Dear Forum
I have just read through once again a transcription of one of the topics of the Mobile Conference 2006 part 5 and in it I saw where Ray had addressed some of the themes that have appeared in recent posts. I include the first portion of it for any who may have missed it. Perhaps Kat can provide a link to it for us from her archives; I have searched in my limited listings without success.
Transcription of Mobile Conference 2006/part 5
How many have heard this poem, “If Jesus Came to Your House”? It’s a little silly - in some ways, but not in others…that’s why I am going to present it to you.
If Jesus came to your house, to spend a day or two
If He came unexpectedly, I wonder what you’d do
Oh, I know you’d give your nicest room to such an honoured guest
And all the food you’d serve Him would be the very best
And you would keep assuring Him you’re glad to have Him there
And serving Him in your house - a joy beyond compare.
But when you saw Him coming, did you meet Him at the door
With arms outstretched to welcome in your heavenly visitor
Or would you have to change your clothes before you let Him in
Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been
Would you turn off the radio and hope He hadn’t heard
And wish you hadn’t uttered that last loud nasty word.
Would you hide your worldly music and get some hymnbooks out
Could you let Jesus come right in or would you rush about
Oh I wonder if the Stranger came to spend the day with you
Would you just go on doing all the things you always do
Would you go right on saying the things you always say?
Would life for you continue as it does now day to day?
Would your family conversation keep up its usual pace?
Or would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace ?
Would you sing the songs you always sing and read the books you read
And let Him know the things on which your mind and spirit feeds
Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you plan to go
Or would you maybe change your plan for just a day or so
Would you be glad to have Him meet with all your closest friends
Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends
Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on
Or would you sigh a great relief when He at last was gone
It might be interesting to know the things that you would do
If Jesus came in person to spend the day with you.
It’s kind of a silly poem and I even wonder if the person who wrote it, just wrote it because it was a sentiment. Here’s the point I want to make about that; this is the way too many people and Christians look at religion. It’s right to have the “right” magazines out, you make these physical changes – you clean up, you hide the whisky bottle, hide whatever risqué magazines and do this and get all “straightened up”. And then you say, “OK, now I’m ready for the Lord” - but here’s a fact, though – think about it. What if Christ would really come into your house today – are you ready, or would you scurry about doing some of these things to put on a fake façade? Well….it’s too late!
He has already been to your house this morning…it’s too late. In fact He’s at your house every morning, every afternoon, every night. Because God is not a man…God is spirit and He’s everywhere – you are in Him and He is in you. Remember the [analogy of] fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky [which I gave earlier]. It’s just so stupid to act like an ostrich and bury your head in the sand (they think because they can’t see you, then you can’t see them). My cats do that sometimes…one goes and hides its head round the corner someplace and its whole back-end is sticking out and it thinks the other cats won’t see it. Then they come and jump on it and it wonders, “How did you know I was there”?
It’s just plain stupid to play games with God and religion - to think that you can fool Him. Or that if you sin more at night, then He won’t see you because it’s darker. But don’t think we don’t think that way, because I know I did. For me, it was easier to sin at night, because if I couldn’t see God, He probably had trouble in seeing me too. Not exactly consciously think that, but it’s “kind of there”. And you certainly feel that about other people. If a man is going to cheat on his wife, he would probably do it at night, because it’s not so easy to get caught. So if we have this mentality that somehow we can fool God, or play religion - pretend to be something that we’re not – it’s just plain stupid. Give it up. God sees you for what you are, so if you’re having problems and you have some weaknesses….that’s OK, everybody does…but don’t pretend you don’t – don’t try to fool yourself or other people, or God that you don’t. I don’t mean that if you have some problem that you should flaunt it, but don’t act as though it’s not there or nobody can see it. You don’t need to be that concerned about what people think, because people don’t judge properly. God does.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
What is the Father’s will; how did Jesus do the Father’s will; how must we do the Father’s will?
Some of the high points of the Father’s will: God is making mankind in His own spiritual image…that’s the big thing. It was NOT completed back in the garden [of Eden]. That’s why we learn in the New Testament that we are to be fashioned into the image of His Son. If we already were, then we don’t have to be - but we’re NOT! We DO have to be fashioned into His Son. He is the only One that has been spiritually fashioned into the every image of God. God has given us the experience of good and evil. He calls out a chosen elect from among the called to be spiritually converted and regenerated - become new creatures, begotten anew, to have the mind of Christ…to produce spiritual fruit, to come out of the world, grow in grace and knowledge….this is what God wants. This is His will; it’s why He created the human race.
All of these things “conversion”, “coming out of the world”, “growing in grace and knowledge” “producing spiritual fruits” - it’s all to bring you to the point where you are more like God all the time. That’s the way God is. These are the principles by which God exists.
Love….. and all of these things. Love being the greatest of all the fruits of God’s spirit.
We can find a couple of scriptures in the Bible, which will tell us in a nutshell what it is that we are to do and what it is that God wants.
One main one would be in Romans 12.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable [intelligent] service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
In these two verses, here is the will of God for our life. There it is – that’s the purpose for our human life. Turn yourself over to God as a sacrifice. If you sacrifice yourself to God, you can’t be concerned about all the “good things” you want to happen to you hourly and daily and by the minute. All the scintillating and exciting things….just a happy, happy life and all of that.
It’s not wrong to be happy - God says He’s happy…the scriptures talk about the “happy God”. The thing is, when you DO surrender, this brings more contentment than you think will make you happy. Most things that you think will make you happy DO have a certain satisfaction while you’re doing it. And afterward, they often have a “let-down”. Depending on how gross a pleasure you’re seeking, they can have a huge let-down. When you get into things that, say, will destroy a marriage – like where a man or a woman sexually cheats on their mate – where a woman wants somebody to adore her and her husband doesn’t show her any real affection …or the man thinks his wife is frigid and he wants somebody a little younger and sexy – whatever it is….and then they have this little interlude for an hour a day, a week or maybe for a couple of months on the sly – and every time they feel guilty and cheap and dirty ….but then as a day or two goes by, and their hormones regenerate … they look forward to the next encounter.
But then there’s the same “let-down”….
When you stop doing that stuff, and then you are even tempted… just don’t let yourself do it. A day goes by and you say, “Wow, I’m so glad I didn’t do that…I was tempted; I’m glad, but I didn’t.
And you feel better…and that’s the way you should live.
If you want to start and have a little joy and satisfaction, fulfilment and peace in your life, clean up your conscience.
And the only way you can do that is don’t go anywhere you shouldn’t go; don’t do anything you shouldn’t do; don’t say anything you shouldn’t say; don’t think anything you shouldn’t think. And pretty soon, you’re going to have a clean conscience and you’re going to feel good about that and the longer you feel good about that, the longer you will continue and want to feel good about that – and pretty soon you’re going to be living the spiritual life. Because there are rewards for obedience. And there are automatic judgments for obedience, not to mention the long-range judgments of God. If you’re disobedient, you won’t be in the first resurrection, you’ll come up in judgment.
And that judgment will be much more severe and difficult than it is, if you volunteer now. Some have said, “I thought that it was God who can’t volunteer”. God volunteers and you volunteer. It’s as simple as that. So, there it is.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed….
You have to renew your mind. Your mind has to have Christ’s mind in you as a new mind. You have to turn round…repent means to turn round to a different direction…and go in a new direction. You have to be “born again” as they say; although most of the time that should be “conceived” or “begotten”. You have to be begotten anew from above. It says in the KJV “except a man be born again” - but that “again” is only about half-right. It means born anew, but the connotation is “from above”. That word “again” doesn’t quite cover it. You are begotten anew from above….from God. From a spiritual conception.
Here’s a great verse…..
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
This sounds like a contradiction, but it’s not. This is spiritual…we are not crucified with Christ [literally].
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death?
But we don’t really die…. Paul knew we don’t actually die. He says, “reckon yourselves to be dead.
Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So that when you live, you can’t sin ….why? Because you reckon yourselves that you died to
sin….so - some of us forget to reckon. We forget to reckon that we “died with Christ”. We need to reckon! If you’re dead, you can’t sin…if you’re reckoning yourself dead to sin, if you’re crucified with Christ, you can’t come up a sinner….you’re nailed to the cross with sin, with Christ. He died for our sins, but remember that was only part of it. He didn’t HAVE to die. He did die for our sins, but He didn’t have to! He died because He loves us. How could God show us that He understands our low estate? Except that HE had been there himself? That’s an amazing thing – that God, through Christ….I don’t think that God the Father could become a physical man; He is the ultimate divine deity of the universe – the creator of all. Christ is His first creation. And what can be created can be refashioned. But He didn’t do it against Christ’s will. Christ agreed and so it says He emptied Himself in Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation [Greek kenoo = make empty], and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
How did He do that? I don’t know. But it was done - He was “made empty”, for a short time (33 years) lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little [Greek brachus = for a short while] lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
That’s the only reason He was made lower than the angels because they are spirit and they don’t die. He “emptied Himself” of life beyond human life. God put a spirit in Him when He conceived Christ in Mary’s womb, so there was spirit there; He was conceived; conception is life. He continued to grow until He was born. But that was not immortality or the spirit life of God – it was only a spirit to keep alive that piece of flesh for a certain period of time like we all have. Somehow God reduced Him down to be able to do that. I don’t know how He did it - we have to accept these things on faith, because God’s word says it.
Owing to the length, I will need to stop at this point.....I can post the rest in sections, if desired. I await to hear from the moderators for further advice. To this point, approximately 40% of the transcript is supplied. Colin