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Temple Builders Prophetic
Teachings |
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This is a chapter where I get on my soap box
somewhat. The example is set when Paul would write scripture through his
own personality, his view, and even his preferences and yet reflective of
God. Because of the measure of God in Him, it was edifying to us. At
times, he gave truth in a more permissible sense and yet “if acted
upon” it would bring the believer to an even higher call. This is a
truth; God has things in your course that if you choose the right-turn
path, His will is done. God also has things in your course that if you
choose the left-turn path, His will is done. God may want you to choose
left because it is a higher call, an even more excellent way
that can reach even more people for His Name sake. This
relates to sharing a word that contains a challenge, an edification, and
yet a preference. This can be done immaturely and will sound like law or
it can be done more maturely and come across with preference and
permissiveness – yet showing a better course. May God’s grace be on me
to communicate a more excellent way instead of mere law.
When your heart is on God’s altar, the work
of the Holy Spirit’s “convicting ministry” will change as you grow.
At first you lay there with your heart open bare, God deals with you so
that you can continue your journey in a state cleaner than you were
before. Sometime afterwards God will pull out the magnifying glass; it
will examine your heart a little closer. The spots of your heart may not
be as noticeable to a passerby but under God’s magnifying glass your
blemish is highlighted. Then later on, as you are obtaining the mature
walk, the passerby may see nothing, the magnifying glass picks up nothing
but now your heart is slipped under the microscope. A new world of
blemishes will appear. “Lord was that in me?” God will have it dealt
with and as you continue following Jesus, the power setting for
magnification will be turned up - unto the day of the Lord. I say all of
that to let you know that the areas we are dealing with here in this
chapter is “microscope oriented”.
The issue being dealt with is distraction and
if God is speaking to you, then grace is available to walk in the ways of
“no distraction”. However, for some of us this will be one of those
pieces of the puzzles that we may have to set to the side for now, until
these other areas are dealt with first. Just remember the
piece is there and should not be ignored. The bottom line is this, if you
cannot walk in a purity where “obvious sin” has been dealt with, then
you may find it hard to walk in the “even more excellent
way” in which we are discussing here.
1 Cor 7:35
And this I say for your own profit, not that I may put
a leash on you, but for what is proper, and that you may serve the
Lord without distraction. (NKJ)
Paul taught the Corinthians to avoid marriage
if possible. Why? To serve the Lord without distraction! We will not be
teaching the avoidance of marriage here, however we will be teaching about
other things that distract. Remember this – EVERY DISTRACTION IS TAKING
YOU AWAY FROM THE FEET OF JESUS. We belong at the feet of Jesus; we belong
in His presence… that is where we are designed to be. We are living in
the age of distractions, an age that is designed to replace your place
"at His feet" with something else, anything else – GOOD OR
BAD. This is sometimes the most subtle trap the enemy will place on the
road ahead, to ensnare you with, therefore we will spend some time to
cause you to avoid the trap BEFORE you get caught in its entices.
My means of living comes through the
technology field, so I am not anti-technology, in fact I see God using
technology in the last days just as God has always used technology
throughout the ages. However that same technology can be a great
distraction. First off, I know Christians that love the computer gaming
technology, but I have watched this same technology provide an effective
distraction that has caused hours of addicting “game play” and only an
“occasional visit” to the feet of Jesus. Even for the minister of God
we can witness that computer entertainment can zap from them the anointing
of God – it is an “anointing robber”! God will allow the
activity, but going past moderation is our warning here. There are
many technological activities that can cause poor stewardship of your time
especially the “television entertainment center”. It is time that we
deal with these things by bringing moderation to our lifestyles and
remember to only do activities that you can remain, abiding in Jesus. It
is easy to get “caught up” in these things yet we must only be
“caught up” in Christ. Make Jesus… Lord over the technology of your
life! No one can dictate to you how much time to do anything, this is the
working out of your salvation. NOTE: Walking in this admonition of
moderation will cause the fruit of temperance to grow.
We should be consumed with the Gospel, we must
be consumed with knowing Him, and His blueprint must overwhelm us, it must
overwhelm our entire life and the lives of others. Satan will try to get
us off course and sometimes he will try to make it sound “Christian”.
It could be an overemphasis on something good but not God.
For example, there are those that are Christians that have left the feet
of Jesus and left the ministry of “fathering others” for things that
only profit the natural life. This could be the health of one’s body.
God desires us to take care of our body yet not at the price of leaving
Him. “One’s body” has to do with YOU; an unsound doctrine concerning
the maintenance of your body will cause you to be “self-conscious”
instead of “God conscious”. The devil will cause fear about things
that can hurt the body and will cause you to do abnormal things to
PRESERVE IT. Self-preservation must die in you if you are to become a
father to spiritual children.
The same principle is used for those caught up
in teachings of excessive hoarding of food for future earthly destruction.
For us to live is Christ and to die is gain, why bind yourself to this
earth any more than what you already are. I have a redemptive body waiting
according to scripture and I long for it, I hope for it – not for this
earthly one. Be a faithful steward over your body and let God handle the
rest. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and these
things will be added to your life – and be assured that if He adds them
then they are from heaven. Another distraction is seen in food and
possessions that are excessively hoarded for future famine or disaster –
these hoardings will bring no
testimony to the Lord and will be a product of your leaning on the arm of
flesh. Our body can be a distraction but allow God’s grace to go forth
to “set you” in the only body that matters – the body of Christ. Now
if you get a word of the Lord as Joseph did to store grain, I am not here
to hinder you. I am speaking to the part of man that desires
SELF-PRESERVATION.
Speculation
There are many doctrines that have only one
design – to distract. We have talked about heresy but there are
"other doctrines" that will cause you to get your eyes off of
Jesus and onto the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We sometimes
call it a tangent, a rabbit trail. The teachings we are discussing are
ones that introduce SPECULATIONS. This is very important, please listen
carefully. Speculation is a product of the flesh, not the Spirit.
Speculation is taking something the Holy Spirit is NOT speaking to you,
and bringing knowledge to it. It fills the vague image of God’s plan
with something that you think has clarity. It is a vapor and it is
temporal. Speculation may seem enjoyable because it fulfills the need of
the Adamic nature to eat from the wrong tree. Theory is a result of
speculation; we are prone to guess what God has not revealed. This is
idle and unproductive and more importantly will bring us away from the
feet of Jesus.
One example of this, that is seen in the
church, would be the “teachings and visions of heaven”. God has
revealed very little about certain topics, there is a reason why. God does
not reveal in scripture that which He knows will be a distraction away
from Him and His plan, this includes heaven. Jesus came from heaven and
walked on the Earth and yet never described heaven except that there was
the “Father’s house” there and within that house the Greek language
says there are dwellings or rooms. That gives us nothing for the
imagination because Jesus gave us no description of how it looked and
Jesus also does not indicate if the Father’s house is as one may depict
an earthly house. In telling us about a “house with many rooms” we can
see a symbol representing our relationship with the Father; He is a Father
Who wants you in His House – close to Him, as a Son. Man
who wishes to know something not revealed will claim
heavenly visions with detailed descriptions. The irony is that most of
these see big mansions, normally side by side, and sometimes with lawns.
The problem is that the word “mansions” in King James
Version was a total mistranslation. It was a Greek word meaning dwelling
place or rooms, abodes. This is how the same Greek word was
used a little further down in the same passage.
John 14:23
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he
will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode (mansion) with him.
This is what God gives a picture of; our house
and His house being the SAME HOUSE. There will be no separate houses and
there are no mansions according to scripture – the rest is speculation
and misinformation. God gives us examples of truth in scripture to keep
our head on straight. The Apostle Paul was one who saw heaven; he went
there for real. What was his response? What he heard he could not speak
and what he saw he would not show. Therefore according to scripture the
one today who says he went to heaven and does not tell us is more likely
the one who may have really went to heaven instead of the one who “says
he went” yet described what he saw. Even John who described
details of the City of God, the New Jerusalem does not give too much
knowledge about what it really looks like or what life is like there. Why
have we meditated upon such matters and speculated upon that which is not
revealed? To distract away from what is most impor
tant, which is,
remaining at the feet of Jesus. Also, spe
culation is designed to distract
us from being a temple builder in the lives of others.
There was an elderly man in my church that was
diagnosed with cancer and given two months to live by the doctors. In
telling his situation before the church, his response gave an awesome
reality of what pleases God. He was caught up in the pleasure of seeing
the face of Jesus; and he never mentioned a place. God spoke
instantly to me, that this is what pleases God. If God told us the details
of eternity – the place, it would distract as well as detract
from eternity – the Person. Let us be consumed with the Person and give
no thought as to the place. If you have believed these supposed visions of
heaven and are convicted of this truth, then you should repent, for the
scriptures teach that we should not have believed such a message even if
an angel visited us and spoke it.
As the day of the Lord approaches there will
be more temptation to try to figure out “how it will happen”. We must
not get caught up in this either. Again, wait on God to reveal,
self-revelation will deceive. The last days will have more distractions
than any age before it - for the purpose of sifting. If you are playing
games with God, if you are not serving God with the whole heart then you
will quickly slip into one of these seducing devices. Fear God and walk
soberly! What seems harmless will cause a falling away, at least in
certain areas of your life. In moderation, some of these issues are
permissible, but going too far causes deception. For some the
distractions will be their work, for others it may be “get rich quick
schemes”; with some entertainment, vacations, political activism,
current events, education, vitamins & herbs, hobbies, obsessions …
the list goes on and on of the traps the devil has set for us and he
usually knows what buttons to push to get you away from God. We always
have time to do what WE want to do. Make the sacrifice of time to stay at
His feet. Redeem the time my friend because the days are evil.
Distractions will tug and war in our life
until the day of “poured out judgment” – then the tug and war will
cease for the people of God. Why is that? Because fire will go forth and
you will choose “His feet” or will be led by the feet of another. It
will be a day of laying down your life because of the life you had been
abiding in or it will be a day that your life will be taken from you. For
the mature it will be a day of getting your full attention, to use you to
bring the world to God’s final attention. Sometimes we are not as far
from obsession in these areas as we think.
In the last days the most seducing doctrines
will be the ones that follow the scriptures very closely but entice you to
receive truth apart from the Holy Spirit your teacher. Scriptures
pertaining to Revelation will continue to be taught apart from the Holy
Spirit Who is Teacher. Scriptures will be used to justify each seducing
doctrine but the end shall be a distraction that leads to death. Whether
its doctrines like “Bible codes” or doctrines like “the lost tribes
of Israel”, they are designed to seduce and distract. They may seem
harmless but they are very harmful because you put yourself in the
territory of the enemy.
Any biblical teachings can become distracting
if we pick and choose what we want to learn from God. The tree of Life is
a receiving from God what He wants you to know through relationship. You
do not have carte blanche to receive whatever you want in knowledge just
because “it is written”. The more excellent way of God is to know
Jesus the Word of God and eat TODAY’S PORTION of Jesus the Manna from
heaven. This revelation of “today’s portion” is not understood
by most of the church world. When they open their Bibles, they choose
their bread, their doctrine and the topic to be read. Instead they should
open their Bibles and experience Jesus in relationship. Instead they
should open their Bibles and let the Holy Spirit sit down with them to
show them what the scriptures mean.
One of the most painful things as a believer
that you can experience is to see close Christian friends get caught up in
the extremes of life – and start to spiritually die. Sometimes the
extremes start as new revelation such as “the ministry of spiritual
warfare”. This is a revelation where there is a truth from heaven that
gets perverted in the level of preoccupation that the believer spends –
thinking, talking, and doing it. In actuality, Satan was already defeated
on the cross, and not only Satan was defeated there but also the natural
man – Adam. To depict this we see three people being crucified at the same
time – this is not coincidental. We see Jesus being the Branch Who is
cut off, and we see a second man (Adam) who confesses his sin, who
confesses his nature and ASKS for remembrance. This thief represents all
of us, none are righteous, and we are all thieves in Adam. Jesus includes
the thief (Adam) into the kingdom of God. He represents all of us that
confess that we are in Adam, lost and deserving of hell, and we ask to be
included. Lets get specific now about what areas we can fall into.
There was another thief on the cross and he
left his calling card – “if thou be the Christ” then rescue
yourself”. The thief always speaks – SELF-PRESERVATION! “If thou be
the Son of God – turn these stones into bread”. Satan’s strategy as
a thief to you says, “preserve thyself instead of hanging on this
cross”. The extremes of Christians are many times a heeding of
Satan’s request to preserve yourself. This manifests in things
like “hoarding of food and drink” in the guise of wise practical
preparation. In reality it is nothing more than believing a bad report of
“the land” and preserving yourself from the giants that seem much
larger than you. We see this manifest in hoarding of weapons as well. If
attacked, we think we can protect ourselves from chaos through natural
defenses. Christians that are deaf to God’s voice are most prone to
these immaturities.
We see Christians losing focus of the promise
and getting into the extremes of anti-government movements and
conspiracies. Some desire not to render to Caesar the very tax that Jesus
rendered to His Caesar at the time. The Roman government of Jesus’ time
was “more wicked” than most current governments and yet Jesus and the
early Church had the true response that satisfies God – to love not your
life unto death. One specific Christian ministry went as far as to deem
themselves as sovereign and are not subject to the laws and taxes of the
government that they reside in. These are the responses that exist in may
Christians in the church. They can be quite well-meaning and yet fall into
all type of conspiracy theories. The bottom line is we can all fall into
traps like this if we are not careful. We must ask ourselves, “why am I
doing this thing that takes up a large percentage of my conversation and
time?”, “Do I see the early apostles involved in these activities,
our behavior, and our “mind set” that we
are manifesting?”
There is wisdom in safety, in preparing
for disasters in geographies that are prone to such things, and in
positioning ourselves when God speaks that a coming tragedy will occur. In
70ad we saw Jerusalem fall by the hand of Romans, a judgment from God on a
people that destroyed themselves from within. The Christians had relocated
prior to the internal seditions that were occurring, and prior
to the fall of the walls of Jerusalem. They relocated by the WILL OF GOD
NOT BE THE FEAR OF MAN. This is an example of heeding God’s voice which
protects instead of heeding circumstances and man’s voice which responds
in self-preservation. Simply, it is hearing God’s voice and responding
to what He is saying, not into self-endeavors that cause us to do things
that are not edifying. Taking thought as to these conspiracy theories will
distract from the feet of Jesus. Some try to Christianize the speculations
with things such as “the mark of the beast” and electronic commerce.
One can start predicting how these scriptures are going to be fulfilled
but the truth is what Jesus is saying. If Jesus is not revealing how these
things will be fulfilled then it is pointless and vain to mediate on these
matters.
The final distraction is church politics.
Church members get caught up in church gossip, church affairs, who has
left the church, who is not living right, and who is trying to get more
political power. Not withstanding how foolish all of these things appear
to our Lord Who bought us; but it prevents the concentration on prayer in
the house of God. It is a distraction that has destroyed countless people
who desired to live for God but stumbled when they witnessed the testimony
of God’s people moaning, desiring to rule, and gossiping.
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