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Throne of Grace Ministries
P.O. Box
669153
Marietta, Georgia 30066
www.throneofgraceministries.com
E-Mail revallen51@yahoo.com
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The Great Deception, by Pastor Allen Fleming
Throne of Grace Ministries
On many occasions when I am invited to preach, and at some of my regular Bible
study groups, I ask the assembled this question; how many people here believe Jesus? Then I ask them for a show of hands.
Invariably everyone raises their hand.
I am finishing a book entitled, "What If Jesus was telling the truth?". I was
speaking to another author about the book and he told me that the title is stupid. He said that every Christian believes Jesus.
"Really, I asked?" "Of course they do", he replied. "Do you believe Jesus"? I asked. "Yes of course I do he responded". "
Are you sure that you believe everything that Jesus said" I asked. "Well, I don't know everything that Jesus said", he qualified.
"Well, that is certainly the truth. John wrote that if all that Jesus said and did had been reported, there would not be enough
books in all the libraries in the world to contain them", I replied. " Would you believe everything that Jesus said if you
knew all that he said"? I asked. "Of course I would", he replied. Then I began to share some of the simplest of Jesus' teachings
with the man, when I asked him if he believed them, he wanted to argue about whether Jesus said or meant them.
As it turned
out the gentleman not only did not believe the teachings of Jesus, He resented them and thought that they were not possible.
Do you think that most Christians are more advanced in their belief of the teachings of Jesus? Personally, I don't
think most Christians know very much about what Jesus taught, because they have not been taught them or they have been taught
them incorrectly. I am not blaming student or teacher. We are all products of what we have been taught.
Let us consider
one of the most elementary teachings of Jesus. From the 1st Gospel of John the disciple. John 14:12..."Verily, Verily...(truthfully,
truthfully) I, (as in the great I AM, I the Son of God, I the creator of all things in heaven and in earth, I the one who
was and is and is to come, I the first born among the brethren, I the brightness of the glory of God and the exact image of
his person, that I ) say to you,(us) He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; ( Pause and consider what
our Lord and Savior the same who taught us our John 3:16 scripture is saying. We say that we believe Jesus, He is saying that
if we do, we shall do the same works that he did. That would include raising the dead, healing all nature of diseases among
the people, commanding all of God's creation to obey him, casting out demons and more things than can be contained in all
the books and libraries in the world.)
"and greater works than these shall he do; ( Woah, Hoss...What would be greater
works than those we just considered? That would be leading others to salvation and baptizing them in the Holy Ghost.) "…because
I go to my Father". ( Because Jesus paid the full price to reconcile us to God, We are now made righteous by faith in him
and have become a royal priesthood and joint heirs with Jesus and we not only are empowered to do the same works that he did,
but even greater works.) How are we doing on the believing Jesus part?
This scripture is one of the reasons that to
pray for God to expand our borders or give us favor, or to bless us, is error. He has empowered us to do and be greater in
this earth than He was. Let’s continue with this teaching. "And whatsoever ( the nature of the word whatsoever eliminates
any man developed qualifications such as "yes but it must be in God's will" a thought totally inconsistent with the Gospel
of Jesus. Whatsoever is the ultimate total inclusion? The word whatsoever is the opposite of yes but.) you shall ask in my
name, that will I do , ( please note here that there are no performance based qualifiers such as...if you did not do or say
something bad, or ...unless you are in sin, or if you are a disciple, or if you are in right standing with God, or if...your
motives are pure, or if it is good for you, or if it be his will.) that the Father may be glorified through the Son". " If
you ask anything ( please note the lack of qualifiers like...If you pass the test, or after you go through the process, or
if it is in God's time, or unless it is for something you desire, money etc.) I will do it."
Jesus also taught us
saying...." Have faith in God, For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and
be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come
to pass; he shall have WHATSOEVER, he saith." Therefore, I say unto you what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
Jesus also taught us saying..." And these signs shall follow them that
believe, In my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they
drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
Jesus taught
me these scriptures. Jesus taught much that is contrary to what we have always heard; which led me to the great question
of this thesis. If Jesus was not insane or a liar, and he truly thought out and meant what he said, why have we never been
taught this and why are we not walking in the power that he gave us? Why has the body of Jesus not accepted his teachings?
Why are we dis-empowered? The answer is the subject of this teaching..."The Great Deception". At this point it is urgent for
me to state as clearly as possible and pray that you will understand that this teaching is not a slap at the Church or any
Pastor, denomination or fellowship. Please understand that we are all products of what we have been taught and the traditions
that have been passed to us. I am merely being led of The Spirit to share with His Flock what he has revealed to me through
the Word, So that we can begin to walk in the power that Jesus freely paid the high price to give us.
It is important
to understand that at the time Jesus came to earth there were two groups of people in the earth, the Jews and the Gentiles.
Everyone on earth falls into one of these categories.
The Jews had rejected God and placed themselves under the Law.
The Gentiles were never under the law and have never been. They were lost and without God or hope in this world. Thank God
that, " For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but
shall have everlasting life". (John 3:16)
How did the law ( the ten commandments and it's 600 associated ordinances
and a performance based relationship with God, come to be? and to whom does it apply?) The answers are clearly stated in the
scriptures.
Galatians 3:19 " Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed
should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. ( It came because of transgressions
which we will now list, till the seed Jesus should come to whom the promise was made, the Hebrews. It was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator, Moses.) Clearly, the law came to the Hebrews and it was intended to be in effect for a specific
time period, until the seed should come. And, it was created and given to those to whom the promise was given, the Hebrews.
What transgressions brought the law?
Exodus 14:11and12..." And they said unto Moses, because there were no graves
in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out
of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For
it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness."
Exodus 16:2 and3..."And
the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel
said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and when
we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
Exodus 17:3 "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this
that thou hast brought us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"
The murmuring infuriated
God and his wrath waxed hot against what God described as the "stiff necked Jews" as he heard them murmuring against him in
their tents. But the ultimate act of unbelief and rebellion was this...
Exodus 20:19 " And they said unto Moses, Speak
thou with us and we will hear; bu let not God speak with us, lest we die."
Deuteronomy 5:24 and 25...." And ye said,
behold, the Lord our God hath shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire;
we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and that He liveth. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire
will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more then we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that heard
the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
Deuteronomy 9:7 and 8..."
Remember and forget not, how thou provoked the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that thou didst depart
out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked
the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you."
So, God's chosen people rejected his
messenger first, the God himself in favor of his messenger. Since the people had rejected God they had to have some system
to protect themselves from each other. Thus the Law. God was so angry with the Jews at this time that he told Moses that he
wanted to kill them. Moses reminded God that he could not kill them because he had made a covenant with Abraham that his seed
would be mighty in the earth. God told Moses that he would kill the Jews and make Moses a nation unto himself. Moses interceded
for his people telling God that if he killed the children of Israel, that he pagans would say that God had not kept his promise
to his people and that he had betrayed them by killing them in the desert. God had to protect the lineage of Jesus the promised
one and he did so by sparing the Jews but by giving them the Mosaic Law and its ordinances which he knew were impossible to
keep.
So, now that the people had chosen the Law over God, he gave them the Law. He instructed them to build an ark
in which to keep the stone tablets on which the Law had been written by the hand of God. He then instructed them to hang a
veil...Exodus 26:33..." And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil,
the ark of the testimony; and the VEIL SHALL DIVIDE UNTO YOU BETWEEN THE HOLY PLACE AND THE MOST HOLY." ( The law would be
placed in the ark and the veil around it would separate God's people from God, by their choice.) Remember this scripture about
the veil. It will be dealt with by Jesus.
What then of the Gentiles (us)? We were lost and without hope in the world.
Switching from the King James Version to the Amplified a more pure translation from the original Greek and Hebrew...Ephesians
chapter 2 beginning in the 12th verse.. "Remember that at that time you were.. separated (living apart) from Christ (excluded
from all part in Him); utterly estranged and outlawed from the rights of Israel as a nation, and strangers with no share in
the sacred compacts of the (Messianic) promise with no knowledge of or right in God's agreements, His covenants. And you had
no hope (no promise); you were in the world without God."
Jesus emphasized the fact that we are not and were never
under the law in his teaching to the woman at Jacobs well...John 4:19 " The woman (a gentile) saith unto him, Sir, I perceive
that thou art a prophet. Our Fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought
to worship. ( the Woman is reporting that Gentiles were prohibited from worshiping God. Jesus is about to confirm that she
is correct according to the Law that he is about to change forever for the Gentiles). Jesus saith unto her, “Woman, believe
me, the hour cometh and now is when ye (us the Gentiles) shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the
Father. Ye worship ye ( us the Gentiles) know not what; we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews”. ( Jesus
is stating clearly and emphatically that the Gentiles were not included under the Law, He states without qualification that
there was no plan or hope of salvation for the Gentiles at that time, but that because he would reconcile all men to God,
they would soon be able to know and worship the same God.) But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers will
worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship
him must worship him in spirit and in truth".
Another powerful and clear teaching from Jesus our Lord proclaiming
that the Gentiles (us) were never under the law and its ordinances and were in fact without hope in the world.
From
the Amplified Bible...Matthew 15:22-28...And behold, a woman who was a Canaanite (a Gentile) from that district came out and,
with a (loud troublesomely urgent) cry, begged, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably and distressingly
and cruelly possessed by a demon! But He did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and implored Him, saying; Send
her away, for she is crying out after us. He answered; I was sent ONLY TO THE LOST SHEEP OF ISRAEL. (Jesus is clearly and
emphatically stating that he was not sent to the Gentiles that they were lost.) But she came and , kneeling, worshipped Him
and kept praying, Lord, help me! And he answered, It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the little
dogs. She said, yes, Lord, yet even the little pups eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered
her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment."
Jesus
declared that even though the gentiles were lost, faith in him, would be there salvation.
I pray that you now understand
that at this time the Jews had placed themselves under the Law and that the Gentiles were not and never have been under a
performance based relationship with God.
This is when John 3:16 came in... FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD ( All men both
Jews and Gentiles) THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM WOULD NEVER PERISH BUT WOULD HAVE EVERLASTING
LIFE.
Now God set all men free from the works of the law and the bondage of self!
John 1:15..John (John the
Baptist) bare witness of him, and cried saying, This was he of whom I spake (prophesied) He that cometh after me is preferred
before me; for he was before me. And of his fullness have we all received GRACE FOR GRACE. For the law came from Moses, but
GRACE AND TRUTH came by Jesus Christ.
So Jesus fulfilled the Law so that the Jews who were under it would be made
free. "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become sons of God". (John 1:12)
Then Jesus reconciled all
men Jews and Gentiles to himself by his punishment, death on the cross, burial, dissension and resurrection. " If I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw ALL men unto me". (John 12:32)
Here is where the separated Gentiles were joined to Jesus
and reconciled to God. "Surely he bore our griefs and carried our sorrows (picture Jesus being judged, punished beaten and
then carrying the cross) Yet, we considered him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah
53:4and5
Remember the veil representing the law that God commanded to be hung to separate the Hebrews who had placed
themselves under the law from God, in Exodus 26:33?
"Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
AND BEHOLD THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT IN TWAIN ( Torn in half ) FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM." ( Matthew 27:50 and 51)
At the instant Jesus died, The veil representing the law that separated the Jews from God was torn in half and nothing was
between them and God.
The Law had been fulfilled.
So, at the moment Jesus died, the Jews were made free from
the law, all of it's ordinances and a performance based relationship with God; because he was the only human who ever fulfilled
the Law. Now the Jews could be completely justified to God by Faith in Jesus. The Gentiles who were never responsible for
the Law and its ordinances and whom had no relationship with God, were also justified unto righteousness by faith in Jesus.
Now no humans were separated from God by their performance of law or ordinances or their degree of obedience. Now the mediator
between God and Man is Jesus and his righteousness.
At the moment of Jesus' death, the old covenant was fulfilled.
The new covenant began in Acts chapter 2 verse 4 when the promise of the Holy Spirit fell on the Apostles. Now God's new relationship
with all mankind is Grace through faith not performance.
This is where the great deception began. The devil could
not stand by and see all mankind made free from the bondage of self. So he deceived Jesus' own disciples. They had been given
power and authority by the Holy Spirit as Jesus had promised to become his witnesses to Judea and to the ends of the earth.
Satan had to work fast so he convinced the disciples to add the works of the law and ordinances and a works or obedience or
performance quotient to the plan of salvation. He thoroughly deceived the disciples and off they went teaching faith mixed
with performance.
The deception of the original disciples and how they went among the early church falsely teaching
performance or law mixed with faith is clearly reported by Luke in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts and by Paul in the
2nd chapter of the letter to the Church at Galatia. Here is a direct quotation from Galatians 2:14 " But when I saw that they
walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter (representing the original disciples), before
them all, If thou being a Jew, liveth after the manner of the Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles
to live as do the Jews?" Paul asked the greatest question ever asked outside of Jesus. " Peter if you are a Jew and you can't
keep the Law and live under a performance based relationship with God, how can you put it on the Gentiles who were never under
the law to begin with?"
God needed an Apostle who would preach the truth. He appointed the most vile of all sinners
Saul of Tarsus who became Paul...The Teacher To The Gentiles (Us) we the Gentiles have two appointed Teachers...Jesus and
Paul. What was so important that God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit had to reveal to us through Paul that they had to use him
instead of the disciples?
"Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting
you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, That I should be THE MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE GENTILES;
ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles (us) might be acceptable, being justified by the Holy
Ghost." (Romans 15:15and16)
Here are a few of the urgent teachings from the Apostle Paul as revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit and sent to us. "It is by Grace (God's willingness, ability and power to do those things for us that we, can not
or will not do for ourselves). That you have been saved through Faith(Living in this present moment with joyful expectation
of the things that you can not see) that you have been saved. And that (faith) is not of yourselves it is a gift from God
not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8and9)
"Therefore being justified (being found not guilty)
by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1)
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST,
and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified. For I through the law am dead to
law, that I might live in God. I am crucified with Jesus; NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT CHRIST LIVETH IN ME; AND THE
LIFE I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH, I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, WHO LOVED ME AND GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME. I DO NOT FRUSTRATE
THE GRACE OF GOD; FOR IF RIGHTEOUSNESS COME BY THE LAW, THEN JESUS IS DEAD IN VAIN". (Galatians 2:15 and 16 and 19-21)
Many of us believe that we understand this teaching and that we are not operating under the law. Here it is urgent to
understand that Paul is talking about any type of performance based standard of trying to please God by our behavior. Many
of us have even been taught that while we were saved unto salvation by Grace, that to be blessed we must be "good". Good can
mean anything from trying to keep the 10 commandments that we were never under to begin with, or not having lustful or evil
thoughts, or any stretch of the imagination of that spectrum.
Paul our teacher speaks directly to the notion that
while we were saved by grace our life in the flesh is to be one of "obedience" or works or performance, in Colossians chapter
2:6 "As you received Christ Jesus your Lord, so walk ye in him." (We received Him by grace through faith).
Paul was
our teacher sent from God with the message that the New Covenant with God is based on the complete work of Jesus and not on
our performance. From Romans through Hebrews, Paul intellectually and spiritually proclaims that the new covenant, established
by Jesus through his blood, (Luke 22:20) is Grace through Faith. That our relationship with God is no longer about us but
entirely about him.
However, Paul gives us dire warning in his letter to the Church of Galatia of the consequences
of placing ourselves in a works or obedience or performance based relationship with God.
Here are the two dire warnings
from Paul to us. " So those who be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law
ARE UNDER A CURSE, for it is written. Cursed ( the curses of being under and failing to keep 100% of the law may be found
in Deuteronomy 8:15) is every one that continueth not in ALL things that are written in the book of the law to do them. But
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. AND THE LAW IS NOT OF
FAITH; BUT, THE MAN THAT DOETH THEM SHALL LIVE IN THEM." ( In simpler speech, if you live by the law, you perish by the law.)
Galatians 3:9-11
Finally, Paul answers through the revelation of the Holy Spirit why we are not walking in Jesus'
prophecy of John 14:12..."Behold, I Paul (asserting his position as the appointed of God the Father, Jesus our Lord and The
Holy Spirit teacher to us the Gentiles) say unto you that if you be circumcised ( submit yourself again to a works based relationship
with God) Jesus shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to the
whole law. CHRIST IS BECOME OF NO EFFECT TO YOU, WHOSOEVER OF YOU ARE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW, YE ARE FALLEN FROM GRACE. " (
Galatians 5:2-4)
There is the answer to the original question...Why are we the body of Jesus disempowered? Because
we have been deceived through out time by the evil one. Paul calls it being "bewitched" in the 3rd chapter of Galatians into
believing that we must improve on the work of Jesus by our behavior. Thereby, accomplishing his goal of devaluing the blood
of Jesus.
We have all been taught at one time or another by well meaning but unlearned teachers that we must do something
to please God. Here are a few examples: "go through the test" "complete the process" "be in God's will" " be this or be that"
etc." Yes there is grace...BUT"
Of this concept, Paul writes that a little leven, leveneth the whole bunch.
How
do we begin to walk in Grace through faith and reject the works based relationship that the evil one has conned us into? We
make a decision to Believe that Jesus' righteousness and faith in him accesses the Grace in which we now stand. Where do we
get faith? The faith of the Son of God was given to you in full measure at the very second that you accepted Jesus as your
Lord and Savior. How do we use the faith that we have been given? We make a decision to live one moment at a time with joyful
expectation of the things that we can not see.
Is there any such thing as a blocked blessing? Yes...unbelief and works
will make Jesus of no effect in your life.
Is it really that simple and easy? It has to be so that all people can
understand and operate in it.
What about sin mister Grace teacher? Are you saying that God blesses a mess? I am
not saying that, Jesus did. He hath already given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness, he will not take what
he has already given because his gifts and callings are without repentance. However, sin is a direct reflection of a lack
of using faith and the level of unbelief in our lives. The more we believe the less we sin. The more we choose to walk in
the free gift of faith that we have been given, the more we are changed into the likeness of Jesus. Unbelief does stop us
from receiving.
What are the keys to the new covenant? Belief...making a decision to accept as true. Faith living
one moment at a time with joyful expectation of the things we can not see. (Hebrews 11:1) and Grace (accesssed by chosing
to live in faith) God's willingness ability and power to do those things for us that we can not or will not do for ourselves."
This teaching is life changing doctrine from Jesus and our appointed teacher Paul. Maybe you are having a challenge accepting
it because it is not what you have been taught. Do not be upset with your teachers or with the author. Do not blame those
who have taught you what they have been taught. Do not judge or condemn your teachers or parents because they did not know
these things. Instead, if you have questions, use the Bible as the ultimate authority and remember the teaching of our Lord
and Savior. "If you continue in my word, then indeed you are my disciple, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall
MAKE YOU FREE".
I pray that this teaching blesses you and that you will study and receive it. If you have been blessed
by it, then pass it on to another who will be blessed.
With love to you all, your brother in Jesus, Pastor Allen
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THE SOURCE OF FAITH by Pastor Allen Fleming
We have been teaching a written series on what faith is and what it is not. We continued with how to employ faith.
We broke faith down into its three components, (Hebrews 11:1 1. Now, living in this present moment, 2. With Hope/Joyful expectation
of 3.The Unseen).
We know that it is urgent to understand what faith is because we are required to live by faith. (Romans
1:17, Galatians 3:11).
Since we have been justified (found not guilty) FREELY(not by our performance) by his GRACE
( God's willingness ability and power to do those things for us that we can not or will not do for ourselves) through the
redemption that is in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:24); We are the ones who are being required to live by faith.
Therefore,
it would be well for us to know where to get faith. What then is the source of faith? Understandably, there is much confusion
about this subject even within the body of Jesus. The reasons for the confusion are clear. We know who the author of confusion
is and it is not Jesus. The evil one is still confusing the elect the same way he has since the beginning. "Surely he did
not say". Same old deceit, new victims.
The evil one has been twisting scriptures since the beginning of time. He
has confused many of us from the pulpit. He has confused many of us with ignorance. He has confused many of us by deceiving
us into accepting clichés instead of thoroughly studying the word. He has been clouding the issue of faith for years.
He does not want us to understand faith. He had me misguided for years. I know the truth because I have continued in the Word
and God revealed it in his word and it has always been right in front of me. I want to share the truth that will at first
anger many who have been taught some of the things that we will discuss. However, it is the truth so, if you get angry read
on.
The evil one is powerless. He has been defeated in everyway by Jesus. Jesus has given us dominion over all of
the powers of the evil one. All he can do is use our confusion and ignorance to deceive us. He has two goals. His goals are
to devalue the blood of Jesus and to take away our testimony because with these two forces he is defeated.
The evil
one devalues the blood of Jesus by making us believe that his work on the cross was incomplete and that we must do things
to improve it. If we believe that we can add anything to the work of Jesus then his blood has no power.
Many of us
have been taught that even our faith is under a performance standard. We have been taught that our faith can be expanded,
grown or perfected. This teaching is based on the comments of Jesus regarding, "Great faith, ever increasing faith, little
faith and no faith". If there are varying degrees of faith as described by our Lord then, it is assumed, that we must somehow
progress through each of these levels. However this entire proposition is based on an incorrect understanding of the ministry
of Jesus. At the time Jesus was observing and commenting on these levels of faith, all men were operating in the flesh of
their faith. So indeed they did have varying levels of Faith.
Our source of faith is Jesus. In the 12th chapter of
Hebrews Paul our teacher appointed by God, explains that " Wherefore seeing that we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily besets us, and let us run the race with patience, looking
unto JESUS who is the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith." There is no ambiguity here. Jesus is clearly the Author and the Finisher
of our faith. He began it and he ended it. How did he do this?
Ephesians 2:8 and 9..."For by Grace are you saved through
Faith, and THAT IS NOT OF YOURSELVES, IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST. Paul our teacher appointed
by God has made an unequivocal pronouncement guided by the Holy Spirit. Faith is a gift from God and it is not of works lest
any man should boast. It was given as a free gift when you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Romans 10:9 "
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the
Greek; for the same lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."
"How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those that preach the gospel
of peace and bring glad tidings of good things?"
But they have not all obeyed the gospel (believed Jesus) for Isaiah said,
Lord who hath believed our report?"
"So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". This is the
most misunderstood scripture in the Bible. We have all been taught from this one comment that faith comes by "hearing and
hearing". The result is that many of us have believed that we could increase our faith by hearing and hearing more teaching.
We were led to believe that faith could be expanded or grown by saying more scripture. This is not what the teaching says
or is about. Go back to the 9th verse and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in context through the 17th verse and you will
see that we have been mistaken.
This whole teaching is a direct statement that faith comes from accepting Jesus and
being saved. It is clear that Paul is teaching that it is necessary to send teachers to teach the plan of salvation because
from salvation comes faith. The second half of the statement in the 17th verse says "and hearing by the Word of God" What
Paul is saying is that the Word of God in the person of Jesus and his teaching is where faith comes from.(John 1:1) "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was with God". (John through the revelation of the Holy Spirit
has understood that Jesus is the living Word).
Romans 12:3 "For I say unto you, through the grace given unto me, to
every man among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as GOD HATH
DEALT TO EVERY MAN THE MEASURE OF FAITH.
Romans 11:29 "For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance."
It is clear that Paul the teacher to the gentiles is telling us that Jesus is the source of our faith. That it is
a free gift from him. Since it is a gift from God it can not be taken away. Since Jesus began and ended it, it can not be
improved, enlarged or expanded.
Does faith come from hearing? Absolutely. You hear the gospel of Jesus. You confess
with your mouth the Lord Jesus. You believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. You are given "The Measure"
of faith as a free gift from God, not of works lest any man should boast. You receive all the faith you will ever need.
Our problem is not and has never been our lack of faith. All we need is faith as a grain of mustard seed and we can move
mountains. Our problem is that we need to make a decision to walk in faith by choosing to live one moment at a time with joyful
expectation of the things that we can not see. Our challenge from Jesus is contained in Mark 11:22, 23 and 24.
How
to receive from God by our Lord Jesus:
Mark 11:22...Step one..."Have faith in God."
Mark 11:23 Step two the challenge
from the Great I AM in the person of Jesus. "I tell you the truth, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed
and be thou cast into the sea; and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things that he says shall come to
pass; he shall have whatsoever he says."
There are no qualifications in this statement of truth from Jesus. No where
are there conditions of how good you are or varying degrees of faith or who your daddy is. Jesus is making a clear profound
direction and stating a problem. The problem is the doubt in our hearts. He knows the problem. He is describing the problem
and now he is about to state clearly without qualification the solution to the problem.
Mark 11:24 The Solution to
all of our reception problems. Jesus is telling us to make a choice, a decision... "Therefore, I say unto you whatever things
you desire, when you pray believe that you receive them, and you shall have them."
There you have it from the Lord
of Lords, The King of Kings, The Author of our Faith, The God Most High. No ifs, and's or buts. Are you telling me pastor
is that the reason my daughters cat died is that I didn't believe when I prayed for it?" NO. Jesus is telling you that. I
am reporting as ordered.
I challenge each of us to repeat Mark 11:24 out loud at least 3 times a day for the next
30 days. If you accept the challenge your life and the lives of all of your family, team mates, friends and associates will
be changed for ever.
Stop trying to get more faith, expand your faith, grow your faith or stretch your faith and make
a decision to accept the measure of faith you have been given and walk in it. You will be amazed what will happen in your
life when you make a conscious decision to believe Jesus and "believe WHEN YOU PRAY that you have received whatever things
you desire."
As you ponder these things and pass them on to those you love remember that they are your gift from God.
They are the promise reported by Isaiah the prophet from your creator to you. They are "the treasures of darkness and hidden
riches of secret places". They have been given to you so that you may know that "I, The Lord, which calleth you by thy name,
am the God of Israel". You are the new Israel of whom God speaks. Remember that kings and prophets and wise men sought these
things with all that they had and they did not find them. Treasure them in your hearts.
Love to all, Pastor Allen
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The Power of the Unseen by Pastor Allen
Fleming
The core of this teaching is the meaning of the word faith. We have been focused on the three components of
faith. We know that according to Hebrews 11:1 faith is defined as "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. We have taught on the three components of faith being, 1. Now 2. Joyful expectation 3. The evidence
of things not seen.
We have taught about the power of living in the now. We have taught about how joyful expectation
is the result of a concious decision to believe. Now it is prudent that we discuss the importance of seeing and believing
the unseen.
Have you every wondered what was up with God? Did you ever wonder why you have not yet seen the manifestation
of the thing or situation that you have been crying to God for?
Have you stood believing and claiming your victory and
still you have not received your blessing? I don't believe that there is a human alive that can honestly answer no to these
questions.
Often, ministers who can not explain or answer these questions, try to conjur up answers. This leads to
more and more confusion. Many times false teachings are birthed from the challenges of trying to answer the questions that
arise from these circumstances. Trust me the evil one loves some of the crazy explanations and blaming God that goes on.
Some of the false answers are: "You are going through a test". "You are going through a process". "God can not bless you
if you have sin in your life". "It is in God's time". There are hundreds of these. You are not being tested. From the first
chapter of the book of James..."Let no man say when he is tempted that he is tempted (or tested...the two words are the same
in the Hebrew), that he is tempted of God for God is not tempted by evil, neither tempteth he any man." " Be not deceived
my brother, all good gifts come down from above from the Father of lights in whom their is neither variableness, nor shadow
of turning." You are not in a process. Colossians1:22 teaches us that through his reconciliation, he has made us..."holy,
blameless and unreprovable in his sight." It would be one heck of a process that could improve on that status.
All
of the other hooey can be dismissed also. The all time favorite is..."if it be his will". It is his will. He has already given
us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. By the way if anyone wants to minister to you and they don't know God's
will, run away. They obviously have never read the Gospel of Jesus which is God's will. Here is one that must make God nuts
to hear. "Sometimes God says no." Oh brother. If anyone ever says this to you, ask them if they have ever read the teachings
of Jesus. I can think of at least 20 direct quotations from Jesus that absolutely refute this non-sense. Here is one. John
14:13, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that shall I do, that the Father may be glorified in the son".
Ok, you
ask, so why aren't my prayers being answered? Why don't I see my blessing? The answer is in the question itself. “Why
don't” implies future or past tense. Why don't I see? This question is the answer to the problem. We are looking for
the unseen in the seen. Remember the last teaching on the power of now? In reality there is no other time realm. Yet, since
we do not see an immediate manifestation of a prayer, we move into the future and we move our expectation with it. We think
that our answer, or blessing or healing is coming because we can not see it. We have been taught that if we don't see it then
it is coming. So, we expect it to come in the future. By expecting our blessing, healing, answer in the future we permanently
postpone it. The joyful expectation that is the second component of faith, is that, it has happened now.
The fact
is that, we received our whatsoever at the moment we prayed for it, whether we see it or not. If we see it, it is in the seen.
If we do not, it is in the unseen. In either case we have received it in this present moment and it will manifest if we will
believe that we have received it. Believing is not work. Believing is not a feeling. Believing is a choice. It is a conscious
decision. Consider the commandment of Jesus from the 24th verse of the 11th chapter of Mark. "Therefore, I say unto you,
whatsoever things you desire, WHEN YOU PRAY, believe that YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM."
God is not going to do anything.
He has done everything. God is not in the past or the future. God is the great "I AM", not the great I was.
Dr.
Michael Howard, the world’s greatest pathologist, recently showed me through his microscope the unseen. As I looked at
what he sees every day, I was amazed at the works of God's hand. There before my eyes was a world that few people ever see.
I literally saw thousands of cells magnified 400 times. As magnificent as the sight was, we barely scratched the surface of
what the unseen really is. We saw a brief glimpse of the unseen and it was an amazing experience. In fact the human body is
composed of more than 300 billion cells. Each of these cells has a DNA strip within it that could by itself, reproduce the
human body. We never see this amazing world. Yet the Bible accurately proclaimed it more than 2000 years ago.
Jesus
had a disciple named Thomas. Thomas had traveled with God in the flesh for three years. He had seen the dead restored to life
at Jesus' command. He had seen the lame walk, the blind see and every manner of diseases among the people healed. Thomas had
been an eye witness to the fulfillment of more than 300 specific prophecies regarding the messiah in Jesus' life. Thomas had
with his own natural carnal eye, seen Jesus walk on the sea of Galilee and by the words of his mouth command the wind and
the sea to obey him, and they did. Thomas had seen Jesus make many specific prophecies all of which were fulfilled exactly
as Jesus had said they would. Thomas saw Jesus cast a legion of demons out of a possessed man and send them into a herd of
pigs. The disciple John said that if all of the things that Jesus did in the presence of Thomas were printed in books, all
of the libraries in all the world could not contain them.
Yet when Peter, James and John came to report to the other
8 disciples that they had seen the risen savior, Thomas refused to believe. Thomas said to them, "I will not believe he is
alive until I can place my fingers in the wounds". Eight days later, Jesus walks through closed doors and appears to the disciples.
He says to Thomas, "Thomas come and place your fingers in my wounds". I would have dropped dead right then. Or I would have
run through the hole that Jesus entered through. Thomas touched the wounds. Then he said, "My Lord and My God". Jesus said
to him..."Thomas, because you have touched me you believe; but I tell you, blessed are those who believe and do not see."
Here
in the 20th chapter of John is to me one of the greatest events in the history of man. Jesus was speaking to Thomas and teaching
us. Clearly he is telling us that we are blessed when we believe and do not see.
Will we make a decision to see what
we believe, or will we believe what we see? The decision is ours. God has given us free will. Many of you are believing God
for great and necessary things. As you meditate on this teaching consider these scriptures. From the 4th chapter of the letter
to the church at Phillipi..."be anxious for nothing, but in all things through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving
in your heart; let your requests be known to God, and the peace that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds
in Jesus." Matthew 7:7-11.."Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto
you. For whosoever asks receives. He who seeks finds, and whoever knocks the door will be opened to. Or, what man among you
if his son asks for bread would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish would give him a serpent.(Note the symbolism...the
fish represents Jesus. The serpent represents satan. Jesus is using the opposite ends of a vast spectrum, literally an infinite
variance to emphasize the point that God gives us the requests that we make of him without qualification). If you therefore
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things, if you
ask?"
I pray that you will print out this teaching and save it. Please study it and pass it to those who are near
to you. Pass it to your email list. Share the "Good News". Help us teach the Word of God which makes men free.
The
Love of Our Lord and Savior Jesus to you all...He loves you and so does Pastor Allen
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