each local congregation of the body of Christ is like a type of city of refuge and the place of sanctification for the believers there. Each true local church is a place that the elect are preserved. Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1Pet 1:5) Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: (Jude 1:1) Preserved in Christ very much means preserved in the body of Christ, which is composed of the true local churches. This is where His work of preserving the saints goes on by what the Spirit saith to the churches and by the ministry of members of the body to one another. All the things that pertain to keeping you saved and helping you to grow are occurring in the true physical church, and there has to be intimate Spiritual activity among the members of a true local church in ministering to one another to effect this preservation. You are not a member of Christ when you are sitting at home doing nothing. You cannot be “doing the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:12) “speaking the truth in love” (vs 15) or doing your share (vs 16) unless you are attending and participating in the local church gatherings. The Bible teaches that even if you claim to be a believer God will treat you as though you are an unbeliever if you behave as an unbeliever. “The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 24:50-51) “And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 25:30) The unprofitable servant behaves like a hypocrite and receives the same reward as the hypocrite. In other words, if you do not bear fruit, if you act like an unbeliever then you will be treated like an unbeliever even though you “believe” and it does not matter that you had a talent, because you have not done anymore with it than an unbeliever would have done with it; so you will be cast into outer darkness with the hypocrites. Jesus judges according to your works. “I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.” (Rev 2:23) So you must show yourself to be a believer by your behavior not merely your words, and you must show yourself to be a member of Christ’s body also by your behavior; and you will demonstrate your election by your behavior. Because there are characteristics of the behavior of the elect, one of them being that they follow the Lord and they do not follow other voices. Jesus says, “Nobody can snatch them out of My hand because they will not follow a stranger, and they know My voice.” (John 10:5,27-28) Now, the problem we have with many people who attend church but are disobedient in other things is that they are not manifesting the characteristics of election. The elect do not just attend church but they obey all that Jesus tells them. For example: Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1John 2:15) There are various problems showing up in many so-called believers that demonstrate they are in fact following the stranger. The elect, for example, are sanctified. In my home I never listen to network TV or radio. If the children watch a movie occasionally it will be a carefully chosen rental. I will not watch a cable network or a satellite network, or anything like that because they all have commercials of a sort, and in this world, we are continually besieged by marketing enticements, pressures, and carnal temptations. You cannot go a half a mile down the road without dozens of billboards and advertisements vying for your attention. And if you expose yourself or your family to the commercial media, you will continually be propagandized by every political and philosophical group that can afford to buy an ad or wave a flag at you. Now this is very, very important for you to understand: if you are listening to the enticements and the continual rantings and ravings of the world you will never hear the Spirit of God; you will never be a spiritual Christian. My Bible says we “believers” have not received the spirit of the world, (1Cor 2:12) And all the noise, huckstering, philosophizing, advertising, deceiving; its all the spirit of the world. But we have received the Spirit of God who reveals to us the deep things of God. God says we should set our affections, our mind and our heart on things above where Christ is. (Col 3:1-3) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom 8:5-6) One of the important points the Spirit is saying here is this: your part in sanctification is for you to cut yourself as much as possible off from the spirit of the world and those things the world tries to put into you with its continual pressures, worldly reasonings, enticements, and such as that. Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” (2Cor 6:17) You must remove yourself from as much of the world as it is possible for you to do; and then God will protect you from the evil influences in the things you have no control over. Like even every specialty cable channel that is not supposed to run “commercials” they will still tell you everything that is going on with them to the minute details. They will keep on repeating what a great organization they are; then they tell you many times that they are going to do this or that or play this or that movie. And they boast of themselves like they are Heaven’s emissaries on earth and you could never be happy without their services. And if you watch them you are continually exposed to their stupid and worthless trivia. They are stuffing your head with their vanities. If you listen to Christian communication media you get the same thing. You think you are listening to God? You are not listening to God; you are listening to a commercial enterprise; the marketing of Christianity; Christian pop music; pop doctrines, most of which are ungodly and doctrines of demons. Today the world is filled with people who hear the same voices, listen to the same media – so whatever is the major topic on the news everybody is talking about it – whatever is the popular opinion – everybody is repeating it. It’s like every person has a tape machine in his head, and they are all playing the same tape; all doing and saying the same things. They are all puppets on a string; they drink from the same polluted pond of worldly sources concerning what they think about and what gets their attention. As for the contemporary churches, they are all listening to so-called Christian communications; TBN, CBN, and the so-called Christian media, which are all also saying the same things. But it is not God, because it is not coming from the Spirit, it is coming from man. That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, (Eph 4:14) So these silly media “pop” Christians are all hooked up to the same antennae – hearing the same things, saying the same things but it is not God. It is all coming from that easy thing to do, which is to stick an earphone in your ear and let some other person talk to you about God instead of talking to God and learning to hear God for yourself. True Christianity cannot be because you are hearing by your senses what other people are saying about God all the time; that cannot be the way you practice true religion. You must hear God for yourself, (John 6:45) and to do that you have to set yourself apart with Him and turn off the other voices. And you have to sanctify, set aside a place where you can do that, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matt 6:6) And all true Christians are called to let the peace of God rule in their heart. (Col 3:15) Well, there is not any peace in a house when the TV is blaring and all kinds of commercials loudly going off, or a radio raging with its various forms of clamor and ear splitting music; there is no peace in that. And I won’t have such nonsense in my house, because in my house I want God to speak to me, and so I keep an environment that is peaceable and when God speaks He is able to get through easily to me. And when I get in the car and I have to run an errand or such, I may have to be exposed to a lot of the trash of this world like billboards, flashing signs, bumper stickers, etc., but because I am sanctifying myself in my home and I don’t have my car radio blaring, God can keep me in the place of hearing Him. And I tell you most so-called “Christian music” is not you hearing God. It’s you filling your vacuum – your emptiness in head and heart because you don’t hear God – so you fill yourself with things that seem to be about God but often they aren’t even truth. So much of pop Christianity is demonic. But because I am sanctifying myself, God can take care of me and keep me in peace even in the midst of the world’s clamor and noise. And God’s grace is sufficient for you if you will do your part. So God’s grace is sufficient to keep me from being distracted and overwhelmed by the flag waving, huckstering, shouting, flashy, red light, neon spirit of the world around me as long as I am doing my part, and not abusing God’s grace and tempting God by “jumping off the tower” into useless noises and worthless voices that would disturb God’s peace. Spiritual people think about Spiritual things. Their affections are set on things above. (Col 3:1-3) They are in communication with the Spirit who searches out the deep things of God. (1Cor 2:10) Spiritual people, when they are in the company of other people, they talk about what they have heard, what they have seen. And what they have seen and heard has come from the Spirit, not from the TV or news program or even Christian TV or newsletters. People who are not Spiritual, what they talk about is where they have been and what they have seen and what they have heard in the world – even the “Christian” world. They talk all day long about what goes on at their workplace; they talk all the time about what they’ve heard or read in the news; they talk some times about what may be going on in the church they are in; or what is happening in the pop Christianity they partake of through the “Christian” communication media. But pop “Christians” are just carnal people who do in the pop churches the same things carnal people do in the world. They have their pop stars, singers and musicians trying to get famous in the world, and so they have them in the pop church trying to get famous in the church. They have their so-called “Christian” fans worshiping what the world calls media “idols;” their so-called Christian businesses trying to get rich, their pop preachers trying to make a name for themselves. And it is all flesh. The cunning craftiness of men, lying in wait to deceive, exploiting the silly pop Christians with covetousness and all kinds of evil selfish motives – none of it is of God. They peddle Christianity like it was toothpaste and these “pop” Christians spend all their time talking about the silly things they are hearing which they think of as “Christianity.” But Jesus said, “I testify to what I have seen.” (John 3:11) “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” “And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies;” (John 3:31-32) And concerning the true saints. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1Cor 2:12-13) But when worldly “believers” come into the true church, what do they speak? What they hear the Spirit speak, or what they hear the world speak? We have to rebuke carnal “Christians” because they speak from the false church, commercial Christianity or pop Christianity; or even the worldly news. In “My Father’s House” we don’t permit that! As true Christians we’ve turned off our TVs, we’ve turned off our radios because we do not want to hear the world, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…” (Ps 1:1) You don’t come into God’s true sanctuary bringing that worldly trash with you. And those who try to do so are messengers of satan; trying to bring the pollutions of the world into the church. If you are not spiritual enough to get something from God, you’ll be getting it from the world. And what is so characteristic of the false churches is since they are not spiritual enough to be hearing God, they must receive their religion from other sources than the Holy Spirit. Their religion comes from false teachers and psuedo-religious people telling them what to believe. Instead of talking to God about what He says they ought to believe, and what the Bible really means, they must follow men. (1John 2:27) So they are not born of God and they do not have the anointing of the Spirit of truth and they are into superstition, and corban and such as that. And they do not know God. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. (1John 4:5) You can only be a real Christian when you have the characteristics of election, and the chief characteristic is: I hear Jesus, and I do not hear the world. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:27,5) The world does not speak to real Christians. We are not interested in what it has to say, and it cannot draw us away from Christ. But carnal “believers” even in a Spiritual church will keep stumbling and falling, because they are not hearing God, and because they are listening to other voices. There is a liberty in spirituality that is confusing to the natural man; he does not understand it. The natural man, including the carnal Christian, does not receive the things of the Spirit. (1Cor 2:14) And in the church the confusion can run like this: “Well, last service you told us to wait quietly on the Spirit until He gave a prophecy, but today you are rebuking us for not speaking up and praying or testifying.” But in a Spiritual church it is not law and it is not rules, it is the Spirit. Jesus is head. And if the Spirit is telling the church to wait on the Lord because He wants to give a prophecy then everybody who is Spiritual in the church will have a sense of what the Spirit is doing. They will all be able to understand Him, and wait for the prophecy because they know the voice of Jesus. If on the other hand the Spirit is telling the church it is time to pray or share testimonies etc. then everybody who is Spiritual in the church will be able to hear that. In a Spiritual church service we can have one person pray, another person testify, another prophesy, then someone will sing, and another pray, and someone else prophesy again. It is all the fullness of Christ and each person in Godly order doing what the Spirit is telling them to do. And when a service is not completely glorifying to God; where there are embarrassing gaps, faux pas, and such it is because at least some of the “believers” do not have Christ’s fullness; they’ve not been to the throne of grace and they are not obeying the Spirit. Sometimes, for example, inexperienced believers may have something with which to glorify God but they don’t use it when there is opportunity, because they have a lack of faith, they are not sure it is the right time, or they are afraid they’ll mess it up and be embarrassed or I don’t know if this is good enough?! And they are trying to figure things out themselves when they should be saying, “Lord, what would you have me to do?” or “Grant me grace, Jesus, to do this for Your glory.” And that is what the Spiritual learn to do, because you are not going to be led by the Spirit and by yourself. And if you follow a rule, a rule will be the same every time. But you must know the voice of the Spirit to be led by the Spirit, and you have to know what He is doing NOW in this service not what He did yesterday. Because the Spirit is not going to do the same things in the same way every service. That is what proves He is the Spirit. So the people who flow with the Spirit are the people who know the voice of the Spirit, not people who have learned the rules. This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Gal 3:2) The people who follow rules never make it; they always stumble. Spirituality is having that discernment to know the voice of Christ and what He is doing right now. You can know it, and all the real Christians do; the elect do. And we are able to know what Christ is doing because we spend time with the Lord; that is how you get to know Him. And the ones that will not spend time with the Lord, they are always an embarrassment to Christ and the church because they are always out of step. And they must be followers of men because they do not know what the Lord is doing themselves, because they have not spent enough time with Christ’s Spirit to become a useful member of the body. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Gal 6:7) And if you are a useless member of the body, you will not remain in the body. Jesus cuts off fruitless or offensive members if they don’t repent. (John 15:6) Your election is proven by your value to the body, and your participation in the body, because you are not elect apart from the body. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. (1Thes 1:2-4) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, (If they do not repent the ones that are lagging in diligence will be cut off) fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, (Rom 12:1-13) Now the point the apostle makes here is that if you are in the Body of Christ you must have a function that you perform on behalf of the other members. You must have a gift that God’s grace has given you for the benefit of the other members and you must be using that gift diligently. It is presumptuous to think that you can be a member of the Body when you sit at home, or even if you come to church but do nothing. If you are really a member of Christ’s body then you have a gift, and it must be ministered to the other members, and you cannot do that when you are sitting at home. When you do not have a gift or you never minister to anybody in the church, then the true brethren have every right to reject you as not being a true member of the body. Because you prove yourself to be a member of the body by functioning as a member of the body. Wisdom is justified by her children means we can see you are a member of Christ by the things that you do, and we can see when there is something wrong with your election when you do not do the things that the elect ought to do. And to think you are a member when you are not functioning is foolishness; it is like saying the body is alive without the Spirit. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (1Cor 12:12-13) Then you must have the Spirit to be in the body and if you have the Spirit, He will cause you to be functioning as a useful member and you will be a blessing to the body. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you;” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. (Because they are doing something important for the body.) And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it. (1Cor 12:14-24) In God’s infinite graciousness, in order to preserve the unity of the body, God will grant the members who are weakest in the church; (such as perhaps they lack in education, or speaking abilities or anything of a sort that might cause them to be despised or lightly regarded in the church) God will give them an extra gracious gift to insure they will be accepted and held precious by the brethren. We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; and if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. (Song 8:8-9) James says to think a rich man is more valuable than a poor man is evil and you are a judge with evil thoughts if you think that way. (James 2:2-4) And God is not going to have this in His church. So when you have somebody in the body who the world might judge as being insignificant, in order to maintain the love unity of the body, God will bless that person with an abundance of grace so that everybody in the church will know they are a really useful member of the body. God will give even more grace to the one who lacks honor than He will to the people who are more easily accepted to be a part of the church. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. (1Cor 12:25) So there is no reason for any true believer to think of themselves as being a weak member of the church that can not produce fruit. The fact is that the weaker members are blessed with more grace so they will produce abundant blessings to the body and everybody in the church will know they are a valuable and needful part of the body. To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. (Eph 1:6) And one thing you do not find here is that there are any useless members of the body. Everybody in the true church has an important and truly useful part to do. And the members that are weaker have more grace so that they can do something very needful so that everybody can see they are a member and accept them as a member for it is plainly apparent they are accepted by God. But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1Cor 12:18) And that is what God does. So every member is blessed and is a blessing to others. God is pleased to put His body together in that way. So people who attend church but who are doing nothing are not true members of Christ. If they are not functioning as useful parts of Christ’s body; they are not true members! And the reason is they have a heart problem, they do not love Christ or the brethren; and faith works by love. (Gal 5:6) Because the true members of Christ really care for the body, really love Jesus, and the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts. (Rom 5:5) Jesus is in the hearts of the true brethren, and they live to serve His body; they love to serve His body; their joy is to serve His body; their joy is to do something useful. To love Christ in deed is to help their brethren and that is their foremost purpose in life. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, (2Thes 1:3) Yes, we must deal with the necessities of life; jobs and all the things that go along with maintaining a household etc., but our purpose in life is to serve the Lord and that is primarily expressed in serving His body. We keep ourselves fed, clothed and washed and healthy so we can effectually forward God’s Kingdom whenever we have opportunity. And His Kingdom is manifested in His church in the earth. And we prove ourselves to be members of His body, His church in the earth, by what we do; by the fact that we give useful service to the physical body and much of this is a visible service. If it were not visible active service how could the other members see and be thankful? For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, (2Cor 9:12-13) Paul says, “I am boasting about you to the churches.” (2Thes 1:4) And John says, “Everybody has born witness of your love for the brethren.” (3John 6) Peter says, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,” (1Pet 1:22) And John again says, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1John 3:18) And the good deeds of love these believers are being commended for have been done before the churches in the sight of the congregations. And those who have participated in these love deeds are being distinguished as useful members of the body. And you can see that there is nothing going on that is of any importance that is not linked to the visible physical church body. You come to the body to be fed, you come to participate in corporate prayer (Matt 18:19-20) you come to the body to be ministered to; instructed, corrected, and edified. If you are not here when the body meets then whatever God is doing for the body you miss out on, and that will make you weaker not stronger. Now, all things are lawful for us, but they are not all expedient; (1Cor 6:12) all things are lawful, but they are not all helpful. (1Cor 10:23) If indeed the liberties that you are permitting yourself are acceptable to the Lord then they would be blessed by God. For example, if you were attending church less than the other members and you believed God was permitting this – then in spite of your lack of attendance your usefulness would be apparent, you would be seen to be equally strong in faith and Spirituality as the others who attend more than you. And you would be growing in grace and God’s anointing on you will be strong and you will be seen to be a useful member of the body in spite of this liberty that you are partaking of. But if you are allowing yourself ungodly liberties, fleshly indulgences, God will not bless them. And this is idolatry; putting worldly things ahead of God. And the true church members will be able to see that you are not as productive, useful, or valuable to them, as a true believer would be. So you are not obeying God in such a case. For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Gal 5:13) So if God is not blessing your liberty is carnal, not Godly. At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. (Acts 9:36-41) Because Dorcas was a useful member of the church they called for Peter to raise her and God did. If you are serving God rightly in His church God will reward you. But if you are giving yourself permission to do things that are not useful or helpful, God will show the church that you are disobedient. Because when your Christian liberties are blessed they do not interfere with the operations of the members of the body in their ministries to one another, they do not interfere with your contributing to the fullness of the church, they do not hinder the progress of the church in faith. Regarding Christian liberties it is only when I have completed everything God has for me to do to prepare for the ministry, to fulfill the ministry, and to know that all was done well that I can then relax, or do something as a diversion for family fellowship or something of that nature. But I am never lusting for such things. I never look forward to getting out of church so I can go home and relax. What I do care about is to get to church prepared to do something worth while, and to meet with God and meet with the brethren who have that same Spirit in them; so I can minister well to them and they can minister well to me and when the Spirit is done in the corporate gathering we can all walk out strengthened by God, because we met with God; a God who works through the members because He loves us individually through each one of us; He loves the body through each true member of His body, and He ministers to the body through each true member of the body. And when you come to church you are getting life from the body as every member is edifying the others. When I come into the sanctuary I do not come telling you what is on the news or the TV or the radio. I do not even care to know what’s on. It’s the spirit of the world. I come in here tuned into the Holy Spirit, and telling you what God’s Spirit is saying to the church. And that is the only thing that will give you life, and that is what you have to be tuned into to minister life to your brethren. You tune into God’s Spirit and out of your belly will flow rivers of life – abundantly. You cannot fritter away the time you should have been spending with God, praying and seeking to be useful to bless your brethren and then come to church and expect God to give you a prophecy, or a revelation or a powerful prayer. If you did not spend time with Him preparing, you won’t have anything to give. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. (Gal 6:7) But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (2Cor 9:6) Whereas when you have sought the Lord and God knows your heart is right He will give you something worthwhile for your brethren. God will not let you be made ashamed when you have truly waited on Him. True Christians know there can be no participation in a mystical church outside of participating in the visible physical church; there is no invisible body of Christ that you can be part of without being a part of the visible or local church body. It would seem like everybody would know that, but silly false Christians today think they can be in the mystical church when they are not in the physical church; this is insanity! You have to be in the real visible church with the real visible brethren, and you have to be a functioning member ministering to the others in Christ’s body to be of Christ. “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” (Matt 25:40) And that is the way it works, and that is the way it will always work until the Lord comes; and He is not coming for lone wolf Christians. He is coming for His body, the visible physical corporate church. Prophecy: I tell you, My people, in My church you must not be led by thoughts that you have, but you must be led by a knowing, because My Spirit is in you. And as you learn to follow My Spirit and as you ask Me to guide you, just as you have learned to know when My Spirit is moving you to bow because it is a time for reverence; I tell you that that is how I am moving in My church. And I am opening your eyes to see that you will move by a knowing, because the Spirit in you will know when it is time to stand and when to sit; the Spirit in you will know when it is time to bow, the Spirit in you will know when it is time to speak forth the prophecy and when it is time to lay hands on the sick. I tell you My church is led by My Spirit, which is the Spirit of knowing. You do not think of what to do, but you know what to do because the Spirit in you reveals My will to you. Thus in My church the Hand of God is leading you and you see through the eyes of Christ the way that My service is to be and to go, thus saith the Lord. Prophecy: Thus saith the Lord to My Father’s House, I call you successful but not by the way man would call you successful. I call you successful because I have a servant in this place, Bill Taylor, who is connected to Me at all times and he listens to My voice and he has stopped the enemy from coming in and he has, by My Spirit, put up Spiritual walls and hedges around My church. And because he has only wanted true Spiritual Christianity that is what he will have in this place, and this church is going to be an awesome church because his heart is connected to My heart. And I say, this church is a success in My eyes but I tell you there is more to come because I am forming Christ in you and Christ will be completely formed in you and the world will look, and the worldly churches will look and they will be ashamed because they will see that they are naked. They will see that Christ is not in them; because they will look at My true church, My Father’s House, and they will see the Son of God reigning and ruling in the hearts of My people because they have learned to follow My Spirit. They have learned to know My voice and they have followed My voice and they have given up everything. And what is abominable to Me is abominable to them and that includes the wisdom of man. And so they look to My wisdom and it is My wisdom that shows forth in My children that makes them a success. And I say My children here, hold fast to the Head and expect the increase; growth both in you for Christ to live in you and the increase of this church because I am the Head of “My Father’s House” and it has been called by My Spirit, and it is My church, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”)
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